Movie Making in the Netherlands

Right now I am at the AEGEE TV Media School in the Netherlands.

Here is the description of the event:
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Well, if you ever wanted to learn how to make movies, then we have good news for you! AEGEE-Eindhoven in collaboration with AEGEE.tv organizes the next Media School!

We will teach you all the basics of movie-making - from script writing to camera handling and editing. We will provide you with all the necessary equipment as well.

After the training weekend you will spend another five days making your own movies during the biggest European student event in Europe, the European Week Eindhoven, where hundreds of European students (including YOU!) will have the time of their life.
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Take a look at http://www.aegee.tue.nl/ms2007/ to see what we are doing there.

The Movies will be soon online at http://www.aegee.tv/.

What is Business Psychology

For those of you, who always wanted to know - what is Business Psychology and what can you do with it (actually you can do nearly everything with it, if you add some skills).

There is an interesting article (in German) about Business Psychology and what you can learn while studying it - enjoy.

I also found an interesting quote by Kurt Lewin that gives some insight into applied Business Psychology:

"Many psychologists working today in an applied field are keenly aware of the need for close corporation
between theoretical and applied psychology. This can be accomplished in psychology, as it has been accomplished in physics, if the theorist does not look toward applied problems with high eyebrow aversion or with a fear of social problems, and if the applied psychologist realizes that there is nothing so practical as a good theory".

PRESS II Follow Up - Next steps

The entry will be about the issues that we found about AEGEE.
It is a follow up of the discussions & mentor sessions we had during the Public Relations European School about how to improve AEGEE and bring it to the next level.

The basic idea is to start some projects about these issues in order to make AEGEE more successful as an NGO, more visible and stronger.

I added two documents about the SWOT Analyis that we did and my summary on (future) projects that we could start in order to improve AEGEE , make it more professional & efficient.

PRESS II Follow Up - Theory Lectures for download

As promised here are some of the theory lecutures we had at the the Public Relations European School 2 in Pecs.

For more informations visit AEGEE Academy and AEGEE Public Relations Working Group.

- Intro to AEGEE on AEHEE Europe Website
- Intro to Public Relations by Basak Tuzun
- Intercultural Communication by Kim Zwitserloot
   (I think this is a very underestimated point in most company marketing & communication)
- Bodylanguage& Basic Nlp
  (did you know that only 6% of our communication is verbal,
    93% is nonverbal - Bodylanguage and Voice Tone)
- Visual Communication by Virag Szabo
- Marketing communication & Branding by Patrick Hanckmann
- Media Planning – the concrete steps by Virag Szabo
- Written Communication by Julia Hoffmann
- Integrated PR - HR Strategy  by Julia Hoffmann
- Lobbying & Networking by Basak Tuzun
- Press Conference by Basak Tuzun
- Building a communication strategy by Patrick Hanckmann
- Corporate Identity by Mirjam Kibbeling

Connected Marketing - 2 chapters for free

Since I have gotten into the topic of Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing (in Germany they are more or less the same, cause Word of Mouth means translated Mundpropaganda - which doesn’t sound as good as Viral Marketing), I have read a lot of books about the topic.

One of the Books I really can recommend (yes - I`m doing word of mouth now), is the book Connected Marketing by Paul Marsden and Justin Kirby.

Now I found 2 free chapters for the book - so, those of you who want to get into the topic, you can read these chapters: "Seed to spread" by Dr. Paul Marsden and a chapter about "Creating Brand Advocates" by the CEO of Icemedia.

They also have some interesting Podcasts with some of the authors on their site.

I think they are quite useful - Enjoy.

Six degrees of separation @ Web 2.0

I was just checking the "Six degrees of separation" Theory for the Psychology Part of my Viral Marketing Thesis and encountered coincidently the Six Degrees Site of the Actor Kevin Bacon.

This site is a good example how you can use the possibilities of Web 2.0 for marketing your ideas and bringing it into different social networks. Through its structure (you can embed it into your Blog, put videos on it, donate money & tell it your friends...) and the celebrities advertising for it, the site has a good viral potential.

PR – the Art of getting Public Relations for free

I just read an interesting article about “Buzzworthy PR” in Connected Marketing. The author writes about the combination of PR and Word of mouth - the main idea of PR is not only free media exposure but also to get people talking positive about your brand.

If you are skilled in PR and Buzz marketing you can tailor the core messages of your brand in such a way, that people talk about it.

Graham Goodkind the author of this chapter writes:

“…what can you do as part of your marketing communications that will have at its core something that will spread through the media, get them excited and in turn have the power to break into the subject matter of the daily chitchat in the pub or around the water cooler? Doing this also forces you to go through some of the thought process needed to create a positive buzz dynamically and proactively for a brand, product or service…..”

What does this mean?

This means that PR can be a very powerful tool for companies and NGOs like AEGEE to get people talking about the brand, without having to pay for it.

If you want to know, why word of mouth (People talking positive about your brand) is so effective, check out the Article about “Net Promoter Score” in Harvard Business Manager and Dr. Paul Marsdens Article about Advocacy drives growth.

Public Relations European School II - PRESS 2 in Pecs

I just came back from the AEGEE Public Relations School in Pecs (Hungary).

All in All I have to say it was a great event, the local organizers from AEGEE Pecs did a great job as well as the trainers of AEGEE Academy.

The Training was a combination of theory lectures (I will put the PowerPoint slides with short explanations in my next Blog entry), workshops and case studies in international teams. My team, which worked on a detailed PR Strategy for the European Day of Languages, consisted of Ivan from Praha, Raluca from Bucharest and Maria from Kiev. Thanks to the team, it was great and efficient to work with you, let`s do it again.

Especially valuable for me were also the practical lessons we had:

- organizing and holding a Pressconferenz
- Dealing and networking with representatives of the media
- Visiting TV and radio stations to get an insight how they work
- Fundraising Negotiations with MOL – the biggest Hungarian Oil company
- Presentation of AEGEE in a School in Pecs
- Lobbying Night – approaching and networking with “VIPs” and “celebrities”
- The PR Café – where we talked about, how to combine our PR / Marketing knowledge with AEGEE
- Mentoring and Feedback from our high skilled trainers

I will follow up this Blog with some of my ideas on how to improve AEGEE (with Change Management and Brand Management strategies) and what we can do, to bring it to the next level.