PR and The Real World

Sometimes I feel like I am ready to conquer the 'real world' and then there is that moment that knocks me down and makes me realize that I have much to learn before I can spread my wings.  As a college I live in the 'college bubble' which sits happily outside of the 'real world', but like any bubble once its popped there is no going back.  

Last Friday I was able to get a glimpse of the 'real world' by attending PR Real World in Atlanta.  While I was there I was able to network with other public relations students and gain valuable insight from professionals in the industry.  After attending a similar conference in New York, I learned not to look at the title of a conference session, but to look at who is speaking.  One of the most interesting sessions I attended was on 'How to Seal the Deal', which was put on by the HR directors of two amazing public relations agencies, Ketchum and Porter Novelli.  Both directors gave great insight into what to do and what they look for in cover letters, resumes and interviews.  It was one of those surreal moments when you realize that the person on the other side of the email that could change your life forever, is human.  Both ladies where extremely down to earth and helped to uncover several myths and fears that fellow students and I had about the application process.

The majority of the speakers at PR Real World, did not know what they wanted to do after graduation and were not ready to jump into the real world either.  This made me feel ten times better about my approaching graduation date.  I also realized that the real world of public relations a) no two days are every alike and b) is extremely competitive.  A few speakers I found hard to talk to because they were light years ahead of me in terms of experience and appeared almost intimidating.  

Overall though I thought the experience was beneficial in terms of finding out how to take the next step and what I need to do to improve and make myself marketable to this competitive and fast-paced industry.  

*I also learned that Nine West makes more then one brown, light plaid, suit :)

The Heart of the Matter!

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America.  The month of February is American Heart Month and all month long organizations attempt spread the word about how to prevent this horrible disease.   

This semester I am doing an internship at Putnam General Hospital and last Friday I was able to assist with the women's Go Red Campaign for the Ladies of the Landing at Reynolds Plantation.  For the event we gave out promotional items with the hospital's logo on them.  One of the items was a prescription bottle that we filled with M&M's and I created a label that mimicked a prescription from 'Dr Sweet Heart.'  The labels also included a heart fact.  I also assisted the with the table decorations and door prizes.  

Dr. Lipman was the speaker at the event.  His lecture was very informative on how to prevent heart disease and stroke by changing certain aspects of your lifestyle.  Not only was I able to help put this event together, but it also was an educational opportunity in terms of learning how to eat and live a healthier lifestyle, which is something that is hard to do in a 'college lifestyle.'  

I was glad to be a part of this event because heart disease runs in my family.  My grandfather passed away from a heart attack at the age of 34 in the parking lot of the grocery store.  It is important for people to know how to change their lifestyle in terms of food and exercise to help prevent these situations from happening.  For more information on heart disease and how you can take steps to prevent it go to americanheart.org

You are what you tweet!!

Social media is the new horizon of news, and networking. It is fastly becoming the 'it' way to find out what is happening in the world. Part of me enjoys the fact that I can follow people and find out what the population thinks and says about current topics, but about 20% is still scared to commit 'too much' of myself to the social media world.

This week our assignment for PR Campaigns was the 'Twitter Challenge' where we had to tweet a total of 35 times in a week and find 25 new PR professionals or businesses to follow. After doing this challenge I can easily see why people are addicted to tweeting. Twitter is the one place where people can go and interact with others without the time delay of email or the clutterness of facebook and myspace. For those that are on the go it provides the perfect balance of news highlights and updates on friends. You could say that it is like Facebook- Lite.

Twitter is what you make of it. I think people are attracked to it because they can control what the see and hear by who they follow. It is completely personal and I would venture to say that no two twitter feeds are alike.

My twitter feed consists of classmates, pr professionals, pr agencies and organizations, news networks, sports teams and a couple of celebs.  Over the course of this challenge I have come to realize the value of of follow pr professionals and agencies.  The majority of them tweet interesting and valuable tips or articles about my field of study.  I have found that they also post job openings and internships!  

Before this challenge I would tweet whenever I remembered to or whenever the thought crossed my mind and then I would spend a hour or two seeing what I had missed since I last updated. Now that am following more people in the public relation field I am starting to understand the value of twitter in terms of networking.

Twitter is a valuable resource that has now become a part of my daily 'email check' time. I think that this challenge would have been eaiser for me if I had internet access on my phone. My days are so busy that I rarely get a chance to sit at a computer during the course of day. For my next phone I think I will consider paying the extra money to have access to the internet and to be connected with the world all the time and not just when I have a chance.

 Follow me @mariannamiller on twitter!!