Time for Spring(ish) Cleaning

collected this week to share with you. Enjoy!

• Let’s Get Down To Business: First some industry updates – a recent surveyof top communication professionals revealed which issues, strategies and trends are in bloom or starting to wilt right now. The data showed striving to meet higher expectations while working with lower budgets is requiring some extra creativity to get the job done efficiently. The “hot” PR trends and tactics include storytelling, content marketing and thought leadership as more alignment is expected between PR, marketing, influencers, social media and executive speaking engagements this year.
• Not all Communication is Verbal: According this lovely infographic from Custom Writing, body language speaks volumes! So whether someone is trying to replace speech, reinforce speech or mirror a mood, you can get a better idea of what they are trying to say in your next meeting using these physical cues. *raises eyebrows*
• Then There are the Digital Comms: Hashtags are everywhere, you can’t avoid them. But some have done a much better job at engaging audiences than others. Here are some top contenders for best “pound-sign + text” campaigns and why they seemed to resonate with audiences. #Hashtag.
• Did you wash your hands? Apparently, some antibacterial soap doesn’t always do the trick. The CDCrecently discovered more than 200 cases of unusual resistance genes in “nightmare bacteria” that can cause difficult-to-treat or potentially untreatable infections in hospitals and nursing homes. Maybe scientists can take a page from this magic toilet to address the antibiotic resistance problem.   
• Space Updates! Good news! A newly found starmarks the most distance ever observed in space, opening the door for further discoveries in the great wide open! Unfortunately, some Debbie Downers think our chances of experiencing a real-life E.T. encounter are slim due to a lack of phosphorous. In fact, while some physicistssay the universe could end in a big bang that consumes the known universe and others are worried the Milky Way has a black holes problem, a few are baffled by some mysterious, unexplained flashes and still more are struggling to explain how the universe exists at all! Talk about a hot mess. I am personally jazzed about a new plan to send bumblebee-sized robots to Mars to scope out the scene. #MarsBees
• Problem Solving 101: In case those robo-bees find something worth exploring, scientists in Antarcticahave harvested their first crop of vegetables growth without soil, daylight or pesticides in an effort to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other planets! Seeing as they won’t have to go the Matt Damon route to grow potatoes, scientists felt confident building a magic toilet to address sanitation problems in space. Here on Earth, architects worldwide are exploring “vertical land” and how to build up to provide affordable homes in crowded communities and combat homelessness. Unfortunately, not all problems are being solved as we speak. For example, people keep going to Alaska and never come back…so let’s add that to the To-Do list.
• Burnout Round: And here are some leftover findings that don’t have a category but are pretty fun nonetheless! Saucony created Dunkin Donut Sneakers, Tiger Woods is back but Dr. Evil got fired, dogs are more than best friends – they are therapists,  raccoon zombiesaren’t playing around, too much food can now come in glitter, Chicago loves shuffleboard, and the Bill and Ted 3 movie has been confirmed (for those of us old enough to know what that means)!