Ladies Lawn Night is a Success!

Ladies Lawn Night has been a huge learning experience. When i heard that the campaign was planning an entire campaign for the CW's two newest shows I will admit I felt a little overwhelmed. I remember picking my group, and knowing we had to get started planning immediately.

After doing research we formulated the plan for our big event "Ladies Lawn Night." The madness of event planning began quickly, and I pleased to say that the event went extremely well.

We directed our event directly at girls, specifically younger girls living in the dorm. We had a fashion show, a jazz band, lots of local boutiques, the school radio station and of course a big screen to show Melrose and 90210. While planning we still had to do some MAJOR publicity to get word out about this big event that we had been working so hard on. We used every possible medium to reach girls on the campus of GCSU. My group was so amazing working on this project. We had no problems with anyone not doing what was asked. I think we all equally wanted this event to be a success!

Now that the actual event is over there are a few BIG things I want to take away.

1. Details, details, details - You can never be over-organized or over-prepared

2. Never trust anyone, and ALWAYS double check EVERYTHING - This makes me sad, but I definitely learned my lesson

3. Sometimes simple is good - enough said.

4. Ask - I feel like so many sponsors helped us out with this event and all we had to do was ask. I was really surprised.

5. Be flexible - Sometimes things don't go exactly how you have it planned, but it's ok to just roll with it.

I could really go on and on, but that is just a short list for now. Doing a campaign from A to Z is definitely not for the weak! Now that the event is over it is time for the infamous CAMPAIGN BOOK! I better fasten my seatbelt... here we go!

What do I say about Ethics...

It does seem like this has been such a hot topic lately. Last week I blogged about astroturfing, but never actually shared my opinions on the issue. I guess I am just beginning to realize that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are just so many grey areas when in comes to the mass media, including Public Relations. I am about to be thrown into this world, and it's up to me to decide what I believe on these issues.

Unlike some of my classmates I do not think I could do a job every day that I was not passionate about, even I was making the big bucks. I want to work for a company that I feel confident in, one in which I am proud when I tell people who I work for. I do not want to have a guilty conscious or cheat people out of anything to make more money. I want to be a part of a company that follows a code of ethics and is honest with its customers. Honesty is very important to me.

However, I do realize that Public Relations (along with many other fields) is not a field that you usually start off with your ideal job. I understand that I may have to start with a job that I am not extremely passionate about, but that can change over time. Life is way to short to hate your job every day. I couldn't handle that, no matter how much money I was making.

Although I do not necessarily feel called to go into the mission field, I do know I want to do a job that helps people. Ideally I would like a job with as much human interaction as possible. I would like to think I made a difference in the world regardless of the amount on my paycheck. I would rather live a modest lifestyle, and have a career I love. I genuinely love to be around people, and I want to treat them the way I would like to be treated.

All of that being said, I am not willing to compromise any of my moral standards for more money or a better job. My family has instilled a core set of values based on what God desires for my life, and I definitely know then difference between right and wrong. I don't plan on doing anything illegal or immoral to make it in the world.

Astroturfing? What in the world...

After reading last week's case study on Ethics in Public Relations Campaigns, I found this blog post on the PRSSA website to be very applicable. It focused on something called astroturfing, which basically deals with employees or interns posting biased pre-scripted reviews on websites for their own company.

This blog post highlighted this subject matter by reviewing the recent case with the iTunes app store. Their PR firm, Reverb Communications used their interns to monitor the website and post positive reviews without mentioning the company they were affiliated with. According to a company called Techcrunch interns monitoring web reviews is a common practice, but this situation crossed the line of ethics.

According to the blog (and Wikipedia) astroturfing can be defined as, “formal political, advertising or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous ‘grassroots’ behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass.”

Obviously, if interns were posting these comments they were not "spontaneous." I feel like this blog post directly paralleled to what I read about in the Ethics chapter of my textbook. Its pretty cool when you realize the things in your textbooks are real in the PR world too. The post gave a few other examples of unethical practices such as sneaking gift cards to sway bloggers, PR representatives in city council meetings and false opposition letters.

The final part of the blog post stressed the importance of our own personal ethics. Even as interns and young business professionals we need to be aware of how much this is going on and do our part to stop these unethical practices.

Looks like I have a lot to do...

This article really helped me discover what valuable skills I will need in the real-world of Public Relations. There were 14 Key attributes listed in the article. Some of the attributes I felt comfortable about, but others i definitely need to work on. Since I'm a SENIOR now (ah!) I need to be able to better evaluate my strengths and weaknesses.

After reading the article I came to a few conclusions regarding the different attributes of a PR professional that I am confident in. These skills aren't perfect, but I definitely feel they are my best selling points

1. Communication Skills: I love communicating with others. I feel I am good at expressing the way I feel, and being able to communicate effectively with other people. I feel that communication is the KEY to any good relationship.

2. Work Ethic: I definitely have a strong work ethic. I will not quit on a job until it is done. I like to be a team player, even if that means staying late.

3. Attention to Detail: I am a perfectionist especially when it comes to school work or any work I did this summer with my internship. I read, and re-read until I know things are the way I like them. I look into every aspect of a project to make sure it is complete and correct.

Some of the things I am not so sure about are:

1. Coding: I am not really sure how any of this works. I do not know much at all about HTML, PHP and VBScript at all.

2. Blogger Relations: I could definitely expand on my blogger relations. I only have friends in our class, but this really needs to change.

3. RSS, RSS Readers: I'm not exactly positive about how these work either. I need to figure this one out before I graduate for sure!

It looks like I have a lot of things to discover my last year in college. I want to really work on these 14 attributes before applying to jobs in the REAL WORLD!

I'm a Senior?

It amazes me to think that I am even writing this. I feel like I just came to college yesterday, and I was the one asking for advice. I had absolutely NO IDEA what I wanted to major in when I came college, and I think that is a common mistake. Everyone always says not to worry about that, and that you have plenty of time to decide. Luckily, I just went with something that seemed interesting to me and declared Pre Mass-Comm. Some of my friends waited to declare a major, and now find themselves behind. Most programs are at least two years, so the earlier you declare a major, the better.

One thing I definitely learned last semester is that it's never too early to begin networking and looking for a summer internship. No one is going to hold your hand and help you find an internship. You have to take the initiative to search for internships you are interested in, and find connections in the PR world. The more people you know, the easier it will be to find an internship.

Networking did not come to my naturally at first. I was overwhelmed by meeting so many people so quickly and all the social networking you have to keep up with. Now I realize that it's all just another part of PR. I learned that people are so much more willing to help than I thought. If you do a good job for people, they are usually more than happy to help me in the future. I was so afraid to ask at first, but now it comes much easier.

Obviously I have learned how to manage my time much better. PR is not a major where you can just stay up late trying to get everything done. You have to accurately plan out pretty much every hour of your day because a lot of the work involves other people. I have learned to just do things while I'm thinking about them instead of putting them off for later. My planner is my life saver, and I would probably cry if I lost it. I must write EVERYTHING down. If it doesn't make it in that little book, chances are I will totally forget it.

The last thing I have learned over the past three years (and I'm still learning) is that it's ok to say no. Sometimes I feel obligated to do things merely because they need to be done, whether they are my responsibility or not. I agree to do things that I shouldn't just because I feel guilty if I don't. Although I definitely still struggle with wanting to do everything, I do think I'm getting just a little better. Sometimes it's ok to just to simply say NO... well ok...maybe :)

Ha! I guess I still need to work on that one...

Here we are on the first day of college, and now I'm a senior? How did this happen?

Events, Running AND Public Relations?

I feel like I learned more about the real-world event industry over the summer than I could ever learn in a classroom. My internship was with a company called Corporate Sports Unlimited. The company had three main divisions; Corporate Events and Meetings, The U.S. 10K Classic and the World Children's Center. Since I had such a wide variety of interests CSU allowed me to split my time at the internship between the separate divisions.

I began my internship working everyday in the events division. I got to attend all the event planning meetings, site visits, sales calls and much more. The VP of this division, Bob, made sure I was included in every step of the event planning process. Some days I would help research venues or organize activities for the events. Other days I would be out of the office meeting with our clients or actually working at events. One of my favorite parts was getting to go to so many events. CEM does so many events, and I had no idea corporations spent so much money to make their employees happy. Over the course of the summer I worked at family appreciation days, team building, picnics, carnivals, lunch parties, snow cone parties, ice cream socials and sponsor luncheons. CEM produces so many different types of events, and it was exciting for me to see how these events are planned and executed in the real-world.

The other divisions I worked for were The U.S. 10K Classic and The World Children's Center. The U.S. 10k is a huge (12,500 participants) road race in Cobb County on Labor Day. All the money raised from the U.S. 1oK goes toward the World Children's Center, which is the non-different profit division of the company. I really loved everything I got to do to help with the race because running is something I am extremely passionate about. It was really cool to work with my boss Stephanie in designing things for the race and helping her pull little details together for race day. I got to have some interaction with sponsors and see how some things work in the non-profit world. It was definitely a lot different then I expected.

About a month before the race (August 16th) the World Children's Center hosted a huge Gala for all the race sponsors. I got to do a lot of work helping prepare for this. It was neat because the Gala was similar to the athletic auction, except with a MUCH larger budget. They had hundreds of items for the auction, and tickets were $200 a seat. The event took place at the Cobb Galeria Center and the presentation was breathtaking. I was absolutely amazing at how lavish everything was, and it reminded me how much I love event planning. It felt great to know I had helped put so much together for this event.

Overall, I learned so much from my summer internship. I realized that doing PR for road races or triathlons is definitely something I am interested in. It was a great experience getting to work with an events division and a non-profit division all under the same company. It was just neat to combine so many things I am passionate about.....Events, Running AND Public Relations! What a great combo!

Oh, and if you don't have plans for Labor Day...check it out!

PR in Action...Younglife style!

Younglife is a high school outreach ministry. Every week Younglife leaders spend hours contacting high schoolers and spending time hanging out with them. We go to lunch, soccer games, track practice, chorus concerts and anything else we can to get to see the kids. Every Monday the leaders hold an event called club. Club is when all high school kids come to a meeting place and the leaders plan things for them to do. We act out characters, play games and sing songs, and one of the leaders shares at the end. (I know it sounds a little lame, but we always tell the kids they have to try it before they knock it.) 

At the end of the year all the leaders work together for the final club. We combine all the characters from all the clubs to make a big musical called the opera. Last Monday Gatewood Younglife held their annual Opera. Seven of the leaders wrote out their own script, gathered costumes, and rehearsed the opera over and over. We were all really excited to get to share all the opera with the kids, but we had to use a few PR techniques to get the word out...  

Now a little clip from the Opera. Enjoy...