In the latest issue of the San Jose Business Journal the top Silicon Valley PR firms are listed and we are excited and honored to see Voce own the #2 spot. We just celebrated our ninth anniversary and recognition like this will give us the fuel we need to march for the top spot in the coming years. Our clients deserve the credit for this one. They entrusted us with their programs and we are grateful.

This past week Voce celebrated 9 great years. A big thanks to all our clients and friends that attended our event in Palo Alto last Thursday night.

Here are a few select photos, you can catch the entire photoset over on Flickr.

Voce Nation wanted to say thank you to the crew of cardsharks that joined us last week for the second annual Interop Poker Tournament. Voce, NetIQ, and Barracuda Networks hosted the event as a chance for media and analysts to escape the grind of vendor briefings and reporting, unwind with peers and have a healthy dose of competition.

Poker pro Mark Seif was on hand to provide pointers on how to play Texas Hold ‘Em.

Check out Shamus McGillicuddy’s post on the event for a first person account of the tourney.

Larry Howard of Infonetics Research took home top honors and bragging rights for 2008. Will he be able to defend his title in 2009? You’ll have to join us next year to find out.

More pics from the event are on the voce nation photostream.

According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. w00t!

/Voce Nation

Technorati Tags: bayarea, pr, silicon valley, voce communications

LADIES AND GENTLEMENT…pack your sunscreen and back issues of US Weekly, FHM, and The Economist (okay…I’m the only PR geek who read it), dust off your poker and blackjack skills, grab your honey and lemon tea in lieu of your karaoke performance, visit your shrink for a last minute emergency session  to ‘center yourself’ for a very public meltdown in front of coworkers you just met (oh, wait…that was just me)…LIVE FROM GLORIOUS LAKE TAHOE…IT’S THE 2006 VOCE RETREAT…(AUDIENCE APPLAUSE)!

Every year, Voce Communications proudly hosts a three day retreat for its steely band of smart, dedicated, creative, talented, overachieving, hyper-competitive employees.  The annual respite, painstakingly planned by the company’s Culture & Community committee, is an opportunity for the Voce Nation to catch a little R&R, socialize with co-workers you might not work with on a daily basis, and get back to nature (and by ‘nature’ I mean ogling a bevy of multimillion dollar Caligula-esque homes on the Tahoe shore).

Having been on the roster at Voce for a total of 15 business days and the very dramatic build-up propagated by past attendees - through a steady (read: unrelenting) drip of insider anecdotes and pictures from times of yore - I was obviously intrigued (read: frightened).  To be perfectly frank, many so-called company ‘retreats’ usually entail copious amounts of people staring blankly at one another, sprinkled with feigning smiles and uncontrolled nervous laughter.  Typically, the most interesting aspect of these shin-digs is the pre-game analysis of whose behavior will go supremely overboard, embarrassing themselves and others (enter: uncomfortable moments of silence).  The corporate annals are littered with stories about Jim from accounts payable retelling his favorite uber inappropriate joke or Veronica from marketing (thanks to a couple apple martinis that would make Carrie Bradshaw take pause) finally delivering to her boss what she really thought of the edits made to her webinar script.

With these expectations and cautionary tales in mind, I was completely surprised by my first Voce retreat (cue: ‘I’ve really learned my lesson’ sitcom music…Full House or Growing Pains will do just nicely).  Flown out the window was the pretension and political calculation that tends to hamper genuine bonding with coworkers.  Instead, this event achieved what these types of company activities are really designed to foster (but rarely do) - a relaxed, open environment where team members can really learn about one another and build relationships that are often difficult to develop.  Especially, during the day-to-day hubbub of routine PR agency life.  Here and here and if you dare, here, you’ll find some choice snapshots and videos documenting our journey (Flickr feed to be updated shortly).  Now is a good time to mention that any unauthorized use of said mementos will be hearing from my attorney.

This message was brought to you by the Committee to Disavow ‘Cup Flipping‘ or any Deviation Thereof as an Official Recognized Sport of Voce Retreat.  Thank you!

-JT

Technorati Tags: retreat, tahoe, voce

More pictures here. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Events, PR, Silicon Valley, Voce, voce communications

Time to toot the ‘ol Voce horn…Last week, Voce was honored as one of the Top Businesses to Work For in the Bay Area, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Voce placed fifth in the category of companies with 25-50 employees and was also the highest ranking PR firm in its class. More than 400 companies submitted for this award, so we’re feeling pretty special right about now. It’s not just the free bagels on Friday or the new Voce lounge that make this place great - it’s the culture. Unless you’ve lived it, it’s hard to explain. The people here make this place special.

After months of pitching, coaxing, begging, and pleading, the efforts of our own Matthew Podboy finally paid off when the field marketing team for Red Bull energy drinks agreed to stop by our offices late yesterday afternoon to fire up the Voce Nation.

Matt recounts what gave him this idea and what it took to make this happen (read: “Red Bull Gives You PR Wings“), an excerpt:

“While stranded in an airport returning home from a business trip, it occurred to me that over the week I’d spent a lot of money on Red Bull energy drinks. Red Bulls are about $2/each and that can add up. In my sleep deprived state of mind I thought that if Red Bull would sponsor our PR firm then I’d save a lot of money. So I wrote a pitch outlining why Red Bull should sponsor Voce. We travel all over the country on business trips that include the biggest name is media, we are the largest conferences, and clients, journalists, and influencers are in and out of our office. We are a hub of visibility. We’ll slap a few Red Bull patches on our Voce laptop bags and they can fill up the fridge with their magic potion. Sounds like a fair trade to me.”

Matt’s pursuit of Red Bull will not stop here folks, make no mistake, the goal is nothing short of full corporate sponsorship. That’s right, Matt will not rest (literally) until Voce becomes the first communications firm sponsored by Red Bull. Thanks and good luck with this endeavor Matt, you may need a few more Red Bulls;-)

Via videocast, our own Ryan Lack and Lindsey Smith share their insights and experiences with PR internships and what it’s like to be a young professional in the industry today.

We are currently interviewing intern candidates, so if you’re interested in joining the Voce Nation, please visit our website or email us with your resume and cover letter.

– Voce Nation

The Voce Nation returns from holiday bliss today after a week off to rest, relax and reflect on, well, whatever. For some folks it was time to reflect on family, for others it was food and for a select few it was bad football bets — but for all of us it was one thing: sleep. The important thing here is that we were given the *time* to shift down, re-connect with our interests and re-energize for the new year. Thanks again Mama Voce.

Today we return to the PR mix, refreshed, fired up and itching to kick-start 2006. And to help with that, we all began the day reading PR Week’s “Who to Watch” story (sub req’d) which names Voce among its four “Agencies to Watch in 2006:”

Launched in 1999, Voce managed to survive the downturn by focusing on a consultative model, particularly so that it could hang on to senior staff. Now on the growth track for the past two years, Voce has positioned itself according to its specialties, including one called Digital Advocacy. Working with such clients as Network Appliance and Yahoo, the firm is making its name as one that is truly steeped in new media, and not merely because the entire firm blogs. This year should be the time when Voce, led by president Richard Cline, starts to raise its profile and prove its mettle beyond its extremely loyal and rapturous client base. After all, this is the company that helped Yahoo launch its first foray into the blogosphere. That’s the kind of credibility that many firms launching new-media offerings can only dream of.

2006 is going to be amazing, here we come…