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Thank you for joining us in recognizing business communicators from across Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky for their professional achievements and brand campaigns.

About the event

We presented the 2019 Music City Gold Pen Awards on August 28 in Nashville. Danielle Breezy, Chief Meteorologist from WKRN-TV Nashville News 2, served as emcee and presented 38 awards in categories ranging from internal communications to nonprofit campaigns. Photos from the event are posted on IABC Nashville’s Facebook page.

From our president 

“It is an honor for our chapter to recognize these communications professionals for their outstanding work and campaigns,” said Sarah “Birdie” Loeffler, IABC Nashville president. “From internal communications to public relations agencies, this year’s group of winners displayed the very best in business communications throughout Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky and are paving the way for our region to be recognized as one of the nation’s top locations to be a communications professional.” 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

This year’s event was sponsored by Keycom, a lifestyle marketing communications firm, and Tracy K. Johnson from Camera Sutra Stud.io photography.

Congratulations to our award winners! 

The award winners represented a range of industries, including strategic communications, public relations, non-profit, marketing, media relations, health care, and more. The teams at Keycom and McNeely, Pigott and Fox (MP&F) Strategic Communications both took home numerous awards for their work in change communication, community relations, government communications, communication research, nonprofit campaigns, media relations, corporate social responsibility, and special events. This year’s award winners include:

• Kerry Burke, Cigna
• Jacob Burns, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Nancy Cooper & Dr. Forbes Walker, Aries Clean Energy
• Kellie Davie, Keycom, Nashville Fashion Week
• Julie Davis & Sharon Harper, Brookdale Senior Living
• Laura Haynes, MP&F Strategic Communications, First Bank
• Drew Ruble & Carol Stuart, Middle Tennessee State University
• Genma Holmes, GSH Media
• Jessica Hopson, Lovell Communications
• Sarah Hunt-Blackwell, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Paul Ladd, World Christian Broadcasting
• Birdie Loeffler, NDC, Inc.
• Sara Salisbury, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Julia Stump, Volkert
• Millie Wert, MP&F Strategic Communications

HIPAA. The Affordable Care Act. Patient Experience. Artificial Intelligence. These are just some of the many issues facing health care professionals and the stakeholders they serve. In today’s evolving health care industry, what can business communicators do to stay current and be mindful of new regulations, wellness consumerism and changing health delivery systems? 

Join us Wednesday, September 18, for an in-depth panel discussion with some of Nashville’s most well-respected health care communications experts as they share their insights on what communicators should do when working with various health care brands.

Panelists

Michael Graham
Senior Manager of Strategic Marketing Services, LifePoint Health

Mara Naylor
Public Relations Manager, Centerstone

Christopher Foust
Director of Marketing, SpecialtyCare

Moderator: Mollye Dietrich
Instructional Designer II and Communications Specialist at HCA Healthcare
President-Elect, IABC Nashville

Event information:

Schedule

11:30am-12pm – Networking
12:00pm-1pm – Panel Discussion and lunch

Location

Center for Medical Interoperability
oneC1TY
8 City Boulevard, Suite 202
Nashville, TN 37209

Parking is available under the oneC1TY building in the garage. Then take the elevators to the 2nd floor and you will arrive at Suite 203. Our luncheon will be held in Boardroom 206 & 207.

About the Event

This panel discussion will include:

• Using paid and earned media to boost health care communication efforts.
• Understanding growth trajectory for the future: health delivery systems, advances in medical science and an aging population.
• Crafting brand messaging that aligns with proper health literacy and risk communications.
• Addressing ethics in health care communications. 

Reserve your spot

Register today – we can’t wait to see you there! 

Thank you to our sponsor! 

Special thanks to our September 2019 luncheon sponsor: Goldner Associates.

November 6 – 7, 2019 | Nashville

Strategies to maximize employee engagement and drive behavior with cutting-edge people programs and culture initiatives

Pre-Conference Workshop Day: Wednesday, November 6 
Main Day Conference: Thursday, November 7

Since our IABC Nashville chapter is supporting this conference, IABC Nashville members who register will receive a $200 discount! When registering use the code “IABCNashville“.

At the event, you will discover proven strategies that work, and how to create an employee experience that engages employees and drives a strong customer experience.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to be surrounded by your employee experience and internal communications peers, learn best practices from leading organizations, and walk away with practical tips and tools to implement when you return to the office! 

Visit the ALI conference website to learn more!

Summertime is here, and it’s time to celebrate! Join IABC Nashville August 15 for our summertime rooftop networking social, hosted by our dear friends at Waller Law.

Enjoy tasty libations, snacks and engaging conversation with fellow communications pros before heading over to Live on the Green at Public Square Park – just a short walk away!

Event information 

Waller Law
511 Union Street
27th floor patio
Nashville, TN 37219

Thursday, August 15, 2019
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Reserve your spot on the rooftop! 

Members are FREE and non-members are $10 to attend! Prepay only. Registration will not be taken at the door. 

We can’t wait to see you there!

A guest blog by Joe Diorio 

Fans of the Nashville Sounds know it’s not unusual to see a very different team on the field from one year to the next. Change is the nature of the game in the minor leagues as players move on to another team, or even to the major leagues.

But since April 17, 2015, one uniform for the Sounds has been consistently worn by the same individual. That would be “Booster the Rooster,” the Nashville hot chicken, who continues to be an integral part of the Sounds’ marketing and outreach efforts.

Booster is a goodwill ambassador for the Sounds, and he can be found at all the Sounds home games. He’s also frequently seen on the road, or on a Metro bus, or downtown on lower Broadway handing out tickets to Sounds home games. He appears at corporate events, charitable events, even the occasional private party. In early June he’s sure to be seen at more than a few events aligned with the CMA Music Festival, Nashville’s celebration of country music.

“Booster is what we like to call a ‘free range chicken’,” explains Buddy Yelton, mascot coordinator for the Sounds. “When he’s not here at the stadium he’s venturing out to downtown, saying hello to people who are out and about on their lunch break. He goes to schools, to the children’s hospital, charity runs and a lot of grass roots appearances, all the while spreading the word about Nashville Sounds baseball.” 

Although closely aligned with Nashville, Booster hasn’t appeared on another thing that’s closely associated with Nashville: he hasn’t been on a pedal tavern – yet. “He’s not against a pedal tavern,” Yelton says. “We just haven’t worked out the scheduling.”

The underlying, heck, the overt message is: Booster is all about fun. “Booster is a big kid. He can hang with the two-year-olds as well as the college kids and adults,” explains Yelton, who knows a thing or two about the team mascot after having been the mascot coordinator for the Sounds for the past 20 years.

Business entities choose many ways to market themselves. Mascots are a popular marketing tool for professional and collegiate sports teams, and Booster has established himself as the feathered face of the Sounds, the Pacific Coast League AAA minor league affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. 

Booster came about, so the story goes, when the Sounds first moved to First Tennessee Park from Herschel Greer Stadium in 2015. Allegedly a Sounds souvenir baseball was accidentally knocked into a deep fryer containing chicken. “There was an explosion, and the next thing you knew there was Booster,” Yelton says.

The team likes to use social media to engage with fans and get a feel for Booster’s effectiveness. Follow @SoundsBooster on Instagram and Twitter and you can see where Booster will show up when he’s not at the Ballpark. You also can see who’s following him, and who “likes” or retweets his photos.

“It’s real grassroots marketing for us,” Yelton explains. The Sounds take photos of Booster with fans and post them to social media, and the fans often tag Booster in their posts. “It’s a 21st Century way for gauging our effectiveness,” Yelton says.

Yelton admits that while Booster seems immensely popular with fans, he sometimes gets confused with other mascots. When the Sounds play the Memphis Redbirds, for example, the minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, Memphis fans confuse booster for the Cardinals mascot, “Fredbird.” And occasionally, a youngster has thought Booster was Elmo from Sesame Street. 

“We haven’t done any DNA testing to see if Booster has any relationship to the San Diego Chicken, though,” Yelton says, with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Booster is available for events. Just tweet him for details.

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Joe Diorio is a Nashville IABC member and a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader. You can sign up for his newsletter, “A Few Words About Words,” by visiting his website. 

Would you like to be a guest blogger?
Email us at iabcnashvilletn@gmail.com!