InsidEPR

Hands off!

By Suzanne Panoplos

We’ve all experienced it – you’re driving on the highway and you get stuck behind someone driving 35 mph in a 65 mph zone – in the left lane no less.  You do your best to control your road rage, but as you finally pass the person, you can’t resist the urge to look over and give them your angriest “What the heck are you doing?” face.

Unfortunately, this will only make you more frustrated, because the driver is just as oblivious to you as they are to actually driving the car. You see, the left-lane lurker is on a cell phone!

Beginning July 1, the State of California is taking its best shot at making sure you’re paying attention to the road and not your phone.  Drivers over 18 will now be required to have a “hands-free” device – which includes Bluetooth devices, hands-free headsets, and the speakerphone feature on your cell phone.  Drivers under 18 will not be permitted to use a cell phone in the car at all. Violation of this law will result in a $20 fine initially and $50 fine for repeat offenses.  In addition, the violation will appear as a conviction on your driving record.

But does this really solve the problem? Let’s face it – most drivers do everything but drive in the car. In my fairly short morning commute, I’ve seen drivers texting, putting on make-up, and reading the newspaper. And let’s not forget one woman in a particularly gymnastic move – painting her toe nails.

Research suggests that it’s not a matter of keeping your hands on the wheel – more a question of keeping your mind on the road. In fact, one Carnegie Mellon study indicated that simply listening to a sentence, without having to respond or press any buttons, decreased concentration on driving by 37 percent. Other research supports the contention that the new California law would save lives. A study released in May by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) estimated that 300 fewer people would die each year in traffic accidents in California.

As the debate rages on as to whether hands-free measures will improve safety, the reality is that in California, it will shortly become the law.  With 28 states considering laws limiting cell phone use by drivers, chances are no matter where you are in the U.S., you’ll have to adjust your cell phone habits.

So if you’re like me, you’ll be making a beeline for the nearest phone store on June 30, 2008 – 10 minutes before closing time.  But in the interim, keep your mind on the road—and please, if you’re on your phone, stay out of the passing lane!

For more information on the new California cell phone laws, visit http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/index.htm

Green wristband …eat up!

By Allison Kuhn
Last month, the EPR team attended an Oakland Athletics’ baseball game at the Oracle arena. Let me tell you – the tickets we got were GREAT! It wasn’t that the seats were perfectly placed behind home plate, but that we were in the All-You-Can-Eat section.

It’s true. The A’s have a ticket option with unlimited trips to the snack bar. Upon arrival at the third level, you are given a green wristband that entitles you to the “green light” for food.

However, there is one rule that you must follow: fans are only allowed four items per trip to the snack bar. That’s not to say one can’t make several trips.

In the end, the A’s didn’t end up getting the win, which was a bummer! Yet no one went home hungry. I even stashed some extra peanuts in my bag for later.

This was a great outing for the EPR team. I would recommend going to an A’s game, whether your are getting these tickets for your company or going with a group of friends. You can check it out at: http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/ticketing/ayce_seats.jsp.

Tips for Telecommuting

By Becky Frost

Whether on the road or working from a home office full time, telecommuters share some common traits. For starters, we have all at one time answered the phone in a towel…probably not, but it’s possible. Now that I have your attention, I’d like to share some tips that I’ve found helpful in my experience as a telecommuter.

People working away from the office need to posses the following traits:

• Strong organizational skills
• The ability to focus and limit distractions
• The ability to motivate and manage yourself (meaning you can pressure yourself to get projects done on time)

One piece of advice I received when I began telecommuting was “stay organized.” Organizational skills can help telecommuters avoid timewasters and maintain efficiency. I am a list person, which helps me identify and prioritize my tasks – keeping me on track to accomplish work goals.  Using your online calendar to remind you of important meetings and allocate time for projects is also very useful.

Another good piece of advice that I follow when working from a hotel room while on a press tour or working from my home office is to maintain my work space as just that – work space.

When working while on tour, I immediately set up the desk portion of my hotel room as command central for work. This keeps things tidy while also enabling me to work without distractions. A dedicated home office enables the telecommuter to filter out household distractions while working and also provides the benefit of being able to close the door on the workday when it is over.

By creating and maintaining a work environment, telecommuters can feel like they are in the office, no matter the location.

So there you have it, a few things that work for me. Feel free to let me know some telecommuting tips that work for you.

You want me to “Ping” someone?

By Chelsea Irwin

Have you ever been “pinged”? Has anyone ever asked you to “ping” someone?

The first time I heard this phrase I was a little uncomfortable. But the term “ping,” which turned out to be another word for “annoy someone again” and not a form of sexual harassment, was the first of many corporate terms I eventually worked into my everyday corporate vocabulary.

Corporate lingo and I have a love-hate relationship. Here are some favorites I wish had never caught on:

1. “Per”: I see this term more often than I would like. Per my request… per our previous conversation… per the guidelines. Are you a cat? When did this become an acceptable form of reference?
2. “Moving forward”: If you’ve ever received an e-mail that begins with the phrase “Moving forward,” it most likely means you made a mistake. Something like, “Moving forward, please do not provide completely useless information.”  I’d like to coin the phrase “moving backward” as a hint to jump in your time machine and change the past.
3. “Currently in legal”: This is a phrase that has recently skyrocketed to the top of my list of phrases I dislike. Let me tell you, legal departments are busy these days – apparently to get write-off  on PR documents you not only have to get approval from the client’s communications people, marketing people, and executives, but also from the legal department. I don’t think lawyers went to law school to review press releases (or more particularly, to edit their grammar and style), but hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.
4. “Let’s discuss this offline”: This is a polite way of ending a conversation that is clearly making other participants uncomfortable. Or a way of saying you just don’t have clearance to hear the top-secret plan about to be discussed (AKA, you’re not very important).
5. “Offload”: When someone tells you that they plan to “offload” activity on you, don’t consider this a reason to celebrate. It’s likely the task has been put off for as long as possible because nobody wants to do it, and now it is finally your responsibility…. Likely because you have “bandwidth.” 

I don’t miss much about college - well that’s a lie - but talking like a normal human being is definitely something I miss. It’s no longer acceptable to say “The lawyers are up to their usual shenanigans again” or “You must be blind because I included that information below” or “Are you an idiot? Never do that again.”

If you have corporate lingo you’d like to add to this list – just ping me.

The Future Looks Backwards?

By Gail Farrell

My father, who started out as a designer at Towle Silversmiths, was interested in the history of silver design and design in general.  When I was a kid I loved to pore over several 19th century books he owned that illustrated the latest place settings and the most modern gadgets. 

Times were different back then.  Forget the five-piece place setting, with a few serving pieces thrown in.  Silver had been discovered out West, and anyone who was anyone had 12-piece sterling place settings.  You needed fish forks, lemon forks, pickle forks, coffee spoons and teaspoons, soup and sauce and punch ladles, tomato servers, sugar tongs, and so on ad infinitum.  There were clever inventions galore—the automatic tipping bowler (no more bringing your hand to your hat to tip a passing lady, gents; pressing a bulb in your jacket pocket will trigger a hydraulic device under your hat that will tip it for you), the combination pen/compass/pointer/ruler/scale—you get the idea.

Smartphones are beginning to seem a bit like these 19th century goodies.  We want something for everything, and we want them all in one thing.  But do I really want a smart phone to replace my PC?  No way!  I already have tendonitis in my wrists from using a full-size keyboard; what would a teeny little smartphone keyboard do to my thumbs?  Never mind the effect staring at a mini-screen would have on my eyes.  Not that PC functionality isn’t useful in a smartphone, but the phone isn’t designed for heavy-duty, day-long use.  And until a smartphone can give me the quality and functionality of my pricy digital camera, I know how I’ll take my pictures.  Maybe I’m just a 20th century kind of woman, but I’m not sure I’m ready for the smartphone-as-everything. 

Back to the Future?

By Megan Atiyeh

I regularly attend events sponsored by the Churchill Club and most recently found myself at the 10th Annual Top Ten Tech Trends event in San Jose.  If you’ve never attended this particular event, a panel of industry heavy-weights from the VC community predicts the top technology trends of the year and the rest of the panel—as well as the audience—vote on whether or not they agree with the predictions.

What followed was an interesting discussion and mix of ideas.  However, I was very surprised that four of the panel’s ten predictions were related to the concept that the mobile phone and emerging “smartphones” will become akin to mainstream computers and replace the desktops or PCs of today. 

Anyone who has a husband who covets his iPhone like a mistress—or is old enough to see how quickly mobile phones have evolved in a relatively short time-period—understands this is not a trend but an unstoppable shift in user behavior and expectations.  In defense of the panelists who made these predictions, it’s clear that anywhere, anytime access to information and the desire for a high-quality mobile internet experience creates many opportunities for companies that can make this happen.  And as one of the 97 percent of Americans who still own a simple feature-phone, I think it might be time for me to move into the 21st century and embrace this “new” trend.

I also have a prediction of my own.  I predict that the person or company who figures out how to get attendees out of a parking garage—that has no cellular connectivity—in less than 90 minutes will be wildly successful and responsible for a trend that makes the world a better place.

What’s your prediction?