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As an Accredited Business Communicator, Laura P. Thomas takes her mission to expand online communications for Dell into new and exciting realms very seriously. Exploring the “metaverse” (the universe of virtual worlds on the internet) has become her passion, and when she’s not hunting down the latest in cyber-collaboration spaces for the multi-billion dollar computer enterprise, she’s blogging about diverse topics on various platforms around the world.
After studying journalism and public relations at Louisiana State University, Thomas moved to Austin in 1996, married a musician and soon became entranced with the new frontier of 3D technology and experimental social media. Now in charge of corporate communications on www.dell.com, she manages to achieve that ever-elusive balance of managing life as a professional, wife and mother.
This is a Day in the Life of Laura P. Thomas:
6:00 AM
I hit the snooze button until a quarter after. Get up, shower and get ready for the day. Get my six-year old, Anna, out of bed, dressed and ready. As neither of us are morning people, sometimes this is a challenge! Check my Blackberry while feeding us breakfast to see what’s been happening overnight and around the globe for anything urgent. By 7:30, we’re out the door.
7:45 AM
Drop off Anna at kindergarten. Speed along the new 45 Toll Road to the Dell Main Campus in Round Rock.
8:00 AM
I settle into my admittedly-messy cubical with my first Coke of the day (I think my mother must have put Coca Cola in my baby bottles). Check out Twitter (www.twitter.com/lpt) to see if anyone’s been talking to me there. Enter a greeting for the day and go through emails.
8:30 AM
Morning team meeting. This is our daily get-together that brings everybody up to speed on what’s going on in the global online world. I gather the latest corporate news and prepare to have it added to dell.com.
9:00 AM
Start creating a new platform for Dell online. Migrating, testing, training people on a new content management system. Work with writers, designer and coders to get new content posted online.
12:00 PM
Eat lunch at my desk. I’ve started bringing diet lunches to work (New Year’s resolution). Have another Coke. Scan the day’s Austin American Statesman in print and check the Web for the latest industry news and technologies I could leverage here at Dell.
2:00 PM
Continue with project work. No breaks for me. Read up on social media advances and dip into “Dell Island” that I set up two years ago on the hottest virtual world online: Second Life (www.dell.com/html/global/topics/sl/index.html).
3:30 PM
Write blog posts for Direct2Dell (www.direct2dell.com) about burgeoning virtual worlds. Micro-blog on Twitter about new ways to collaborate. Explore avenues to bring people geographically dispersed into a single space where they can work and communicate.
5:30 PM
Wrap up and head home. Pick up Anna on the way.
6:15 PM
After stopping home and having a quick snack, we’re back in the car on our way to gymnastics class.
6:30 PM
I watch Anna tumble and twirl for an hour and head home again.
7:00 PM
Dinner, bath and bed by 8:30 for my little girl. Go through Anna’s school stuff for news or paperwork I may need to sign.
8:30 PM
Catch up with my husband, Mark, and decide where we’d like to go for dinner to celebrate my upcoming 39th birthday (probably Reale’s Pizza & Cafe near our home) and my Girl’s Night Out Friday evening.
9:30 PM
Go through my personal emails and write posts on my blog www.laurapthomas.com and www.thismommygig.com where I share thoughts on parenthood, raising a daughter, being a professional and everything else.
Web Exclusive
Laura Thomas’ Blogging Tips:
- Be ready for a conversation. Blogging may seem just an outlet for your thoughts and opinions, but what differentiates a blog from other websites is the interaction with readers.
- Read and comment on other blogs. This jump-starts the creative process, introduces you to bright minds you can link to from your blog and creates links back to your blog.
- Post often. It doesn’t have to be daily, but once a month is too infrequent for you to develop your voice and build rapport with readers. Blogging as a team can help with frequency.
- Don’t fear the blank page. A great way to get more comfortable talking online is to start microblogging at Twitter.com. It helps you develop your voice, and you soon find topics you want to expand beyond the 140-character limit.
- Don’t be afraid, but do be aware. You can share your thoughts without sharing too much personally identifiable information; but, always remember that those thoughts can be searched and found online by anyone.
- Lagniappe: include photos and videos; make it easy for readers to share; enable RSS feeds; get to know these sites: Technorati, Google’s blog search, Friendfeed, Flickr, YouTube, Stumbleupon, Delicious.
More Info:
www.laurapthomas.com
www.thismommygig.com