San Antonio vets want to help others deal with PTSD with "Walter's House"

Ask Tres Maddox, a San Antonio businessman, what veterans need today and he'll tell you it's a group of fellow peers who have experienced the horrors of war.
After World War II, Maddox said former soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors came home and build neighborhoods with their VA housing benefits. "These guys came home and lived next to each other," he said. "If someone had post traumatic stress disorder issues, they had someone in their neighborhood they could talk to about it."
Several years ago, Maddox rode his motorcycle to Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to his friend, Walter, a fellow Vietnam veteran.
It was during this ride that Maddox said he had a vision to create a house in San Antonio where veterans could meet with peers and get professional help. Today, "Walter's House" is a prototype that needs financial assistance and professional advise.
John Hartman, one of Maddox' friends, served in the military and has a successful business, thanks to his disabled veterans status. He's one of the volunteers willing to help Maddox build his first house.
For Hartman, it's important that former military professionals have a peer group who can help them overcome the issues associated with PTSD. A recovering alcoholic, Hartman said a fellow vet helped him deal with the issues related to his combat service in the Gulf Region.
As a fellow veteran, I agree with Hartman and Maddox that former military professionals need to build a network of friends who have served in uniform. I am hoping that San Antonio's growing base of active duty military, former military and supporters will help Maddox and Hartman reach their goal of building their first home.

What do veterans want on Wednesday and every other day.....

Veterans like me will be able to choose six entrees at Applebees Nov. 11 as a tribute to our service. While I want to commend the restaurant along with the hundreds of others who provide discounts to active duty and retired military folks, the care and respect that our veterans deserve is not a one-day publicity event or even a discount on food or services.
In an interview published Friday in the Wall Street Journal, actor and peace activist Woody Harrelson said while he is against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, he totally supports the military who serve there. "It was a good experience for me because it's one thing to consider yourself pro-peace, like I consider myself, and quite another to understand what the soldiers are going through," Harrelson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Michelle Kung.
I was glad to see someone like Harrelson that he supports our troops. In the Vietnam War, many of us remember those hippies who spat on troops as they arrived in San Francisco. Even years later, I ran into some of them while serving at Lowry AFB, Colo., as the chief of community affairs. During one educational summit, one teacher, who told me proudly that she protested against the war, asked me if I was a baby killer like the others.
"No, I am not," I replied. "I am just one of the many who protects your right to free speech."
On Wednesday, veterans are asking for the respect of those who didn't serve. One of the things that we would ask is to have a disability claims process that is fair and easy to understand. Another thing we would ask is that like other federal retirees that if we qualify for disability payments that we get them paid as additional income instead of having the portion of our disability provided to us as a tax free option.
Lastly, we ask that if you learn of our service that you continue to say thank you for our service in the military. And, we would ask that you take a moment of silent on Wednesday out of respect for those who were killed and disabled in the service of our country.

Training is an ongoing process

San Antonio Express-News columnist David Hendricks' column in today's paper details the life of Javier Palomarez's duties from south Texas to his new duties as the president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
If there was a message that resonated with me in this column, it was Palomarez' focus on education. As Hendricks chronicles in his column, Palomarez was the youngest of 10 children. When his mother emigrated from Mexico as an accountant, she was unable to find work in her field. In time, she became a bookkeeper, but she made sure that her son completed his education.
Yet, a formal degree acts as just the first step in any successful business executive's education. The best constantly look at opportunities to make them better. If you are a small business executive, you should consider participating in programs sponsored by the Southwest Minority Suppliers Development Council. This organization work with small business executives to help them get their certification and to find opportunities. While having a degree will help you in business, successful business leaders know that their training is an ongoing process.
This Tuesday, Bill Leake, the chief executive officer of Apogee Search, and I will present a four-hour program in Austin Tuesday on social media on behalf of SMSDC. If you have heard that email is dead and want to know how to embrace social media tools like Twitter, blogging and LinkedIn, this program will help you understand the basics.

Technology works best when it factor in the change it brings

Have you ever called a business or a school, bypass their electronic receptionist by dialing "zero," and get someone who wants to put you back into the voice mail system?
And, have your irritated that person by asking them to take a message?
About a week ago, while in the car, I called Madison, my wife's school, got the famed voice prompts and finally got a student. I asked her to see if she could get someone to take a message to my wife to call me. Her response was "I can only put you into voicemail."
When I first married my wife 12 years ago, her school had a receptionist named Edna. I knew that if I reached Edna by phone that she would get a student to take a message so my wife would get it.
However, someone in NEISD took a look at human resources and eliminated Edna's position by embracing voice mail technology. Yet, Madison High School is not the only organization or business I know that has eliminated the business receptionist or operator.
Thanks to our economy, a lot of businesses have cut back on having an administrative assistant answer the phones for them.
Scott Kaeppel, the president of Kaeppel Consulting, said companies are often faced with making strategic cuts in their organization to make them leaner. To some managers, cutting the salary for the receptionist makes economic sense, but it may impact the business more with lost business or bad impressions.
Businesses spend millions on advertising and marketing, but when they drop their receptionists, they create a negative impression with their customers. Instead of dropping the position, Kaeppel would argue that a manager could look at alternatives such as dropping something like ads in the Yellow Page as an alternative to cutting a receptionist.
In time, receptionists like Edna will become as extinct as the dinosaur. As someone who usually embraces the Internet and texting, I understand the change in thinking. However, technology has to work and align itself with those who use it.
In my wife's case, her access to voice mail moved about three school wings over at Madison when the school added its new science facilities. Before the addition, the science faculty lounge was a short walk away. Now, she has to go to either the main faculty lounge or to the science building to check a phone message.
The problem with technology is that people think it's a solution and a way to save money. Yet, a complete technology integration needs to factor in the changes involved. Technology changes work when the executives in charge of it completely think through the processes involved.
(Note: I work as the publicist for Kaeppel Consulting.)

Cell phone fund raising a new way to help nonprofits

If you have an unwanted cellphone or two and are going to Austin Innotech Thursday, bring them to help Austin Goodwill.
As the publicist for the event, I found the cellphone campaign for a nonprofit program innovative.
While the focus on this campaign is on helping Goodwill, J.C. Otero, the community outreach manager, said his company, Austin-based Sellyourcellular, will work with any non-profit firm to help them recycle phones.
Over 100 million cell phones are replaced, Otero said. On an average day, 350,000 phones are replaced.
If you want to get more information on this program, please contact them at their web site.

The SWAG hall of fame....

While I don't go to many trade shows, I am always amazed at the swag given by vendors to potential customers. As the publicist for the Austin Innotech, I did an early morning tour of the booths at today's trade show. As usual, there are a lot of folks with chocolate, pens and the other goods.
However, there are three or four that should be included in my "SWAG Hall of Fame." The folks at Eaton would get my vote as the best toy to amuse Bentley my daughter's Visla. If you tap the blue ball on the pen, it will light up with a blue disco ball like effect. That kind of simple technology will keep him amused when he comes to visit his grand parents at Thanksgiving.
Another innovative and cost effective promotional item was the distribution of Lucky Charms bowls by New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Austin to their customers. As a lot of people forget breakfast before they go or work at a trade show, this is a pretty effective marketing tool.
Finally, I have a "use stick" from qlikview,com that is part Lego toy and USB data port. Now when I want to back up something like a simple file, I can use it. It's hard to forget an item like this too.
If you are a marketing person with a trade show coming up, I think the best thing to do is to make sure you label your products with your items. For example, if you were as smart at New Horizon to give cereal as a give away, make sure to place a label or business card with each item.

How can you tell you are a dog owner... just woof

When Tina Cannon, the chief executive officer of petsMD, made her presentation at the Austin Innotech Beta Summit today, she asked a crowded room to show her if they were dog owners by barking loudly.
Sure enough, the room filled with barks. And, then without any solicitation, there was a large round of meows.
Cannon's company is similar in scope to webMD in that it allows pet owners to ask questions about their pet's health. Her company was one of six firms.
Other Beta finalists included:
When Tina Cannon, the chief executive officer of petsMD, made her presentation at the Austin Innotech Beta Summit today, she asked a crowded room to show her if they were dog owners by barking loudly.
Sure enough, the room filled with barks. And, then without any solicitation, there was a large round of meows.
Cannon's company is similar in scope to webMD in that it allows pet owners to ask questions about their pet's health. Her company was one of six firms.
Other Beta finalists included:

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BuzzStream, a social media company that helps companies build relationships with online influencers;
GameSalad, a game development firm that provides a game development tool for nonprogrammers;
Gelato, an online dating site that had one of my friends who is happily married to comment that if he wasn't married he would use the site;
Infochimps, a web site designed to find any data set in the world;
and Spredfast, a social media campaign platform. If you are a small tech business in San Antonio, please reach out to me if you want to participate in the 2010 San Antonio Beta Summit. Last year, thanks to the help of the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce, we held our first event. It's my hope that the chamber will step up and participate in this event again.