Upcoming Profiles and Perspectives speaker offers look at how effective social media can aid businesses

NEWS RELEASE
Issued - October 12, 2009

ARDMORE, Okla. — The 2009-2010 season of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation's popular speaker series, Profiles and Perspectives, will continue at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 3, at the Ardmore Convention Center with a look at how today's social media can grow new business opportunities.

The evening's presenter will be Bill Handy, who has more than 15 years of advancing technical, management and academic experience in the field of public relations, marketing and strategic planning. Handy is a visiting professor at Oklahoma State University in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting, where he created and teaches the first higher education course dedicated solely to the strategies and tactics associated with social media as it relates to strategic communications.

Entitled The Keys to Effective Social Media Engagement, Handy's presentation will focus on how to properly integrate social media strategies into an organization or business. "Most social media, including Web outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, are unfamiliar extensions of traditional marketing and public relations," said Mary Kate Wilson, Noble Foundation granting program officer and chair of the Profiles and Perspectives Committee. "Many organizations underestimate the necessary steps that should be taken before engaging social media. Handy will detail the basics that are key to effectively using social media. His talk promises to be beneficial for our regional business community."

The 2009-2010 Profiles and Perspectives series is offered at no cost, courtesy of the Noble Foundation. Handy's presentation will conclude the fall portion of the speaker series. After the holiday break, Profiles and Perspectives picks up again with its spring offerings, which include the story of Air Force fighter pilot Capt. Scott O'Grady, who was shot down over Bosnia while helping enforce the NATO no-fly zone, and Dave Gallo, who will introduce audiences to life in the deepest oceans.

O'Grady will present Return with Honor at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, at the Charles B. Goddard Center. After being shot down, O'Grady faced death, capture and harsh environmental conditions as he survived for six days behind enemy lines. Despite his grueling circumstances, O'Grady remained part of a highly skilled and dedicated team that had prepared for this exact situation.

Dave Gallo's amazing trip to the depths of the ocean will close the 2009-2010 season. Gallo, a researcher with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, will present Neptune's Garden: Exploring the Secrets of the Deep Undersea at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 30, at the Ardmore Convention Center. Humans have only explored a small percentage of the world beneath the waves, but what has been viewed has yielded a treasure-trove of amazing features and life - the world's highest mountains, deepest valley and thriving communities of life all exist in a world without sunlight. Gallo will use high resolution video to share some of the most recent discoveries and introduce the audience to a new era of undersea exploration.

Additional information can be obtained by calling the Noble Foundation at 580.224.6246 or visiting www.noble.org/profiles. The Ardmore Convention Center is located at 2401 N. Rockford Road, Ardmore, Okla. The Charles B. Goddard Center is located at 401 1st Street, S.W., Ardmore, Okla.

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Photo:: Bill Handy

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For media inquiries concerning the Noble Foundation, please contact:

J. Adam Calaway

jacalaway@noble.org

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. (www.noble.org), headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a nonprofit organization conducting agricultural, forage improvement and plant biology research; assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs; and providing grants to nonprofit charitable, educational and health organizations.