Join us for Help a PR PRO Out Lunch Event this Friday!

We're hosting a "Help a PR PRO Out" event here at CHEN PR's building this coming Friday for HAPPO job seekers and potential employers. Doug Haslam is spearheading the event and we welcome the opportunity to share pizza and discussion for any who wish to attend (limit of 50).

Just click on the link and register. Hope to see you there!

http://happoboston.eventbrite.com/

Simmons: Angela Bassett, Tina Brown, Mia Farrow, Sheryl WuDunn

Just when you think they can't top last year's agenda, headlined by Diane Keaton, Simmons puts together another jaw-dropping line-up of luminaries. The school's 31st annual Leadership Conference will be held this year on Friday, April 30 at the Seaport World Trade Center Boston.

We're honored to be working with Simmons for the third year to promote this prestigious event. Here's the Globe coverage from today.

In addition to the outstanding women cited above, other notable speakers include:

• Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky – senior partner at WilmerHale, formerly the nation's chief trade negotiator
• Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard – associate professor at Simmons School of Management and senior faculty affiliate at its Center for Gender in Organizations
• Warren Brown – founder/owner of the CakeLove baking empire and host of the Food Network's Sugar Rush show
• Eileen McDargh – internationally renowned expert on organizational culture change and successful author
• Dr. Teresa Nelson – professor of entrepreneurship at the Simmons School of Management and director of its entrepreneurship program
• Ranjini Poddar – co-founder and president of Artech Information Systems, a global IT consulting firm employing 2600 professionals
• Roxana Saberi – Iranian-American journalist who was imprisoned in Iran for five months in early 2009
• Terry Savage – Emmy Award-winning commentator on personal finance and frequent guest on CNN, CNBC, PBS, and NBC
• Marie Savard, MD – medical contributor to ABC News and one of the country's most trusted voices on women's health and wellness
• David Meerman Scott – social media expert and author of the new hit book, World Wide Rave, as well as the bestselling The New Rules of Marketing & PR
• Irina Simmons – senior vice president and treasurer of high-tech giant EMC Corporation

The early registration ends on March 5, so hit the site now for tickets.

Simmons has gotten some great accolades in recent months. In the Fall, the School of Management (SOM) was ranked #1 in the nation for "Greatest Opportunities for Women" by Princeton Review. SOM also was named "One of the Top 20 Socially Responsible MBA Programs in the World" by the Aspen Institute.

Bands Battle, Everyone Wins at Xconomy's Battle of the Tech Bands

A rockin’ good time was had by all at this year’s Xconomy Battle of the Tech Bands 3 held at the Middle East in Cambridge. Whether you were a fan of electronic hip-hop, country-rock-soul, heavy metal or something in between, the face off between East coast and West coast left little to be desired as Boston bands attempted to defend their hometown honor against Seattle rivals.

The clash of guitars, drums, and tech minds led to loud noise and the winner of the third Battle of the Tech Bands, The Dirty Truckers, Boston’s own “gritty country rock band.” The Dirty Truckers, who were the 2009 audience favorite, won by a narrow margin of 182 votes to the 180 votes of electronica hipsters, Deadbeat Darling.

To kick off the party a little bit early, CHEN PR hosted an event before the Battle of the Bands at ZuZu, the restaurant upstairs at the Middle East. We were joined by clients and friends to socialize, drink and of course eat some of the great food. We had a great time and more than 60 people showed up—many of which joined us for the show afterward. Check out the pictures!

This Xconomy event was not only a fun time for those of us in local tech circles; it also helped generate some much-needed financial support for the Science Club for Girls and Year Up Boston. This year’s show raised $1,100 for each organization

Commonwealth and Nissan commit to zero-emission vehicle

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Nissan entered into an agreement this afternoon to advance zero-emission mobility throughout Mass. by promoting the development of an electric-vehicle charging network, as well as the necessary legislation to allow for adoption of such a network. The agreement was signed today at the Museum of Science, which hosted the event and featured the Nissan Leaf, the all-electric vehicle that hits the road this December. It was a promising sign for Massachusetts which, as Energy and Environment Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles mentioned, is competing hard for the top spot among environmentally responsible states in the country.

On top of the cool t-shirts Nissan was handing out, it was great to see some local companies get props for the work they're doing to advance electric transportation - including CHEN PR client and lithium-ion battery maker Boston-Power, who got a nice shout out from Secretary Bowles.

The car, as you can see, looks pretty sharp and I wouldn't be surprised to see them zigging and zagging across the state's highways by early next year.

Measuring Social Media

An interesting discussion was held this morning through the MassTLC on Measuring Social Media campaigns, led by K.D. Paine. Social media as we all know and experience daily has had an enormous impact on how companies communicate with their customers, future employees, prospects and competitors. Vehicles such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to name a few are an integral part of strategies to move from “eyeballs to engagement.”

Companies are effectively using social media for everything from fundraising to recruitment (Sodexo saved $300,000 on recruiting costs using Twitter) to measuring customer satisfaction. Measuring the success of a social media campaign depends of course on what a company is trying to accomplish, or what problem they are trying to solve. Katie shared her experience with setting up Key Performance Indicators and then tracking results through a combination of Web tools and human involvement (surveys, calls, etc.).

Reaching customers, prospects, friends, colleagues is moving faster and more immediate than ever. Consider:

Years to Reach 50 million Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.

Fasten your seat belt, it’s only going to accelerate.

Note: Katie has kindly sent along a link to her slides, which you'll find here.