Just Checking In Mixing Board

Episode show notes:
Welcome to another episode of Just Checking In! Today our guest is Judy Shaw, the person in charge of corporate communications connected to listings and media relations at the New York Stock Exchange. She is also the host of "What's the Fund?" and one of our personal favorites, "NYSE Floor Talk," where she has conducted interviews with some of the most well-known CEOs, celebrities, athletes, Oscar winners, and VIPs of all time. This expert in comms with more than 25 years of experience, joins the conversation to talk how she achieved her big city dream, how to use media to showcase companies in creative ways, how the “NYSE Floor Talk” was born, plus some crazy stories from the trading floor.
Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!
Jump straight into:
01:06 - Becky’s latest podcast obsession - “It’s called Bone Valley. Have you heard of it?” 
02:52 - The power of storytelling in the comms industry - “You have to be a really good storyteller to do well in this role.” 
04:21 - Introducing Judy Shaw -  “We have Judy Shaw on the show today. I think she's actually done an incredible job of turning what's supposed to be sort of like a financial transaction, right? Buy my stock. Sell my stock. It's the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She's brought storytelling down to the New York Stock Exchange.”
08:34 - Judy’s story, from law to media relations - “ I started working in the general counsel's office as an admin, and I was like ‘wow, I'm here, here I am’, and then I was like, ‘oh, general counsel, admin’, not all the fun and excitement, you know, of the New York Stock Exchange”
13:58 - Creative ways to showcase companies - “ Through the years, you know, we've had many different things that have happened here on the floor, you name it, it's pretty much been done. Years and years ago where we had a horse on the floor.”
17:35 - The birth of NYSE Floor Talk - “An interview series where we were gonna focus on all the amazing things that were happening here at the New York Stock Exchange. Talking to CEOs that are coming through the building, but not just limited to CEOs.”
21:19 - How to work with other comms leads? -  “A lot of times, you know, we'll just see kind of a blend of everything we're working together, right? Because we're all chasing that common goal, right? We want to maximize on, on opportunities for the client.” 
24:09 - Memories from NYSE Floor Talk - “ I took a picture with him and then just a few years ago when he won the Oscar with Lady Gaga, it was a whole big thing with Lady Gaga. So I then said ‘oh, let me post my picture with Bradley Cooper.’”
28:05 - Judy’s 9/11 experience - “The markets are resilient and they're remaining open. And that's a very important day here at the NYSE, you know, for the trading floor. And we market every year. And it really means a lot to everyone that was here on the floor during that time. You know, that changed the world at that point.”
Episode resources:
Judy Shaw’s LinkedIn, Twitter and a href="https://www.instagram.com/judyshaw/"...

Episode show notes:
Welcome to another episode of Just Checking In! Today our guest is Jennie Blumenthal, bestselling author of Corporate Rehab, a book focused on a topic that is likely very relevant to many of our listeners: burnout and the “hustle culture” that is so pervasive in our industry today.  Jennie spent many years as a top executive working with Fortune 500 companies, traveling frequently, and being away from her family. But one day, she had the realization that maybe she wasn't as happy as she thought she was. This expert today joins us to talk about the toxic side of hustle culture, the definition of burnout, the behind-the-scenes of her book, and how she became a coach executive that helps companies to go through a corporate rehab and start thriving. 
Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!
Jump straight into:
01:05 - Keyana’s connection to Jennie - “When I talked to Jenny for the first time, it was like she peered into my soul.”
02:32 - Women in tech & burnout - “In light of some of the things we've seen in the news over the last, like six months, even week about really prominent women in our industry in tech, taking a step back.”
07:58 -  For Fortune 500 execute to burnout -  “The longer I had to sit in the quiet of how exactly did I get here and how when I was building this life, that's everything we're taught to go after and women can be anything. How did I wind up in a place where I felt so empty? and I felt like. This wasn't what I wanted”
10:04 - The toxic side of hustle culture - “We get caught in this, ‘I have to keep going’,  ‘I have to go even faster’, and then our relaxation time doesn't actually refuel us. It's just another way of overstimulation.”
12:13 - What’s burnout? - “We're all part of. So it's not just you aren't doing it right and if you just run faster, you'll outrun your burnout. It's something that's increasing in the pace within our own culture.”
15:00 - Women burnout stories - “And as I started talking to other women and they started contributing their stories, I was shocked at how much we'll tolerate before, we'll actually seek help or try to find a solution.”
 18:10 - Intro to hustle culture research - “ It really was this constant performance and productivity mentality, that I noticed across, and that was the first piece. The second really was really got what got me to this whole concept of going from survival into thriving, and that is survival mentality is really based on the scarcity mentality.” 
23:11 - Corporate rehab -  “It's about, is understanding what are the patterns and the mindsets and the behaviors that you're wired for or that you've picked up over time, might have served you earlier in your career. That it's time to reevaluate and sit down so that you can actually thrive.”
30:03 - Burnout in comms departments - “We are not surgeons, no one dies. But there is still a lot of pressure, I think, in terms of the fact that our job does really, influence people's lives in a respect and there's a lot to that.”
34:30 - The hardest part of healing -  “So much of what I would have said I missed were things that I found through my own healing journey, we're actually unhealthy attachments.”
Episode resources:
Jennie Blumenthal’s...

Welcome to another episode of Just Checking In. Today our guest is Joe Williams, a tech writer, formerly of Bloomberg, Business Insider, and, most recently, Protocol. But with Protocol’s shutdown, Joe had time for us at JCI and offered us an interesting perspective on the state of the media today, including insights about how he likes to cover complicated, B2B technology stories. . This expert in covering wonky tech issues joins the conversation in this episode to talk about the landscape of media business models, the do’s and don'ts of covering technology issues, and how to craft a great story. Plus, he’s got an interesting viewpoint on  Elon’s Twitter.  
Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!
Jump straight into:
03:31 - Catching up with Protocol shutdown - “The media is not immune to everything going on, and particularly when you're in a niche industry, or maybe not niche, but when you're a beat publication and the industry you're covering is going through a tough time, it's pretty evident that that's gonna filter down to you.” 
07:39 - The landscape going forward for the media business - “I think fear that consumers aren't going to want to pay, I think it's misguided because I think they don't want to pay for journalism that they don't want or that they don't find useful.”
09:20 - The model of self-started journalism - “I worry about kind of tunnel vision or I worry about not having that second set of eyes or that, that newsroom to kind of, you know, bounce ideas off of.”
13:52 - What makes a good story within the tech comms industry - “ I think to still talk about it like it's some futuristic like Star Trek concept is really disadvantageous. And frankly, I think kind of insulting to the reader”
26:23 -  The biggest tech comms PR turnoffs - “Companies now I think, always fear that reporters are always digging for something, which is funny to me cuz that's our job and that's what we should be doing.”
 28:47 - Joe’s refreshing perspective regarding Twitter - “It's a self-fulfilling cycle. He says something, we write about it, and he says something else. We write about it.  There has to be a breaking point that it's, you know, but I don't know what happens,  besides him shutting down the website.” 
Episode resources:
Joe Williams’s Twitter and LinkedIn
Thank you for listening to Just Checking In by Battery Ventures. Go follow Becky and Keyana on social media to know more about them. If you enjoyed this show leave a review and help us find new audiences! 
This show is produced by StudioPod Media in SanFrancisco. Teresa Buchanan is the Show’s Producer. Nicole Genova is the Show...

Today it’s time to check in with tech-focused TV news–specifically, the senior field producer for CNBC in San Francisco, Laura Batchelor. In today’s episode, you’ll hear all about Laura’s career, including how she got to San Francisco and first became a television producer. Also, Laura shares what it was like to broadcast news during quarantine, how comms pros should think about pitching stories for TV, versus print, and what it's really like to manage live TV shots when things sometimes (often?) go awry.

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:
00:52 - Becoming a very senior film producer: Laura’s fascinating professional journey - “So I got to work with Corey Johnson and Emily Chang and kind of really learn about the companies that are here, like the big ones, you know. Google and Facebook and Amazon.” 

3:56 - Covering tech - “I mean right now it is. It is wild. I mean, there are like huge events. You know, the future of free speech could be like changed forever with Elon Musk at the helm of Twitter.”

7:23 - Broadcasting news during Covid times - “So Covid was wild because being in broadcast news, like you're all always here in the studio, in the, in the control room.”

11:57 - The unforgettable experiences in Laura’s career - “You know, this whole collapse of FTX has been, wild to watch and trying to get a better understanding from other CEOs of crypto exchanges.”

16:18 - A little news you can use: How to pitch a broadcast - “Keep it super short. TV is so quick and snappy. So like, I always think like Keyana, when you would pitch me, it would be. Three sentences max, maybe just like a few keywords. And it was so great because I was like, oooh, I'm intrigued.”

21:23 - What working live TV is like - “They had Stewart Butterfield on a live interview happening on tv, and Jared Leto decided to walk up and interrupt our live interview just to say hi to Mr. Stewart Butterfield because he was an investor and wanted to say hi.”


Episode resources:
Laura Bachelor Twitter and Linkedin
a...

Episode show notes:
Given the current market volatility, all tech companies are, in some sense, in unchartered waters–and comms departments are no exception. To get a better understanding of the current landscape, we’ve invited comms pro Sean Garrett, the founder of Mixing Board and the first communications hire at Twitter, to share his perspective. In this episode, you’ll hear about the genesis of Mixing Board and its business model; his experience with a previous consultancy, the Pramana Collective; Garrett’s take on the current Twitter saga (of course!); and his thoughts on how comms professionals can, and should, have a seat at the corporate decision-making table.
Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!
Jump straight into:
02:01 - Stripe in the news and turbulent markets - “We always like to just talk a little bit about comms and technology or market topics before we dive in. And this week, I was thinking about Stripe...” 
09:29 - Sean Garrett and Mixing Board - “So mixing board was kind of a way to completely shake up,  and bring the community into top comms and marketing leaders.”  
17:04 - Difficult  times for comms - “I'm not sure what I could say about that to make it better besides the fact that like, if you can make it through this, you can make it through anything.”
21:53 - It’s the inside that matters: The importance of internal comms - “Nine times out of 10, like whatever the end tactical problem was, it was almost always tied to some internal discombobulation.”
30:48 - Twitter’s case: What to do when a leadership team doesn’t respect comms - “Obviously this is a communications platform, that like lives and breathes communications and is all about transparency. It's about openness.”
35:34 - The power of comms - “I think like, you know, Brian Chesky kind of did this with Airbnb right after the pandemic started. Everyone praised that. I think certainly the messaging has been good on those kinds of notes.”
45:58 - The media landscape in the tech industry - “It's intentional to like create those divisions because you're able to separate the different tribes of this world and now there's like a media tribe and that's counterbalanced with like this tech tribe.”
48:53 - New York vs. San Francisco - “There's something very specific about the media industry in New York and their feelings toward this disruptive industry that impacts them specifically.”
Episode resources:
Sean Garrett’s Twitter and Linkedin
Mixing Board
Thank you for listening to Just Checking In by Battery Ventures. Go follow Becky and Keyana on social media to know more...

Episode show notes:
Welcome to another episode of Just Checking In. Today our guest is noted tech journalist and author Brad Stone. As senior executive editor for global technology at Bloomberg News and author of books including The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound, Brad has followed Amazon’s and Jeff Bezos’s personal evolution. In this episode, you’ll hear about the profound changes Amazon and Bezos have gone through over the last 10 years, many of them related to the company’s near-compulsive need to innovate across industries and maintain a mindset Amazon calls “Day 1.” Finally, we discuss Amazon’s notoriously tough corporate culture and Bezos’s surprisingly sharp PR skills, deployed when an extra-marital affair sparked a high-profile media scandal.
Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!
Jump straight into:
00:33 - Welcome back to Season 2 of Just Checking In! 
1:45 - The new environment of the tech comms industry - “If you're a tech comms person these days, right? The news cycle is different. You've got different internal dynamics, you're trying to make do with less. It may be a good opportunity for people to reset and really think about their priorities.”
2:22 - Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs - “It's been a very interesting few weeks this past week. It's just been one layoff after another. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of like if you're not laying off people, are you even in tech? 
3:18 - Season 2 guest lineup -  “Let's talk about who we're going to hear from this season, cause I think we have an amazing lineup.” 
5:53 - Keyana’s life recovery run - “I took a couple of months off and then I took a role outside of Silicon Valley, still in tech. And, you know, I'll sort of ease my way back into the crazy.”
7:05 - Intro to Brad Stone - “Excited about our guest today, Brad Stone, who I think many of you probably know, but he is the Senior Executive Editor for Global Technology at Bloomberg News. He's also the author of some really, really awesome books. Many of them about Jeff Bezos and Amazon. The most recent one, Amazon Unbound”.
9:30 - The genesis of Brad’s books - “With that kind of sort of intuition based as with all things, uh, for all journalists in insecurity and the feeling like, I didn't know this, this story as well as I was pretending to, I thought, oh, maybe there's room for part two of the story.”  
10:43 - Looking for Amazon’s cooperation - “I sent one to Jeff and I explained what I wanted, to do.  They got back to me and through a series of, I would say kind of negotiations. Over well, or discussions over what I wanted to do and how I would go about it.”
14:15 - The real challenge in writing books about Amazon: The case of AWS - “While the chapters are kind of categories, I'm also trying to tell a story.”
17:10 - Finding the common thread: Telling a time-coherent story in the ever-changing world of Amazon and Bezos - “The company almost needs to be inventive because, if you don't, you eventually slow down.”
18:15 - The Day 1 mentality: Amazon’s working culture - “Day one is the...