Since my side hustle is teaching yoga, as well as teaching folks to become yoga teachers, I have responded to a lot of questions during the last few weeks related to how to deal with the stress. I honestly haven’t shared anything in my responses that you haven’t heard elsewhere, such as the importance of stepping away from the computer, limit your social media and news feeds as well as getting proper sleep and exercise. However, though following all of these suggestions myself the la...

Organizations like AGC are already working with Congress to make sure our construction industry stays strong (read story here), even though there are already instances of construction sites shut down.  Uncertainty is the only constant at this point.  Some of the questions the team at AOE is getting on a frequent basis right now include: Do we keep marketing? If so, what does that look like? Does our message change? In short, our opinion is yes, you keep marketing. But, yes, your m...

You probably already know that AOE has a long track record-of providing the industries we service with marketing, public relations, crisis communication and other consulting services. What you may not know is that a significant portion of our team has worked remotely since 2001. That gives us some expertise in how to be productive while working from home! Here are seven tips that will help you make the most of your time: Figure out a good routine. Some people may want to put on profess...

On Monday, March 16, AOE President Kimberly Kayler hosted a Facebook Live discussion on the importance of communicating in a crisis. You can view the discussion here. For your convenience, we have included the content of her video below. Hi. I am Kimberly Kayler, president of AOE. We are a consulting firm that provides everything from association management and back-end support operations like HR and accounting to marketing, social media, publishing and training services. We are also expert...

During the last few weeks, I have found myself asking the following question to colleagues and team members when they expressed frustration about not getting a reply to an email: “Have you tried calling?” And, the response was always no.I find it interesting that we are at a place in our business world in which not responding to each other is so commonplace. However, what is even more fascinating to this communications professional is that our response is to be frustrated, and it doe...

As someone trained and experienced in crisis management, I can’t help but look at any sort of catastrophe from a communications standpoint. The Coronavirus is no different. While I am not qualified to give medical advice, instruct whether or not you should wear a mask or weigh in on canceling your trip or not, I have strong opinions related to how we communicate in a time of crisis. In short, it is key that all organizations evaluate if some form of communication is necessary with their ta...

Having spent most of my career in the PR space, I am fascinated by the topic of how public relations is changing in today’s hyper-connected world.  More than ever before, public relations is, and should be, integrated into other functions within a marketing and sales department, as well as throughout the entire organization. PR hits HR, operations, marketing, sales, and other aspects of organizational culture. But, how does this all work?First, it is important to understand PR and its...

We are happy to share tips from AOE client Thomas Merritt, President of H.R. Gray, on engaging, motivating and developing your staff. I learned the power of the name early in my career when I worked for Columbus Mayor Dana Rinehart. Mayor Rinehart made it his practice to regularly recognize individual employees in meetings. By acknowledging these employees, he let them know he knew who they were and what they had accomplished.They not only experienced a sense of pride in their accomplishmen...

Today’s technological innovations are helping to break the boundaries of what is considered office space, and in the process, they are changing employee expectations. Thanks to mobile devices, cloud computing and Wi-Fi, more workers are choosing (or being moved to) work-from-home or contract/freelance positions. And as social media platforms continue to connect us and allow us to engage on a global level, employees will expect that same level of engagement professionally at the &ldquo...

Brainstorming is a great way to generate ideas on a specific topic within a group setting.  I recently attended a webinar which discussed techniques for tapping into positive and outside-the-box thinking.  This encourages individuals to take ownership of the project because they have played a role in the creative process and/or developmental stages.  Getting started Before you start your brainstorm session, set some ground rules to get things on the right track.&nbs...