Pimp This Job: AIBS Public Policy/Affairs Associate

Two posts in one day?! What is this world coming to!

I post this job with reluctance, only because it means CCG is losing one of our esteemed Executive Committee members to Ithaca. But she's excited about the move, so we'll be excited for her. And now, the job...

Public Policy/Affairs Associate for the American Institute of Biological Sciences
The American Institute of Biological Sciences, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific association with individual and organizational members seeks a Public Policy/Affairs Associate to join its energetic Public Policy Office.

The Associate will work to develop and help advance science policy and media relations initiatives.

Responsibilities will include working on legislative and regulatory policy issues; developing and maintaining communications and media relations programs; writing press releases; writing policy analyses for online and print publications; making public presentations and representing AIBS in a variety of settings. Travel and occasional work on evenings, weekends, or holidays is required.

Read the full job description.

Pimp This Job: Marketing and Communications Associate for Gorman Health Group

First, apologies to my colleague who sent me this "Pimp This Job" listing earlier this month. I've been crazy busy with my full-time job and my CCG blog duties got pushed to the side. Apologies! Hope this listing helps.

Gorman Health Group, LLC, is currently seeking a Marketing and Communications Associate responsible for providing editorial, strategic and implementation support to ensure the timely and accurate delivery of GHG's marketing and communication deliverables to both internal and external audiences, with the ultimate goal of supporting GHG's sales initatives. Read the full job description.

The CCG Blog Paradox

It seemed strange to me that the Capital Communicators Group should have a blog - here's a group founded on the idea that "In the age of faxes, phones and e-mail, [and blogs!] a lot of our work is done indirectly and impersonally." So the CCG started as a way to meet face-to-face, yet now we have a blog.

Well, I'm finally starting to warm up to the idea. There are several hundred members in the CCG. Yet, we only meet 30-40 at a time. I still think the small size of our lunches is key. But I'm beginning to appreciate the blog as a way to "fill in the gaps" - I see the potential of this blog to continue and then expand conversations started at the lunches, share with those that missed the lunch what happened, and keep pulse on what we as a (very big) group want.

So what do we want? That's anther topic, do be covered in another blog.

-- Joe

May Lunch: Museum PR

So yesterday was our May lunch, An Inside Job: Holding the Communications Keys to a Museum.

We had two fabulous speakers: Jessica Hall, a producer at the newly reopened Newseum and Tim Clarke, Jr., a public affairs officer for the National Museum of Health and Medicine and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

A few highlights:

• I got to hold a plastinated (real) human heart. Seriously cool. And a little creepy. Tim brought it in a plastic bag.


• I learned that the Newseum had 11,000 visitors its first day open in the new location. (And I thought attendance of 250 at my campus' 20th anniversary event was a lot to handle!)


• I learned a cool new response when people ask me what Twitter is: "Blogging for people with even shorter attention spans." (That courtesy of Jessica.)


• The National Museum of Health and Medicine has what I think will be a pretty powerful exhibition opening this summer that includes the floor from one of the operating rooms in Iraq.


• The National Museum of Health and Medicine opened in 1862 with a staff of one and three objects on display. (Their current collection includes 24 million items!)

We also talked shop: The challenges of promoting a museum that is located on a military base and has no dedicated funding stream on one hand vs. the challenges of promoting a topic that some people may perceive as boring on the other. Got some great insight from our guests.

Seriously, folks, I'm not in Museum PR, but I found this lunch really interesting. So next time you get your lunch invite, don't just think, "Oh, this isn't my field. I don't think I'll go." It's worth it to expand your horizons. You never know what you might learn... or what cool things you may get to hold. (Seriously, folks, a human heart!)