Our Visit from Bryon Riesch

                A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of having Bryon Riesch come speak to us on communicating with people who are disabled. Riesch graduated from Marquette and during his freshman year of 1998, he had an unfortunate accident on a slip and slide that left him paralyzed from his C5 vertebrae down. This just means that he has no control of what happened below his chest with mild use of his hands, but no fingers. Though Bryon lost so much from this tragic accident, he also gained so much from it. He has started fundraisers, his own foundation, and is now a motivational speaker.

                Riesch has gotten involved with Goodwill by helping people with disabilities get jobs. This taught him how to deal with his diability and helped him find a job at Northwest Mutual. In 2001, after his injury, he put together a golf outing to help pay for some of his expenses. After raising $100,000, they continued this event every year and raised over $2 million dollars and were able to start the Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation, and have donated to Madison’s Medical College for paralysis.  The foundation’s goal is to find a cure for paralysis through funding the latest in medical research and to provide assistance to those that suffer from neurological disorders.

                He told us that at first he was afraid to work with other people with disabilities, and then he realized that they weren’t much different from him.  He also inquired that technology has helped him significantly. Since he doesn’t have use of his fingers he has his Ipad on his lap with him where ever he goes. His house also has voice recognition so he can say turn on the lights, or put the house to a certain temperature, the house can do it for him. I think that this is amazing, I know that there is some cool technology out there but that is awesome that his robotic house can do so much for him.

                He also talked about the expenses of a person with disabilities and I was shocked at the high prices that he had to pay just to accommodate his house to be wheel chair accessible. Not only that, he needed a van,  had to make the van wheelchair accessible, then there’s the wheelchair, and you just have to hope nothing goes wrong with it for a few years because those are expensive too.

                When he talked about actually communicating with people with disabilities, he said to use common sense and be respectful. Don’t stare and don’t be afraid to talk to them, ask what happened, talk normally, introduce yourself, shake whatever hand comes to you first, sit down with anyone in a wheelchair so you can talk to them eye-to-eye.

                Something that he said that really pulled at the heart strings is when he said that his dad asked him, “Can you make a positive contribution to society?”He told his dad yes, and he’s been doing just that ever since. His dad also told him to offer out his hand for a shake and see what you get back, I thought that these are some great words to live by and Bryon is so lucky to have such a loving and supportive family. He said that he lost some friends along the way, but then again he had some friends there that he didn’t even know he had. He also mentioned that you lose your dignity in a situation like this because you can’t do anything for yourself. He has someone come help him get ready in the morning which takes two hours and you lose your independence. However, he did learn how to be creative and became a motivational speaker for people who suffer from accidents like his.

                Some inspirational words he had to say was be an advocate, you have to have a dream, don’t be afraid to dream, but live in reality today. Bryon not only had a super positive outlook on life, but he also had a sense of humor about it. He definitely fills the slot of motivational speaker and he makes me realize all of the things that we take for granted which can be as simple at shaving my own legs. After listening to Bryon speak, checking out everything he represents on his website, and liking him on Facebook, I realize how much of an inspiration Bryon is, and only hope that I can someday give back to society like he has, and will continue to do.

Trish Skram's Visit

                On Tuesday we had the pleasure of listening to guest speaker Trish Skram. Skram is actually a UW-Whitewater alumni, majored in speech communication and marketing with an emphasis in public relations six years ago and now has a variety of occupations. One of her jobs is with Mercy health system as a media specialist. She got started out with them when she had an internship there her junior year of college and was able to continue on with them after she graduated. After her internship she worked as a copy writer and kept moving up from there. For her personal blog she uses the name, “PR gal,’ and for her professional one, www.trishkram .com. owner and brand visionary.

                She also works as a professional blogger for the Janesville Gazette and was able to get the job with them after they read her professional blogging. Where it all started for her was with her social media and blogging strategy. She wanted to help her network grow, help to better her PR/communications industry, and talk just talk about everything she knows and loves. She gave us some informative statistics including: 55% of corporations use social media to seek out job applicants, 58% say they are better known in their industry because of their blog, 77% of internet users read blogs, and there are 95 million tweets per day. That is a lot of connections through social media, by incorporating ourselves in that number we could help ourselves tremendously to stay connected, networked, and hopefully find potential employers or internships.

                So why should we blog? Skram informed us that it generates content, establishes expertise, helps grow your network, offers a place for people to engage (comments), gain valuable knowledge, and gives you information to share via social networks. Having a blog can help us boost our brand, and create connections and build rapport with our customers, stakeholders and future customers. She told us that she had a huge fear of blogging because of what people might think, or she might sound stupid, however, we can overcome that fear by understanding that no one has all the answers and know that social media is a place to start a conversation.

Skram also gave us information on eight ways to build a brand with a blog; what do you want to get out of it? Know your competency, listen and learn about your audience, add a personal touch to it, be positive, encourage engagement, research keywords, and be consistent. She also said that we should create a code of conduct and gave us a list of hot topics that could attract people to read our blog. Kram utilizes twitter, @trishskram, and linkedin.com/om/trishskram professionally to help promote her blog and to update followers on the gazette and Mercy Health Systems. I thought that Skram had a lot of great advice about blogging and utilizing social media in the work place. Before listening to Skram I only considered blogging for class purposes, however, now I would like to start writing as an entrepreneur like she did and hope that it will make me more marketable in the work arena and enhance my writing abilities.