Castle in Atlanta
VP Sheila Green traveled to Atlanta for the Boston Chamber of Commerce
City to City program, representing both our Boston and Atlanta offices.
Atlanta is
full of excitement, optimism and energy.
Philip Hauserman, who leads our Atlanta office, explained the recent revitalization of his home city in a Castle blog post.
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Castle in the Community
Continuing our community partnership with
WriteBoston, Castle hosted a group of talented
Boston Public School students for a day of interactive workshops to help support their commitment to strong writing and communications skills.
We were thrilled that our partnership with
WriteBoston was recognized by the
Boston Business Journal as one of the
top corporate-nonprofit partnerships of 2017! Castle was one of only five companies--and the only small business--to receive this prestigious award at the
Boston Business Journal's Annual Corporate Citizenship event at Fenway Park. Our partnership is also a finalist in the national
PR Daily Nonprofit PR Awards!
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Wendy and Sandy joined our 50 sister agencies from around the world at the PRGN annual spring conference in Kyoto, Japan. We are proud to welcome three new partners to the organization: Another Company, Mexico; Perspective Strategies, Malaysia; and SMARTPR, Brazil.
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Supporting the Business Community
Castle supports the City of Boston Women's Workforce Council,
a first-in-the-nation, public-private partnership to eliminate the gender-based wage gap. Sandy was proud t
o host a roundtable discussion at the Council's annual
Best Practices Conference
.
Sandy, a member of the board of directors of the
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
,
has joined its
Economic Opportunity Committee.
The Committee leads the Chamber's efforts to improve economic mobility in the Greater Boston business community. Hilary, who serves on the
Chamber's Women's Network Advisory Board, has joined its
Marketing Committee.
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Welcome Team!
As our business grows, so does our team. Over the past few months, we have welcomed:
Carole McFall, public relations vice president, helps drive our growing crisis, higher education, science and nonprofit practices. Carole brings her extensive in-house experience from more than 20 years leading communications at Emerson College, WGBH and the Museum of Science.
Andrea Rhoads, assistant event manager, hit the ground running her first week on the job, joining the events team in Orlando to manage a week-long sales conference for a global IT company. Andrea joins us from the nonprofit Cradles to Crayons, where she worked in marketing and events.
Amanda Albert, public relations account coordinator, is a recent UMass Amherst grad and is already an indispensable member of our team. Amanda provides administrative, research and writing support on several of our PR accounts, delivering terrific proactive ideas.
Alicia Morrel, office administrator, provides crucial support on office management, marketing and new business activities. Alicia wasted no time settling in, helping plan and manage our annual WriteBoston student workshop and a number of internal cultural initiatives during her first weeks at Castle.
Jacob Lawrence, public relations intern, recently graduated from UMass Amherst and provides essential administrative, research and writing support to our busy PR team.
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Welcome New Clients
Castle has been engaged by Parenting Journey
, a nonprofit innovator of high-impact programs that partners with parents to build stronger families; the USS Constitution Museum
, a nonprofit that serves as the memory and educational voice of the USS Constitution; and UG2, a leading national provider of integrated facility services and solutions headquartered in Boston. We have also been engaged by independent schools in Massachusetts, Maine, Florida and New Hampshire, a school district in Nebraska, a preschool in Georgia, and a private university in Massachusetts to provide strategic guidance on critical issues and sensitive situations.
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It's Time to Rethink Your Sexual Misconduct Policies
If you haven't thought about your sexual misconduct policy or related trainings for staff, you haven't been paying attention to the news.
In recent weeks, some of the most powerful names in the entertainment business have been accused of sexual misconduct. Just yesterday, NBC fired its longtime morning show host Matt Lauer for allegations of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace" and veteran radio personality, the former host and creator of "A Prairie Home Companion," Garrison Keillor, was fired by Minnesota Public Radio following allegations of "inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him."
Professionals working in politics, corporate America, restaurants, academia and sports have all come under fire. Numerous news articles, including a
Time
magazine roundup of those who have been accused of sexual misconduct, have shed a spotlight on just how widespread the issue is. The article, which was published earlier in the month, is already outdated. In fact, by the time this newsletter is distributed, in less than 24 hours, there could be more accusations of sexual misconduct.
Allegations of sexual misconduct are a potential issue for any business, in any industry, and can become infinitely worse because of social media and 24/7 media coverage. As a woman-and as a crisis communications strategist -my advice to you is to become very familiar with your sexual misconduct policy.
To put it bluntly, sexism is a systemic problem, one that has been perpetrated by people in powerful positions. And it has largely been ignored. Not now. Not anymore. Women, and some men too, are coming forward with detailed accounts of harassment and assault; many using the social media hashtag #metoo to show solidarity with others who have spoken out. The hashtag has since been used more than 100,000 times.
Crisis communications should be a proactive practice, not a reaction to news that you should have known about and could have planned for well in advance. In this instance, think about your organization's past and current workplace culture - not only because your organization or one of its employees might be the subject of the next big headline- but because it's the right thing to do.
Sexual misconduct is not acceptable. It never has been. And it never will be.
Now is the time to ask yourself and your executive team: Have there been past instances of sexual misconduct? What were the circumstances? What were our policies at the time? How were they resolved? Are there current allegations? If so, what is the status? What are our policies now? What is the training process for employees? How can we improve upon our company's current policy and procedures related to sexual misconduct? What will we see if misconduct is alleged?
It's critical to think about potential crises that can impact your business and how you can best prepare and improve in advance. You don't always see a crisis coming, but this is one that is setting off the alarm. Don't ignore it.
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Castle Events Around the World
The Castle events division plans and executes events--including sales incentives, meetings, conferences and user groups, internal employee appreciation initiatives, fundraisers and awards programs, and more--in Boston and around the world. We recently wrapped up a three-day cyber security user conference in Washington D.C. for a
global threat intelligence provider
. We also designed and executed three local events in Boston and Cambridge: an employee appreciation event for a
Fortune 500 biotech company
, a two-day healthcare summit for an
industry-leading IT company
, and a day-long Imagine Session for
Family Reach
, a national nonprofit dedicated to alleviating the financial toxicity of cancer.
This fall, our team managed an exclusive sales incentive events program in Lausanne, Switzerland, for a global IT company, then traveled to Croatia to prepare for a global software client event happening in 2019. Our team then oversaw a five-day conference in Kyoto for our global public relations network PRGN.
Our talented events team is an expert resource on all aspects of event management, including branding, marketing, production, registration management, web design, vendor negotiation, and everything in between. Learn more about our team and our insights in our recent blog posts.
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Client News
Expert Commentary
Dr. Antje Barreveld
, director of substance use services, Newton-Wellesley Hospital
, shared her insight on opioid addiction in the construction industry in a BisNow
article that was also featured on Forbes.com
.
Feature Coverage
Business News
Salem Five
Vice President Mark Leff leads the bank's support of Be Like Britt, a Haitian orphanage established in the memory of college student Brittany Gengel. The Boston Business Journal featured his most recent trip, where he and other volunteers, customers and colleagues expanded the facility.
The March of Dimes
teamed up with the Boston Bruins to host an educational baby shower for 45 military families at the UMass Club, and the event was covered by Boston 25 News
. During the event, the moms-to-be had the chance to mingle with Bruins' wives and girlfriends as well as receive pregnancy and newborn health information from the March of Dimes Mission: Healthy Baby program. They also received gift boxes filled with baby supplies and much more, courtesy of the Boston Bruins, March of Dimes and Philips.
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Castle Outside of the Office
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Sincerely,   Sandy Lish Wendy Spivak Principal/Founder Principal/Founder |
The Castle Group 2017 Issue 05
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