May 2, 2007 in Rose Garden Arena

As the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Brandon Roy didn’t disappoint, leading all rookies with averages of 16.8 points, 4.0 assists and 35.4 minutes in 57 games and was awarded the NBA’s Eddie Gottlieb Trophy.

Roy was a near-unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year, receiving 127 of 128 first-place votes (638 points) to become just the third Trail Blazer to be selected as Rookie of the Year; Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks each received the honor in 1971 and 1972 respectively.roy

Shaunie O’Neal Doesn’t Care About ‘Basketball Wives’ Petition

Samuel L. Jackson, the highest grossing movie actor of all-time will be the host of the 2012 BET Awards live at the The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.  In addition to that, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly were announced as the winner of the Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award. Kanye West is the leader of the pack with seven nominations including Best Collaboration, Video Director of the year, and five others with Jay-Z as “The Throne.” Best group, Best Collaboration ft. Otis Redding, Viewers choice, and two nominations for video of the year. Beyonce followed close behind with six nominations. See below for the complete list of nominations.

BET AWARDS ’12 NOMINATIONS

Best Female R&B Artist
Marsha Ambrosius
Beyoncé
Mary J. Blige
Melanie Fiona
Rihanna

Best Male R&B Artist
Chris Brown
Bruno Mars
Miguel
Trey Songz
Usher

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
Big Sean
Drake
J. Cole
Lil Wayne
Rick Ross
Young Jeezy

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
Nicki Minaj
Diamond
Trina
Brianna Perry

Best Group
Bad Meets Evil
Diddy-Dirty Money
Maybach Music Group
Mindless Behavior
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West)

Best New Artist
A$AP Rocky
Big Sean
Diggy
Future
Meek Mill

Best Collaboration
Beyoncé f/ J. Cole – “Party”
Big Sean f/ Kanye West & Roscoe Dash – “Marvin & Chardonnay”
DJ Khaled f/ Drake, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne – “I’m on One”
Drake f/ Lil Wayne and Tyga – “The Motto”
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) f/ Otis Redding – “Otis”
Wale f/ Miguel – “Lotus Flower Bomb”

Video of the Year
Beyoncé – “Countdown”
Beyoncé – “Love on Top”
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) – “Ni**as in Paris”
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) – “Otis”
Usher – “Climax”

Video Director of the Year
Beyoncé and Alan Ferguson
Benny Boom
Chris Brown and Godfrey Tabarez
Kanye West
Hype Williams

Best Gospel
Yolanda Adams
Kim Burrell
James Fortune & FIYA
Fred Hammond
Trin-I-Tee 5:7

YoungStars Award
Astro
Diggy
Jacob Latimore
Keke Palmer
Willow Smith

Viewers’ Choice Award
Drake f/ Lil Wayne & Tyga – “The Motto”
Beyoncé – “Love on Top”
Chris Brown – “Turn Up the Music”
Mindless Behavior – “Hello”
The Throne f/ Otis Redding – “Otis”
Wale f/ Miguel – “Lotus Flower Bomb”

Centric Award
Common
Estelle
Robert Glasper
Robin Thicke
Tyrese

Best International Act: U.K.
Estelle
Labrinth
Emeli Sande
Sway
Wretch 32

Best International Act: Africa
Camp Mulla (Kenya)
Ice Prince (Nigeria)
Lira (South Africa)
Mokobe (Mali)
Sarkodie (Ghana)
Wizkid (Nigeria)

Best Actress
Angela Bassett
Viola Davis
Taraji P. Henson
Regina King
Zoe Saldana

Best Actor
Don Cheadle
Common
Idris Elba
Kevin Hart
Denzel Washington

Best Movie
Good Deeds
Jumping the Broom
Laugh at My Pain
Red Tails
The Help

Sportswoman of the Year
Skylar Diggins
Candace Parker
Brittney Griner
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

Sportsman of the Year
Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
LeBron James
Victor Cruz
Kevin Durant

1. Storytelling (and “story selling”) 

There’s a difference between writing well and telling a story, and a good story is valuable currency today. Stories are sticky, relatable, and effective; these are the reasons stories are the cornerstone of the content marketing strategies and social media programs that are becoming enmeshed within public relations. But there’s more to storytelling than good writing.

Required skills: Curation. To develop a story that will gain traction with your audience, it’s necessary to spend a little time learning about their interests; otherwise, you risk missing the mark with them. Curate content (which is a fancy way of saying “find interesting stuff and share it) and see what sort of information (and format) resonates with your audience. Observe what they’re sharing (and re-sharing) too. The intelligence you glean will be invaluable to your writing process.

2. Quantification

The ability to measure digital outcomes requires communicators to dust off their analytical skills, because “big data” is here to stay, and it is strongly informing communications. Knowing how to organize and crunch data, correlate results, and correctly interpret and apply data are core skills that enable communicators to turn the masses of data available to us into valuable business intelligence and ROI metrics.

Skills: Data analysis and advanced spreadsheet. The good news, especially if you’ve been out of school for a while, is that today’s spreadsheet programs like Excel include powerful data analysis functions that make things such as correlation and statistics work fast and easy. Developing advanced understanding of the spreadsheet programs and the data analysis toolkits they contain is an important first step.

3. Visual communications 

The rise of the infographic and the emergence of platforms such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram—all of which trade heavily if not exclusively in visuals—has accelerated the trend of using visuals in PR. Harnessing multimedia and video to engage and attract audiences is rapidly becoming stock in trade for PR.

Skills: Visual thinking. Basic videography, photography, and design are important, as is the ability to develop visual concepts to accompany and illustrate messages. A bonus skill is multimedia production and editing skills. Even if you have a design team at your disposal, learning how to think about messages visually is an important skill, because communications are becoming more and more about art. If you don’t have a design team on hand, learning how to develop, edit, and publish visuals for campaigns is crucial.

4. Proactive and predictive monitoring 

We’re in an age of radical transparency, which is fueled in part by the lightning-fast flow of information. Instead of monitoring “downstream”—that is, looking for media pick up that has been published—PR teams are switching gears and monitoring conversations and trends to predict events and communicate proactively. In a nutshell, PR can influence outcomes, rather than simply measuring them.

Skills: Social listening. Acuity with social media monitoring and understanding of social audiences is the cornerstone of good monitoring. Learn how to use a social media dashboard to evaluate what people are discussing and identify the recurring issues in your marketplace. Get involved in social media and industry discussion groups to observe first-hand how conversations work and how ideas flow.

5. Adaptation

Content marketing, search engine optimization, video production. None of it sounds like PR—or, more specifically, PR as we’ve traditionally thought of it. The truth is many public relations job descriptions are reading more like a catalogue of communications skills. The mushrooming demands on PR departments—and subsequently, on professional communicators—is in itself an important trend.

Skill: Learning. The ability to succeed in changing times is really part of the DNA for public relations. After all, this is the department that cuts its teeth on curve balls. The only thing predictable about PR is change. Make time in your day to read, practice, and learn.

What new skills have been most valuable to you?

Sarah Skerik is the vice president of social media at PR Newswire, which recently announced The Crowd-Sourced eBook: The Definitive Guide to Social Influencer Engagement and invites you to contribute.