Solar Power's Future is with Free Enterprise

This disclaimer: I have no financial interest or investment in the companies discussed below. My point of view is a personal one as a consumer only.

I just ready this article in Bloomberg Businessweek about what the magazine describes as a "Bright spot" in a solar power industry troubled by scandal, over-promising and under-delivering. One of the companies mentioned is SunRun. We weren't surprised as we worked with SunRun on the solar power installation at our house.

Solar panels are priced to move, and companies like SunRun have figured out a way for solar power to work for their business model, and more importantly for folks like us on Main Street USA. We installed a 24 panel system at our house, but instead of buying the system, we're leasing it from SunRun. No money upfront and the monthly cost is half of what our power bill used to be. During the lease, SunRun pays for all warranty and maintenance. We can pay off the lease anytime we like, but right now it makes sense not only on the financial bottom line, but the environment as well.

No money up front, reduce cost of electricity and cut emissions. Ka-ching.

Here are the stats for this past January, our first full month with solar power:

• We generated 460 kWh of power, more than we consumed.
• Saved 652 pounds in Carbon Dioxide emissions.
• Saved 1.66 pounds of Nitrogen Oxide emissions.
• Saved .59 pound of Sulfur Dixoide emissions.

A "Clean" sweep!

All this during the shortest times of daylight of the year. As the days grow longer, we'll generate more power. I should also note that we've had a couple of 2-foot snowfalls which cover the solar panels and on those days you don't generate much if any power. The key is total generation each month.

REC Solar did the install and it just took a few days. The roof of our two story home is quite high so you can't even see the panels from the street. An advantage we have is the side of the roof where the panels are installed face due south, so we get 98% exposure to daylight and the height keeps the panels clear of shade from trees etc. The system even cranks out power on cloudy days, but it's the sunny days where you really generate the juice and we get about 350 days of sun here in Colorado.

The company provided all the technical information, installation diagrams etc for our HOA which approved everything in less than two days. In fact both SunRun, REC and Xcel have been terrific before, during and after the installation.

Three meters are installed, two by Xcel Energy and one by RunRun. The first two measure net power use and that generated by your system. When you generate more than you use, we'll get credits back from Xcel. We're selling power back to the power company! In our basement is what's called the inverter, which is about the size of a mini-fridge and mounted on a wall out of the way. You can also measure system production there along with RunRun's website where you can log on and monitor:

• Daily/Monthly power generation
• Total power generation of the life of the system
• Emissions savings
• Projected vs actual power generation
• Projected weather for each day

Just like the hybrid SUV we drive, we went solar because it just makes sense. The technology and business model have reached the point where you save money from day one. We didn't need some massive government program telling us to do it, it just made good economic sense.

Companies like SunRun are generating jobs, saving people money and are a classic example of identifying a challenge, then making it work for them and us. Something our government has proven incapable of. (Over and over and over)

Free enterprise IS the future of solar power. As stated in the Businessweek article, companies like SunRun are proving it.

Brian Olson
Owner/Consultant
Conversation Starters Public Relations

Are YOU Hungry. Are YOU Cold?

It's my privilege to serve on the Board of Directors of the Jeffco Action Center the past several years. At last night's meeting we got a report from the Program Services Team for December. The numbers tell the story.

• Average clients needing help per day: 191.
• 5,997 people provided 5 day supplies of food.
• 43 Seniors picked up supplemental food commodities.
• Worked with Walgreens to provide free flu shots to clients.
• Toys provided for 4,366 children from 1,558 families via the "Santa Shop."
• Almost 3,000 volunteer hours for holiday-related gift and food donations.

Now it's January and people still need help. The face of the "Needy" has changed greatly. So many of the clients could be your friends or neighbors. (Maybe they are) They're educated, well groomed and the victims of bad circumstances not of their creation.

The Action Center is just one of so many terrific agencies around the country making a difference. But they can only do so with your help. Just a dollar or one can of food can make a difference.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

All Those Zeros Add Up!

I heard my old friend, retired Senator Alan Simpson talking about the national debt. If Congress decides to raise it again, Simpson said our debt would be 14 Trillion, 600 Billion Dollars!

"I don't even know what that is" he exclaimed. Neither do I other than it must have a lot of zeros. I still think we need to officially designate Gazillion as the next measurement because if things don't stop it's where we'll crash.

Above all Simpson made an excellent point. Regardless of your political bent, ask your elected representatives exactly what they plan on doing to cut the budget. Substantive cuts. The real deal. Not vague posturing. Simpson predicts most if not all, will simply dance around the answer. Sadly he's right.

14 Trillion, 600 Billion Dollars. Think on that.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

iPad + 99

According to Computer World it's raining tablets at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They predict almost a hundred tablet devices on display. A good number of them won't survive beyond the show.

For those not familiar with CES, it's about 88 football fields full of tech toys. Words can't describe the enormity of it all, although I just tried.

All these tablets are designed to take on the iPad and many have stuff the iPad doesn't like inputs and cameras. The iPad is expected to have these things when the rumored next generation iPad debuts in April.

We have an iPad at our house, and use it for work and play. We'll be among the first in line when the next generation model is on store shelves.

Many of the new tablets debuting at CES may indeed be better than the iPad. But consumers are a funny breed (I'm one of them) and need a compelling reason to switch to something new. Bells and whistles usually don't pass the "compelling" test. "Cool" does and the iPad is cool My daughter commented when she got hers and was at the airport, people kept on coming up to her and asking about the device. I experience the same thing when I pull it out at a meeting.

Back in the day when home video tape was the big thing (way back in the day) the competition was between two emerging technologies--Betamax and VHS. Technically Betamax was a far better format, But VHS won the day. It simply was better marketed and frankly, VHS rolled off the tongue better than its erstwhile competition.

So while you may need an umbrella at CES look for the iPad to remain the cool tablet device for 2011.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Text should enhance talk, not replace it.

I read several articles over the weekend about how today's Facebook and Twitter environment is changing the way we communicate. It seems hardly anyone writes or worse yet, talks anymore. Far easier to just make a post on your PDA or Computer.

It's all great stuff--a fun and ultra-fast way to share quips, stories, information, pictures and video. But it changes the way we communicate because the technology detaches us from each other. We're not machines--we're humans who should use machines to enhance interaction with each other, but not replace it.

Back in the early 90's my newsroom became one of the first to put away the typewriters and computerize our news gathering. It made us more efficient and able to do more in less time. But a strange thing happened as the news department started to use the e-mail functions to communicate with each other.

It's a high stress environment and very competitive. I started to notice small little arguments blossom into full blown e-conflicts. Things were written that normally no one would say face to face. It was something I quickly had to get a handle on. The next newsroom I led through the process also went through the same "adjustment."

Two decades later I'm working with a team on a major project set for this spring. The core team are all very e-savvy and we do most of our communications electronically as we plan and execute strategies. At a recent face to face meeting of the team however, we all agreed that all the e-mails flying back and forth tended to confuse rather than illuminate. We've made it policy to meet as a group in person along with routine e-mail communications. Meeting which are set-up electronically via Meetup.

You can have it both ways, and we should.

Social Media allows us to communicate and market like never before and I'm an enthusiastic ambassador for it. Ultimately though, let's not forget that it's hard to beat talking one-on-one to truly communicate. It's important we never stop looking each other in the eye once in a while and communicate what hopefully what won't be an old-fashioned way. Face to face.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Happy New Year!

Another year has past. We here at Conversation Starters Public Relations are happy to still be Conversation Starters Public Relations! Some say this was the worst kind of economic environment to start a small business.

We disagree.

Business schools a generation from now will look back at this time and see it as a "Entrepreneurial Revolution." A time when people figured out how to get it done, to toss away the old business models and build new ones. We need banks but are not beholden to them. We need government but we're not going to allow it to tell us how to run our businesses. It's the businesses on Main Street USA that will lead the economic recovery.

We are here to stay.

Happy New Year!

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (And will continue doing so in 2011)

Denver PD: Let's go to the video.

The Denver Police Department is suffering some image problems. To be fair, most police department do. But recent allegations of excessive force and more than a few people wondering if it's the police or the gangs that control downtown after dark has DPD taking their message to YouTube. Watch the clip here.

Personally and professionally, this isn't how I'd do such a video. It comes across like a movie trailer for a Bruce Willis film. Far too theatrical. They lost me at the slo-mo jump over the garbage can.

In a report about it by 9NEWS, DPD Detective John White said "It was one of the things that we wanted to do to kind of illustrate, show our community; this is what your police department does, these are the types of perils that your officers put themselves in to keep you safe."

The video cost $2,000 to produce, paid for by the Denver Police Foundation.

Being a cop is a dangerous job. I can only imagine the emotion and adrenalin flow when chasing a bad guy. We need police to do just that. The job after all, is to protect and serve.

But this video doesn't serve the goal of educating us about what they do. A better option would be a direct message from real officers about the realities of what they face each day, and why they choose to do it. The focus should be less on special effects, and more on message. We'd all be better served.

Like all such efforts, it's designed to start the conversation. In this case, I'm not sure DPD will be happy with the conversation they started.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Looking back a good way to look forward.

This is the time of year where we see lots of "Year-End " pieces on newscasts and other outlets. A look back at the year that was.

Sometime ago while working for a Fortune 300 company, I wanted to do such a piece for one of our corporate broadcasts. It had been a year of enormous accomplishment and I thought it would be good to document it. The idea was vetoed, the philosophy being it was the type of company that always looked forward, never back. The fact it was a successful Fortune 300 company made it hard to argue with their decision.

That said, it's good to see where you've been, to remember ups and downs because we're so darn busy sometimes we forget. I did a Google search for "Year End" and came up with 116 Million results! Everything from news to sports to tax preparation.

Personally I like to do a family video of all that we did during the past year. It's a fun way to remember what is most always great moments. Remembering the tougher times is also a good way to remind yourself you can survive them.

Looking back at it all, looking back is a good thing. Especially if you want to look forward.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

"Net Neutrality" Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

If you're reading this, it's safe to surmise (as opposed to assume) you have access to the Internet. In a way, the 'Net is a 21st century version of the wild, wild west. But like it or not, it's the main venue for commerce and communication in our world.

There's also plenty of competition to provide access to it from a myriad of providers. Competition has always been good for consumers. It's when you try and regulate it where we get the short end of the digital stick.

Yesterday the FCC voted along party lines to implement so-called "Net Neutrality." It's supposedly designed to protect us. Protect us from what? Competition? It's supposedly designed to make sure we all have access to all things on the 'Net. At least in my case, I have no problems doing that now.

I'm going to yield the rest of my time to Denver Post Columnist David Harsanyi who makes a well-reasoned argument to save the 'Net and abolish the FCC. I'm all for the former, not so much about the latter. The FCC does serve a purpose but in this case it's a bad case of over-reach.

Read David Harsanyi's Opinion Piece here.

The problem about rules is, more rules always follow. When it comes to the 'Net, let's leave it up to consumers. We're a heck of a lot smarter than government gives us credit for.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (And like using the Internet to do just that)

Early Risers are Informed Risers

"The Early Bird Gets the Worm"

I'm not a big fan of worms, but I am a news junkie and local news outlets are realizing that more and more of us are waking up early. I just read an article in TVSpy (A fave among those in broadcast journalism) about several news outlets expanding their morning news to 4:30am starts. One station moved up its start time to 4:25. Here in Denver, KUSA 9News recently expanded their morning block to a 4:30am start.

As a bit of history, it wasn't long ago that local stations just programmed "cut-ins" at 25 minutes past the hour during shows like Today. A headline or two and weather. It used to be enough. Not anymore.

We're a society that is getting up, and going to bed earlier. For those in the business of news, it's the the morning broadcast that's the career destination of first choice. Here in Denver, the focus in the 4:30 half-hour is headlines but really on business, weather and traffic. The target demographic is obvious. Professionals looking for what's new before heading out to a work-out or early start to the business day. There's also a chunk of the population who are shift workers, and the 4:30am broadcast is their version of the 5pm news.

Having been a morning show Executive Producer, the hours for those producing early news are killer. My lead producer showed up for work at 11pm the night before to get the "hand-off" from the late news team. Writers and associate producers showed up about 1:30am with me coming in around 2:30. Yes, the news anchors play an active role in the production of the newscast. They arrive plenty early and contribute to the writing and editing.

Many local news outlets are producing as much as 50-55 hours a week of news along with their station websites and social media pages. All these pipelines are voracious for content which is good news for those of us in the PR Business. It still has to be meaningful content, but if you want placement for a client, morning news is where you make your pitch.

Morning news is fueled by coffee and comfortable anchor chairs. (And frequent scheduled trips to the bathroom) Sitting on the set for as long as four hours is hard work.

Regardless of what time we watch, as for me, I'm also going online for news via iPad or laptop. Sometimes I have the TV on split screen. There are lots of pipelines, and local news is embracing them and competing for the eyeballs that use them. Regardless of time.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Larry King, The Great Conversation Starter

Larry King signed off on CNN last night.



I met Larry one time, he was a guest at a corporate event I produced a few years back along with my friends and colleagues from Turner Broadcasting. King was taller than he looks on TV, and was a restless type. He was always on the move and anxious to get the party started.

In recent years his once sky high ratings disappeared, the victim of competition from others doing what he helped invent. It's the way of television.

That said, there was a time if you wanted to live in the White House, you needed to appear on Larry King Live. Larry King had the biggest Rolodex file in the world, and he got the guests others could only dream of. Heads of State, the biggest stars and the odd....oddball.

His interview style was quaint by today's standards. He didn't rant, rave or attack. He just asked questions folks on Main Street would ask. It worked for a very long time. Should he have hung up his trademark suspenders earlier? That wasn't for us to decide. Larry King did that last night.

Moving forward, Piers Morgan takes over the seat. You might know Morgan as the British judge from America's Got Talent. Personally I don't think Morgan has the talent to keep this particular talk show ship afloat. CNN ratings have been in a huge decline in recent years, ironic in that they invented the 24 hour news format. Others have jumped in, innovated and taken the lead.

The one constant about TV, is nothing is constant.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Zuckerberg good choice for Person of the Year.

Courtesy: Time Magazine

Facebook PIC (Poster in Chief) Mark Zuckerberg is having a good year. At age 26 he's worth billions, a hit movie was made about how he either created, or stole the idea for Facebook and now he's on the cover of Time Magazine as "Man of the Year." He's the second youngest person ever to grace the cover. Aviator Charles Lindbergh beat him by a year. In a way, both accomplished similar things in how we live our lives. Lindbergh proved we could get from here to there faster. Zuckerberg has us communicating faster than ever before.

It's a good choice. The Tea Party by the way, was runner-up.

My epiphany about Facebook came this summer while in Alaska. While we had plenty of Internet access, even at a remote village 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle, we were so busy there was little time to digitally check in. I noticed that I was going to both my business and personal Facebook pages first.

I've heard/read different opinions about just how many people are connected by Facebook, but 1/10 of the world's population is a good estimate. Some 500 million people. There are a lot of people actually making a living teaching others how to make the best use of Facebook as part of a social media strategy for business. I'm one of them.

For most, it's just being connected. A colleague keeps her network to a group of close friends. She described Facebook as like having a high school reunion every day.

Business Schools are already studying Facebook's business model and how Zuckerberg runs his business. You've heard of Cloud Computing. Facebook has Cloud Management.

More than a few pundits wondered why WikiLeak LIC (Leaker in Chief) Julian Assange wasn't chosen. The response was that five years from now, he'll be at most, a footnote in history. As for Facebook, we'll see.

When someone is chosen as Person of the Year, it's not necessarily for doing something good. Just having a profound impact on society; good, bad or in-between. Among the 500 million Facebook users are a lot of very bad people using the technology to steal and to stalk.

There's also no small irony in Time's choice as it's a very analog publication trying to be relevant in this age of Facebook.

Most striking is the cover itself. Study the picture, especially those eyes. It's like he's peering into our very soul. Maybe he is.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (Facebook is one way we do that)

Obama takes it to the street. Main Street.

Local political reporter Adam Schrager of KUSA 9NEWS had a one-on-one interview this week with President Obama. One of several the President is conducting with local reporters to pitch his economic message.

I don't know about the other reporters who got the invitation, but Adam is a terrific journalist. I know him personally and professionally. What ever his political views may be, they aren't evident in his reporting. Frankly, I hope to see him hosting "Meet the Press" some day.

The President made a good decision reaching out to reporters who practice their craft on Main Street USA. As viewers we connect far better with our local reporters than those who live in the isolated and pampered world of Washington and New York. The DC political reporting scene is incestuous. After hours, reporters and political types mingle at the same cocktail parties and soirees.

Not so much here at home. No limos for reporters like Adam. He drives himself to work.

So it was good to see a reporter I respect sit down with the President of the United States. Obama was on message, but I paid far more attention because I respected the reporting about what he said.

Thank you Adam. Thank you Mr. President.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (And enjoy listening to other conversations)

It's not your brand anymore. It's "Ours"

I attended a Social Media Summit produced by Ragan Communications (Which I heartily recommend) earlier this year and came away with several knowledge nuggets including the fact that companies really don't "own" their brands anymore. In this age of social media which empowers consumers like never before, it's "We the digital people" that own the brand.

A few days afterwards I shared this with the CEO of a company that had an increasingly bad reputation on the Internet, a rep growing worse every day. He scoffed at the concept that anyone but he owned the brand. Analog thinking in a digital age.

A few months later the company was OOB. You can't run and you can't hide anymore. Treat a customer poorly, and if you don't make good, they'll post about it on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Others of the same opinion will soon share it and voila, a movement begins. Just ask the TSA. Heard any stories about junk being grabbed lately?

It can work in a positive way too. One of the biggest fan pages on Facebook is for Coca-Cola. It's not run by Coke, but by fans of the brand. The site has tons of followers. Some friends of mine have started a social media campaign for their chain of restaurants. Their food and service is good, they're nice folks so I click the "like" button anytime I see a post.

Social Media can also protect the brand reputation. Should someone complain about you online, engage them and try and solve the problem. Social Media can be a great fire break, before the fire breaks out. An established social media presence can also act as a 'Future Shock-Shock Absorber" when un-fair attacks are made.

Good product and service remain the golden rules of business. Ignore your customers and they'll do anything but ignore you. Take them for granted and they'll take you right out of business. It just takes a few clicks.

They own the brand. Get used to it.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Perception is Reality

One of the things I learned a long time ago in the news biz, is that perception is reality. It's not the story. It's how it's perceived. The viewer's perception is their reality.

A pretty good example of all this came last Friday in a rather extraordinary news conference at the White House. Putting a full court press on resolving the whole tax issue, President Obama brought in former President Bill Clinton to help sell the deal to rebellious Democrats.

Then this happened.

THE President bailed and the FORMER President stayed on at the White House Podium aka "The Bully Pulpit" fielding national policy issues. Deja Vu all over again. Clinton was in his element and Obama was heading to the residence. Clinton played on, and on despite efforts by Bob Gibbs to give him the hook.

Reaction from pundits ranged from shock and no small amount of awe to politics as unusual.

But the image of a sitting President leaving the room and leaving things to a former President who knows how to work a room as good as Reagan or Roosevelt ever did was a stunner. At least that was my perception and therefore my reality.

Ultimately it may be no big deal. Folks living along Main Street are getting ready for Christmas while worried about paying for it. Maybe we're all to pre-occupied to have even noticed. Again, just my perception.

What's yours?

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Death AND Taxes a Bad Mix.

The Friday "Op-Ed"

Taxes are the talk of Washington these days. When aren't they? But a particular odorous part of the debate is the so-called "Death Tax." Its when you pass on to your reward and those who inherit your estate pay taxes on it.

Regardless of size, your estate was built on hard word. You earned money, on which you were taxed. You invested it, or purchased real estate etc, on which you were taxed again.

We need to pay taxes. It's how we pay to keep the roads paved and police on the beat. But at a certain point, enough is enough. But getting taxed from the grave is just plain wrong.

There are more than a few in Washington who believe it's only "fair" to tax your descendants when they inherit what you worked for, and payed taxes on during your lifetime. When challenged by a news anchor about the fairness of it all, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-New York) said it doesn't matter.

"They'll be dead," was his response.

If you wonder why so many family owned businesses end up not being family owned, this is the reason. Taxing something that has already been taxed over and over again, defies reason. Reason enough, at the very least, to cut the "death" tax rather than increase it even more.

Junk it all together makes the most sense.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

For Your "Colorado Gives" Consideration

Today is a big day for giving and receiving, all part of the "Colorado Gives" campaign. If you want to make a difference in a number of Colorado-based non-profits, today is your day.

I'd like to recommend two for your consideration:

1. Boys Hope Girls Hope of Colorado. They just signed on as one of our clients, and provide terrific educational opportunities for kids from tough circumstances who just need a stable living and learning environment to succeed. ALL go on to college, the huge majority graduating in four years. Meet the kids.

2. Jeffco Action Center. Wow, what doesn't the Action Center do? From food and clothing to those who need it most, to emergency shelter, counseling and medical services, the team at the Action Center gets it done. The demand is huge. The food bank alone gives out 4 tons of food each day. The clients just could be your neighbors, you just don't know it. Here's just one success story.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"