Great marketing and PR – something the MLS league needs to harness and build on after the popularity of the 2010 World Cup that ended only 16 days ago. It’s really something to see 70,000-plus fans watching soccer – an exhibition friendly at that!

However, all the marketing in the world doesn’t make up for quality – in any sport or business. And, the players representing the “best” of the MLS should be ashamed of the poor performance and effort put in to a capacity crowd against Manchester United.

A 5-2 loss in soccer is a serious butt-kickin!

Tickets were sold and ratings will probably be high, but you can’t just expect fans to embrace soccer in the U.S. if our players and leagues can’t compete with the rest of the world. There’s still work to do.

Whether you’re a die-hard soccer fan or just a bandwagon fan because the World Cup is underway, if you missed today’s historic match between the U.S. and Algeria, you missed one for the ages.

It was the most unbelievable game I have ever watched. Seriously, it was a rollercoaster ride and my neighbors must think I’m freaking crazy.

Final score: 1-0 USA.

My nerves are shot and have goose bumps just thinking about Landon Donovan scoring that winning goal in extra time. Every soccer player in the entire world has dreamed of scoring a winning goal like that when the stakes are that high in the World Cup.  It’s what dreams are made of!

The U.S. would be going home right now if not for that goal.

Cheers to him and the entire team. They never quit. They didn’t whine about the poor refereeing (again), and we actually won the entire Group C stage. We haven’t done that since 1930.

On to the Sweet 16 baby! We likely will play Saturday against Germany or Serbia.

On a sidenote, NGC’s men’s soccer team is tied for first in City of Charleston’s summer league. With four games remaining, a spot in the playoffs is almost assured and we will look to win it all come July.

Go USA!

The “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” Facebook page (which is May 20 – today) prompted a court order earlier this week on Facebook and YouTube is now under fire as well as Wikipedia and Flickr.

Check out this video from the Associated Press via YouTube.

The Pakistani government blocked access  because of “sacrilegious” content on the video-sharing website, signaling a growing Internet crackdown against sites deemed offensive to the country’s majority Muslim population.

The move against YouTube came a day after the government blocked access to Facebook amid anger over a page on the social networking site that encourages users to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

The page sparked criticism because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority did not point to specific material on YouTube that prompted it to block the site, only citing “growing sacrilegious contents.” The government took action against both Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the “derogatory material,” the regulatory body said in a statement.

It welcomed representatives from the two websites to contact the Pakistani government to resolve the dispute in a way that “ensures religious harmony and respect.”

The regulatory body said it has blocked more than 450 Internet links containing offensive material, but it is unclear how many of the links were blocked in the last two days. Access to the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia and photo sharing site Flickr also were restricted Thursday.

The government blocked Facebook on Wednesday after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order requiring officials to restrict access to the site until May 31. It was unclear if the ban against YouTube would also be temporary.

The Web page at the center of the Facebook dispute — “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” — encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of “South Park” for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

The page sparked protests from radical students in Pakistan, with some holding signs urging Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the prophet.

A series of cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests by Muslims around the world, including in Pakistan, and death threats against the cartoonists.

Facebook said Wednesday it was investigating the controversial page.

“While the content does not violate our terms, we do understand it may not be legal in some countries,” the company said in a statement. “In cases like this, the approach is sometimes to restrict certain content from being shown in specific countries.”

Online reaction to the Facebook ban was supportive in the initial hours after it was implemented. But comments on Twitter — which was still unblocked Thursday and drawing new users thanks to bans on other sites — showed many Internet users were angry about the new, wide-ranging restrictions.

“Sad and embarrassing day in the history of Pakistan. Tough times to be a Pakistani. Questionable decisions in a so called ‘democracy,’” one user tweeted.

Pakistan blocked access to YouTube once before for two days in 2008 because of what it said was un-Islamic content. Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia and Morocco have all blocked access to YouTube in the past for various reasons.

It remains to be seen how successful the government will be at keeping Pakistan’s nearly 20 million Internet users from accessing the blocked sites. Other countries, such as China, permanently ban Facebook and YouTube. But citizens often have little trouble working their way around the ban using proxy servers and other means.

“What’s common to Facebook and Lashkar-e-Taiba?” one user on Twitter wrote, referring to a Pakistani militant group. “They are both banned in Pakistan, but Pakistanis can still find them if they want to.”

Tate teaches eighth grade social studies at Lewis Chapel Middle School in Fayetteville.

“We were quite impressed with the quality of Ms. Tate’s instructional vision, and there is no doubt that her students are the real winners,” said Jane Smith, education program manager for BRAC RTF.

Her essay entitled “A Global Approach to Using Technology in the Classrooms” was selected as the contest winner by members of the BRAC Region STEM Community Collaborative Design Team.

“I can say this was a wonderful opportunity for educators to be heard on our innovative ideas for engaging our students and thus enhancing our country’s future,” said Tate.

For her effort, she received a Lenovo X200 Tablet. The contest was open to K -12 teachers in the 11-county BRAC region. Dozens of entries were received.

“As you enable your classroom of digital learners to be more aware of global culture, geography, civics, and international motivation, I hope you are able to get great use of the Lenovo X200 Tablet,” added Jason Mooneyham, Lenovo director of sales, U.S. Enterprise Division. “While it is only a start to what you truly need for widespread global digital communication and learning, I hope you are able to use it for the engagement and enthusiasm you strive to achieve each day in your classroom.”

There is a tremendous corporate movement happening in this country right now that supports building a knowledge-based economy and for U.S. businesses to take an active role in improving resources in academics and advocating for a technology literate 21st Century Student.

Expanding domestic companies are working to ensure that they have an ample supply of engineering talent to hire in the coming years to remain globally competitive. In addition to supporting broader educational programs, some companies have been funding classroom training and curricula in school districts where they have facilities nearby in hopes that it will help them develop “home-grown” engineers.

The debate to those corporate initiatives is this; while schools welcome the materials and much-needed resources, critics say the initiatives add a commercial agenda to academics. Is that bad? Perhaps, but, I certainly can think are far worse things for our slumping economy and poor educational outlook that this country faces in the future.

Continual changes in the dynamics of the global labor force are having a major impact on the way employers around the world conduct their affairs. Technology is shifting organizational missions, strategies and objectives and has been described as one of the five most important variables in the future of business. Yet, all indications are that organizations will face a technology talent crunch in the future.

Last year, more than 270,000 U.S. college freshmen were surveyed and only 7.5 percent of students said they planned to major in engineering. According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s the lowest level since the 1970s. The irony is that the number of technology jobs continues to grow but fewer young American women and men are choosing technology-related fields of study, even though the job pool is readily available.

State spending on K-12 education has grown in real dollar terms in the past decade. Declining housing values now threaten to eat into property-tax revenues; which also eats away at state budgets. Teachers, meanwhile, often welcome the lesson plans, classroom equipment and the corporate-sponsored professional development sessions. But, however well-intentioned, such corporate input may blur the line between pure academics and a commercial agenda, critics say.

Technology professionals must change their focus – from the “techie side” to the “user side” – transitioning from technology bells and whistles to more problem-solving. The move away from “bits and bytes” calls for a new kind of technology leadership. Also, recruiting and retaining skilled employees within a constantly shrinking talent pool will continue to be a critical component to the success of any business in the near future.

The criticism that corporate donations into public schools may be placing hiring priorities ahead of broader educational goals is legitimate. However, weigh that against the needs of cash-strapped school districts throughout America, it begs the question: How many public schools would be offering courses in aerospace engineering or robotics without such support?

We all know social networking has become more mainstream in the last year, but some companies have neglected to catch on to the movement or simply just don’t understand how it all works. Fair enough, but not understanding the business applications of these popular tools is no excuse for sticking your head in the sand.

Here’s a great example of how far social networking has come in a short time.

While enjoying some Olympic curling yesterday (yes, curling is a sweet sport and very enjoyable to watch), I was following the Olympic Pulse online through NBC, which is counting the average amount of Olympic-related Tweets every 10 minutes. At one point I saw an average of 890 Tweets every 10 minutes.

That’s impressive. I also was impressed that athletes were Tweeting from the games. And, while watching curling on television, the NBC broadcaster said one of the U.S. curlers was tweeting while competing. I checked it out and sure enough, the dude was tweeting from the ice between curling rounds. Now that’s what I call interactive.

I bet the count will be higher tonight when Shaun White and the snowboarders hit the half-pipe.

Join NGC on Twitter @ThinkNGC and we’ll follow the Olympics together.

BTW, I like the Tweeting while competing statement earlier. Think I’ll use that more often.

Go USA!

This was my “aha” moment of this weekend. Allow me to share this story.

A potential client called last week and asked a simple question: What does NGC Communications do? Without throwing out all those magical buzzwords and fancy public relations jargon to sell the company to the caller, my reply was simple: Storytelling.

Intrigued, the client wanted more – which is always a good thing.

I explained that the word communication is about community. Take a look at both words. Each has the derivative of commune in it, meaning togetherness and sharing. When we communicate we are sharing our stories, and it’s important to be clear and simple when telling those stories. Clarity inspires trust and simplicity gives people certainty.

We also need to remember that any message or story must communicate more than just information but energy – energy that will provide the momentum necessary to motivate your prospective customers. Truly powerful communication always addresses the recipient’s question, “What is in it for me?”

Remember, about 90 percent of communication is not verbal. So, break preoccupation, and focus on listening effectively and using action verbs and energetic words when it is time to tell your story. There are all kinds of communication tools out there to drive a story home. Not the other way around. You can have all the latest and greatest technology and means to deliver it, but without clear and concise content, that important message or story can be lost in an era of information overload.

Take a look at your messaging – both personally and professionally. Are you saying the right thing? Are you using the best method to get your message out there? Do people know who you are and what you do?

If you are struggling to answer any/all of those questions, your clients and colleagues might be, too. Think about it. Send me your comments – would love to hear from you.

Over the last month or so, NGC’s Blog has been inundated with spam and bogus comments that has flooded our inboxes with annoying spam. We thought we could get away with not using anti-spam filtering and anti-pingbacks, but we were wrong.

So, in order for us to keep writing more, we have to spend less time moderating and deleting these fake comments. With that being said, we have installed ReCaptcha protection on all of our comment pages for each post in order to prevent spambots and other intruders from messing up a good thing.

I know this additional step can be annoying and that reading the little crooked letters in the ReCaptcha box can be annoying. We hope our loyal readers and contributors understand this necessary step and this doesn’t prevent you from providing all your wonderful feedback.

We would love to hear from you and maybe a good story regarding spam. Lately, we have a few as well.

Take care,

NGC Team

Have you seen the IBM commercial with Innovation Man? If you haven’t, look out for it, because it is fantastic. The main protagonist in the spot is dressed up like a superhero and all he talks about is innovation (a big buzzword for 2009). At the end of the commercial, he asks an employee in drill sergeant fashion what innovation means, and the worker exclaims, “I don’t know.”

Stop talking and start doing – the commercial concludes. It really sums up where we are at right now in business.

The secret to success in 2010 is collaboration. Building relationships and working together is critical to increased profit margins and market share. If you are one of the millions right now exclaiming, “I don’t know” when it comes to innovation, take a look around you and see where you can plug in with someone else and solve the problem together.

Don’t be a waffle! Waffles are square and have little boxes throughout the favorite breakfast treat. Don’t live in your little squares trying to fix each individual problem. Thinking like a spaghetti noodle will be more beneficial. One individual spaghetti noodle touches so much on the plate. It works with all the other noodles to make a complete and balanced meal. Some noodles are shorter and some are longer, but as a whole – as a team – they make a delicious treat at dinner time. Don’t forget the sauce.

The point today is to use buzzwords to your advantage and to work as a team. Although waffles are delicious, spaghetti is much healthier to your success in 2010.