The Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County will honor women who have achieved top leadership roles at its 4th Annual 100 Outstanding Women gala on May 16^th at the Signature Grand in Davie. The event is presented by SG Resorts International.

Each year, the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding women who have influenced the county’s community, businesses and philanthropic fields. The event also features a dinner, fashion show, and live and silent auctions.

This year’s honorees include Davie Mayor, Judy Paul, and Katina Taylor of the Jason Taylor Foundation.

Event chairs are Gale Butler of AutoNation, Kim Sweers of Fastboats Marine Group and Ann D’Auria of Bank Atlantic.

Florida’s strong Cuban community is gung-ho for two things quintessentially American — the first, of course, capitalism, and the second, baseball. So when Time Magazine quoted Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen saying, “I love Fidel Castro” this past weekend, things got a little fishy.

The Cuban community has made their voices loud and clear on this one, demanding that Guillen be fired from his post. The comment is not only insanely offensive, but it comes after the inauguration of the brand new Marlins stadium built in Little Havana this year. Who’s tax money do you think helped get that job done?

Today, Guillen inaugurated a crisis communications plan in attempt to make up for his hurtful words. “This is the biggest mistake of my life,” he said to a press conference. “When you make a mistake this big…I will learn from it.”

But honestly, Guillen is going to do have to do a tad bit better than that to win back the respect of the Latino and South Florida community at large. Suspended for five games, Guillen will have some time away from the ballpark to hopefully enact a smarter plan of action.

Guillen needs to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. He should take pause to truly educate himself on why it was that his words were so painful and ignorant, and share his reflections with the public. In his return on April 17th — ironically, the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion — hopefully Guillen will address us with wise words on the day. He should look at this coincidental date as a public relations miracle, and correctly preparing for it may be the best way  to recover from the scandal.

Join us on April 5, 2012 for the NAIOP/ULI Collegiate Challenge

Where: Miami University Life Science & Technology Park

1951 Northwest 7th Avenue Miami, FL 33136

What: The Collegiate Challenge provides unique and valuable industry exposure to students and their respective schools in a competitive and realistic environment. The spirit of the program is to provide positive exposure and experience for all involved and to offer a “real world” experience for the students.

For more information about Sponsorship opportunities or to RSVP, click here.

COME TO THE 1ST ANNUAL NAIOP SOCIAL!

Join us on February 29, 2012 at Vic & Angelo’s Enoteca for the first social for NAIOP.

Where: 290 E. Atlantic Avenue, in Delray Beach

When: 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm.

Price: – Members- $20

Non members- $25

About the venue: Vic & Angelo’s Grand Italian Coal Oven Enoteca Features Big City Rustic Italian Dining in the Heart of South Florida. Vic and Angelo’s Founder and Creator, David Manero and Culinary Director Paul Griffin, have created a signature authentic menu including items such as their Famous Old School Meatball, Imported Bufala Mozzarella, Hand Made Pastas, Signature DOP and Simmered-Daily Homemade San Marzano atop their Authentic Coal Oven Pizza with Just Made Mozzarella.

For more information, visit the website.

O’Dwyers, a publication focusing on public relations news and marketing communications, recently wrote a guide to crisis communications where various public relations firms were featured, including Boardroom Communications.

Boardroom’s experienced staff of public relations professionals frequently handles high-profile crisis projects and public affairs campaigns each year. Some of them include but are not limited to litigation, product recalls, criminal charges, hostile takeovers and much more.

Boardroom Communications has experience in responding to urgent threats, developing crisis communications plans, evaluating  the situation, mitigating the risks and dealing with your most important audience i.e. the media, employees, stakeholders, etc.

Crisis communication is very important and a necessary part of public relations that Boardroom Communications prides itself on.

To read more about crisis communications in public relations firms visit O’Dwyers website or take a look at the publication printed in January.

Congratulations to Boardroom client, NAIOP of South Florida for receiving the 2012 Chapter Merit Award for Digital Media Outreach at the national NAIOP Chapter Leadership and Legislative Retreat held in Washington D.C. last week. The chapter was recognized its digital outreach via the organizations successful launch of the www.naiopsflblog.com blog and social media program.

In addition to featuring chapter events, community outreach and our Gemstone sponsors, the blog features posts and press releases from local NAIOP member companies, as well.  Sections include:  Members in the News, Done Deals, Events, Legislature, Sustainability, Trends and Employment.

Our very own Don Silver chairs the Public Relations Committee that was instrumental in this project.

On Monday, March 5, 2012, Margaux’s Miracle Foundation is hosting its Sixth Annual Women’s Luncheon at La Gorce Country Club in Miami Beach.

At the luncheon, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz will receive the prestigious “Woman of the Year” award and special guest speaker Dr. Leslie Baumann, a nationally renowned board certified dermatologist, New York Times best-selling author, media personality and lecturer, will discuss the latest in new innovation skin care and therapy.

Boardroom Communications is proud to sponsor Margaux’s Miracle Foundation—President Julie Talenfeld is on the Board of Directors and Vice President Jennifer Clarin serves as the Board’s secretary.

The event begins with a shopping bazaar at 9:30 a.m., followed by Dr. Baumann’s presentation at 11 a.m. and a noon lunch. Proceeds from the luncheon will go toward cancer research for children, with special emphasis on sarcomas, specifically, Ewing’s sarcoma.

As a South Florida public relations firm, we’ve seen the damage that the absence of a crisis communications plan can cause to any organization. The most recent example on the national stage came earlier this month when Susan G. Komen for the Cure cut funding from Planned Parenthood. Now, Komen — the largest national breast cancer non-profit — has a new mandate: To reel in the pink ribbions it’s been threading all over the media and take corrective action.

Reversing its plans to deny funding to Planned Parenthood on Friday, Komen has some serious damage control ahead to combat the 72-hour media storm it created.

Komen found itself inundated with criticism when it publically announced it would no longer provide funding for Planned Parenthood’s breast exam and educational activities geared toward low-income women. The premise for the cut: Komen would not support organizations under “investigation.” Planned Parenthood was facing a questionable inquiry by Republican lawmakers. It didn’t help Komen that a vice president was an ardent and vocal right-to-life supporter.

It’s no surprise that the move resulted in a national backlash against an otherwise highly respected organization. People withdrew support. Some women’s advocates cried foul. Even its California offices issued a statement decrying the decision.

Huffington Post described the move as “one of the most boneheaded political miscalculations that will have serious ramifications for Komen: supporters won’t forget this for years to come.”

First, Komen president Nancy Goodman Brinker hit the web with a video supporting its decision. Then days later and facing the backlash from supporters and women’s groups, Komen amended its statements to only cut funding to groups under investigations that are “criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

This is no way to fight a national P.R. fiasco.

Komen needs to enact a simple but effective crisis communications plan to clarify that it’s an organization that helps women. Like any organization, it must consider the potential publicity and negative ramifications of its actions before making moves or statements.

If it seeks to cut funding to various organizations it has supported in the past – a move that’s completely within its right – it must make sure the cuts don’t reek of politics or frivolous, agenda-motivated policy.

We give Komen kudos for recognizing its egregious error and taking action to right its course. But it now needs to stress that its mission as an organization is in tandem with that of Planned Parenthood – two organizations striving to better women’s health.

Then, it should get a crisis communications plan in place.

Come check out “Smashing The Glass Ceiling” February Luncheon Event featuring Kristi Krueger  and Boardroom Communication’s President, Julie Talenfeld,  on February 2 at the Tower Club in Fort Lauderdale!

Where:

100 SE Third Avenue

28th Floor

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

When:

February 2, 2012

11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.

Cost:

$30 for members

$45 for non-members

Please include attendee name and company name when registering.

Advance registration is required. Please note: Registration closes February 1st, 2012 at noon. Registrations received after noon on Wednesday, February 1st will be charged an additional $10 late fee at the door.

For more information check out their website.

In the age of the Internet where virtually all previous online contents lives forever, reputation management can pose its challenges.  That’s why it is important to closely monitor the Internet, social media and review sites to listen in to what is being said about you – or someone with the same or a similar name.  “Lawyers Struggling at Managing Reputations” as published in the Daily Business Review shows all of us what can happen to an unsuspecting attorney or businessperson, if they do not have a handle on what is being said online.  Simple tools like Google Alerts work well for some while others choose to subscribe to a reputation management monitoring service.  Boardroom uses MyRepMan for selected clients.  You should consider a monitoring program for yourself.

To read the full DBR article, please click here.