CAMPFIRE CHAT WITH
MOC PRESIDENT GRETCHEN STEELE
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Communicating Authentically: What Does it Mean to You?
The first thing I have to say in this summer’s edition of the President's message is this: I am currently beyond green with envy regarding all our members who live close to the cold, clear streams in Missouri! There’s nothing I would like more during this record heat wave than to be floating or just "creek sitting" in one of the crystal clear, cool streams. Yes, the greenish glow to the east would be me!
Crystal, clear, and cool are not adjectives used for our muddy and silty creeks and rivers over here across the big creek in southern Illinois.
I must be honest. My planned message about the importance of small rural libraries and our role in supporting those libraries got derailed early this morning when a bit of social media dust-up occurred.
There I was, mindlessly deadheading the petunias while scrolling through my social media feed and sipping my morning coffee when I stumbled into a post sharing a blog's "listicle" regarding some specific locations. Shawnee National Forest locations. Places in MY backyard. What made me pause was that the accompanying photo was of a Missouri spring pool. One I recognized from a previous MOC conference. Now, what the heck?
Ever intrigued, I clicked through to the actual blog post. WHOA! Wait a minute, that image is no more Kinkaid spillway than the man in the moon! With trepidation, I continued through the listicle. The amount of misinformation was staggering and frankly dangerous, given a couple of the locations. I quickly checked the “About Us” section – I think the words “authentic,” “authentically,” and “best life” appeared roughly 800 times. Ahhhh, the current big buzzword – "authentic."
To give credit where it's due – the blog/website was very well designed and attractive. Easy to navigate. But it didn't feel authentic to me in any way. It felt heavily built around meeting various social media and SEO metrics and goals.
I kept hearing my long-time editor, Jeff Lampe, in my head telling me repeatedly when I would get bogged down in that sort of thing. "Stop. Just tell the darn story. Tell it as you would to your buddy at the boat ramp."
I popped back to the social media post mostly to see the comments railing against the post's inaccuracies. Subsequently, moderators removed the link from the public group. But this led me down the twisted rabbit hole of authenticity, credibility, and how do we, as outdoor communicators, approach this sort of thing?
I'm not foolish enough to think that, especially for those of us who utilize digital platforms, we don't have to have a degree of SEO optimization, some networking, crosslinks, etc. But how can we ensure that we are communicating with genuine authenticity versus just creating content that checks the boxes?
The definition of “authenticity” is pretty straightforward - "Authentic" means true, accurate, genuine, not fake, not copied. Although, now it seems that it's become a buzzword, a lifestyle almost. A morning perusal of Psychology Today's website really made my head reel with its plethora of articles regarding being one's authentic self.
I've concluded that "writing authentically" means writing honestly, factually, and with integrity. Worrying less about what I think might be expected from me and more about telling the story through my personal lens. I'm learning to write for my perceived audience and share my perspective and experiences more. I worry less about metrics, word counts, numbers, and, just as Lampe always suggested, "Tell the story." I've found that when I stop writing for those data-driven machines and write from my heart, it helps me find my voice and style. My unique perspective on the myriad of topics we as outdoor communicators cover. Perhaps that's our more accurate measure of being a successfully authentic communicator. Tell the story from our perspective, tell it factually, tell it from our heart, and metrics be damned.
I'd love to hear from our MOC members how they approach writing with authenticity – heck, maybe we should have a good round table discussion about this at the next conference?
- Gretchen Steele, President
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE |
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Summer greetings, MOC members.
The last newsletter saw me bemoaning the dearth of time I had in the woods or on the water over the spring months due to other obligations and commitments.
I'm happy to report that after my wife, Vara, and I successfully completed our Ironman 70.3 race in early May, life has, more or less, returned to normal. And, I can tell you that I made it a point to make up for lost time on the water with some fantastic outings with friends, family and fellow MOC members.
In late May, I was able to meet up with a few MOC members at the Lake of the Ozarks during an outdoor press trip hosted by Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks Tri-County Lodging Association. I was fortunate enough to spend two days bass fishing with some of the best in the business. The first day, I fished with MOC members John Neporadny and Scott Pauley and, collectively, we boated close to 100 bass that afternoon. I definitely had a hard time keeping up with those seasoned and salty anglers, but I did catch a personal-best bass (pictured) that unofficially weighed in at 5 pounds, though John insists it was only 4.9995 pounds. The next morning, I went back out on the Lake with Scott before spending the afternoon on a boat with MOC Supporting Member "Big" Ed Franko of Big Ed's Guide Service and it made for a day to remember. Throughout the trip to the Lake, the fishing was outstanding and I learned an incredible amount from John, Scott and "Big" Ed along the way. As Brent Frazee, John and Scott keep threatening, they may make a bass angler out of me yet.
The weekend following the trip to Lake of the Ozarks, I took my dad, Mark, and my son, Elliot, to Bennett Spring State Park for a fathers-sons trout fishing getaway, thanks to Park Concessionaire Jim Rogers. While the day started out promising, the influx of water from the heavy rains the night before made it a long day of not catching much. But we still had a great time and I was honored to finally be able to take Elliot fishing at Bennett Spring like my dad did for me and my brothers so many times during my youth.
Then, on a sultry Saturday morning in early June, my dad, Elliot and I loaded into the car with the family canoe strapped to the top and headed for the Meramec River for a long-anticipated and often-rescheduled fishing trip with MOC Supporting Member Damon Spurgeon of Cardiac Mountain Outfitters and MOC member Bill Cooper. We also met up with my middle brother, Gary, who happened to be in Missouri on a rare break from guiding trips himself in Alaska, so we had a hardy crew. Gary and my dad each boated about a dozen nice fish from Damon's drift boat while Elliot and I fished more sparingly and enjoyed the float and conversation with "Mr. Bill." Elliot, who wants to be a naturalist and park ranger when he grows up, especially liked hearing about Bill's adventures as a park naturalist and super intendant as we floated on. It was a beautiful day made better by great company.
The very next weekend, the three Brothers Stewart (Gary, Brad and I) loaded up vehicles with fishing gear and six other friends and headed to Arkansas' famed White River for a buddy's post-wedding bachelor party (yes, evidently, that's a thing). We had a rustic cabin right on the river and spent much of our time catching up, catching trout and taking short swims in the frigid current of the White.
All the time spent back in the outdoors was rejuvenating and helped drive home the point of how much I missed and needed being among wild things. And, how well good friends and the great outdoors go together - it's a perfect pairing. And, more often than not, you learn a few things along the way.
With summer now in full swing, you'll find me outside as often as I can be, regardless of the heat and humidity, taking advantage of the bountiful outdoor offerings the Show-Me State provides. I hope that you are able to make the most of the season as well.
- Kyle Stewart, The Beenders Walker Group
Missouri Outdoor Communicators Executive Director
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MOC MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE 2022 AGLOW CONFERENCE IN BRANSON |
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Mark Smith, executive director of the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW), has extended an invitation to Missouri Outdoor Communicators media members to attend the 2022 AGLOW annual conference in Branson, Mo. The conference takes place September 18-22 at the Chateau on the Lake Resort, Spa and Conference Center overlooking Table Rock Lake.
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Any MOC media members that are not already members of AGLOW that register for the 2022 conference will receive a complimentary media membership to AGLOW for 2022-2023. Registration for the conference costs $100 and includes meals, cocktail hours, seminars, shooting day and numerous "in the field" excursions in and around Branson.
Mark asks that any MOC members that wish to take advantage of this opportunity to please email him at [email protected] to let him know that you have registered so that Mark can set up your AGLOW membership.
Please reach out to Mark with any questions you may have about AGLOW or the 2022 AGLOW conference.
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2022 MOC FALL FISH, FLOAT N FUN CAMPOUT |
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Finger Lakes State Park just north of Columbia hosts regular kayaking events and races, as pictured above. Finger Lakes also features an Aquatic Trail as well as excellent fishing. Most visitors head to Finger Lakes to experience the great outdoors in solitude and get away from the crowds. |
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MOC is currently working on narrowing down the event dates, which will be three days and two nights during the week of either October 10-13 or October 17-20.
Anyone looking to escape the crowds and spend some time outside will find many great escapes in Columbia. With 73 city parks, 10 conservation areas, three state parks, a celebrated nature trail and numerous outdoor venues, Columbia offers ample opportunities to roam around and enjoy the fresh air and nature's bounty.
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More details and applications to participate for the 2022 Fish, Float N Fun event will be available soon.
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Left to Right: Participants will campout at Finger Lakes State Park just north of Columbia; Columbia is home to award-winning restaurants, microbreweries, distilleries and wineries; Shelter Gardens is one of several celebrated botanic gardens around Columbia; Capen Park is one of Columbia's most popular green spaces and attracts many hikers for its stunning views.
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CFM TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS AWARD |
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Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation has announced that MOC Supporting Member Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) will receive the Sacagawae Community and Partnership Conservation Award during the 2022 National Lewis and Clark Conservation Awards.
Conservations Federation is being recognized for not only serving as a watchdog for conservation, but also as a conduit for people in Missouri to voice their opinions to better serve our state's natural resources. The strength of CFM's partnerships with more than 100 affiliate organizations and 75 business partners has laid the groundwork to continue to protect Missouri's outdoor heritage.
The Sacagawae Community and Partnership Conservation Award goes to organizations that are focused on exceptional community and partnership building that have led to progressive changes in conservation programs and have made a significant impact to Missouri.
The 2022 Lewis and Clark Conservation Awards will take place in Springfield, Mo. on September 28.
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ODDS AND ENDS - MOC UPDATES |
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There are a few updates to report in regard to the organization and a few of our members.
For those that have not already heard the good news, MOC founding member Bobby Whitehead (AKA "The Bobfather") successfully underwent a kidney transplant on Monday, June 27. Bobby is recovering well and thanks everyone for their support and well wishes.
We wish Bobby a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him soon at the next MOC conference.
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MOC Past President Tim Huffman will receive the 2022 Wade Bourne Communicator of the Year at the 2022 "Legends of the Outdoors" Banquet and Induction Ceremony in Springfield, Mo. on August 20.
Tim Huffman has written about crappie fishing for 33 years He has credits in many regional and national magazines, served as editor of Cabela’s Crappie USA Crappie Journal, and helped start Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters Tournament Trail Magazine where he served as editor for 15 years. He was cofounder of CrappieNow Digital Magazine, served as editor for eight years and is currently the senior writer. He has several thousand photo credits including over 130 cover photos. He is author of nine books, with his latest being published in January 2022. He has received awards from outdoor writing organizations and received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters.
Congratulations on this incredible honor, Tim!
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A well-deserved congratulations is due to MOC Past President Brent Frazee for his outstanding showing in the Outdoor Writers Association of America's 2022 Excellence in Craft Awards. Brent took first place in the Gear/Technical category for his newspaper story "Truman Guide a Master of Garmin LiveScope," third place in the Family Participation/Youth in the Outdoors category for his newspaper story "Taking Little Anglers on First Fishing Trips," and third place in the Fishing category for his newspaper story "Your Best Fishing Moments Don't Have to be in the Past."
Well done, Brent!
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Neima Shahdadi has been appointed by the Missouri Outdoor Communicators' Scholarship Committee to serve as the Scholarship Chairman. Neima is taking over the position from John Neporadny, who had served as Scholarship Chairman for many years and successfully identified and awarded numerous qualified recipients over his years of service. Neima, who is an advisor for the Mizzou Honors College, will work with the Scholarship Committee as well as Tricia Burkhardt of the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, to identify and recruit qualified scholarship applicants to continue to work towards MOC's mission "to mentor the next generation of outdoor communicators." Since 1999, MOC has awarded over $36,000 to qualified college students interested in a career in outdoor communications through its “Buck” Rogers Memorial Scholarship.
On behalf of Missouri Outdoor Communicators, thank you, John, for your outstanding service as past Chairman of the Scholarship Committee.
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MOC FOUNDING MEMBER JOEL VANCE INDUCTED INTO THE MISSOURI CONSERVATION HALL OF FAME |
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By Joe Jerek, Statewide News Service Coordinator for Missouri Department of Conservation
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) posthumously honored Joel M. Vance, formerly of Russellville, by inducting him into the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame on June 17 during a ceremony at the MDC Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City. Vance died on Dec. 9, 2020, at age 86.
Vance was nominated for the Conservation Hall of Fame by family members, who accepted the award in his honor. They included his wife, Marty; his sons, Eddie Vance and family, J.B. Vance, and Andy Vance; and his daughters Carrie DeValk and family, and Amy Binkley and family.
Vance is the 45th inductee into the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame. The award honors deceased citizen conservationists and former employees of MDC, other conservation-related government agencies, universities, or organizations who have made substantial and lasting contributions to the state’s fisheries, forestry, or wildlife resources. To be eligible, an individual must have performed an outstanding act or demonstrated dedicated service resulting in major progress in conservation in Missouri. Nominations are carefully screened by a diverse committee and their recommendations are presented to the Conservation Commission for consideration and final approval. Learn more at https://mdc.mo.gov/about-us/awards-honors/hall-fame.
“Over the decades of his employment with MDC from 1969 to 1991, Mr. Vance contributed to the Department by being the highly respected and widely heard clarion voice of conservation in the state, giving talks on behalf of the Department, conducting seminars and workshops, and helping establish a Public Affairs section for MDC in 1986,” said MDC Director Sara Parker Pauley during the award event.
“Most notably, he wrote the Design for Conservation which established a dedicated sales tax for conservation in 1976,” Pauley added. “The entire issue of the August 1975 Missouri Conservationist was written by Mr. Vance, detailing the program that would propel MDC to the top of all conservation agencies nationwide.”
Pauley noted that writing the Design for Conservation created a framework for conservation funding in Missouri and emphasis of the sales tax, but the bulk of Vance’s career with MDC included writing about, photographing for, and participating in conservation efforts for the monthly Missouri Conservationist magazine.
“These mentioned efforts only hint at his significance to the North American conservation movement,” Pauley said. “In addition to thousands of news stories and magazine articles written for the Department, Mr. Vance produced an abundance of freelance articles and monthly columns over his 60-year career for every major hunting, fishing, and conservation magazine in America. His work earned him numerous, well-deserved awards and accolades.”
Vance also authored many books about conservation topics all of kinds, which showcased his wit, humor, and love of conservation efforts.
Vance was also deeply involved in the conservation movement, serving as president and chairman of the board of directors of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) and the Missouri Outdoor Communicators, as well as an active member of the Association for Conservation Information, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, and the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers.
“With Mr. Vance’s passing, Missouri lost a dedicated conservationist,” Pauley said. “However, his legacy lives on for future generations of Missourians. We are pleased Mr. Vance’s family could be with us today to accept this honor on his behalf. I want to personally thank them for supporting him in his efforts to make Missouri and the nation a better place for future generations.”
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"CHARLIE'S CHUCKLES"
FUNCTIONAL PUNCTUATION - HIGH MARKS
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By Charlie Slovensky, MOC founding member and father of MOC TALK.
This column is dedicated to all those outdoor communicators who couldn’t make it as clowns in a circus or standup comedians in Vegas. It will be a combination of humorous quips and anecdotes to give us food for thought as we self-analyze our writing styles. It is offered free of charge and free of malice, and with the keen knowledge that none of us can afford the option of a therapist, not that visiting one would be helpful.
Functional Punctuation –
High Marks (Second of a three-part series)
I’m confident that after you’ve read this piece, you’ll receive “high marks” on your next punctuation test.
It’s all about apostrophes and quotation marks.
According to my 1984 Harbrace College Handbook (call me old school, I’ll take it in stride) apostrophes are used for: 1) possessives (Brent’s fishing buddies, Coop’s exquisite cuisine), 2) contractions (shouldn’t, doesn’t), and 3) plurals of certain letters, abbreviations, and words referred to as words (a’s, ATV’s, 1900’s).
Here are some of the things you have to watch:
For possessives, it matters whether the noun or pronoun is singular or plural. Place the apostrophe before the “s” for singular nouns (Brent’s, Coop’s) but after the “s” for plural nouns (MOC Members’ Services, Writers’ Guidelines).
Contractions are contracted words (duh). They get that way by substituting an apostrophe for one or more letters to combine two words into one (“are not” becomes “aren’t” and “you are” becomes “you’re”). I ain’t sure how “ain’t” got to be the way it is, but I suspect it goes back to some Southern-sympathizer, Ozark hillbilly schoolmaster somewhere way back when. This suspicion is supported by what it says in the Handbook: “Contractions in writing mirror speech. As a rule, they are avoided in formal writing.”
What’s a bigger problem is when half-literate folks confuse contractions with their homonyms. Brent Frazee shared a FACT post on February 19, 2019 that moaned “I hate when people don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re." There so stupid.” Like a true hoarder, I saved that post, not knowing when it might come in handy, but here we are.
If I’m not mistaken, there’s very little contemporary use for the third option. We’re free to write “1900s” instead of “1900’s” in the 21st century. But be careful with “its,” the possessive of “it,” and “it’s," the contraction for “it is.”
You may have noticed that I have already used a lot of quotation marks in the preceding paragraphs.
It goes without saying that quotation marks are required when you’re quoting another author directly. Break this citing rule and you may be cited in Charlie’s court of plagiaristic crimes.
Have you doubled down with a double quotation recently? If so, you should have known that single quotation marks, which look virtually identical to apostrophes, go inside the regular quotation marks: (According to news reports, the White House “continues to refer to inflation as ‘transitory’”).
If’n yer (“yer” being the Ozarkian spelling of “you’re”) a poet and know it, you are licensed to use quotation marks for special emphasis on short lines of verse (“He said he loved her to the moon and back/He meant from the honey hole back to the boat ramp”).
Quotation marks are also employed in the midst of dialogue: The guide suggested, “Tie on a pumpkin jig with a curly chartreuse tail.” Remember to start a new paragraph when the speaker changes:
“I can’t find one in any of my five tackle boxes,” retorted Kieser.
Quotation marks are used to encapsulate short titles of books, poems, short stories, magazine articles, and TV and blog episodes (“2022-Spring of Thunder”).
Finally, words used in a special sense may be enclosed in quotation marks. This is the use I employed with “high marks” in the first paragraph of my discussion of the apostrophe. This is an application I use often, to ensure that my readers pick up on my weird sense of humor, especially when subtle puns are involved.
That’s it for now. As threatened, we’ll punctuate this three-part series next time with sentence ending marks.
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SOCIAL MEDIA,
PART II: GROWING YOUR AUDIENCE
By Colton Zirkle, Executive Director of Missouri Hunting Heritage Foundation
You’ve established a presence on a small number of highly-trafficked social media platforms. Now, how do you grow your audience?
Social media content creators realize their success or failure is controlled by a platform’s “algorithm.” The algorithm is a method by which platforms screen a post and decide whether or not to place it in the newsfeed of other users. For instance, you only see a small selection of the posts of the profiles you follow, not every single post.
As a good general rule, platforms prioritize content created within their own systems. For instance, in Facebook, if you post an external link to your own website of an event you’re having, the post will not reach as many users as if you had made a Facebook event and shared it to your Facebook page.
When posting on Facebook and Instagram, try to always include an image, being careful not to have too much text within the image itself. The more wording present within the image, the less it will be promoted by the algorithm. A logo on top of your image file is fine, but limit the amount of text on the image itself and instead, include that information in the text accompanying the image.
Here are a couple of important terms; understanding these can help you expand the reach of your posts: organic and inorganic.
Organic refers to post reach that occurs naturally. Good content will perform on its own. If you provide the content your audience enjoys, they will engage with it through likes, comments, and shares. Of course, the more this happens organically, the more the algorithm will help you by putting your posts in front of more people. You can give this a little extra push by requesting your network of contacts to engage with your posts. Pro tip: send these “asks” outside of the platform so that the engagement appears to be organic.
Inorganic options are ok too, but they usually involve spending real money. On most platforms, there are options to “boost” or “promote” posts. These options usually allow you to target specific audiences as well. Users can be segmented by demographics like age and location, or by their interests and activities. The more money you spend, the greater number of people your post will reach within your target audience.
No matter which option you choose, always be sure to have your desired response in mind. Do you want people to purchase your product? Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your podcast? Maybe join you on guided outdoor trips? Tailor your post to be able to allow viewers to easily follow your prompts.
To see some highly engaging posts from within our industry, check out the National Parks Service. Their posts always have a catchy first line that draws you in with relevant humor, then they share good, educational information within the post. An occasional, tasteful, comedic “roast,” is ok too, even Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will dip their feet into this end of the pond from time to time. Just be careful to pick your fun battles wisely so you don’t alienate your followers.
Another way to gain favor with the algorithm is to post often! The more content you post on your pages, the more your content will be promoted by the platform. For instance, you should be posting on Instagram daily if you want to grow your audience, and twice a day is even better. It may be a challenge to generate that much content, so look to members of your organizations and your followers to share photos and captions with you that you can then post to your social media channel. It takes frequent posting to grow your audience. If growing your channel is a goal, you can treat it like a job, by setting reminders on your phone to post on your channels.
We, the Missouri Outdoor Communicators, already have a great network. I challenge each of you to share the pages of 3-5 other MOC members and tag them in a post to your page, then challenge them to share 3-5 more, and so on. We are the best people to help promote each other. It’s likely that our followers would enjoy content from other members of this group.
As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions and I will do my very best to help!
Also, as you may have heard, I have accepted a new position as Executive Director for the Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation, Inc. My new email is below.
Stay social,
Colton Zirkle
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For future issues for MOC TALK, please send story submissions, photographs, inquiries and upcoming events to Kyle Stewart of The Beenders Walker Group at [email protected].
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MISSOURI OUTDOOR COMMUNICATORS
125 E. HIGH STREET, SUITE 200
JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65101
OFFICE: 573-636-8282
CELL: 573-619-3296
WWW.MISSOURIOUTDOORCOMMUNICATORS.ORG
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