May 7, 2025 • 27 mins
Art shows, lobby displays, social content and more—Theresa Phillips shares how Lassen MUD works with consumers to showcase their community on the magazine cover and in a much-coveted custom calendar each year!
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Episode Transcript
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Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources. (00:05):
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StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: How can pictures of your community tell your story all year long? (00:16):
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That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at Pioneer Utility Resources,
and I am joined by the amazing Theresa Phillips, public relations manager at Lassen Municipal Utility District in
Susanville, California. Theresa, thank you so much for joining us today.
Theresa Phillips: Oh, it's my pleasure, Megan. Thank you for having me. (00:41):
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It's always great to talk to you and the other folks from Pioneer.
So I, yeah, thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell my story.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Of course. Well, Theresa, you do so many really fun things. (00:51):
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You've won our D'Avanzo Communicator of the Year leadership award before.
Yes. S o you do a lot of fun things that inspire folks, but I wanted to talk to you about something that you've been
doing for a while, and then you've changed it up recently.
(01:12):
B ut before we get into that, full disclosure, I used to think that calendars were old school.
I used to fight with people about this. I know, we gave away when I worked at my electric co-op,
we gave away three different calendars at one of our annual meetings one year,
and I was like, "Why do we keep buying all these calendars?" But then we created a custom calendar with pictures of our staff,
(01:36):
and we sold it for charity, and people went nuts for it.
And ever since then, it's been almost a, you know what, 20 years since then,
I've become a little bit obsessed with custom calendars.
We do one at Pioneer for our folks.
It's a content planning calendar, and it has all custom images and dates in there,
(02:00):
and really fun pictures of our staff with our members like you in the back,
so it's a lot of fun. I love custom calendars.
I've seen the light as it is. But I want you to talk to us about how Lassen uses calendars to engage your
consumers.
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I would be happy to. So, you know, I've been doing this job as public relations manager in different (02:17):
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forms here at the utility for the last about 22 years.
And when I –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And just getting started. (02:29):
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Theresa Phillips: Yes. And when I started, we did not have a calendar. (02:30):
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And somewhere around I would, so that was 2003.
Around 2005, my electric superintendent came to me with a calendar that he had gotten from another utility,
and it was pictures that kids had drawn, you know, safety calendar.
(02:50):
So that was a great idea. And we did our safety calendar for many years,
I would say probably around 10- 12 years or so.
And it kind of just lost interest.
Like it used to be a big deal, and I thought, "Okay, we have to do something fresh.
And what can we do?" So the wonderful Mike Teagarden came to me and said,
(03:12):
"Hey, we have a Ruralite calendar.
You guys can purchase Ruralite calendars." At that point, we were just doing a calendar.
It was the basic Ruralite calendar.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And I sh ould say, you're saying the basic calendar, but it is a calendar with pictures (03:20):
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submitted by readers from across all of the states that use Ruralite magazines.
So it's pictures could be of your members and your area.
Theresa Phillips: It was. [inaudible] (03:40):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. And then also Alaska and Arizona. (03:40):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. Everything. (03:45):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: And so all over the place. (03:47):
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Theresa Phillips: That was really cool that we had that calendar, and we would have it, (03:48):
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you know, here at the office, you know, for folks to come and pick up.
And it went pretty well. And I was happy with that.
And, you know, again, trying to keep things fresh and always looking for a way to engage our customers in what we do.
Ruralite is a big part of what we do here.
(04:11):
I love the Ruralite. So Victoria Hampton had asked me, "What about
doing a cover contest? A photo contest for your cover?" And I said,
"Oh, okay. Well, you know, that sounds great." So we did that a couple years ago,
and we got a pretty good turnout.
In fact, we had way more photos than I thought we were going to get.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Like how many photos? (04:34):
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Theresa Phillips: Um, dozens. Dozens of dozens. (04:36):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Dozens? (04:39):
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Theresa Phillips: I would say upwards of probably 30 to 40 - 45ish photos. (04:40):
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Not all, and God bless our customers, not all of them were, you know,
cover shots.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: But we love them all anyway. (04:51):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I just loved the enthusiasm for that. (04:53):
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And then the artist, you know, the photographers that had their photographs picked loved seeing them on the cover.
And then I would post those covers on our Facebook page, and people would engage with that.
And, oh, look, it's this person. It's that person. So Victoria again said,
(05:15):
"You had such a great response. What do you think about a custom calendar?" And I thought,
"Yeah, let's do it. Let's roll the dice and see how it goes." And it went wonderfully.
It was so well received. And we got photographs from people like,
(05:36):
I would say, the youngest photographer we had was 15, and the oldest one was probably in their 80s.
And so they were out there in the community taking pictures of things that were important to them,
things that meant something to them.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. (05:51):
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Theresa Phillips: And when we put that calendar together, I'm flipping through it, (05:52):
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and I'm like, "Oh, I know where this is.
Oh, I can see," you know. Oh, they took that picture.
T here was just all different kinds of things.
And the people that were included in the calendar again were just thrilled.
So, you know, you had asked before, I think, you know, how we distribute the calendars.
(06:17):
We had in the beginning, given them out in the office, but we transitioned to having them in the magazine during
Covid. So we love that. And then we usually get about a couple hundred here in the office,
and those all go as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you're saying it's working? People like it. (06:35):
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Theresa Phillips: I am saying that people love it. (06:38):
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T hey love it, and it's so easy to do.
It's like this thing that you can do that's so easy and engages so many customers on all these different levels.
A nd it might not be something that's on your radar because you're doing a lot of different things.
So if there's people out there like me that wear many different hats.
(07:00):
But I'm telling you, this was a game changer for us.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you got the idea sparked by seeing the overwhelming interest that folks had and the (07:05):
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enthusiasm for having their pictures on the cover of your edition of Ruralite Magazine,
which is great. I'm wondering, how did you get the pictures submissions for your calendar contest?
(07:27):
I mean, did you hold a contest? Did you give people money for sending in pictures?
Did you have to beg folks to send pictures in?
Or were you turning folks away because it was so popular?
Theresa Phillips: Well, okay, so what we did is, you know, we used the magazine to advertise the (07:39):
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contest and said, you know, the incentive for folks was one, you get to see your picture,
your photograph in the calendar, and that's amazing.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Bragging rights. Huge. (07:55):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. It's huge. And two, we gave them everybody who won got a $50, (07:57):
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what we call energy gift card. So it's basically a $50 credit on your utility bill.
The young gal, the 15 year old who submitted her photo and won and is in the calendar was so
funny because I was like, oh, gosh, I'm sorry, this is all me.
(08:20):
So, you know, there may be, you know, because we're really gearing it towards, you have to be a
customer. You have to live in our service territory.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah, yeah. (08:25):
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Theresa Phillips: But she was happy to give that to her folks to be able to put on their utility bill. (08:27):
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And so what we did to get submissions is we did a social media campaign.
We followed that up with Ruralite.
I also use local radio, which is a really big thing for us is, I know it's weird in some places,
(08:47):
but here in little rural California, we love it.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Really? You do a great job with radio there. (08:51):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, radio is a big thing for us. (08:53):
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So, having just all those outlets to advertise and promote the contest worked really well.
We had a page on our website with the information as well, and they just submitted their photos to me
at information@lmud.org. And then I would send back an email and say thank you.
(09:15):
There was a couple times where I would get great pictures, but they weren't magazine quality.
So I would work with that photographer and say, "We love your photo.
Can you please resubmit it in this format?
Is there anything I can do to help you?" I had folks text me photos.
And then I uploaded those, and they.
Yeah. So you work, you work around it?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Sure. You work around. And that's one of the reasons we wanted to have you on the podcast was because for some people, (09:37):
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they're like, yeah, sure, I'd love to get local pictures to share on,
you know, in either my magazine, on my website, or in a custom calendar,
right? But how hard is that going to be?
So maybe are there a couple of things that you've noticed you have to remind people about?
(10:01):
And did you tell them, you know, you've been doing this a couple of years now,
so do you have submission tips? You know, it has to be at least the size.
Please email. Don't text. Have you come up with a cheat list of?
Theresa Phillips: Well, I didn't have to come up with one. (10:13):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh. (10:15):
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Theresa Phillips: Because fine folks at Ruralite already had all that. (10:15):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: We do, if folks want to have a list like this, and we will share it with this episode of the podcast at pioneer (10:20):
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.coop/podcasts , you'll see Theresa's amazing face, and you'll find it in the episode there.
We'll include the different things that we use because Ruralite has the contest as well,
and we've been doing it for many years.
(10:41):
So we do have a handy list, but did you find anything that you had to add to that list?
Did folks read the list?
Theresa Phillips: I think that they probably read it, but sometimes it's hard for them to envision like what size I'm (10:49):
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looking for. So we worked a little bit on that and maybe having an example of here's what this looks like.
What landscape is versus portrait.
Because when we did the cover contest, we asked for portrait.
(11:11):
And the calendar is the opposite; it's landscape.
So it was a little bit of an education curve on that aspect of it.
What we also asked for was, you know, use your imagination.
T here was a lot of, you know, don't do this, or don't do that, but also just what is it that you love about
where you live, you know? And what catches your eye?
(11:34):
Is it the deer in your – we had one with deer walking through the crosswalk on Main Street,
which cracked me up. Because that's Susanville, right?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: That's Susanville. I was going to say nothing says Susanville like a deer crossing. (11:44):
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Theresa Phillips: There's a deer crossing. They know to use the crosswalk. They're doing good. (11:48):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: They follow the rules. (11:51):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. Our service territory is pretty diverse. (11:53):
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We have everything from high desert to the Sierra Nevada's like.
So it's mountains and deserts and everything in between.
We have beautiful shots of our lakes that are in our service territory.
T here's three beautiful lakes. There's just there's a wildlife refuge.
(12:13):
So folks went out there and took some pictures there.
And, you know, sometimes you saw the same things, like, people definitely have the same idea,
like, this is a really cool picture, and it really is.
So having a Ruralite being kind of a guiding force, but also letting us have the
ability to customize the rules or bend them a little bit.
(12:37):
You know, for nonprofessional photographers, just a little bit.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Just a little bit. (12:41):
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Theresa Phillips: Make a little wiggle room. Don't be really set in like, these are the rules. (12:42):
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And this is what we're going to do. And, you know, come from a place of yes,
instead of no this doesn't work.
Yes, let's see how it can work. Let's figure this out.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you have these rules. You have everybody sending in submissions and getting excited about it. (12:57):
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Because who doesn't love having 50 bucks knocked off of their electric bill?
A nd I hope that the parents of the 15 year old appreciated that in some special way.
B ut I'm just curious, how do you choose, you know, all these people in Susanville,
(13:19):
right? You know, the parents, theoretically, of the 15 year old?
Theresa Phillips: [inaudible] (13:22):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah, it's a tight community. How did you choose who wins and who doesn't, (13:23):
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especially if you have folks shooting the same scene with slightly different,
you know, maybe different levels.
You know, maybe one's a little taller than the other. Maybe one got lighting at a different time. How do you choose who wins
without getting them mad at you?
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, that is a great question because, you know, we have to be Switzerland in all of this and not let (13:44):
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our, you know, w ho we know and what they do.
You know, all those things come in.
So again, I lean on the good folks at Ruralite.
I give them complete leeway on what works.
What do you like? You're the experts.
(14:07):
And they do an amazing job at picking the photos.
Now, I may not always agree with the ones they picked.
I know, shocking, right?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: If y'all aren't watching us on YouTube, I'm making a series of very surprised faces at Theresa right now. (14:15):
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Theresa Phillips: She is. But I trust them completely, and I know that their goal is for me and the utility to have the (14:22):
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best calendar that we can have, with as much diversity in that calendar as possible.
So we're not repeating themes in different months, and they do a great job of,
you know, I see all the photos before they go to Ruralite, and then I email them to Ruralite .
(14:46):
And they email me back at the end of the contest, "Here are the winners." And it's always a great process to go
through. And it's interesting to see, you know, "Oh, I wouldn't have picked that.
And I wonder why they did pick that?" And you know, they'll tell you this is why.
And this is why this one works as opposed to this one, like you were saying.
W e have, I think. Let me, can I show you this real quick?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I'd love to. (15:08):
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Theresa Phillips: This is our issue of the Ruralite. (15:09):
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It's November of 2024 where the calendar is put in.
And this picture right here. I don't know if you can see it –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: For folks who can't see, it's a chimney. (15:18):
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Theresa Phillips: It's a chimney, and it's on highway 36 between Susanville and Westwood. (15:20):
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And it's photographed thousands of times.
People love this chimney. This happened to be one of the cover contest winners,
but we got lots of these pictures for the calendar as well.
But you can see like in, you know, the calendar.
T his one was one of my favorites.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, that's beautiful too. D ahlias, a flash of colors there. (15:42):
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Theresa Phillips: Dahlias. And, you know (15:45):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: We have a lot of friends who love dahlias. (15:47):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. And this is a gorgeous photo. (15:49):
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But like you said, this is a waterfall that's, you know, photographed many times.
And how do you choose the one that's right for the magazine or for the calendar?
And I really do believe that leaving that up to Ruralite.
If you're a bigger utility, maybe you have a group of employees that pick the photographs.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And do it anonymously. (16:09):
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Theresa Phillips: Anonymously. But I can tell you, like we have 35 employees, ten of them are linemen. (16:10):
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It's not something that would work for us, so we just lean heavily on Ruralite.
I hope that answered the question. I kind of got off track.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: No, no, I just was curious because I know we do help some folks with their contests and that offer is always there. (16:23):
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If you need help with a picture contest that you're doing in the community,
you can always ask your editor or your account manager.
We'd love to help you out. It's nice to not be the person that shows .
Theresa Phillips: It is. A bsolutely, for me, it absolutely is. (16:40):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: And how do you tell your members or your consumers about the winners? (16:44):
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Theresa Phillips: I email each winner individually. (16:48):
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I actually, everybody who submits a photograph, I email them whether they're picked for a winner or not.
I just thank them for their interest and the time that they took to submit their photo.
And then the winners also get an email and thanking them, letting them know that they'll be getting their $50,
(17:11):
you know, utility credit and make sure I'm putting it on the right account because some people have different accounts. B ut
that personal, you know, reaching out and letting them know has been really appreciated by them.
And then when the calendar comes out, I always make sure I hold back a few extras for the winners,
because they like to give them out to their friends and family, which I love as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Autographing session. (17:33):
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Theresa Phillips: Correct. (17:33):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh man, it comes out November. You do a huge promotion in your community for Public Power Week. (17:34):
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And it's too bad you couldn't have an autograph session with all the winners coming to a special event at the PUD.
Or MUPD, it'd be fun.
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I mean, that's a great idea. When we did the cover contest, (17:50):
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we actually had a showing at the Arts Council, which is their gallery is right down the street from us.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: What? (18:01):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, it was wonderful. And we – (18:02):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: It would be wonderful. (18:04):
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Theresa Phillips: The photographers came, and I didn't use just the winning shots. (18:05):
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I had six winning shots that year.
I used every shot and had them printed out on what's called Coroplast.
And we did an actual show at the Arts Council, invited the community.
I t was a blast. People loved it.
They really did.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that so much. Have you thought about doing the same kind of thing for the calendar contest? (18:25):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, we definitely will do that this year. (18:31):
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Last year, time kind of got away from us.
We had some changes at the utility and some things that went on.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Change. It always happens, and it catches you right in the middle of deadlines every time. (18:39):
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Theresa Phillips: And, the Arts Council, they're so gracious to allow us to use their space. (18:43):
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And they once we had the photographs, we displayed them in our office as well.
So they kind of came and lived here for a while.
And then we'll give them back to the photographers when we're done with them.
(19:04):
So it's really a great way to engage the community and highlight those folks that took the time to do,
to enter the contest. I mean, really, it takes time.
You've got to do your photographs. You've got to send it to me. They've got to be a certain way. An d I'm so grateful to our
community for the way they've embraced this.
It's really the only calendar we have in Susanville, in our service territory,
(19:27):
that features a variety of local photographers and different community scenes.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, and it's a really special thing. I mean, people, I'm assuming people clamor for it and want to hold on to (19:34):
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it. What do you hear from your consumers about the calendar?
Theresa Phillips: Um, do you have more? (19:43):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, okay. (19:45):
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Theresa Phillips: Do you have more? I got one in the mail. (19:46):
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Can I get more? People will come in, and we'll be out of calendars.
We get them in November. They're gone by the first of December.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: No. (19:58):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, they're completely gone, and people are clamoring for them. (19:59):
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I'll hold a few back, you know, just, you know, in case someone needs one desperately.
But it is. We have no shortage of people wanting calendars, so I'm taking that as a good sign.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yes, definitely. (20:15):
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Theresa Phillips: And I posted on our Facebook page the calendars are in and, you know, (20:16):
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people will come and get them. So it's just been great.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that. And talking about posting on your Facebook page, I always talk (20:23):
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to people about having cat content.
The concept that any piece of content that you work on should have nine lives,
especially if you wear a lot of different hats. You don't have time to keep creating new content for every one of your channels.
(20:45):
So you've kind of alluded to this in the past in our conversation.
But how are you using images from the calendars on all of your channels?
You said the images, you have them in the office, which is great.
I love the art show. That makes so much sense.
What else are you doing with the calendar images and the content?
(21:08):
How else is it living on?
Theresa Phillips: Mostly it's on social. I'll rotate it through on our banner, you know, (21:09):
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like the, is that what it's called? The banner.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Your, yeah. Your header image. Yes. (21:17):
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Theresa Phillips: Our header image. I'll use that different months, and that's fun because people are like, (21:20):
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oh, this is April, and this is the the picture on the April calendar.
So you're able to repurpose that.
And it's a good reminder to let people know the calendar contest is still here.
It's coming. Wouldn't you love to see your photograph used in different ways?
We used it on our website for different things.
(21:44):
If I need a photograph, it really takes a lot of pressure off me as a one person band that I'm not out there,
you know, having to shoot a bunch of different photographs.
I have the rights to these photographs.
Folks know that they're going to be used in different ways, so there's no issue there.
And they're really pleased. You know, those photographs that I put on Facebook are shared multiple
(22:04):
times. People will tag other people in them, you know, excited to see their,
you know, relatives or friends on our Facebook page.
Or sometimes I'll get little stories from people about how they took the photograph.
So that's really fun. But yeah, definitely with Facebook, that's really the only social media
channel. Oh no, I take that back .
LinkedIn as well. In fact, I used one of the calendar photographs in a job recruitment that I posted on
(22:31):
LinkedIn. Wouldn't you love to live here?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I love that . (22:33):
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Theresa Phillips: Come be our accounting and finance manager, and look where you get to live. So yeah, (22:36):
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there's a million different ways you can use them.
It's just limited by your own imagination.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I love that. And do you have any other, since you're doing a custom calendar, (22:45):
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do you have any dates that you add throughout the year that is just for Lassen?
Theresa Phillips: Oh, yeah. We have all of our board meetings. (22:55):
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We have monthly board meetings because we're a MUD.
So our board meets once a month, and it's an open public meeting.
So it's a great way to let folks know that they're invited to the meeting.
And here's the time. W e also do holidays.
And of course, you know, lineman appreciation, American Public Power Week.
We do that. So anything that's industry specific.
(23:18):
And then, you know, because sometimes we don't really know what we're going to be doing all year long. I long I try not to put
too much specific stuff in there, but things that you know that are going to happen every year,
definitely I would put in there or every month, like the board meeting.
I think it's funny. Our local newspaper reporter depends on that calendar to know when the meetings are.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: That's great. I like that though. (23:41):
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Do you have any other community festivals that you put in there too?
Theresa Phillips: We don't really do it in the calendar because I'm not always. (23:48):
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I'm a little gun shy of putting specific dates with things that don't,
you know, happen. So we do that monthly in the Ruralite, which is awesome too.
You know, we do a community calendar maybe once or twice a year, kind of,
you know, these are events that are coming up. We work with the Chamber of Commerce to do that.
(24:10):
So, you know, you can have your community calendar in your Ruralite,
and also your yearly calendar hanging on your wall.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I like it. I like it, and you can always. (24:17):
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Theresa Phillips: But calendars are great. I mean, if anybody's like me, I live and die by my calendar. (24:19):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. No, I am the same way. I've got my calendar. (24:23):
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I have two things on my desk at any given time.
I have my notebook for just jotting down ideas, and then I've always got my content planning calendar handy
because it just, it's necessary.
Theresa Phillips: Well, I have that content planning calendar on my wall, so. (24:37):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, we'll see. I write on mine too much. (24:40):
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It wouldn't stay on my wall very often.
All right, last question before I let you go.
If a utility wants to create a custom calendar with pictures from their community,
but they haven't done anything like that before, how should they start?
Theresa Phillips: I would start by talking to somebody at Pioneer or Ruralite and, you know, (24:59):
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maybe talking to somebody like me who's already done it.
Because I think the fear for me was, it's going to be this.
It's going to take up too much time.
I don't have the bandwidth for this.
And it really, in the end, adds value and time to your plate instead of taking away.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I like that. (25:22):
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Theresa Phillips: Because you're getting back the time that you would be hunting down photographs or whatever for content. (25:23):
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And like you said, the magazine or on social or whatever.
So, you know, think about especially if you're just one or two people,
how this is going to help you in the long run.
How easy it is to do with just a simple email.
Tips from Pioneer and Ruralite are already ready to go.
(25:47):
And then use what you have at your disposal to promote that.
And it could be. We did. T he chamber helped us.
We did it on the radio. So we have 5,700 followers on Facebook, which is a lot for a utility with 10,000 meters.
So word spread like wildfire, and it's not difficult.
(26:09):
It's actually super easy to do. And –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that. (26:12):
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Theresa Phillips: It's one of those things that adds so much value to your customers. (26:12):
undefined
They love seeing themselves there.
We talk about telling our stories.
We're telling their story as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh. (26:25):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: So putting that out there where everybody can see is just a great way to let people know and remind them that the (26:26):
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utility, the co-op, wherever you work, is really an integral part of the community they serve.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that so much. Well, Theresa, thank you so much for sharing your story with utility pioneers. (26:40):
undefined
She is Theresa Phillips at Lassen MUD, and I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.
And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. (26:59):
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StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: How can pictures of your community tell your story all year long? (00:16):
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That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at Pioneer Utility Resources,
and I am joined by the amazing Theresa Phillips, public relations manager at Lassen Municipal Utility District in
Susanville, California. Theresa, thank you so much for joining us today.
Theresa Phillips: Oh, it's my pleasure, Megan. Thank you for having me. (00:41):
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It's always great to talk to you and the other folks from Pioneer.
So I, yeah, thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell my story.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Of course. Well, Theresa, you do so many really fun things. (00:51):
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You've won our D'Avanzo Communicator of the Year leadership award before.
Yes. S o you do a lot of fun things that inspire folks, but I wanted to talk to you about something that you've been
doing for a while, and then you've changed it up recently.
(01:12):
B ut before we get into that, full disclosure, I used to think that calendars were old school.
I used to fight with people about this. I know, we gave away when I worked at my electric co-op,
we gave away three different calendars at one of our annual meetings one year,
and I was like, "Why do we keep buying all these calendars?" But then we created a custom calendar with pictures of our staff,
(01:36):
and we sold it for charity, and people went nuts for it.
And ever since then, it's been almost a, you know what, 20 years since then,
I've become a little bit obsessed with custom calendars.
We do one at Pioneer for our folks.
It's a content planning calendar, and it has all custom images and dates in there,
(02:00):
and really fun pictures of our staff with our members like you in the back,
so it's a lot of fun. I love custom calendars.
I've seen the light as it is. But I want you to talk to us about how Lassen uses calendars to engage your
consumers.
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I would be happy to. So, you know, I've been doing this job as public relations manager in different (02:17):
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forms here at the utility for the last about 22 years.
And when I –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And just getting started. (02:29):
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Theresa Phillips: Yes. And when I started, we did not have a calendar. (02:30):
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And somewhere around I would, so that was 2003.
Around 2005, my electric superintendent came to me with a calendar that he had gotten from another utility,
and it was pictures that kids had drawn, you know, safety calendar.
(02:50):
So that was a great idea. And we did our safety calendar for many years,
I would say probably around 10- 12 years or so.
And it kind of just lost interest.
Like it used to be a big deal, and I thought, "Okay, we have to do something fresh.
And what can we do?" So the wonderful Mike Teagarden came to me and said,
(03:12):
"Hey, we have a Ruralite calendar.
You guys can purchase Ruralite calendars." At that point, we were just doing a calendar.
It was the basic Ruralite calendar.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And I sh ould say, you're saying the basic calendar, but it is a calendar with pictures (03:20):
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submitted by readers from across all of the states that use Ruralite magazines.
So it's pictures could be of your members and your area.
Theresa Phillips: It was. [inaudible] (03:40):
undefined
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. And then also Alaska and Arizona. (03:40):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: Yeah. Everything. (03:45):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: And so all over the place. (03:47):
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Theresa Phillips: That was really cool that we had that calendar, and we would have it, (03:48):
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you know, here at the office, you know, for folks to come and pick up.
And it went pretty well. And I was happy with that.
And, you know, again, trying to keep things fresh and always looking for a way to engage our customers in what we do.
Ruralite is a big part of what we do here.
(04:11):
I love the Ruralite. So Victoria Hampton had asked me, "What about
doing a cover contest? A photo contest for your cover?" And I said,
"Oh, okay. Well, you know, that sounds great." So we did that a couple years ago,
and we got a pretty good turnout.
In fact, we had way more photos than I thought we were going to get.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Like how many photos? (04:34):
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Theresa Phillips: Um, dozens. Dozens of dozens. (04:36):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Dozens? (04:39):
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Theresa Phillips: I would say upwards of probably 30 to 40 - 45ish photos. (04:40):
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Not all, and God bless our customers, not all of them were, you know,
cover shots.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: But we love them all anyway. (04:51):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I just loved the enthusiasm for that. (04:53):
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And then the artist, you know, the photographers that had their photographs picked loved seeing them on the cover.
And then I would post those covers on our Facebook page, and people would engage with that.
And, oh, look, it's this person. It's that person. So Victoria again said,
(05:15):
"You had such a great response. What do you think about a custom calendar?" And I thought,
"Yeah, let's do it. Let's roll the dice and see how it goes." And it went wonderfully.
It was so well received. And we got photographs from people like,
(05:36):
I would say, the youngest photographer we had was 15, and the oldest one was probably in their 80s.
And so they were out there in the community taking pictures of things that were important to them,
things that meant something to them.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. (05:51):
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Theresa Phillips: And when we put that calendar together, I'm flipping through it, (05:52):
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and I'm like, "Oh, I know where this is.
Oh, I can see," you know. Oh, they took that picture.
T here was just all different kinds of things.
And the people that were included in the calendar again were just thrilled.
So, you know, you had asked before, I think, you know, how we distribute the calendars.
(06:17):
We had in the beginning, given them out in the office, but we transitioned to having them in the magazine during
Covid. So we love that. And then we usually get about a couple hundred here in the office,
and those all go as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you're saying it's working? People like it. (06:35):
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Theresa Phillips: I am saying that people love it. (06:38):
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T hey love it, and it's so easy to do.
It's like this thing that you can do that's so easy and engages so many customers on all these different levels.
A nd it might not be something that's on your radar because you're doing a lot of different things.
So if there's people out there like me that wear many different hats.
(07:00):
But I'm telling you, this was a game changer for us.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you got the idea sparked by seeing the overwhelming interest that folks had and the (07:05):
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enthusiasm for having their pictures on the cover of your edition of Ruralite Magazine,
which is great. I'm wondering, how did you get the pictures submissions for your calendar contest?
(07:27):
I mean, did you hold a contest? Did you give people money for sending in pictures?
Did you have to beg folks to send pictures in?
Or were you turning folks away because it was so popular?
Theresa Phillips: Well, okay, so what we did is, you know, we used the magazine to advertise the (07:39):
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contest and said, you know, the incentive for folks was one, you get to see your picture,
your photograph in the calendar, and that's amazing.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Bragging rights. Huge. (07:55):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: Yeah. It's huge. And two, we gave them everybody who won got a $50, (07:57):
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what we call energy gift card. So it's basically a $50 credit on your utility bill.
The young gal, the 15 year old who submitted her photo and won and is in the calendar was so
funny because I was like, oh, gosh, I'm sorry, this is all me.
(08:20):
So, you know, there may be, you know, because we're really gearing it towards, you have to be a
customer. You have to live in our service territory.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah, yeah. (08:25):
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Theresa Phillips: But she was happy to give that to her folks to be able to put on their utility bill. (08:27):
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And so what we did to get submissions is we did a social media campaign.
We followed that up with Ruralite.
I also use local radio, which is a really big thing for us is, I know it's weird in some places,
(08:47):
but here in little rural California, we love it.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Really? You do a great job with radio there. (08:51):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, radio is a big thing for us. (08:53):
undefined
So, having just all those outlets to advertise and promote the contest worked really well.
We had a page on our website with the information as well, and they just submitted their photos to me
at information@lmud.org. And then I would send back an email and say thank you.
(09:15):
There was a couple times where I would get great pictures, but they weren't magazine quality.
So I would work with that photographer and say, "We love your photo.
Can you please resubmit it in this format?
Is there anything I can do to help you?" I had folks text me photos.
And then I uploaded those, and they.
Yeah. So you work, you work around it?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Sure. You work around. And that's one of the reasons we wanted to have you on the podcast was because for some people, (09:37):
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they're like, yeah, sure, I'd love to get local pictures to share on,
you know, in either my magazine, on my website, or in a custom calendar,
right? But how hard is that going to be?
So maybe are there a couple of things that you've noticed you have to remind people about?
(10:01):
And did you tell them, you know, you've been doing this a couple of years now,
so do you have submission tips? You know, it has to be at least the size.
Please email. Don't text. Have you come up with a cheat list of?
Theresa Phillips: Well, I didn't have to come up with one. (10:13):
undefined
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh. (10:15):
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Theresa Phillips: Because fine folks at Ruralite already had all that. (10:15):
undefined
Megan Mckoy-Noe: We do, if folks want to have a list like this, and we will share it with this episode of the podcast at pioneer (10:20):
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.coop/podcasts , you'll see Theresa's amazing face, and you'll find it in the episode there.
We'll include the different things that we use because Ruralite has the contest as well,
and we've been doing it for many years.
(10:41):
So we do have a handy list, but did you find anything that you had to add to that list?
Did folks read the list?
Theresa Phillips: I think that they probably read it, but sometimes it's hard for them to envision like what size I'm (10:49):
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looking for. So we worked a little bit on that and maybe having an example of here's what this looks like.
What landscape is versus portrait.
Because when we did the cover contest, we asked for portrait.
(11:11):
And the calendar is the opposite; it's landscape.
So it was a little bit of an education curve on that aspect of it.
What we also asked for was, you know, use your imagination.
T here was a lot of, you know, don't do this, or don't do that, but also just what is it that you love about
where you live, you know? And what catches your eye?
(11:34):
Is it the deer in your – we had one with deer walking through the crosswalk on Main Street,
which cracked me up. Because that's Susanville, right?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: That's Susanville. I was going to say nothing says Susanville like a deer crossing. (11:44):
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Theresa Phillips: There's a deer crossing. They know to use the crosswalk. They're doing good. (11:48):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: They follow the rules. (11:51):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. Our service territory is pretty diverse. (11:53):
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We have everything from high desert to the Sierra Nevada's like.
So it's mountains and deserts and everything in between.
We have beautiful shots of our lakes that are in our service territory.
T here's three beautiful lakes. There's just there's a wildlife refuge.
(12:13):
So folks went out there and took some pictures there.
And, you know, sometimes you saw the same things, like, people definitely have the same idea,
like, this is a really cool picture, and it really is.
So having a Ruralite being kind of a guiding force, but also letting us have the
ability to customize the rules or bend them a little bit.
(12:37):
You know, for nonprofessional photographers, just a little bit.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Just a little bit. (12:41):
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Theresa Phillips: Make a little wiggle room. Don't be really set in like, these are the rules. (12:42):
undefined
And this is what we're going to do. And, you know, come from a place of yes,
instead of no this doesn't work.
Yes, let's see how it can work. Let's figure this out.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: So you have these rules. You have everybody sending in submissions and getting excited about it. (12:57):
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Because who doesn't love having 50 bucks knocked off of their electric bill?
A nd I hope that the parents of the 15 year old appreciated that in some special way.
B ut I'm just curious, how do you choose, you know, all these people in Susanville,
(13:19):
right? You know, the parents, theoretically, of the 15 year old?
Theresa Phillips: [inaudible] (13:22):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah, it's a tight community. How did you choose who wins and who doesn't, (13:23):
undefined
especially if you have folks shooting the same scene with slightly different,
you know, maybe different levels.
You know, maybe one's a little taller than the other. Maybe one got lighting at a different time. How do you choose who wins
without getting them mad at you?
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, that is a great question because, you know, we have to be Switzerland in all of this and not let (13:44):
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our, you know, w ho we know and what they do.
You know, all those things come in.
So again, I lean on the good folks at Ruralite.
I give them complete leeway on what works.
What do you like? You're the experts.
(14:07):
And they do an amazing job at picking the photos.
Now, I may not always agree with the ones they picked.
I know, shocking, right?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: If y'all aren't watching us on YouTube, I'm making a series of very surprised faces at Theresa right now. (14:15):
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Theresa Phillips: She is. But I trust them completely, and I know that their goal is for me and the utility to have the (14:22):
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best calendar that we can have, with as much diversity in that calendar as possible.
So we're not repeating themes in different months, and they do a great job of,
you know, I see all the photos before they go to Ruralite, and then I email them to Ruralite .
(14:46):
And they email me back at the end of the contest, "Here are the winners." And it's always a great process to go
through. And it's interesting to see, you know, "Oh, I wouldn't have picked that.
And I wonder why they did pick that?" And you know, they'll tell you this is why.
And this is why this one works as opposed to this one, like you were saying.
W e have, I think. Let me, can I show you this real quick?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I'd love to. (15:08):
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Theresa Phillips: This is our issue of the Ruralite. (15:09):
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It's November of 2024 where the calendar is put in.
And this picture right here. I don't know if you can see it –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: For folks who can't see, it's a chimney. (15:18):
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Theresa Phillips: It's a chimney, and it's on highway 36 between Susanville and Westwood. (15:20):
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And it's photographed thousands of times.
People love this chimney. This happened to be one of the cover contest winners,
but we got lots of these pictures for the calendar as well.
But you can see like in, you know, the calendar.
T his one was one of my favorites.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, that's beautiful too. D ahlias, a flash of colors there. (15:42):
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Theresa Phillips: Dahlias. And, you know (15:45):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: We have a lot of friends who love dahlias. (15:47):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah. And this is a gorgeous photo. (15:49):
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But like you said, this is a waterfall that's, you know, photographed many times.
And how do you choose the one that's right for the magazine or for the calendar?
And I really do believe that leaving that up to Ruralite.
If you're a bigger utility, maybe you have a group of employees that pick the photographs.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: And do it anonymously. (16:09):
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Theresa Phillips: Anonymously. But I can tell you, like we have 35 employees, ten of them are linemen. (16:10):
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It's not something that would work for us, so we just lean heavily on Ruralite.
I hope that answered the question. I kind of got off track.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: No, no, I just was curious because I know we do help some folks with their contests and that offer is always there. (16:23):
undefined
If you need help with a picture contest that you're doing in the community,
you can always ask your editor or your account manager.
We'd love to help you out. It's nice to not be the person that shows .
Theresa Phillips: It is. A bsolutely, for me, it absolutely is. (16:40):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: And how do you tell your members or your consumers about the winners? (16:44):
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Theresa Phillips: I email each winner individually. (16:48):
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I actually, everybody who submits a photograph, I email them whether they're picked for a winner or not.
I just thank them for their interest and the time that they took to submit their photo.
And then the winners also get an email and thanking them, letting them know that they'll be getting their $50,
(17:11):
you know, utility credit and make sure I'm putting it on the right account because some people have different accounts. B ut
that personal, you know, reaching out and letting them know has been really appreciated by them.
And then when the calendar comes out, I always make sure I hold back a few extras for the winners,
because they like to give them out to their friends and family, which I love as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Autographing session. (17:33):
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Theresa Phillips: Correct. (17:33):
undefined
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh man, it comes out November. You do a huge promotion in your community for Public Power Week. (17:34):
undefined
And it's too bad you couldn't have an autograph session with all the winners coming to a special event at the PUD.
Or MUPD, it'd be fun.
Theresa Phillips: Yeah, I mean, that's a great idea. When we did the cover contest, (17:50):
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we actually had a showing at the Arts Council, which is their gallery is right down the street from us.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: What? (18:01):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, it was wonderful. And we – (18:02):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: It would be wonderful. (18:04):
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Theresa Phillips: The photographers came, and I didn't use just the winning shots. (18:05):
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I had six winning shots that year.
I used every shot and had them printed out on what's called Coroplast.
And we did an actual show at the Arts Council, invited the community.
I t was a blast. People loved it.
They really did.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that so much. Have you thought about doing the same kind of thing for the calendar contest? (18:25):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, we definitely will do that this year. (18:31):
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Last year, time kind of got away from us.
We had some changes at the utility and some things that went on.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Change. It always happens, and it catches you right in the middle of deadlines every time. (18:39):
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Theresa Phillips: And, the Arts Council, they're so gracious to allow us to use their space. (18:43):
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And they once we had the photographs, we displayed them in our office as well.
So they kind of came and lived here for a while.
And then we'll give them back to the photographers when we're done with them.
(19:04):
So it's really a great way to engage the community and highlight those folks that took the time to do,
to enter the contest. I mean, really, it takes time.
You've got to do your photographs. You've got to send it to me. They've got to be a certain way. An d I'm so grateful to our
community for the way they've embraced this.
It's really the only calendar we have in Susanville, in our service territory,
(19:27):
that features a variety of local photographers and different community scenes.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, and it's a really special thing. I mean, people, I'm assuming people clamor for it and want to hold on to (19:34):
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it. What do you hear from your consumers about the calendar?
Theresa Phillips: Um, do you have more? (19:43):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, okay. (19:45):
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Theresa Phillips: Do you have more? I got one in the mail. (19:46):
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Can I get more? People will come in, and we'll be out of calendars.
We get them in November. They're gone by the first of December.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: No. (19:58):
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Theresa Phillips: Yeah, they're completely gone, and people are clamoring for them. (19:59):
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I'll hold a few back, you know, just, you know, in case someone needs one desperately.
But it is. We have no shortage of people wanting calendars, so I'm taking that as a good sign.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yes, definitely. (20:15):
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Theresa Phillips: And I posted on our Facebook page the calendars are in and, you know, (20:16):
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people will come and get them. So it's just been great.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that. And talking about posting on your Facebook page, I always talk (20:23):
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to people about having cat content.
The concept that any piece of content that you work on should have nine lives,
especially if you wear a lot of different hats. You don't have time to keep creating new content for every one of your channels.
(20:45):
So you've kind of alluded to this in the past in our conversation.
But how are you using images from the calendars on all of your channels?
You said the images, you have them in the office, which is great.
I love the art show. That makes so much sense.
What else are you doing with the calendar images and the content?
(21:08):
How else is it living on?
Theresa Phillips: Mostly it's on social. I'll rotate it through on our banner, you know, (21:09):
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like the, is that what it's called? The banner.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Your, yeah. Your header image. Yes. (21:17):
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Theresa Phillips: Our header image. I'll use that different months, and that's fun because people are like, (21:20):
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oh, this is April, and this is the the picture on the April calendar.
So you're able to repurpose that.
And it's a good reminder to let people know the calendar contest is still here.
It's coming. Wouldn't you love to see your photograph used in different ways?
We used it on our website for different things.
(21:44):
If I need a photograph, it really takes a lot of pressure off me as a one person band that I'm not out there,
you know, having to shoot a bunch of different photographs.
I have the rights to these photographs.
Folks know that they're going to be used in different ways, so there's no issue there.
And they're really pleased. You know, those photographs that I put on Facebook are shared multiple
(22:04):
times. People will tag other people in them, you know, excited to see their,
you know, relatives or friends on our Facebook page.
Or sometimes I'll get little stories from people about how they took the photograph.
So that's really fun. But yeah, definitely with Facebook, that's really the only social media
channel. Oh no, I take that back .
LinkedIn as well. In fact, I used one of the calendar photographs in a job recruitment that I posted on
(22:31):
LinkedIn. Wouldn't you love to live here?
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I love that . (22:33):
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Theresa Phillips: Come be our accounting and finance manager, and look where you get to live. So yeah, (22:36):
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there's a million different ways you can use them.
It's just limited by your own imagination.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I love that. And do you have any other, since you're doing a custom calendar, (22:45):
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do you have any dates that you add throughout the year that is just for Lassen?
Theresa Phillips: Oh, yeah. We have all of our board meetings. (22:55):
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We have monthly board meetings because we're a MUD.
So our board meets once a month, and it's an open public meeting.
So it's a great way to let folks know that they're invited to the meeting.
And here's the time. W e also do holidays.
And of course, you know, lineman appreciation, American Public Power Week.
We do that. So anything that's industry specific.
(23:18):
And then, you know, because sometimes we don't really know what we're going to be doing all year long. I long I try not to put
too much specific stuff in there, but things that you know that are going to happen every year,
definitely I would put in there or every month, like the board meeting.
I think it's funny. Our local newspaper reporter depends on that calendar to know when the meetings are.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: That's great. I like that though. (23:41):
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Do you have any other community festivals that you put in there too?
Theresa Phillips: We don't really do it in the calendar because I'm not always. (23:48):
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I'm a little gun shy of putting specific dates with things that don't,
you know, happen. So we do that monthly in the Ruralite, which is awesome too.
You know, we do a community calendar maybe once or twice a year, kind of,
you know, these are events that are coming up. We work with the Chamber of Commerce to do that.
(24:10):
So, you know, you can have your community calendar in your Ruralite,
and also your yearly calendar hanging on your wall.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I like it. I like it, and you can always. (24:17):
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Theresa Phillips: But calendars are great. I mean, if anybody's like me, I live and die by my calendar. (24:19):
undefined
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Yeah. No, I am the same way. I've got my calendar. (24:23):
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I have two things on my desk at any given time.
I have my notebook for just jotting down ideas, and then I've always got my content planning calendar handy
because it just, it's necessary.
Theresa Phillips: Well, I have that content planning calendar on my wall, so. (24:37):
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Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, we'll see. I write on mine too much. (24:40):
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It wouldn't stay on my wall very often.
All right, last question before I let you go.
If a utility wants to create a custom calendar with pictures from their community,
but they haven't done anything like that before, how should they start?
Theresa Phillips: I would start by talking to somebody at Pioneer or Ruralite and, you know, (24:59):
undefined
maybe talking to somebody like me who's already done it.
Because I think the fear for me was, it's going to be this.
It's going to take up too much time.
I don't have the bandwidth for this.
And it really, in the end, adds value and time to your plate instead of taking away.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh, I like that. (25:22):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: Because you're getting back the time that you would be hunting down photographs or whatever for content. (25:23):
undefined
And like you said, the magazine or on social or whatever.
So, you know, think about especially if you're just one or two people,
how this is going to help you in the long run.
How easy it is to do with just a simple email.
Tips from Pioneer and Ruralite are already ready to go.
(25:47):
And then use what you have at your disposal to promote that.
And it could be. We did. T he chamber helped us.
We did it on the radio. So we have 5,700 followers on Facebook, which is a lot for a utility with 10,000 meters.
So word spread like wildfire, and it's not difficult.
(26:09):
It's actually super easy to do. And –
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that. (26:12):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: It's one of those things that adds so much value to your customers. (26:12):
undefined
They love seeing themselves there.
We talk about telling our stories.
We're telling their story as well.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: Oh. (26:25):
undefined
Theresa Phillips: So putting that out there where everybody can see is just a great way to let people know and remind them that the (26:26):
undefined
utility, the co-op, wherever you work, is really an integral part of the community they serve.
Megan Mckoy-Noe: I love that so much. Well, Theresa, thank you so much for sharing your story with utility pioneers. (26:40):
undefined
She is Theresa Phillips at Lassen MUD, and I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.
And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. (26:59):
undefined
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