In addition to managing general agents, national and international insurance companies, business services and state stamping offices, the proposal would add qualifying brokers, managing general underwriters, program administrators, program managers, aggregators and other insurance entities operating on a wholesale basis to the Association.

“We will become a stronger Association that serves as the single, reliable source for the entire wholesale distribution market and, in the process, yield ongoing and long-term benefits and value to existing and future members,” said R.C. Chaffin, AAMGA board president. “The board encourages members to vote in favor of these new opportunities once the bylaw amendments are sent out in June.”

The proposed change follows a two-year strategic review instituted by the board that highlighted opportunities for the Association, and its members, to better adapt to a changing insurance market.

“The wholesale insurance market has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade,” said Bernd G. Heinze, Esq., AAMGA executive director. “We’ve seen an expansion of the wholesale distribution system with new market participants and an increase by those professionals into more specialty lines of business. We want our Association to be ahead of the changes. The Board believes it is better for us to lead rather than follow, a fact that has always been core to our identity.”

Noting three other membership expansions in the Association’s 87-year history, Heinze said the proposed changes will add value to the Association’s membership by better representing the realities of the wholesale insurance market, strengthening the Association with increased membership and expanding business and educational opportunities.

Under the proposed changes, membership standards will include board approval, required minimums for written annual premium, time spent transacting and writing business on a wholesale basis, three recommendations from existing members and compliance with the Code of Ethics. The board proposal will be discussed at the AAMGA annual meeting, May 19-22, 2013 in New Orleans. Balloting on bylaw amendments by the members will follow.

About AAMGA

The AAMGA is the international, professional trade Association representing the wholesale insurance marketplace. Currently, members in 50 states write a combined $20.6 billion in admitted and excess and surplus lines annual premium domestically and internationally. Other members include U.S. and international risk bearing and non-risk bearing members (insurance, reinsurance, retrocessional, captive, Lloyd’s and London market brokers), business services members and each of the state surplus and stamping line offices.

To kick off National Foster Care Awareness Month next month, KidsPeace today launched a new web portal to provide foster care teens with a dedicated online resource to discuss and cope with issues relevant to their unique experiences. The portal, www.teencentral.net/fostercare, provides information, advice, gaming interaction, peer support and access to counseling services for children ages 11-18 displaced from their familiar environments and social support.

“Foster care children often feel alienated at home and at school, and need a place where people will understand them and their issues,” said Julius Licata, Ph.D., director of TeenCentral.Net. “What makes our new foster care portal so unique is children can share their questions and concerns and they will get an answer in 24 hours from a master’s or doctorate level counselor. There are no other teen sites offering timely responses from professional counselors who also are familiar with the myriad of foster care issues.”

According to Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), there are more than 400,000 foster care children in the U.S. Of those, more than 100,000 children wait to be adopted. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute reports nearly 30,000 youth “age out” of foster care without the emotional or financial support to succeed. Of those, nearly 40 percent had been homeless or “couch surfed,” nearly 60 percent of young men were convicted of a crime and only 48 percent were employed.

The portal offers a fun and intuitive environment that looks like that of a typical teen’s room, complete with a virtual computer desk. From here, using colorful and fun buttons, virtual plants, clickable light switches, a computer and bookshelves teens can flip through pages of information, message boards and helpful resources. They can share stories or ask questions, and receive helpful feedback and answers from KidsPeace counselors.

hjhipster / Beach Photos / CC BY-NC

Benefits of a flex schedule

• More time to accomplish personal tasks. Flex schedules benefit employees by allowing them to have more time to get things done.
• Rewards for employees. Flexible schedules can act as a rewards program for employees.
• Employees may take less time off. Flex hours allow employees to get an early start on the weekend without taking a full day off.
• More refreshed. Having a few extra hours may help employees feel renewed and ready to dive into the next project or task.
• An increase in productivity. Read about how one city added a flexible work schedule increasing productivity.

Negative aspects of a flex schedule

• Clients may not approve. Clients may not have a flexible schedule and may not be open to your company having one.
• Looming deadlines. Deadlines still need to be met.
• The PR world never closes. The digital world does not shut down. Emails, phone calls and comments on social media platforms still need to be answered in a timely manner.

Tips for incorporating flex hours

• Let clients know well in advance.
• Get clients input on a flexible work schedule.
• Make yourself available when needed.
• Set up a schedule for employees so they know exactly when you’ll be in the office.

Does your company offer summer flex hours?

At these times, there is a balance to be struck between business operations and consideration of outside events. Customers don’t want to be marketed to and reporters don’t want your new product press release in times of crisis. In addition, your own employees – even many miles removed from events – might struggle to cope with news from towns like Boston, Aurora, Colo., Sandy Hook, Conn., West, Texas, and others.

What do you say or do as a business owner or manager? Your response in such times must be genuine, sensitive to events and true to the culture of your organization. There is no one-size-fits-all communication solution.

However there are three things you should not do in a crisis. Don’t:

1. Continue Your Social Media Strategy as Planned. The moment you start receiving breaking news alerts via smartphone apps, email or after watching the news, you need to assess the impact of your planned social messaging. Think about how your messages might be received against the backdrop of what is happening in the news. In most situations, you should pull your planned content immediately and take a wait-and-see approach for at least the first 30 minutes of the news event. This means deleting or rescheduling posts in HootSuite, TweetDeck and other social dashboards.
2. Assume It’s Not a Big Deal for Your Brand. Gather your public relations and marketing teams to evaluate next steps. Create a plan for what your external messaging (including social media) needs to look like in the first hours and, in some cases, the next several days after a national or global event. Poor planning can lead to significant customer backlashes and damage your brand. You need only look at American Apparel, GAP and others whose early social media efforts during Hurricane Sandy not only failed, but angered customers by appearing insensitive to those in Sandy’s path.
3. Ignore Your Crisis Communications Plan. If you have a Crisis Communications Plan, use it. This valuable tool will detail a methodical strategy and tactics for handling relevant crisis situations. Don’t try to wing it in the middle of a crisis. You’re more likely to miss something, and the risks can be enormous. If your plan is out of date or, worse, if it doesn’t exist, set a goal for updating or creating one and use the current scenario as a case study (for better or worse) to help guide your Crisis Communications Plan development later.

While you cannot plan for every eventuality, a good Crisis Communications Plan will best ensure your brand is protected while also being sensitive to events outside of your control.

Amir Kuckovic / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

When you spend most of your waking moments stringing together words and phrases, not every strand will be unique and stunning. Perhaps Thesaurus.com is the only browser tab that never you never close. Maybe you are leaning on weak link-bait phrases, like my headline (hey, you clicked on it).

In other words, your writing has gotten stale, lackluster and rote.

Recently, I noticed this in my writing. I was editing a white paper I had written, and found one phrase repeated over and over at the beginning of sentences: “that means.” It was an unnecessary, lazy and boring transition, but there it was, again and again.

I had the good sense (for once) to understand this as a wake-up call. I took a closer look at the next few pieces I wrote and took steps to refresh my writing. This is what worked for me. Maybe it’ll work for you, too:

• Pick out the stale bits. When editing, look for areas of your writing that aren’t terribly effective. Like me, have your transitions gotten lazy? Does it seem like your vocabulary has shrunk? Name the problem(s).
• Refresh your reading. In many ways, you write what you read. What are you reading for work? If you go back every day to the same two blogs, you are limiting potential growth in your vocabulary and writing style. What are you reading at home? The books and magazines we read for fun inform our writing just as much as the “serious” stuff.
• Go back to basics. Listen, you don’t actually outgrow outlining and organized note-taking. We all just think we do. You might even want to try drafting with pen and paper, just this once. As I see it, writing by hand slows down your writing process and can help you be more thoughtful about word choice and sentence length.
• Reacquaint yourself with clients. Going back to basics can also mean going back to the beginning with your clients. If your writing about or for them has become imprecise or not particularly compelling, you may want to look back at strategy documents created when you started working with them. Make sure you understand their mission and goals — these are easy to lose sight of.

I’m curious about what other people do to solve this vague and slippery problem. Do you have any good resources, tips or advice? Share them in the comments or on Twitter (tweet @kimballpr or @sammkimball).

Photo credit: Amir Kuckovic / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Gary shared his top-line insurance communications rules for the social media age, including best newsroom practices and the importance of a social media strategy.  Download the PDF of the column to read more — and let us know what you think.

Gary and his trusty cheat sheet. Notice how big the font is? That makes it easier to read at a glance.

We’ve all been on the other end, in a room with someone standing rigidly at a podium next to a screen where a PowerPoint is about to bore us to tears. Slide after slide filled with data we can’t read and a monotone speaker who looks at the screen more than the audience. We gain nothing more than we could have gleaned from a report and just can’t wait for it to be over.

So when it’s your turn to give a presentation, how do you make it a good one? Here are a few tips based on more extensive advice (and video training) I’ll be sharing with my client:

1. Know your audience. This helps in so many ways. Make sure your material is geared toward their needs, not yours. If necessary, find out what they want to know in advance.
2. Get over your nerves. How? Practice so you know your material. The more you know your stuff, the more at ease you will be. But don’t practice in front of a mirror. That just makes you feel weird.  Videotaping yourself, on the other hand, works. Also, don’t worry about perfection. That’s putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Just try to be engaging and interesting. If so, you’ll be better than most.
3. Nail the open. But how? Unless you are absolutely certain your joke will work, don’t do it. Instead, ask your audience a question. That engages them and is an easy way to get moving in the right direction. And please, don’t try to memorize your opening. Again, that’s too much pressure to be perfect.
4. Make sure your technology is fool proof. If not, don’t use it. A funny video from a popular movie or television show can be a great icebreaker. But show it to others first to make sure it works. And if the video, PowerPoint or audio is not tested in the facility where you are speaking, just skip it.
5. Speaking of PowerPoint, it’s not necessary, too often boring and takes away from what the focus should be – your words. If you have important data to share, send it in advance or use it as a hand out. Just hit the high points in your speech.
6. Make it interesting. That means you don’t read from a script or use big words or jargon. Instead, use stories, case studies, examples your audience can connect with. And tell your audience why they should care about what you’re saying. That is why they’re there.
7. Don’t get hung up on verbal tics, like uh and um. Many people do it and you should learn to avoid them. But that’s a daily self-training (I heard one trainer recommend putting “uh” in a circle with a line through it and leave it on your desk. That way, as you are talking all day, you are conscious of it). But when you’re presenting, just let it go and keep talking.
8. Create a presence. We’re not all gifted speakers who can walk the crowd and feel comfortable. But you should use your hands, use your voice so it’s not monotone and at least move a few steps and shake that icy grip you have on the lectern. Try it, it feels good.
9. Prepare for problems. You go blank? Keep a one-page cheat sheet in front of you so you can quickly glance and find out where you are. You have technical difficulties? Go in with a back up and just move on. If you don’t dwell on the technical problem, neither will your audience. You’re audience does not seem interested? Then ask them questions.
10. Speaking of questions. Many people ask the audience to hold questions until the end. Why? Because they don’t want to get sidetracked and lose their place. But if you have a cheat sheet, you have no worries.

Looming deadlines, hectic daily schedules, constantly connected to your phone are standard in the PR industry. So, it’s no surprise PR managers ranked as one of the most stressful jobs in 2013. “For the third straight year, public relations has landed on CareerCast’s annual list of the most-stressful jobs in America. For 2013, public relations manager is No. 5 on the list, inching up two spots from last year.” (via PR Daily) Though PR professionals face many stresses, there are ways to manage.

net_efekt / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Tips on how to manage stress in the PR industry

• Change your setting. If you work in an office setting, try working at home once a week if permitted. If you work remotely, switch up your location once a week.
• Disconnect. We’re all guilty of having our electronic devices attached to our hips, but it’s healthy to disconnect from your laptop and mobile devices every so often.
• Take a lunch break. According PR Daily’s Salary and Job Satisfaction Survey, 69 percent said they eat lunch at their desks on most days. It’s important to take a lunch break and disconnect from everything even if it’s just for a short time.
• Take a 15 minute break. Take a 15 minute stroll around the block or take 15 minutes to exercise each day. Taking some time to exercise can greatly reduce stress.
• Use your vacation time. It’s important to take time for yourself. Taking a few days off can help you feel refreshed and ready to tackle the next project.
• Bring your dog to work. According to an article in The Huffington Post (Slide 2), research shows that pet owners have lower blood pressure.

Which tips will you incorporate into your hectic work schedule to stay stress-free?

Aaron Landry / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Obesity is more than just a number on a scale

• Larger employees cost employers.  MarketWatch says, “Obesity-related health problems account for a big chunk of medical claims, insurance experts say, leading some executives to believe the best way to trim their budgets is to get workers to trim their own fat first.”
• Obesity in the workplace costs businesses billions of dollars each year. “Full-time workers in the US who are overweight or obese and have other chronic health conditions miss an estimated 450 million additional days of work each year compared with healthy workers — resulting in an estimated cost of more than $153 billion in lost productivity annually, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.” (via Obesity Campaign)
• Obesity can compound other injuries. According to an article in Insurance Journal, “Obesity increases the healing times of fractures, strains and sprains, and complicates surgery.”
• The Obesity Campaign states there are more than 60 chronic diseases associated with obesity.

So there is an argument to be made that obesity is more than just a personal issue. It’s a professional liability in some instances. The question then becomes what can be done. What can/should employers do, and what options are available for more sedentary work environments?

• Employers should encourage employees to get up from their desk each hour or so, even if only for a few minutes.
• Where possible, employers might consider providing standings desks. Read about one Philly business offering this option.
• Offer treadmill desks. Researchers speaking with Harvard Business Review suggest treadmill desks may be a good fit in terms of health and productivity.
• Instead of having a coffee machine, provide fresh fruits and water to boost energy and productivity.
• Provide healthier options at the cafeteria such as salad bars and healthier vending machine options.
• Instead of having sedentary brainstorming meetings, try having a walking meeting outside (weather permitting!)
• Offer wellness programs tailored to individuals to meet their specific needs.

Sure, incorporating healthier options and wellness programs might offer upfront costs, but a wealth of research indicates the savings in terms of workers’ compensation matters, sick time and overall employee health are significant.