Stage Door Canteen tickets for vets; donors needed

(TOLEDO, OH) – Honor Flight Northwest Ohio and area volunteers will recreate a Stage Door Canteen event here in Northwest Ohio for our World War II veterans. The original stage door canteens offered servicemen nights of dancing, entertainment, food and nonalcoholic drinks, and opportunities to rub elbows with celebrities.

• Where: Facilities of the 180th Fighter Wing of Swanton, Ohio
• When: May 21, 2011 (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

Veterans must request tickets

Area World War II veterans need to request tickets to attend this event by contacting Honor Flight NW Ohio at hfnwo@bex.net or by calling Marti at 419-382-3569.

This event is first come-first serve and tickets are non-transferable. The Stage Door Canteen will be hosted by the 180th Fighter Wing at its Swanton, Ohio facilities with strict security and limited seating.

How Can I Help?

Honor Flight NW Ohio and the 180th Fighter Wing are building sponsorships and volunteer opportunities for this event. There are several ways you can help. Please consider a Stage Door Canteen donation to Honor Flight NW Ohio, which will help with the costs of staging this event. All additional funds will be used by Honor Flight NW Ohio to sponsor veterans on future Honor Flights.

How Can I Donate to Stage Door Canteen?

Go to Honor Flight Northwest Ohio website www.honorflightnwo.org and donate via PayPal. Or mail a donation (note Stage Door Canteen on your check):

• Honor Flight NW Ohio
• P.O. Box 23018
• Toledo, Ohio 43623
• Attention: Stage Door Canteen

Find more information on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stagedoorcanteennwohio.

Five things to avoid if you stage a get-to-know interview

 

The Library of Congress

 

You want to break the ice, gain information, and meet someone for a one-on-one discussion. Social media provides an opportunity to produce a ‘warm call’ and collect basic information on a connection before your first conversation. Thanks to social media you will never again waste time nattering about the weather or looking for visual clues to a build a conversation.

A Google search provides a quick summary of LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, Twitter and YouTube channels, blogs posts and comment threads. You’re golden, unless you skip this step.

Five things to avoid doing in a first meeting

1. Call someone by the wrong first name, repeatedly, even after they have handed you a business card (with their name on it).
2. Accept a business card (and pocket it) without looking at the card.
3. Claim that you’re familiar with their blog and that you’ve read their blog . . . and then ask them what they write about.
4. Be mystified by a term that was discussed in an introductory email and found in multiple blog posts and tags.
5. Talk a lot. Listen a little.

Cold calls are out, ‘warm calls’ are in – if you actually use them to your advantage.

5 ways to make my job mind-numbingly simple with your press release

Yes, that headline might be a typical thought-bubble for most of the few remaining news organization staffers.

Processing content for the next day’s edition with one-two . . . 20 fewer staff is a race against the clock. Then there is factoring in lunch – except for the web editor, who works through – as each department manager makes a decision on a digital or print notice. 

 

Trim your content

Which press release moves you to action from the wave of appeals that appear each day?

The ones that are short, lead with summaries, nix the jargon, give a firm time element and offer instant reference and contact details.

Not that those journalists are lazy, but they must do much more with much less every day. I guarantee that a press release that receives attention pays attention to these five elements:

1.      Short. One page. Add links to support and reference.

2.      Summary. I have pared down the epic, wordy lead of many a young reporter. Don’t add to my pile.

3.      Jargon. I know, you know. Just tell me in English.

4.      Time element. I have a deadline. Does this help me for today’s edition, weekend, next week?

5.      Contact details. OK, I’m interested. Put the contact info for follow-up at the top and bottom of your press release.

I do agree with Julie Cantu that consistency and regular production are also key.

Write tight, write right, rinse, repeat.