But this afternoon I was thinking about how people say those webcams make doing their jobs so much harder for the staff at the facility, and make them worry about their personal safety, and give Memphis a bad name and could be taken out of context and all the other things they say about the webcams.

I typically responded to that by saying, “Yeah, well, at least you’re not being dragged to your death under horrible circumstances,” but you know what?

What we’re seeing on those cameras is cruelty to animals, but it’s also cruelty to the people who work at MAS. If it’s not making them wake up screaming every night with terror-filled dreams, then it’s eroding their compassion and deadening their empathy. It’s consuming their humanity, one needle full of Fatal-Plus at a time.

We know this because we’ve been told again and again by people who do it what the effect of shelter killing is on them. We can see it right in front of us when we look at those webcam shots, and imagine how the shelter workers have to shut their eyes to the terror of the dogs they drag down that hall.

Have to watch a garbage can full of squirmy puppies grow still and stop moving.

Have to see the rigid terror of the cat at the end of the catchpole relax into death.

Have to do it over and over again, hundreds of pets a week, an avalanche of death and fear and piss and shit. It never ends. Three out of four dogs and cats who come in the doors of the building where they work are going to be fed by them and watered by them and then dragged or carried down that long hallway, step by fearful step, until they’re killed.

And one day, they just can’t care anymore. And that’s the day a part of them dies, too.

So even if you think that Memphis is doing the best it can for the animals — which it’s not — tell me, do you think it’s doing the best it can for the people who work there?

Imagine for a few minutes that instead of experiencing this:

… the staff at the Memphis Animal Shelter, like their counterparts at the Nevada Humane Society, could feel like this:

It’s not impossible. It could happen.

Here’s how.

Photos: Top, a MAS staffer and a terrified dog. Bottom, two Nevada Humane Society staffers celebrating an adoption.

This morning the Miami Herald published an editorial exhorting local activists to “put down their signs” and unite to help the new shelter director do a better job for the animals of Miami-Dade.

Specifically, it urged them to abandon their current form of activism — organized protest — and instead work to implement and support spay/neuter programs, calling them “the only proven method to bring down the shelter population.”

To paraphrase Senator Daniel Moynihan, the Miami Herald, like all of us, is entitled to its own opinions — but not its own facts.

Spay/neuter programs, while essential, are not the “only proven method” of reducing shelter population.

Innovative return to owner programs — like those in Reno, Nev., and Calgary, Alberta — have been proven to bring down shelter population.

Foster care programs have been proven to bring down shelter population.

Aggressive, creative adoption programs have been proven to bring down shelter population.

Owner retention programs — support and assistance to pet-owners who are struggling to keep, feed or get vet care for their pets — have been proven to bring down shelter population.

Great community relations so you can have lots of rescue groups, volunteers, supporters and donors to help get pets rehabbed, treated and adopted have been proven to bring down shelter population.

Bringing in great people who know how to get community and local government support has been proven to bring down shelter population.

A good relationship with the media, in order to get the word out to the community about adoptions as well as spay/neuter and owner retention support, has been proven to bring down shelter population.

Putting the entire burden of improving shelter intake and shelter numbers on spay/neuter just creates a sense of helplessness in everyone currently working to save animals, from the local government to the shelter director to the local media to the volunteers, staff and rescue groups all the way out to the entire community.

That’s because spay/neuter is always “someday.” It does nothing to save the lives of animals already born, nor those in the shelter right now. This means people put all their effort and energy into something without any immediate reduction in the suffering and death of their community’s animals. It’s demoralizing.

All those other proven programs, on the other hand, create excitement. They give people a sense of purpose. They create immediate gratification, thus rewarding volunteers, activists, employees, fosterers and rescuers for their efforts — which typically causes people to try even harder.

The animals those programs save are also pretty glad about it.

It’s possible, Miami Herald, to ask your community to come together and get a job done without asserting as a proven truth something that isn’t so, and asking them to embrace a paradigm that is both ineffective and demoralizing.

By all means, beg them to keep your community’s low-cost spay/neuter program in place. But to say that’s the whole game? You are doing your community, its animals and the shelter staff and director a huge, huge disservice.

Pepper sent his letter of resignation to Director Janet Hooks on August 9.

Pepper was named to the position in February of 2010.  In the year since he took the job, the shelter has been plagued with problems, including employees charged with animal cruelty.

Blogger Shirley Thistlewaite at Yes Biscuit!, who has been covering problems at MAS relentlessly for more than a year now, had this to say:

He leaves in his wake a city pound in turmoil, with one ACO facing criminal charges on multiple counts of animal cruelty, daily webcam images which appear to show needless killing and abuse, and locks on the doors to the stray area where hundreds of dogs languish without hope.

I hope, with all my heart, that the annual slaughter of thousands of healthy, friendly Memphis pets ends here.

[....]

This is your moment Memphis.  You have a choice.  Please, stop the abuse.  Stop the killing.

From your keyboard to Dog’s ears, Shirley.

Photo: Just one of thousands of heartbreaking images from the MAS webcam, as published on Yes Biscuit!

Seriously — if I see one more “shelter” defend their killing rate by proudly pointing out they’re “open admission,” I’m going to scream. I think continuing to take in animals you have no room for is stupid and immoral, and ten times more so when you then turn around and kill them. And to brag about it? Are you nuts?

Take the Michigan Humane Society, which kills nearly three-quarters of the animals it takes in, does not hold an animal control contract, and proudly brags that it’s “open admission.” I have a suggestion for you, MHS: Close your freaking door and stop killing all those animals.

That goes for Memphis Animal Shelter, too. They recently justified their kill rate, also around 75 percent, by saying they are the only  “open admission” shelter in their entire region.

Using the term “open admission” this way is the latest iteration of the “there’s no such thing as ‘no-kill,’ it’s just ‘someone else kill’” defense. Essentially it’s the implication that as long as strays are taken in and people are given the option of seeking shelter for a pet anytime and for any reason, the only possible outcome is that some — often most — of those animals will be killed by the very organization that takes them in. If they were “no kill,” by this logic, they’d say “no” to some pet owners, who would just head for the “shelter” up the road that would say “yes” and then kill them.

Why do they think it’s moral to take in animals you’re only going to turn around and kill? Because of the “fate worse than death” defense.

Essentially organizations like this contend that an “open door” to animals who will be killed is preferable to an uncertain fate on the other side of that door.

Are there really only two options for these pets, death or “a fate worse than death”? Of course not.

Just look at Washoe County, Nev., and Calgary in Alberta, Canada, where innovative return-to-owner programs have reduced the intake and sheltering of stray dogs to such low numbers that the community can save the few who aren’t able to go back to their families.

And look at shelters experimenting with making appointments for owner surrenders, places like PAWS Chicago. They save enough space in their program so they can take in urgent cases on the spot. However, they ask other pet owners to make arrangements for a future surrender date.

What they’ve found is that that most people are fine with that, knowing that if things become urgent the door is open, but happy to know that their pet will be given the shelter’s full attention and a careful, loving re-homing at a planned, future moment.

Anecdotally, and this is something I think most rescuers have seen, I’ve observed that once a person knows there is an “out” from the pressure and stress of whatever is leading them to give up their pet, they sometimes see their way clear to keeping the pet, or become more able to find the pet a home themselves, or at least, they get enough relief from the stress of worrying about it that they’re okay waiting for a little while.

Since there’s no data that I’m aware of — and if you know of some, I’d like to see it! — demonstrating that the “open door” does  a better job of preventing these pets from being abandoned than programs like that do, you’d think it would be a moral imperative for self-described “shelters” to not take in animals they’re going to turn around and kill, and give those programs a try.

Instead, they keep that damn door open as wide as possible and then brag about it — even though what they’re really bragging about is bad management, a lack of planning, and a failure to implement creative alternative strategies that are working in other communities.

All in the name of finding a scrap of moral high-ground to stand on while taking another pull from the bottle of Fatal-Plus.

Then there was the lunchtime talk on Saturday, given by Seth Godin. Seth is one of the best speakers and thinkers out there these days. If you’re not familiar with him, I urge you to read his books, particularly “Tribes.” Additionally, if you ever get a chance to see Seth’s presentation in person, please don’t pass it up. He’s worth every second. Seth talked about how our methods of communication, and therefore how we interact with each other have been revolutionized in the past decade. He challenged the No Kill 2011 attendees to not wait for someone else to take the initiative in transforming their city’s shelter philosophy, but to be that visionary. There may only be one Nathan Winograd, but there is always room for the next Bonney Brown or Ryan Clinton to step up and grab the initiative. Why didn’t I blog Seth’s speech? I was too busy paying attention. His slide show alone is worth the price of admission. Also, I was eating lunch.

That brings us to the most important conversation of the weekend for me. Sunday morning, I joined Christie and Shirley Thistlethwaite (of YesBiscuit! fame) for breakfast at a downtown hotel. Shirley’s work on the ongoing tragedy in Memphis alone makes her an indispensable voice in the No Kill blogging community. It’s been more than a year since I composed a news roundup before checking in to see what Shirley’s up to first. She’s always working hard, staying current, and challenging the powers that be to protect the dogs and cats that are still being killed at an alarming rate from sea to shining sea.

Christie, Shirley and I talked about Seth’s charge to the conference, particularly in light of what is taking place in Memphis. Dogs and cats are dying, and it’s expected the webcam that afforded Shirley the glimpse into the horrors at the Memphis Animal Shelter will be shut down. My question was who is (or would be soon) taking the lead on the ground? I suggested that someone needs to “fire on Fort Sumter.”

Before the Civil War started, the question of slavery was on everyone’s tongue. The rumors of an impending showdown bubbled for years.  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” woke the nation to the horrors of what slavery really meant to the degradation and destruction of innocent human beings. Still, until Fort Sumter was fired upon and the the war began in earnest, the issue wasn’t going to be decided. That one event finally lit the fuse. In Memphis, in New York state, and other regions of the country, innocent animals are being slaughtered daily, and we’re waiting for the battle to be joined. I’m a journalist, and I’d like to hope that over the sweltering weekend in Washington, I witnessed the kindling of a renewed fight against the forces of inertia, laziness and expediency. But if nobody steps up, this golden opportunity to make a difference is squandered. We can’t afford that, and most importantly, dogs and cats everywhere can’t afford it. They’re not just numbers. They’re furry balls of love, and their fate sits squarely in the hands of the people who listened to Seth Godin’s challenge on Saturday to stand up and take a chance.

Nathan, Ryan, Christie and other speakers sketched out the requirements for the next generation of leaders. Now it’s up to the No Kill 2011 attendees to heed Seth Godin’s challenge. They must create their own road maps. The resistance against change is intense and intimidating. Success will require much more than a love of animals. It demands a steadfast refusal to compromise.

Real No Kill progress from the new generation of shelter directors will depend on imagination, determination, compassion, and a stubborn resolve to not allow killing as an option. Only time will tell, and I’d suggest the place to watch today is Memphis. Has Shirley’s bright spotlight spurred real change? Will someone answer Seth Godin’s call? Will we see the next great success story to follow Austin, Charlottesville and Reno?  If so, we can pronounce this past weekend a triumph. If not, more animals will pay the price.

The panel is being moderated by Ryan Clinton of FixAustin.org (another community that’s been saving 90 percent for several months now), and includes Bonney Brown of the Nevada Humane Society, Reva Laituri of the No Kill Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter in Marquette, Mich., Mitch Schneider of Washoe County Animal Control, Michael Linke, Director of the Royal SPCA in Tasmania, Australia, and Suzane Kogut, the Executive Director of the Charlottesville SPCA, an open admission animal control shelter that is celebrating its fifth year of no-kill.

The panel opens with Mitch Schneider talking about the public-private partnership between animal control and the Nevada Humane Society. He was “against” no-kill, thought it was a divisive term, but when Washoe County decided to go no kill and brought in Bonney Brown, he figured he’d just “do my job and stay out of her way.” But that didn’t last:  “She changed our world for the better.”

Bonney points out that Nevada Humane takes ALL Washoe County’s owner surrendered pets.

Mitch: In a transformation in ANY field, you can retrain a third, fire a third, and a third will quit.

Bonney says that’s pretty much what happened at Nevada Humane — only four original staffers left.  Says board became receptive after a scandal damaged the shelter’s image in the society.

She says that all team members have to be on board with the mission. Tough decisions are what you’re being paid to make and the animals lives depend on it. You will have to fire people.

Susanne Kogut: Their board also wanted to do something different – thought her ideas were crazy. They told her she couldn’t use the term “no-kill,” and she said that it was her best tool for fundraising and community support. “Good thing I have trouble with authority.” She said it anyway and one day the board started saying it, too.

“Do not hate or make your community mad at you; you absolutely need them to do this.” “Need a passion to save lives and a relentless determination to succeed.”

Once to quit once a month and seriously, 5 or 6 times. “You just gotta push through it and keep going, because you fundamentally know you’re doing the right thing…. because it’s all about the animals.”

Ryan: Reva, you were the president of a board of directors. Didn’t have control of the shelter, but you had a vision. How did  you see something many boards of directors don’t? And what’s it like doing this transition from the board.

Reva: Got on board in early 80s until mid-90s. Came back around 10  years later.

We had around 60 percent adoption rate when she left, but when  she came back they were killing over 60 percent.

She went to conferences given by big national groups with the shelter director, and realized she got a lot of rhetoric  from her, maybe burnout or bad experiences. Adoption procedure was ridiculous.  People called them “animal nazis” who would rather kill than adopt. Couldn’t keep volunteers, high turnover of staff. Donations down. Everything was bad.

Then in 2006 got introduced to “Meet Your Match” and the philosophy that you let the adopter take ownership of the process.

Also, more visionaries on board.

Director was always poking a stick  in the wheel, would go behind the scenes and do things against new rules, making adoptions harder.

In 2007, another board member read Redemption, and the board started making a lot of changes. The director wouldn’t go along with it, found out director was lying to the board, and in July of 2007, she resigned. She had resigned before and board had always begged her to stay, but this time they said “Thank you.”

In her last six months she did her best to obstruct change (resignation was effective six months later, which she says in retrospect was  mistake).

Director left the animal welfare movement.

Ryan: “Which is probably a good thing for animals.”

Ryan asks Michael Linke about the toll of the transition on relationships. Staff of 60, only has 2-3 remaining. “You have to make tough decisions sometimes.”

Discussion of working with union workers — know your laws.

Ryan asked Mitch, what do you do when you have shelter directors who aren’t interested in saving lives/

Mitch: Dealing with someone who is entrenched in old thinking, doesn’t want to change, cause failure. He worked with someone like that who ended up retiring, then the fight was with the people who sided with the old guy. Most of the people changed “kicking and screaming.”

Ryan: But why were YOU reachable, as a self-described former no-kill hater/

Mitch: “No-kill” was always used as a weapon against animal control by humane societies and rescue groups, traditionally. But I didn’t come into animal control as a profession, had a lot of experience as a trainer, saw pet owners differently and wanted to treat them as I’d like to be treated. I believe in doing the right thing for the right reasons. Not to say I’ve never made mistakes, but I’m always trying to do the right thing for the right reason. Gov’t should never stand in the way of no-kill — there’s no logical justification for it.

His love of logic is why he has focused on return to owner. Dog’s better off, owner’s better off, taxpayer’s better off.Around 65 percent return to owner rate for stray dogs. Seventy five percent are back to owner same or or next day.

“We hire staff who love animals but are asked to do the ‘dirty deed’.”

Michael started in animal welfare 2-3 years before “Redemption” came down. People who worked in that industry told him that they were just a “recycling center” and couldn’t worry about the animals they killed, and he said it took him almost no time to realize he didn’t want anything to do with that way of doing things.

Within 8-9 months were rehoming more than 90 percent dogs.

Figured it was ridiculous to kill to create space for another pet, “You have to solve the problem in front of your face first, not just kill them.”

Susanne: Planning needs to be fast, short-term and flexible. Don’t waste time planning for things that might never happen.

Bonney: There’s a lot of power in just doing it and seeing what happens. There’s always more than one good solution. Our challenge was just to think of one of those solutions. As Seth Godin said yesterday, people are looking for a leader. Just stand up and say, now we’re going to do this. You can’t be terribly risk-averse. Show great confidence to your staff and they will rise to the occasion. Doubt and negativity are contagious, but so is a can-do attitude.  I think we don’t see more no-kill communities because people are timid, and think “What if this, what if that.”

But Bonney says she does like documentation and setting things up like manuals, because it needs to be able to keep happening without her.

“Create and adjust.” The “create” part is really important. When you’re doing it, you keep adjusting it. It doesn’t have to be perfect right out of the gate.

Susanne: Eliminate “we can’t because” and “it won’t work because.” Focus on solutions, not what won’t work. If you can’t offer a solution, just shut up.

Mitch: Document what you’re doing, and as things work, make them part of your policy and procedures. Leave people who come behind you a road map. Bonney and Mitch aren’t going to live forever.

Ryan: Now, speed-dating questions. No comments, no experiences.

Q to Reva: Why didn’t you accelerate the resignation of your director?

A: We should have.

Q to Bonney: How increase adoptions and foster homes?

A: Customer service, streamlining adoption process, making it friendly. We see lots of adoptions each day, adopters only adopt a few pets in their lifetime. They’re heroes! Make a big deal about it! Let them leave your shelter feeling really good!

Susanne added marketing, don’t make it so hard — true with fosters too. Don’t put up a lot of barriers. The minute someone wants to do it, don’t make a big process out of it. If they walk in the door to foster, send them home with some kittens!

Q: Have any of you made complete career path changes and did any of you take a big step backward to do it?

A: Susanne: Do you mean in how much you make? Absolutely. But it’s about how you define success in your life.  I was doing very well financially in the corporate world, but I wanted what I did with my life to have meaning. It was a huge step back financially, but what I have is myself. As hard as it is at the end of the day, I know that I’ve made a difference in animals’ lives.

Q: For Mitch, what is RTO program secret?

A: Ah, you should have gone to my show! Email me mshneider@washoecounty.us. I will send you my white paper.

(Missed a couple of questions when I had a brief computer issue, sorry.)

Q: Best tool to reach out to communities?

Susanne: Cute animals! All the other non-profits hate us.

Reva: Community ownership. People can sponsor part of adoption fee, advertising, vaccination, cat condos — we get the money like nobody’s business. We acknowledge them right on the page. People love that. Our website is a lot of people’s home page.

Q: During first 6 months- 1yr, during staff turnover, how do you find new staff and keep up morale of staff that’s there?

Michael: We were open and honest with existing staff.

Susanne: You are better off with a person who has no knowledge and doesn’t want to sabotage everything than the reverse.

When we breed label a dog we are making behavioral predications. But, we’re virtually always wrong….

What’s a Pit Bull? Descriptions vary across the board. When we look at a dog, we’re guessing, but 75% of the breed label predictions in shelters are wrong.

There is no behavior that’s unique to one kind of dog. – Aimee Sadler, Longmont Humane Society, CA

The well-known myths and generalizations abound….terriers, dog-aggressive, high pain threshold, enormous prey drive, will do anything to please.

Cropped ears are a fashion statement (or an attempt at one). Scars happen for a multitude of reasons. Making an assumption on a dog based on scars provides no useful information. Dogs are individuals.

Policies and practices

You will be successful and fulfill your mission and manage risk when you:

Observe the dog, document observations, disclose known facts, stick to the facts, transfer ownership to the new owner.

There are lots of discriminatory policies –

If you have special restrictions on PB adopters, screening processes, mandatory training just for PB’s, special screening process, you are being counterproductive and harming your mission.

Have your cutest, best behaved and friendliest PB work up front as the greeter.

Teach your PB’s cute little parlor tricks: high five, pray, etc.  Don’t give away free lunches, keep them busy, exercise their minds. Find good energy outlets.

Best marketing practices:

Happiness sells, sadness repels. Emphasize the human-canine bond. Take photos at dog level, not from overhead. Happy dogs are just plain cuter.

Have the PB pose with the white fluffies and the goldens. Include local landmarks and popular spots. Picture dogs already living in the community. Use costumes and props. They work (even if you think they’re absurd).

Stop naming your dogs Tank. Give them cute names – ICarly, Hanna Montana

Get yourself a video flip or good quality camera. Use it liberally.

Make business cards for your dogs! It’s easy, you can do it on a computer. Give the dog a vest, with business cards in the pocket. Take your most adoptable PB’s to a parade, dressed up in a cute outfit. Market them…with business cards! Promote shamelessly.

Polling whether attendees’ orgs have PR departments. Vast majority do not.

Alienation with the media happens needlessly, and can be prevented. If you don’t like what the press is doing, perhaps it’s your message that isn’t being pitched correctly.

Think about who you’re talking to. Not just who are you targeting, but also consider sportcasters, media entertainment reviewers, meteorologists, etc. These people have pets, too, and they haven’t heard your message yet. If you’re looking for adopters, donors, volunteers, they are the people you’re trying to reach that you may not have already reached.

Expand who your message is being delivered to, but rethink what your message IS. The ask shouldn’t be re-layered with cluttered extraneous stuff. Ask for ONE thing. The point of your request should be crystal clear. The reporters, bloggers, broadcasters, editors and other columnists who get your issues are a tiny sliver of the media people who have pets.

As Ryan Clinton says, develop relationships. Dan Rather once said the most difficult challenge for people trying to do investigative pieces is when you know the names of the your target’s grandchildren. Take media figures out for coffee. Media figures are people, too. Become a human being to them, not just someone shilling the issue you care about.

Some media markets are tougher than others, but the basic rules still apply. The difference is New York has MORE media outlets, and more choices to disseminate the message(s). Sometimes small publications like the Village Voice can have a larger impact than the size of their readership/viewership might suggest.

In meetings Christie attends of the Dog and Cat Writers Association of America, folks trade war stories about the truly awful press releases they’ve seen. Incomprehensibly bad. Poorly written, misspellings, you name it. If you’re going to write a press release, please:

Make sure you include:

Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Are you having a cat adoption event? Make sure you include the address. The time, too. Why are you doing it? Give us the reason, and make it ONE sentence, not War & Peace. If they want to know more, they’ll ask you. Make it succinct.

Additionally, there’s one element that needs to be included that gets wasted the most. It’s the first sentence. We journalists call that the lede. We don’t know why we spell it that way, we just do. The lede has one purpose only: to make the reporter want to read the rest of your press release!

If you’re going to use statistics, you’d better know where they came from, and that they’re TRUE. Never throw out a number if you can’t prove it. Your integrity will be undermined immediately.

Spellcheck is mandatory. Grammar check, too. Have a second person read it over before it goes out the door, if necessary. Read it backwards, if you have to. That always works… very old journalist trick we all learn in J School or our first reporting job.

Political advocacy isn’t as hard in smaller towns than it is in big cities. The people involved are your neighbors. If there’s a press release that’s inaccurate, respond with a directly focused press release. Direct it to the audience who responded to the first press release. Set the record straight with concise, well-researched facts. Take emotion out of it. Don’t recount the history of your struggle. Don’t rant. Address the issue head on, from a position of power – you’re not just representing yourself, you’re representing a larger audience.

In New York, they violated the state’s open meeting law by holding a critical meeting in a room too small for the audience. That’s the issue, not “OMG, puppies are dying! Mobilize!” Hysteria is badly counter-productive, and will turn people off. You become the crazy cat lady, and little more.

Stay professional. The “From:” line needs to be from an organization, not a person. You’re representing an organization, not just you and your best friend.

The subject line might not always be as important as you might think. Just be factual, not cutesy. Your lede will still always be what counts. That’s your hook.

Relationship building also includes writing thank you notes (emails) to reporters for giving them coverage. Liking the facebook page of that news station or reporter and thanking them on facebook for their coverage is also beneficial.

Creating media lists one at a time. Start on Google, and enter “[issue] [name of town]” and as you search google news on the issue, you’ll find reporters who covered your story, determine whether or not they’re sympathetic to your story, and the story will routinely include an email address for followup. If it’s an old link/story, perhaps make sure the reporter is still with the outfit, first. There’s lots of movement in the news industry.

There’s a time and place to pitch an emotional response to a reporter on a hot-button issue (see: any story involving the name Michael Vick), but as a rule, that’s not what works the most frequently or the most effectively. The list of media contacts you build should include a notation of whether they have pets. You might not watch the news on TV much, but if you do, you watch the weather, don’t you? And when it’s hot, the first image they show is a dog running through a sprinkler. When the weather guy mentions his Golden Retriever Sammy has been sitting in the back yard wading pool all day because it’s so hot (with a picture of Sammy), write him a note telling him how great it was to see Sammy’s picture on air, how adorable he was, and that on behalf of your Golden Retriever Rescue you love that he was mentioned. Signed, Joe Smith, president, local Golden Retriever Rescue.

Make that connection. Telling someone, even the news guy, that you like their dog, is like saying you love their kids. It’s always good.

Old media vs. new media

Bloggers don’t have traditional “deadlines.” We need the response NOW. You can’t get back to us later. Think creatively, but don’t forget traditional media as well.

“Wake me when something happens”…Be newsworthy: When you send a press release, make it important. Make it immediate. And make it enthusiastic. When you have a press release, there has to be a real story behind it. You can’t continue to get a story out when it’s done. It’s all immediate. History isn’t going to get attention.

Talks about additive summation. Used Pres. Obama asking everyone to call congressional reps last week, they call — and crash the phone system — but they also post to reps’ Facebook pages, protest outside of their offices, etc. Hit them everywhere, they’re more likely to budge.

Same for us if we want to mobilize people we know. Reach with Twitter, Facebook, signage, talking in coffee shop, house parties, dog-washing parties. Bring people together, spread the message. We know repetition works with messaging. When we hear from more than one source, there’s this thing called “source amnesia,” they may not remember where they heard the message, but they remember the message.

Social media. “Here Comes Everybody.”

The way things were: Talks about email lists of the past. Email is a closed communication loop.

The way things are now: Eg, Congress can’t ignore FB, Twitter, etc. on social networks is because the world can see. Because the reason most people are there is to share what they find.

Social is not intrusive. It’s not in your email box. It’s just in your news stream. That is the nature of the platform. It’s there, then it’s gone, you don’t have to do anything about it if you don’t want to.

Members of Congress may not care to hear from non-constituents by email, phone, via web contact, but they have to care that people from anywhere can shut down their Facebook page with posts, or organize to raise money for their opponent.

You can’t target everyone. You have to focus your message and pick key people. (I AGREE!!!!)

A 9-second sound bite = around 140 characters, Twitter limit.

He’s never found a haiku longer than 80 characters, and they can describe the universe. “Imagine what you can describe with 140.” But he says stay at 120 if you want people to re-tweet — 80 percent RT manually, so they can add their own comments or hashtags.

Discussion of hashtags. This conference is #nkc2011, but people on #nokill don’t seem to know. Need to announce a new or event-specific hashtag by announcing to more widely-used hashtag what the new hashtag is. Eg, tweet to #nokill and mention that #nkc2011 is the hashtag for this conference.

Long discussion about using “Facebook page takeovers” and the “etiquette” of removing posts on your wall and comments that you don’t like. Your shutting down your critics can hurt you. Big time.

The movement of sophistication on these platforms is different from old time PR (how to make you LOOK good, not be good) to new PR, where they’re really being told they have to  BE good, DO good, to walk the talk.

I just noticed David is reading this liveblog while he’s sitting next to me listening to it in real time. I AM DEAD OF THE META.

Interesting that most interest at this presentation from the audience is about Twitter!

Question from audience: Do hashtags have RSS feeds? Answer: Yes.

Q: How to find someone’s Twitter name? A: He recommends searching on Google with the person’s name and the word Twitter rather than searching on Google.

Twitter reaches INFLUENCERS, Facebook better for grassroots.

Experts are more trusted than the most trusted institutions, so not just your organization should be on Twitter and FB, YOU and YOUR PEOPLE should be on FB and Twitter.

Better to have a few influential followers than many more who aren’t.

To get more followers:

Step one: Make a connection. Fan or friend them, follow them.  Talk with them on social media — it’s SOCIAL. wefollow.com. listorius.com. keyword search or location search on search.twitter.com.

Step two: Engage the people you want to get in your audience. Share their stuff with your audience. Ask them for their expertise so they can help you, which massages their ego.

Step three: Recommend them. #followfriday or #ff. Create lists who are influencers in your field, then rec the list. On FB, like a post, or comment, and share on your wall. Once they follow you, keep repeating “engage” and “recommend.” The more you give the more you get.

Web is altruistic. We draw people to us to send everyone to other places.

1. You are not unique
2. Winning = relationships.

Every letter Ryan gets starts with “you are not going to believe this.” But you’ve got to get past the victimization status.

You are not going to be effective advocate by blogging or being on facebook or staging a protest. The real way to get people to make policy changes is to get them to want to, not scaring them. Until you have real relationships with human beings, you’re not going to accomplish anything.

Until you can get people in charge to stop in the supermarket and say hi to you and ask how your pets are doing, you won’t accomplish much.

So who is Ryan Clinton and why should we listen to him? Follow me under the  jump:

• Time in the game.  He’s been at it for a long time.
• Advocacy successes.
  • City Council mandate to implement the No Kill Equation and end the “convenience killing”
  • Hiring of experienced and committed No Kill shelter director.
  • Downtown adoption center instead of out in the middle of nowhere (where nobody could watch what’s going on)
  • They resisted ALL efforts to shut down their voices.
• 2005:
  • No foster program
  • No off site adoptions
  • Save rate – 50%
  • Number of animals killed: 14,304
• 2011
  • Foster program
  • Offsite adoptions
  • Committed shelter director
  • Save rate – 90%
  • Expect to kill less than 3,000 animals

Framework:

• Arm yourself. Get ready for battle.
  • Need to understand the movement, and how it works.
  • Know the 11 steps of the no kill equation.
  • Familiarize yourself with the communities that have already demonstrated success.
    • Charlottesville, Tompkins County, Reno, Marquette…and now Austin.
  • Know the history
    • What people THINK No Kill is: Legislate, educate, sterilize
    • And that’s not it.
    • It’s not all about law enforcement, hiring people to talk to kids in schools, and sterilizing every animal you can find.
    • Mandatory spay/neuter FAILS EVERY TIME.
  • What works
    • Feral cat TNR
    • High volume, low cost spay/neuter
    • Behavioral modification.
    • A compassionate shelter director
    • Reject excuses and pick sides
• Build no kill campaign.
  • Identify goals
    • Become a no kill community
    • No adoptable or treatable animals will be killed.
    • Save 90%
      • That said, even in Austin, there are still beautiful, potentially savable dogs and cats dying. Austin is a huge success, but there’s still a long way to go. They could hit 96%…eventually.
    • Progressive shelter leadership – regime change when necessary….and it often is.
    • Codify lifesaving basics.
      • Look at Companion Animal Protection Act
        • All by itself it won’t get you to no kill, but it’s a step in the right direction, and it codifies basic, humane shelter practices.
  • Identity your audience that needs to be turned into an ally
    • Shelter manager.
    • Governing body of shelter (city council, county commissioners, board of directors, etc…depends on your situation and municipality)
    • Secondary audience. Influencers.
      • Public and most importantly, the PRESS.
  • KISS principle: keep it simple, stupid.
    • Must have a two minute ‘elevator speech’
    • One or two sentences.
    • Use high impact language. Use real numbers. One every 12 minutes the shelter is open, an animal is being killed.
    • Target your message to your goal.
      • “If the city moves the shelter, even more animals will die.”
    • Pick your talking points and repeat & repeat & repeat & repeat.
  • Project professionalism.
    • Wear a suit. Crazy cat lady shirt will make people ignore you.
    • Act like you’ve been there and this is what you do.
    • Look like a professional organization with a staff.
    • Image matters. Sorry, but it’s true.
• Advocacy tools

• You MUST have a website, and it must look worthwhile.
• It needs to be informative.
• Blogs are helpful and spread the message, as they build a following.
• Facebook connects to your own network and fills the leadership void, but you’re only speaking to people who already agree with you.
• Examiner can be helpful, since it looks like a newspaper and drives traffic.
• kcaccexposed.com is a good, informative, and well-designed site.
• You need a logo, so you have a familiar brand image.
• Justiceforbella.org is another good site. And it’s a free site, done with a Mac. Contains video, and is very powerful.

• Using the media. (Christie will talk about this later today)
  • Create a media list. Focus on reporters who have already done stories on animals.
  • Develop real relationships: email, call, introduce yourself in person. Get to know the reporters. Talk to them. Show them you are legitimate, not a ranting crackpot.
  • Press releases:
    • Logo
    • Attention-grabbing language
    • Write it like a legitimate news story, including quotes.
      • Use dates, headlines, bio line
      • Write it in paragraph form.
    • PROOFREAD. Typos make you look like an idiot and destroy your credibility. Show it to someone else if you have to.
    • Always be honest. The moment you lose credibility, you’re toast. Reporters will never listen to you again if you lie.
    • You can buy media
      • Take out an ad in the newspaper.
        • Make it a full-page ad. Get noticed.
      • Spread the message.
    • ASK for something in your ads.
    • Support, money, sending messages to city council, etc.
    • If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

• People who KNOW you won’t say bad things about you, or doubt your motives and behavior.
• It helps to make friends. Real friends. If they LIKE you, that’s enormously helpful.
• Don’t just haunt them and stab at their policies. Relationships work….pretty much everywhere.
• Lobby and educate decision makers. Shmooze, but be concise, and clear.

• Be prepared.
• Always make the ASK in each conversation.
• Prepared presentations that are bound and user-friendly

• Candidate questionnaires.
• City Council animal-welfare scorecard.

• Hold them accountable, rate the candidates based on questionnaire and position commitments.

It’s about compassion and love.