How time flies!  TechFlash celebrated its first birthday last week and we were there to check out the TechFlash Holiday Party & Birthday Bash. 

 John Cook was in his best Santa hat as he hosted the tech trivia challenge which included questions that we couldn’t even begin to guess the right answer –

• Robin Williams named his daughter after which video-game princess?

And others that we could –

• Season six of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” starred which Seattle entrepreneur as a contestant?

While the party was definitely hopping and the trivia competition was fierce, we found ourselves – as PR professionals – discussing how much the media landscape has changed in the last year, in the Seattle market and elsewhere. 

 We came to a common agreement about the evolution of the Seattle media market — Even though we’ve lost the traditional print version of the Seattle PI, there are increasingly more and more interesting and credible non-traditional news sources for our clients to reach and some that enable us to really zero in on a specific audience. 

 Take the blog MyBallard: not only has it become a credible source for the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard, it recently won an Online Journalism Award for community collaboration, beating out stiff, and in a sense, more traditional competitors such as the Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald!  For some of our clients, MyBallard has morphed into a better place for them to see stories posted about their company — because it’s hyper-local and the readership is quite obvious.

 This thought also led us to consider what the future holds for the Seattle media landscape and the PR industry.  From our perspective, it comes down to a couple of key takeaways:

1.  Hyper-local forums and blogs like MyBallard will grow in readership (Yes, even my parents will read them….if I can get my mom to use the Internet for more than finding recipes on the Food Network Web site…) and will increasingly be the first place readers stop for news that relates to their lifestyle and where they live.
2. ALL of our clients will one day ask to see coverage on their company in online outlets like TechFlash and MyBallard just as often as they ask for coverage in traditional outlets like the Seattle Times.  We’re not fully there yet, but we’re definitely seeing a shift!
3. While the newspaper industry appears to be dying a very slow death, newspapers will never go completely away. Just take a look at SeattlePI.com: while it has obviously changed, the site earlier this year boasted 4.3 million monthly unique visitors – not bad for a news Web site many people thought wouldn’t survive.

 Our conversations may have turned into a philosophical PR and media discussion, but I can honestly say that we all enjoyed the event, the refreshments, the food and the company!

 And, in case you’re wondering, the answer to the Robin Williams trivia question is Zelda and “The Apprentice” question is James Sun.

At the 2009 Puget Sound Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) chapter’s holiday gala last week, there was something besides the live auction of locally-baked deserts that raised a few brows in the room.  

The holiday gala traditionally marks the announcement of the PRSA “PR Professional of the Year” award. This year, not only were there two recipients of this award, but they are also both former strategic communication professors of mine, Soon Beng Yeap and Barry Mitzman, from my alma matter, Seattle University.

A pioneer of public relations higher-education, Soon Beng Yeap came to Seattle University in 2006 and took the communication department by storm. With much persistence, he established the first-ever undergraduate degree program in strategic communication in the State of Washington by Fall 2007.

If you’re noticing an influx in highly-qualified competition for public relations positions around town, at least you now know who to blame.