Top public relations professionals are gathering for the 35th Protos awards competition for the Orange County Chapter of the American Public Relations Society of America.
It's overcast in beautiful Laguna Beach, Calif. at the luxe Surf and Sand Hotel Resort overlooking the pristine Pacific Ocean.
But Orange County's brightest PR pros are here to celebrate the highest achievement in the industry -- the coveted Protos award. Meaning first in Greek, several hundred people hope to bring home the shinning trophy that symbolizes the best in public relations programs and tactics.
Follow the hashtag on Twitter of #Protos or #OCprsa for real-time updates on the action and who is winning what. We'll have photos, audio and video of the excitement building in Orange County.
Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you my end-of-the-day expression is: "Oh, what a day!"
For me, it's an exclamation of how productive, dynamic, challenging or interesting the day was.
Today was more than that. It was just plain bizarre. First, I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep -- partly because I'm always afraid I'll sleep through my alarm clock before important events.
We had a "Dump the Pump" kickoff event in Fullerton targeting both morning commuters and the morning news show.
KTLA's Eric Spillman interviewed me. Ever the plucky spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, I espoused the benefits of trying transit: let someone else do the driving, enjoy a stress-free commute and get free flame-grilled chicken.
Yes, Simon Oh, our new intern from Cal State Fullerton, donned a six-piece chicken outfit as the camera zoomed in as he passed out El Pollo Loco gift certificates to happy commuters.
He got a bit claustrophobic (code for embarrassed). So as his mentor -- of course -- I took over as the chicken mascot. By the way, the chicken has no name. What mascot is nameless? And after putting on the furry beast for a mere O.C. minute, I now know why no El Pollo Loco employee volunteered for the early-morning gig.
Of course, I'd do close to anything for a good visual -- including the chicken dance complete with props.
It was only 8:30 a.m. and I was already running late for the next assignment. I came back just in time for the OCTA board of directors meeting where the capacity-only audience applauded because our CEO won the honor as one of the top 10 public works officials in the nation, and the board approved a $1.2- billion budget.
Our next big event of the day was adjacent to a freeway ramp for the much-anticipated groundbreaking of a $328-million West County Connectors that will build carpool connectors and construct other improvements to the I-405, I-605 and SR-22. It's one of Southern California's most-travelled areas with approximately 300,000 vehicles each day.
After an interview with KCAL news, I was ready to make last-minute adjustments for what had been a well-executed event thanks to the superbly organized Christina Byrne, OCTA's community relations officer, and our team of PR superstars.
Nearly everything about the program was flawless. And instead of a cliche "shovel-in-the-dirt" photo-op, we planned for officials hold up oversized puzzle pieces and put them together. Get it? Get connected!
See below for a music slideshow of the event with photos courtesy of Megan Enloe, an extraordinary photographer and engaged citizen.
Then as we were taking our last photos, we heard a loud bang. "Oh, no! Did rubbernecker get distracted and slammed into three vehicles in front of it?" I asked myself.
The crash crunched cars like soda cans with smashed windshields. We were all frozen. Was anyone seriously hurt or killed?
Then suddenly two women from the car that rammed into the other vehicles leaped out and ran toward our event site. A half-dozen police officers chased them on foot. Then, I saw police vehicles and helicopters. Just great -- another SoCal high-speed chase but on our freeway connector event.
Without skipping a beat, Art Brown, our board director and mayor of Buena Park, ran after the suspects. Thanks to the retired law enforcement officer's fast feet, Brown helped nab one of the runaways. Police apprehended the other minutes later. It turned out to be a mother-daughter team evading the police.
Enloe, a Tustin resident and social media practitioner, ran with Brown and captured some incredible photos of the incident. Hear my audioBoo interview with Enloe and find out who she called a hero.
She is my hero for her care and concern to enhance the community. She's been there countless times volunteering her time to capture photo memories at many community events.
After being up for more than 19 hours, I was ready to finally hit the sack and just sleep my crazy day away.
Just as I was preparing to sleep, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake rattled Southern California at 9:26 p.m. -- of course.
The temblor was the largest aftershock in a series that have hit the California-Mexican border area since a magnitude 7.2 shook Easter Sunday.
I wanted to blog about my interesting day, but was so exhausted that I finally fell into a deep sleep -- only to be awaken by my alarm clock and the dawn of another day full of possibilities.
What was your most interesting day? And what would you name the El Pollo Loco chicken mascot? I would love to hear about them.
I made a music slideshow above tonight to pay homage to my birthplace and as a dedication to my grandmother who died during my return to Vietnam several years ago. Why would I chose a scratchy French song?
A few years ago, I happened upon the song on the Internet. After the beautiful song was accidentally posted online, it immediately struck a worldwide chord among the Vietnamese community -- both inside and outside Vietnam. It's from an emerging singer of Vietnamese decent from Belgium named Quynh Anh.
The song -- "Bonjour Vietnam" was written by Marc Lavoine, a longtime French pop star and actor. The two later teamed up with a pop hit, "J'espère," that made Quynh Anh a household name ... at least in France, Vietnam and other places with large Vietnamese communities.
I had the chance to meet her last year at a concert in Orange County. I marveled at how someone who had never been to Vietnam could sing with such sentimental remiss. Perhaps it's because the longtime culinary and musical traditions had been steeped into her heart and soul as they had been for me.
After hearing that song again, I was feeling a bit homesick for my Mom's homemade noodle soup. It's not the ubiquitous Pho soup, a clear consume nuanced with beef stock and subtle spices and herbs considered the national dish of Vietnam.
Tonight, I'm forgetting Pho and turning my culinary attention to Bun Rieu Cua. It's made with ripe tomatoes that would put some Italian mothers to shame -- especially my Mom's version. It's full of delicious meatball-like morsels of crab and shrimp handcrafted by Mom.
I'm working up the courage and the appetite to try to make this wonderful dish. Luckily, I found these easy-to-follow instructions.
I'll give it a go. But I know it'll only be a temporary fix until I come back home for the real deal.
What's your favorite dish that reminds you of home? I'd love to hear about your comfort foods and read any recipes you'd like to share.
I helped organized an impromptu tweetup or a meet-up with Orange County's emerging social media community.
The lunchtime gathering occurred in the world's largest overseas Vietnamese community in Westminster, Calif., also known as Little Saigon -- which is not so little any more with its bustling restaurants, markets, coffee shops, offices, doctor's offices, banks, news rooms, entertainment and other cultural centers stretching into three other cities in the heart of Orange County.
Check out these photos of the group from Tustin resident and social media advocate @MeganEnloe and follow the Twitter hashtag #OCtwEATup or #OCtweetup for future impromptu lunches and events in Little Saigon or other places in Orange County.
As I tried to rush back to the office to address an incident involving a tanker truck fire on the Riverside Freeway (SR-91), the 20 people enjoying good food and company asked me to wait. A birthday cake with candles and a blue Twitter bird suddenly appeared and the group started singing.
I was floored. The kindness of the group deeply touched me because it was much more than my birthday.
May 30, 1969 was among the height of America's involvement with a tiny tropical country in Southeast Asia that many people had never heard of.
The Vietnam War -- or as the Vietnamese call it, "the American War," was raging in the battle fields and in the political forum in the United States. It was a war that changed generations and left 58,000 Americans and approximately 2 million Vietnamese dead.
Why such a grim post on a happy occasion as your birthday? It's simply because my birth date has always fallen close to if not on the actual Memorial Day holiday in the U.S.
I can't help but reflect upon the memories of the people who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our nation's freedoms.
I can't help but well up with tears at my own father's passing decades ago so that his eldest son could earn the beautiful bounties of America. And I can't help it but try a little harder to do some good in this world.
I want to thank everyone who has made my birthday so special, but I also want to offer my gratitude to all who served to make America and this world a safer and better place.
Please share your thoughts. What does Memorial Day mean to you? How do you celebrate the holiday?
We all have regular routines. Before going into my neighborhood Starbucks each morning, I would walk by the newspaper vending machines. Most of the time, I've already seen nearly all of the news displayed on the front pages.
Thanks to the power of Twitter, I have my news aggregated and ready for me when I wake up and glance at my iPhone. It's clear that I'm a news junkie.
As I was passing the news bins earlier this morning, the USA Today lead story jumped out at me. The headline below the bold blue graphic read: "Twitter Power: Learning from ourselves in real time." This summarized my nearly two-year experience with the 140-character-limit social media site with almost infinite possibilities.
After experiencing the aftermath of the Iran election and countless moments via shared with other Twitterers, I've concluded that Twitter is not a passing fad, but a really cool tool that has helped enhance my life. I am to do things faster, better, cheaper and smarter. And government and citizens can cultivate deeper understanding and more meaningful civic dialogue.
But the best part is being able to engage with wonderful people not only in Southern California, but throughout the world. I feel honored to learn from the best hearts and minds online thanks to Twitter.
And another amazing reward has been to actually meet some of these people who share some common traits -- independent thinkers, innovative minds and upbeat spirits.
From my first Twitter follower -- Andrew Galvin or @Andrew_Galvin of the Orange County Register -- to my 25,000th follower -- Matt B. Cole or @MattBCole who is a travel consultant from Tennessee -- thank you for enriching my life with useful nuggets of knowledge and even some fun water cooler chatter and juicy trivial tidbits.
The award-winning Diversity Committee of the Orange County Chapter of the Public Relations Society hosted a luncheon panel discussion Thursday on "Mommy and Daddy Bloggers" -- but just don't call them that.
They are people -- moms (and one dad) -- who happen to blog:
Some interesting facts on the power of women in the blogosphere:
Women in the U.S. control 83 cents of every household dollar
Women are now the heaviest Web users, with 11.5 million moms actively contributing to or reading blogs
When making purchasing decisions, today's women tend to choose online media as a resource above TV and print media
What do you think about the advice that Orange County's bloggers and PR pros shared? What are your tips on working with bloggers? I would love to hear your insights and suggestions.
On one of my last days in San Francisco, I met with Gov 2.0 Radio host and social media practitioner Adriel Hampton or @AdrielHampton on Twitter for an early morning chat before he headed to work at the San Francisco City Attorney's Office.
I wasn't too surprised when Hampton told me he recently canceled his Facebook account. He expressed concerns about Facebook's growing "anti-democratic" actions.
One of the nation's leading social media users, the Bay Area resident is joining other high-tech heavy weights in quitting Facebook over privacy concerns. He is part of a growing chorus of influential tech users and privacy advocates leaving Facebook over the social network's latest privacy flap.
Last week, Leo Laporte, a hugely popular tech podcaster and radio host, deleted his Facebook page live on his show.
I've been thinking about whether I should join the "Quit Facebook Day" protest May 31, which happens to be the day after my birthday. Perhaps on that day, it'll be the birthday of my privacy being restored -- sans Facebook.
It's easy to join the online protest May 31. Facebook users have posted information on how to bid farewell to Facebook for good.
What do you think? Are you quitting Facebook or are you willing to tolerate the social networking site's latest privacy gaffe? Or is leaving Facebook akin to trying to quit smoking -- you want to, but just cannot?
One of the reasons to make a trip to San Francisco is to experience its world-class cuisine.
But after several culinary disappointments at highly recommended restaurants via Zagat and Yelp, imagine my distrust after a long-time family friend organized a group dinner at Cafe Kati, an Asian fusion restaurant.
After reading user reviews on Yelp and food critics' comments in Gourmet, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit magazines, I felt less jaded and more hungry for good food and good company. I found both in a cozy Fillmore / Pacific Heights restaurant and much more.
Imagine our delight as the restaurant staff seated our group in a private room in the back of the restaurant. We found ourselves with the friendly chef/owner Kirk Webber who took it upon himself to share with us his passion of the blending of east-meets-west cuisine and his long-time love affair with food culture that began to bloom as he trained in classic French techniques in San Francisco and was further refined while working as a chef in Tokyo.
That's a long way from his roots back in the early 1980s of Orange County in an era that he described as devoid of cultural and culinary diversity.
The chef beamed with pride as he shared with us his restaurant's milestone of soon turning 20. That's a lifetime in restaurant years, especially in the ever-changing gourmet food scene of Northern California.
And if the delectable meal we enjoyed is any indication of things to come, Cafe Kati and its brilliant chef will be around for another 20 years to significantly contribute to San Francisco's delicious culinary journey.
In addition to the chef and his friendly servers, our group's food highlights included:
Appetizers
Vietnamese-inspired mango spring rolls
Crab Rangoon wontons
Peanut-crusted prawns on a bed of green papaya salad
Signature dragon roll of crispy prawns, avocado, crunchy cucumber wrapped with smoked salmon with a wasabi vinaigrette
Main courses
Grilled scallops served with a port red wine reduction of risotto of white corn, mushrooms, carrots and spinach
Miso-glazed black bass in a dashi broth season in a seven-spice Japanese spice mix, udon noodles, bok choy, green onions and a vegetable tempura
Grilled hanger steak in a sesame-soy marinade, spicy Spanish fries, green beans, yams, zucchini and sauteed spinach
Butternut-squash raviolis with a homemade sauce
What's your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area? And what would you like me to cover in future blog posts? I would love to hear what you think.
TedNguyenUSA@gmail.com | 949.637.6836 | P.O. Box 6936 ~ Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 | A public relations professional passionate about strategic communications, social media, transportation, travel, food, animals and the many wonderful things that enrich us all.
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