What do you think?

Hiring Manager-

I like to make the complex simple.

From explaining to potential clients the benefits of doing business with us to writing newsletters and from creating marketing campaigns to internal communication, my specialty is helping people understand.

As an editor and writer for the last three years for kontakt magazine, I wore a variety of hats. I was responsible for most PR/Publicity duties, which included planning and promoting our yearly design fair (PCDF), hiring, training and supervising writers, developing both regional and national marketing plans in both print and web form, wrote a plethora of stories and was responsible for copyediting, rewriting and proofing the final issue.

During my time with Pearson, an international educational publishing company, I was an integral piece of the process that gave our Account Executives everything they needed to sell products from collateral to help with client events. I also produced the grand opening event at our Chandler office, which was attended by all 600 employees and nearly 200 area business leaders. I also wrote and produced a variety of business videos used for both internal and external communications.

I've also freelanced for nearly five years in a variety of collaborative efforts. I've done mainly PR and promotional work for small businesses, as well as copy and technical writing for small business websites and instructional manuals.

My current endeavor is social media and its ability to break barriers and create a true partnership with clients.

I look forward to speaking with you and showing you what an asset I could be. Thanks for your time.

What would you give up?

I'm training for my very first half marathon (PF Chang's) here in Phoenix in mid January. Now that I'm up to 4.5 miles at 9:15 per, I figured it was time to do a little more than just lift and run.

It's time to adjust my diet. This means getting rid of what's bad for me. Seeing as how I don't eat much fast food (nearly gave it up over a year ago and lost 40 lbs in the process) nor do I eat many high fat foods, something else needed to go.

I eat pretzels and drink Diet Coke like my life depends on it. I have no idea why, they are to me what chocolate and other sweets are to most people. I've been known to polish off a bag of pretzels on a Saturday, and multiple two liters over a weekend.

Sad, yes, and that salt intake, combined with the diuretic properties of soda, account for why I have to drink over a gallon of water a day just to quench my thirst.

So I'm giving them up. Today is my last day. I'll be replacing my snack needs with apples, cranberries and the occasional trail mix with, of course, good ol' fashioned water.

What have YOU given up in order to get healthier? Anything?

Christmas Tree

Today is the day my family brings home our Christmas tree. Do they go to a lot? No. Do they have a plastic tree? No.

They drive 2+ hours into the mountains, cut one down and bring it home, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation style.

For reasons unknown, I've never made this trek in the wilderness, I've either been working, or lately, 1600 miles away. Of all the traditions that I miss around this time of year, this is NOT one of them.

What sort of crazy traditions do you have? Ones you avoid?

Chad’s (@chadarizona) birthday bash!

A little background here…

We know it’s not Friday night, but it’s time to celebrate. Our very own Chad Swaney (that’s @chadarizona for those of you who only know him via Twitter) will be turning 29 again and we’d like to congratulate him on his persistence.

Join us here…

You’ll find the group at Sidebar (review and address) located just above Starbucks and Pei Wei on the southwest corner of 7th Ave and McDowell. Parking is sparse, so be ready to park a little bit down the street.

Feel free to show up at…

We’re planning on being there at 8pm. Feel free to show up earlier or later, but if you miss out on saying Happy Birthday to Chad, he might cry. I don’t want to see Chad cry, so make sure you are there when he is.

Questions?

If you have questions like what do we do at Sidebar or who the hell is Chad Swaney and why is his nickname @chadarizona, I suggest you get out less and learn to drink and/or use the internet. For other questions like is anyone there yet or how’s the tail, feel free to get a hold of @tdhurst. He’s seldom on time to these things, but he’s good at making up stories to get people to show up places.

Presents?

Feel free to bring gifts, but I’m sure Chad would prefer a drink or seven. Maybe 10. He’s had a tough week.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped promote this event. Hope to see you there!

Is it okay to be critical of your current company?

In an age where everything is public, we now have the ability to make our thoughts known to everyone. Publish a picture, write a blog or tweet something negative, rest assured everyone will read it.

As part of an interview, I was asked if I thought it was okay to be critical of my current company here on the internet. My answer?

Yes.

But only to a point.

It's important not to complain, whine or simply bitch. It's also imperative you don't share any company secrets or publish information meant for your eyes only.

That being said, honesty is key here. Be critical. Offer solutions. Back up your points. Stick with what you know.

Ideas, questions, comments, criticism?

More douchebaggery on Twitter...

-who cares how many followers you have? It's not a contest.

-don't call out people who unfollow you. You're either annoying, uninteresting or just don't mesh with everyone. Deal with it.

-stop telling us random stuff that your mom wouldn't even care about. No one cares what you are thinking about on the road you are driving on.

-give us opinions, observations, humor or questions. Don't contribute crap.

Letter to Pearson CEO #3

Third time's a charm.

I took a different approach to this email. Instead of emailing it directly to our International CEO, I included our North American CEO and all the Executive Vice-Presidents that I knew about.

It worked. I've managed to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the Executive VP of Marketing for the first week of December.

Now I just need to make sure I know what I'm talking about.

I edited out the return email from my employer here. My better judgment escaped me for a short time, as it's never a good idea to publish information not intended for public consumption without permission.

Yes, I know this won't erase it from the timeless monster that is the internet and I'm glad to have learned this lesson.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Hurst, Tyler
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 3:18 PM
To: O'Connor, David
Cc: Cohen, Peter; Scardino, Marjorie; Ethridge, Will
Subject: Thoughts on Web 2.0 and Social Media offerings



Why doesn’t Pearson have podcasts? Why aren’t we interviewing actual teachers, showing them what we’re working on, and them asking them for input in a transparent, completely public setting? We could ask them their views on teaching initiatives, problems in the classroom and what they would like in order for this to work. Having regular, informal conversations would be a great way to really connect with our clients instead of just marketing to them.

I’ve heard of the projects Corporate Communications has been working on, but over-produced author videos is just another way of using old media techniques in an entirely new realm. With emerging technologies like Twitter and other Social Media applications, it doesn’t seem that Pearson has immersed itself in the real phenomenon, which is a conversation with our prospective clients. After attending PodCampAZ (www.podcampaz.org) I’ve realized there are so many little things that small companies are doing that are making them extremely successful. All of us from large companies (Pearson, Intel, Microsoft) were there only for our own benefit for side projects. There’s such an untapped talent pool there.

How great would it be to have iPhone versions of our products? EnVision Math-lite? Sure, not every student would be able to access it, but it would be a free download. The ability for teachers to upload short quizzes for further review would at the best least be a compelling news story.

It feels that the education market is always about ten years behind the tech world, and I understand we move with that, but why can’t a small portion of what we do be looking ahead? If it’s intimate, conversational and easily accessible, people will listen. Techies will listen. Pearson will be recognized as not only an educational giant, but a forward thinking company capable of setting and influencing policy rather than just making what we have better.



1. Intel, IBM and Mozilla (Firefox) have techs that monitor twitter allowing for nearly real-time feedback for people with questions. That could be an excellent free tool that teachers could use to do the same. Search.twitter.com would be all that is needed. I used this to find out about problems regarding video footage and bloggers at a San Antonio conference earlier this year. People really appreciated it, although I made it clear I could offer them no real solution.

2. iPhone apps would be a great way of accessing extra Pearson content. Teachers could offer mini quizzes and extra learning for those that were interested or had access. Sure, not everyone has an iPhone or iPod Touch, but a ton of kids do. Mobile internet use is sure to supplant the desktop for most users.

3. Podcasts are a great way of getting our message out. Imagining touring out customers, interviewing second grade teachers, high school instructors and college profs about our material? Short, five-minute snippets easily uploadable to iTunes or YouTube and properly tagged. You could even interview our own people, especially designers, programmers and writers about how our products are made and where they come from. Considering we look to many like a faceless company, this could be a huge step in humanizing what it is that we do.

4. I’d love to help with any of this. I see so much potential in Pearson and am disappointed to see that we tend to try to reinvent the wheel (what is Pearsonville supposed to be?) or rely on amateur footage (search YouTube for Pearson, what you see will make you cringe a little). This project wouldn’t take a lot of money, just someone who knows what they’re doing.

Thanks so much for your time!