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Bronze Quill Awards 2012

Posted in Community Leadership

I was proud to represent Morningstar Communications at the 2012 KC/IABC Bronze Quill Awards ceremony on May 3 at The Uptown Theatre.

The Bronze Quill Awards promote personal and professional growth and recognize excellence in the field of business communication. Various agencies and corporations around the area entered their work into the contest and, just as in years past, there were some outstanding entries.

Morningstar Communications brought home two awards for excellent client work:

• Award of Merit for Hallmark Business Connections Webinar Series
• Award of Merit for Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas Quarterly E-newsletter.

Our client, Stinson Morrison Hecker, also received an award of Merit for its 2011 Holiday Greeting e-card.

The night also featured special individual awards honoring leaders in the communications community. Along with other former Arthur E. Lowell award recipients, our own Eric Morgenstern co-presented the 2012 Arthur E. Lowell award to Mike Goff, who was most recently vice president of corporate marketing for Sprint.

Thursday’s event was a great celebration acknowledging winning nominees’ hard work over the past year. It was also a wonderful networking event where I was able to meet some of the best business communicators in the city as well as spend time away from the office with my wonderful, intelligent clients and co-workers.

Tagged Eric Morgenstern, KC/IABC, Meg Schulte, Morningstar Communications | Leave a comment Posted on May 8, 2012 by Meg Schulte

Building Networks Leads to Professional Growth

Posted in Community Leadership

As those who live in KC know, we work in a small business community where connections are invaluable. Your network can lead to new business, job opportunities and personal fulfillment. The key is finding the right networking opportunities for you.

I found an incredible opportunity in the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Centurions Leadership Program. Each year Centurions welcomes a new class of business professionals into its close-knit organization. I was one of those lucky people last year and I’m excited to see who will join as a member of the Class of 2014.

Centurions opened many doors for me, both professionally and personally, over the last year. In addition to gaining a network of some of the most talented professionals in our area, I’ve been exposed to Kansas City’s elite business leaders and given an insider’s perspective on the issues facing our bi-state region.

Some of my favorite memories from the year include:

• Learning from Saint Luke’s Heath System President and CEO, Melinda Estes, M.D., in a small group setting.
• Touring Shatto Milk during our Agribusiness Task Force, where I had the opportunity to check milking a cow off of my bucket list.
• Our Centurions Benchmarking Trip to Boston where we heard from top individuals, including Mayor Menino and Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, and learned valuable lessons we can implement in KC.

If you are passionate about Kansas City, leadership, service and learning, I encourage you to apply for the program. Application packets are due by end of business on Friday, June 1, 2012. To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit http://www.centurions.org/Join-Now.aspx.

Tagged Centurions Leadership Program, Morningstar Communications, Networking, Tricia Jaworski | Leave a comment Posted on May 3, 2012 by Tricia Jaworski

New Brand for KCCVA

Posted in Community Leadership

It’s a very exciting time for Kansas City. This year Kansas City will open its first aquarium, SEA LIFE Kansas City, LEGOLAND Discovery Center is being built at Crown Center and the MLB All-Star Game in July is just around the corner. Numerous national media outlets have taken notice of this, declaring Kansas City as a global travel destination. Top recognitions include:

• Ranked “America’s #1 Affordable Getaway” by Travel + Leisure
• Only American city to make the top 10 list of “Top Destinations for 2012” by travel giant Arthur Frommer’s
• Proclaimed as “America’s next great culinary destination for 2012” by top food magazine Saveur
• Named one of “America’s Best Downtowns” by Forbes

 

There are many groups in charge of marketing Kansas City. We are proud to work with several of them, including The Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, The Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association (KCCVA), amongst others. As one group representing the brand image of Kansas City, KCCVA wanted to capitalize on this great media attention and highlight the revitalization of Kansas City by enhancing its brand image and revamping its mission statement. KCCVA did just that last week when it revealed a new tourism brand and logo at its 2012 Annual Meeting. The new brand includes a new logo, identity and mission “to ignite global passion for visiting Kansas City.”

KCCVA’s new brand is not simply a logo, but rather an overall message to promote and elevate Kansas City’s status as a prime spot for conventions, meetings, tour groups, business travel and leisure travel. Tourism is vitally important to Kansas City, contributing jobs, tax dollars and a better quality of life for all of us who call this city home. In 2010, tourism generated $135 million in state taxes and $179 million in local taxes. Tourism also sustains more than 45,000 jobs throughout the Greater Kansas City area.

We as Kansas Citians need to work together to promote the brand of KC and share all of the wonderful things this city has to offer not only nationally, but also globally in 2012.

Tagged Community, Design, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Kansas City, KCADC, KCCVA, Marketing, Meg Schulte, Morningstar Communications, Rebranding, Willoughby Design | Leave a comment Posted on March 9, 2012 by Meg Schulte

When the Stars Align

Posted in Community Leadership

For the last few years KC Business magazine has recognized “Rising Stars.” It’s an amazing group of professionals who have really made a mark on the Kansas City business community.

I was honored to be included in the 2012 Rising Stars class with 33 others. Each of the individuals has done amazing things in their career and in the community.

The biggest take away of the lovely reception was the true commitment each of us has to Kansas City. It is our time to set the stage for the next round of growth and development in our community. It is a delightful responsibility and privilege to continue to work to make Kansas City a great place to grow in career and life.

Take a few minutes to read the profiles of each of the Rising Stars, there is an abundance of talent in our area in so many industries and organizations. Kudos to each of the Rising Stars. Can’t wait to see what everyone does next.

Tagged Kansas City, KC Business magazine, Morningstar Communications, Rachel Spear, Rising Stars | Leave a comment Posted on February 23, 2012 by Rachel Spear

FiberKC

Posted in Community Leadership

Last week, I was honored to attend the FiberKC event, Inside KC-Tech – 2012 and Beyond, on behalf of Morningstar Communications and KCnext. The event focused on the ways KC can leverage Google Fiber to increase the tech workforce pipeline and grow Kansas City as a whole.

If you aren’t familiar with Google Fiber, it is the first ultra high-speed fiber-to-the-home network coming to Kansas City, KS, and Kansas City, MO, later this year. Google Fiber will deliver Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, 100 times faster than most Americans have today. The arrival of Google Fiber in 2012, date still to-be-determined, promises to be a game-changer for the KC metro and is causing many companies to quickly take advantage of the coming opportunity.

The FiberKC event included an impressive list of panelists ranging from Cerner’s senior vice president to the director of IT at Kansas Board of Public Utilities. Rachel Hack, Kansas City’s Google representative, also gave a brief presentation on the status of the Google project.

The main theme each and every panelist stressed was the focus on the growth of Kansas City’s presence nationally and globally. In order to position Kansas City as an IT and technology hotspot and to attract top tech companies and talent, Kansas City needs to change its overall perception of a cow town by emphasizing the creative and innovative culture of the city. And Kansas City is doing just that with the region’s new America’s Creative Crossroads national marketing campaign, the recent Gigabit Challenge, and many other great initiatives in the city.

With much innovation in store for the year, it certainly appears to be an exciting year in Kansas City. What excites you most about living in Kansas City in 2012?

Tagged Community, Kansas City, Meg Schulte, Morningstar Communications, technology | Leave a comment Posted on February 2, 2012 by Meg Schulte

First Who, Then What

Posted in Community Leadership, Illumination Sessions

Yesterday, Morningstar Communications hosted “Sharing a Century of Knowledge,” where we connected an impressive panel of leaders and a room full of smart business people all over the city.

Each panelist works for a company with a legacy of a hundred years or more. Pretty impressive, especially these days when so many businesses don’t make it to the decade mark.

Morningstar Communications just celebrated our 14^th birthday this October, which is pretty impressive in its own right, if I do say so myself. But getting the opportunity to hear from companies that have weathered all kinds of business climates was eye-opening.

The piece of wisdom that resonated with me was the central focus of the discussion – “it’s all about the people.” Companies can’t survive, much less thrive, if they don’t value their people. Culture is different in every company, but at the core are always the people who make the wheels turn.

We embody the brand and extend the values in hopes of making a positive impact. Happy 14^th Birthday Morningstar Communications. Looking forward to our great (great) grandkid’s participation at the 2097 version of “Sharing a Century of Knowledge.”

Tagged business practices, Community, illumination session, Morningstar Communications, Rachel Spear | Leave a comment Posted on October 20, 2011 by Rachel Spear

Recognizing the Best

Posted in Community Leadership

My mind has been a bit preoccupied with all things Bronze Quill lately – the Gala is only a month away. In my last post, I encouraged people to enter their work into the contest. We received a whole batch of outstanding entries that are in the judging process right now. Good luck to all who entered.

Soon after the judging is finished, we announce the winners at the Bronze Quill Gala. It is on May 6 at the Clubhouse on Baltimore. I’d love for you to join us. It’s a fun evening where you can meet old friends and grow your network. Plus we have a tasty hors d’oeuvres buffet and drinks. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night.

Thanks for letting me donate my post to KC/IABC’s 2011 Bronze Quill awards gala. If you make it, stop by to say hi. I’d love to meet all with those I’ve communicated with over email or through Luminary Blog in person.

Hope to see you there!

Tagged KC/IABC, Morningstar Communications, Rachel Spear | Leave a comment Posted on April 6, 2011 by Rachel Spear

Illuminating the Politics & Business Connection

Posted in Community Leadership, Executive Insights, Illumination Sessions

Morningstar Communications is the Kansas City office of global communications firm MSLGroup and we were proud to host one of our great MSLGroup colleagues, Neil Dhillon, in Kansas City recently. Neil runs the Washington, D.C. office for MSLGroup and handles governmental and public affairs projects for many of the firm’s high-profile corporate clients.  He has a distinguished political background serving in both the legislative and executive branches (he was on President Bill Clinton’s staff).

We love learning from Neil and sharing his expertise because, perhaps like no time before, what happens in government affects our clients. Monetary policy, regulation, bailout initiatives…we can relate to all of these in terms of how our clients are affected.

Neil spoke at PRSA’s monthly luncheon, as well as to a gathering of some of our clients and friends at one of our periodic Illumination sessions. Neil talked about the current state of affairs in Washington and shared a number of perspectives with attendees including:

Impacts will be big in the next round of the federal budget:  Lots of discussion around this topic locally, particularly with big-ticket items like the new bio-defense facility slated for Manhattan, Kan.  The bigger the budget allocation, the greater the scrutiny as Congress and the President debate the budget.

Polarized “sides of the aisle”: We’ve seen how contentious things are between political parties and the rising status of groups such as the Tea Party. Neil indicated this is the worst he has seen things in the last decade and, in fact, the only time worse was the Newt Gingrich “Contract with America” era in the 1990s.

Importance of reaching out to federal legislators:  We forget sometimes the importance of staying in front of federal lawmakers on issues that are important to our companies and clients here at home. Contact information to reach our federal representatives is easy to find (my favorite tool is the Mid-America Regional Council’s great searchable database of public officials http://www.marc2.org/pod/). Neil made sure to remind us that, because the Kansas and Missouri congressional delegations are relatively young and more inexperienced, it’s important that we also reach out to other national lawmakers who have important roles on committees or subcommittees that affect our clients’ business.

Tagged illumination session, Matt Tidwell, Morningstar Communications, MSLGroup, PRSA | Leave a comment Posted on March 29, 2011 by Matt Tidwell

Recognizing the Best in Communications

Posted in Community Leadership

As communicators, we know the importance of sharing messages in multiple channels with the goal of reaching people in ways that’s convenient for them. It’s an integral part of being recipient-oriented (one of the three key factors of effective key messages, with the other two being simple and easy to articulate).

A piece of my role here at Morningstar Communications is involvement in professional organizations. It gives me the opportunity to connect with other communicators to share ideas and gather best practices. The way I chose to be active is through a leadership role on the Board of KC/IABC where I’m planning the Bronze Quill Awards.

The Bronze Quills recognize excellence in communication. I encourage you to enter your best work from last year and strive for a Bronze Quill to place on your desk. Not only will it recognize your hard work, it also increases your credibility as a communicator. Winning a Bronze Quill is recognition you completed some of the best in business communications in the city.

So the reason I’m using my blog post to share this information is using another channel to spread the word about the 2011 Bronze Quill Awards and encourage people to participate. The online entry system is ready to accept your entry.

The award ceremony is May 6 at the Clubhouse on Baltimore and is a great place to network and see what others in the industry are have been up to. Hope to see you there.

Tagged awards, Bronze Quill, IABC, KC/IABC, Morningstar Communications, Networking, Rachel Spear, recipient-oriented messages, recognition | Leave a comment Posted on February 24, 2011 by Rachel Spear

Go forth, brave chameleon!

Posted in Best Practices, Community Leadership

I recently had the opportunity to sit on a panel at “Wild On PRSSA Day” at the Kansas City Zoo. PRSSA is PRSA’s student organization for aspiring PR professionals. “Wild On” was a daylong conference for students to receive insight on the industry, get resume feedback and tips on marketing themselves as they launch their careers.

This was a great opportunity presented to the students and I was happy to be a part of it. I was also proud to represent Morningstar Communications to talk about “A Day in the Life of a PR Pro” from an agency prospective.

We talked about everything from maintaining a healthy work-life balance to professional organizations to the increase of social media in integrated marketing programs.

One of the recurring themes of the discussion was adaptability. The group seemed surprised to learn about the different hats we must wear and how nimble we must be as PR professionals. After listening to the other two panelists’ examples of the need to be adaptable and quick on your feet and comparing them to my own, I was a little surprised as well. Until that discussion, I never realized how much adapting I did in a given day. The more thoughtful questions they asked, the more I thought about the importance of adapting. The ability to adapt is important because it allows for excellent service. Being forced to adapt is important because it demands creativity.

It was a great group to interact with and we learned a lot from each other. I’m interested to hear how others find themselves adapting or switching direction on a daily basis. How do you react? Do you embrace it? Refuse it? What are some positive outcomes that have occurred as a result of your adaptability?

Tagged Adapting, Creativity, Professional Development, PRSA, PRSSA, quality service, Tyler Dustin | Leave a comment Posted on December 1, 2010 by Tyler Dustin ← Older posts