Posted on June 19, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

On the Social Media plane with the @SkyDiver – Peter Shankman, adventures in Raleigh.

Earlier this week I had a chance to spend some time with Peter Shankman. Peter was in town to speak at the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRSA) 50th Anniversary and Award Dinner . Peter arrived in Raleigh on Monday evening and I followed the tweets to “track” his whereabouts so we could catch up and have some dinner later that evening. When Peter arrived, Kipp Bodnar, Jeff Cohen and I took Peter to The Pit Barbecue Restaurant in downtown Raleigh. We had some laughs, talked about Peter’s HARO (Help A Reporter Out) newsletter, and conference ideas over some great food. Jeff had never met Peter before and I told him to be ready because there’s only one Peter Shankman and when you meet him, just enjoy the experience. I think Jeff did and all I’m going to say is we didn’t order any chicken. (inside joke)

On Tuesday before Peter’s PRSA speech, Kipp and I met Peter at his hotel to hang out and record a few videos. One video I didn’t record is Peter when he came storming into the conference room after his workout about a Google Alert he just received with his name in it. I’m not going to tell you what he said, you’ll have to ask him about that, but it was very funny! Here’s Kipp video with Peter on “Customer Service Killing Public Relations“.

Later that evening Peter, Kipp and I walked from the hotel to Marbles Kids Museum where he was speaking. Almost immediately after arriving at Marbles, Peter saw the some of the green fun balls and the next thing you know a tweet went out saying “BALL PIT BALL PIT BALL PIT!!!!! OMG Shiny and round!!” with the twitpic photo below.

As the night continued Peter gave his talk about HARO, his thoughts on pitching on Twitter and social media. Here are a few tweets from Peter’s talk.
@skydiver says we talk to 3% of our network daily – let’s connect people! (via @khubbard)

Same four rules from @skydiver… New context. # 1 Transparency. Got to do it. People will google your faults. Be transparent.

When a journalist needs a source…they call me. That’s power. (Via @skydiver)

@skydiver – Great speech at RPRS, Peter. Especially the focus on accountability.

You can also watch his talk via the video below.

After the talk, Peter shook hands and posed for a few pictures. Kipp and I gave Mr. Shankman a ride back to his hotel and called it a night. It was fun to see Peter again, as the last time we had a chance to hang out was at SXSW and before that was another PRSA dinner in Greensboro, NC late last year. If you’re wondering, like some of the attendees of the PR Society Awards Dinner, how do I know Peter Shankman? The answer is via Twitter early in 2007. We met offline at a Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA) event in 2007.

A few notes on what I learned from watching Peter in action.
1. Always stay connected to your mobile device checking emails.
2. Have fun
3. Be yourself and don’t try to impress someone when you find out they have a lot of followers on twitter….
4. If you don’t want to receive an email from HARO or Peter just use the (unsubscribe link) long story.
5. Be passionate about your work and think of ways to scale your products and/or services
6. Build a productive, trustworthy team around you.
7. Be careful who you offend.
8. Speak with passion about your topic when giving speeches.
9. Remember, it’s about you!

Here are a few photos after the Raleigh PR Society Awards.

A big thanks Joe Mecca to and the entire Raleigh PR Societyfor hosting the event and congrats to the winners.

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