PR: A Way of Life

When one door closes and an internship opens....

2010-06-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

If you asked me at the beginning of the summer what I would be doing right now I gurantee my answer would have been 'nothing'. For a long time I awaited the arrival of an internship in my life. As the school days came to close and summer approached I became more and more nervous that I would never see my diploma because I was never going to get an internship and then I could never get a real job and then I would have to live with my parents for the rest of my life!...oh the worries of a college student...

As one door closes, another opens...3 days before graduation I found out that I did not get my dream internship at MS&L (pr agency) in Atlanta. As this door shut firmly in my face, another started to peak open when the HR director contacted me about a possible internship at one of their pro bono clients, a non-profit volunteer agency in Atlanta called Hands On Atlanta. I accepted the invitation and say no more my journey began....

First I had 'mini' interview with the coordinator for the HOA account at MS&L, (not going to lie, it was really great to be back at MS&L, even the front desk man remembered my name! really great people that work there!) then after a wonderful reccomendation from MS&L, I interviewed with Hands On Atlanta. Immediately after interview I was offered the internship. Of course I graiously accepted and was literally jumping for joy at the fact that my summer now had direction to it!

Patience is a virtue my friends and good things come to those that wait....more to come on my exciting internship adventures!

10 Things that I Learned

2010-05-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

My experience at GCSU thus far has taught me me many things, and here is a list of the top ten things that I have learned and will take with me on future journey:

1) Always have a back-up plan! Something is going to go wrong it always does and even you have to make one up along the way always make sure you have a plan b!

2) It is better to be open-minded then have a closed mind and miss an opportunity. Keeping an open-mind is like having an open door, if you have a close-mind you might be missing out on a great experience.

3) Trial and error is the only way to learn Photoshop and other design programs!

4)Cupcakes are always a good choice for an event!

5) Flash drives and Gmail are the best way to transport your work!

6) GCSU would be lost and severely under promoted without our wonderful PR students!

7) Sometimes you wont always get a 'thank you' or even a pat on the back for your work, but that is okay because the true value and 'thank you' comes in experience that you gained from your work

8) Always proof read and get other people to check your work!! Two sets of eyes are better then one! Being a good clean writer will take you far!

9) Never burn a bridge! You never where life is going to lead you and who you might run into later!

10) The Mass Comm department might be small, but they are mighty!

PR for Dance!

2010-05-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was in the Dance Minor Spring Concert at GCSU. This year I not only a dancer, but also a choreographer as well! This video is a presentation of my hard work all semester that I did on top of school work and everything else that I had going on!

Thanks to all my dancers and lighting designer for your hard work as well! I have always been a patron of the arts and this video is my campaign for my dance! Dance is such an important part of who I am and I love the opportunity to share it with everyone who is interested! Enjoy!

A Change of Tide

2010-04-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Corporate responsibility defines the business ethics within the culture of a company. Each company, after setting their own agenda, has a responsibility to uphold to the public, their shareholders and the industry. Potential and current costumers, clients and consumers are influenced by a company’s corporate responsibilities and how they carry them out. Major investors are more likely to invest in a company that shows corporate responsibility. When a company does not follow through or live up to their responsibilities it can lead to penalties and the loss of respect it has with the public.

Tide, a Procter & Gamble company, has shown a corporate responsibility ethically and environmentally. One of the ways Tide works to give back to people in need is with their Loads of Hope program. Tide has worked to reduce their footprint on the world through packaging, production and by producing an energy efficient product. By finding ways to be socially and environmentally responsible, Tide has created a great presence of corporate responsibility in the business world.

Loads of Hope is a relief effort that provides victims of natural disasters with a way to have clean clothes. Tide offers two ways for victims to receive clean clothes: a) they wash and dry clothes with their Loads of Hope truck and b) by handing out free bottles of laundry detergent. One Loads of Hope truck has 32 energy-efficient washers and dryers. The truck has the capability of producing 300 loads of laundry a day, which is about the average number of loads that an American family produces in a year. Tide washes, dries and folds all of the clothes for the victims for free. To raise money to provide these efforts Tide sells vintage Tide t-shirts and special ‘yellow cap’ bottles of laundry detergent. In the last three months, Tide has also has raised a total of $410,000 for Haiti with the sales of their vintage t-shirts.

The relief program began four weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Since then Loads of Hope has teamed up with Feeding America to offer relief to a variety of locations across America. So far, Loads of Hope has supplied relief to 6 locations in America ranging all the way from Fargo, ND to New Orleans, LA. As a way to reach out further to their consumers, Tide has uploaded videos of Loads of Hope in action, which is a great way to boast the public relations and media coverage on their relief efforts. From a social media standpoint, Tide has created a ‘tidal wave’ of interest on the internet with a presence on Facebook, Twitter and consumer blogs. The word of this relief effort was spread very quickly across the several social media channels. One of the quickest and most efficient ways to boast a company’s reputation is by word of mouth, and Tide achieved just that with the Loads of Hope campaign.

Tide also has joined forces with Frigidaire who has helped to provide the energy-efficient washers and dryers for the Loads of Hope truck. Not only is this relief effort helping people, but it is also helping the environment because these energy-efficient machines use 70% less water then a regular washer. The Frigidaire washers also kill 99.9% of bacteria while washing the clothes. By offering clean clothes to victims in an energy efficient way, not only is Tide showing corporate responsibility ethically, but also environmentally.

Another way Tide has shown responsibility toward the environment is with their product. Tide Cold Water is a laundry detergent that is specially made to wash clothes in cold water, which saves both money and energy. Consumers can save money and energy because they will not have to pay for the energy that it would take to heat the water. The detergent also incorporates ingredients that are safe for the environment and Tide Cold Water is the first laundry detergent to earn the Green Good Housekeeping Seal.

Tide also is contributing to helping the environment by using 80% less water in their liquid detergent. By creating a more concentrated formula, Tide is able to use less plastic in their packaging. The environment is not the only thing that Tide is looking out for; the company has created a great line of detergents with the consumer in mind. Tide HE, combined with high efficiency washers, gives consumers more loads of laundry while using less water and detergent. Tide Pure Essentials uses baking soda and other natural ingredients for consumers that want a more natural detergent that gentle on their clothes. Tide has also come up with a detergent without using dyes and perfumes for consumers with sensitive skin.

Tide has found a way to become more then just a reliable detergent. Through the Loads of Hope program, smarter ingredients and better packaging, Tide has incorporated a strong corporate reasonability into their company culture. So far, they have won an award for taking responsibility in helping the environment, and found ways to channel wanted help for victims in needs. With strong foundations in corporate responsibility, Tide will soar to new heights in finding ways to help those in need and the environment.

Digital Bridges Open House

2010-04-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

This video is proof that our group was able to pull through a successful campaign, even though we had a rocky start!

Our PR assignment for this semester was to create a campaign for a new community technology center, Digital Bridges. My class was divided into four groups that each had a different target market for the program. Back in January my group was assigned the Access Milledgeville target market. This was a special program that focused on giving out special internet accounts for those who could not afford the internet. This seemed like a wonderful, exciting and challenging campaign because we would get the opportunity to help those in need. However our campaign slowly began to unravel as the name of the program changed, and the accounts would not be available in time for our group to market with a campaign.

After spending 3 months trying to stop our campaign from falling apart, Digital Bridges made the decision to assign us a different campaign for them. Our plan b was to plan a blue ribbon cutting ceremony for the official opening of Digital Bridges. With only three weeks out until the attentive date, the next problem came from the trouble with confirming and coordinating everything with 5 different organizations. This campaign ended up falling through because we did not have enough time to invite the right people to the ceremony and the paint on the outside of the building would not be done in time for the event.

So our group moved on to plan c. This time we created a campaign for that would bring awareness about Digital Bridges to the community. We planned, organized and executed an open house for Digital Bridges. This was a challenge because after all of our set backs with this semester we only had two weeks to plan it! The event was a display of everything that Digital Bridges has to offer to the community. Since we had a broad audience to target we used a combination of traditional, and social media as well as promotional incentives that included a Twitter contest, free food, and a free jump drive give-away to the first 100 people that filled out an entrance survey. We also had Z97 do a live remote at the event.

Our goal for this new event was to get a 100 people through the door. We met our and more with the final head count being 383! This event also generated business interest between Digital Bridges and local schools, businesses and restaurants. The traffic on Digital Bridges Facebook and Twitter page also increased due to the increased awareness.

Although our campaign started off to a rocky start with all the changes, it definitely ended with a successful, and memorable campaign!

MS&L Intern Challenge Day

2010-04-19T19:46:00.001-07:00

Last friday I had the opportunity to attend the MS&L Intern Challenge Day in Atlanta. This is an event that is put on by MS&L at their office locations in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. The application process consists of a resume, 2 writing samples, 8 short answer questions, and an essay. After reviewing the applications, ten lucky applicants are invited into one of these offices were they have a chance to compete for the top three coveted intern positions.

I was fortunate enough to make it to the top ten where my next assignment was to create a video introduction of myself. Following the video, the next step was to attend the event....and so my journey began...

When I first stepped off the elevator I was greeted by three people who already knew my name and where I was from. They immediately took my picture and then escorted me through the maze of the colorful cubicles to a back 'lounge area' that overlooked downtown Atlanta. The first portion of the morning was spend getting to know each other (including the other candidates and the employees). Each candidate was asked to bring in an 'introduction item' that would tell something interesting about themselves. I thought this was a very clever and fun way to get to know the competition. I brought in the first purse that I ever made (which was created using a deck of cards and clear mailing tape). I thought this would show something interesting about myself and show off a bit of my creativity.

After the introduction part, we were escorted to the main conference room where we watched everyone's videos and voted on the best one. Just like Donald Trump's Apprentice, there were prices for each competition, in this case MS&L gave out itunes gift cards to the winners.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the headline writing competition. We were given a brief on a new product that McDonald's is coming out with during the summer and then had about 2 minutes to write a creative headline, choose the best media outlet, and create a tweet. This was fun for me because a) it challenged me to think fast and creatively on my feet and b) we got to work a product that no one knows about it yet!

After the headline challenge we had lunch full of pizza, salad and Coke products (of course!). Lunch was another great opportunity where we got to meet more employees and ask them questions about life at MS&L. After lunch was the individual interviews where we were given a more formal one-on-one interview.

The most challenging part of the day was the group challenge. We were divided into groups and then given a two page creative brief about Porsche (I also learned how to pronounce it properly). The challenge was we were only given 45 minutes to create a PR campaign that incorporated the objectives and reached the target market given on the brief. The challenge was the time constraint that we were under because all of the groups had really good and unique ideas, but none of them where complete in terms of details.

I throughly enjoyed MS&L Intern Challenge Day and I am very honored that I got the chance to compete with other top PR students. It was a full day that was challenging yet fun. When asked if I would do it again, most definitely!

2010-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

A couple days before spring break I found out that I was selected to attend Intern Challenge Day at MS&L Worldwide in Atlanta. The first challenge was to create a video about yourself to use as your introduction. The only limits for the video were to include your name and major, and it could only be 60-90 sec long. Everything else was up to your own creativity!

Over spring break I went to Disney World and decided that this would be the perfect setting for my video! This video incorporates my creativity, and personality.

I would like to thank everyone who helped with the video and I hope you enjoy!

Keep it Classy Milledgeville

2010-03-16T18:24:00.001-07:00

It is not everyday that national breaking news hits a small town, and as a Mass Communication major I have found it to be more of a learning opportunity.

I have taken away two things from this recent 'crisis' that occurred in my college town and that is 1) reporters will do almost anything to get information and 2) the news will never be 100% unbiased.

Reporters of all media types flocked to my small college and basically went to great lengths to get information. When I say great lengths I mean they were almost pathetic looking as they bought meals for students, followed them around, called them to the point of harassment etc. Is this really how the information on the major television and newspaper news sources is found? At what point do reporters give up and move on? At what point is the story worth less then the bribe?

I do not hold the answers, but I do know as student wanting to go into a field where I will be working with reporters and news sources, this definitely has opened my eyes to the reality of of the news world and how crisis news stories are handled.

The truth is biased to the eye of the beholder (or reporter). One day after the 'crisis' our town has been painted with a bad reputation. This could have happened anywhere, yet the media has taken isolated occurrences to the extreme in terms of describing the 'true Milledgeville.' GCSU has not escaped from the media reputation storm either.

Being on the other side of the story and hearing what actually makes the cut to the public is very interesting to me. It has shown me that the media can curve any story to make it fit into the 'newsworthy' category. (Milledgeville is not just a 'party school with a Piggly Wiggly that sells beer kegs').

As a public relations student this event has taught me to edit and control the amount of information that the news media receives. Also on a side note the first thing that everyone should do when in a crisis is to remain calm, so you can think through the problem clearly. The quicker you loss your cool the easier it is to be manipulated and attract more unwanted attention.

I hope that people will take them to realize that Milledgeville and GCSU have class, history, and culture (more then what is getting credited for in the media). Also realize that what you hear and read you have to take with a grain of salt in terms of the percentage of truth that you are receiving.

As a side note through this crisis I have lost respect for a certain news media considering their glaring AP style errors (that I would have gotten counted off for as a student) and lack of research they put into their story.

Integrated Communication in the Digital Age

2010-03-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

Integrated Communications uses several methods of communication to transmit a consistent and affective message. In the digital age of media, Integrated Communications now has a new wave of media to discover and use accordingly. Clients are now faced with the challenge of fitting and molding their messages into the 24/7 spectrum of digital media.

The evolution of wireless internet is a key compound to consider in the digital age of Integrated Communications. What started out as small internet ‘hotspots’ has expanded across cities as ‘wireless internet clouds’ in epic proportion. The revolution of wireless internet has made it possible to access information anywhere on laptops, cell phones, iPods and other portable media devices. People now can access the world by the swipe of a finger in the palm of their hands. To create an effective Integrated Communications campaign in the digital age, agencies should discover and create innovative ways to harness and use this medium of information.

As a result of the 24/7 availability of information, people are now the ‘gatekeepers’ to their own information. With this in mind, it is also important to consider who people are trusting as their source of information. The average person most likely does not choose to receive his/her information from one source. Instead, they might watch it on television, read an article online and then read opinions on the topic through various blogs they follow. To have an affective Integrated Communications campaign, a client should attempt to cover a ‘solid’ amount of digital informational media. Traditional media will only cover a portion the media spectrum that is being used in today’s society. In the digital age, the public is now becoming part of the media because of their ability to contribute to the informational world. People like to know that their opinions can be heard and could possible influence others.

In order to stand out among the clutter of the digital world, clients need to stay one step ahead of the information cycle. They need to have an online presence and reputation in the digital world in order to survive. Reputations can fall in a matter of seconds in the digital age, but this can be prevented or repaired by building supporters and a strong respectful presence in the digital world.

The digital age is a 24/7 world, where seconds matter and old news is counted in minutes. The rate of information is now traveling faster then ever and people become impatient and will turn to other sources when they are forced to wait. The good news for Integrated Communications is that now there is a whole other ballpark to play in. The key to implementing a successful Integrated Communications campaign in the digital age will call for creativity, a fast informational turn-around, and the ability to reach the masses without overpowering the message. With these key skills in mind clients can succeed in conquering and harnesses the masses in the digital age.

PR and The Real World

2010-02-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

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!!

2010-02-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

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!!

PR in action!!!

2009-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

This semester I was on a team with Lyric and Andreato do PR for The Colonnade, our student newspaper at Georgia College. Lyric talks about the fundraising of for The Colonnade and Andrea discussed the behind the scenes work that goes on from creating the invitations to making the center pieces. This video is about the finish product and the work that goes on at the event. Our theme for the event was Black, White and READ all over. We were given a budget of $30 for the decoration, gifts, and dessert. We used our creativity and made the center pieces out of newspaper, with paper flowers and boats. To incorporate the black, white and red theme we asked all the guests to wear those colors to the events. For a fun activity at a low cost we decided to have a cake walk using headlines from the newspaper instead of numbers on the floor. As a team we made the cakes and decorated them with things that were relevant to The Colonnade. We had a great turn out of 50 people give or take. The event turned out to be a success and I am glad that I was able to work with these amazing girls to pull of this and everything else we did this semester!

Creating a Memory in PR

2009-11-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday my PR Admin. class created a beautiful and memorable night for the Relay For Life Kick-off. The theme for the event was 'Celebrate A Memory' which was based off of the American Cancer Society's theme for the year, 'Celebrating another Birthday.' The planning for the event was a long process that required attention to detail, meaning and creativity.

We planned this event with no budget for a 100 plus people. To create some money to work with each member of the class decided to donate 5 dollars. We were also able to get a 100 grant from The GIVE Center. Thanks to Brooke and her connections we were able to get 90% of the food donated to the event. The only portion of the food that was not donated were the cupcakes. We had planned on getting those donated by another class, but that fell through when the day of the event we only received 24 of the 100 needed cupcakes for the event. We ended up having to purchase the cupcakes last minute which ended up working out just as well. The 'cupcake crisis' was a learning experience on how communication between parties should be constant especially when donations and volunteer efforts are being made. The best way to learn how to handle a crisis is by experience.

Besides the food, the decorations were impeccable and brought the event to life. A big thanks goes to the decoration committee for painting boxes and banners, and tying a million ribbons! We decided to go with a purple, black, and white theme to honor the the colors of Relay For Life and to make a classy event. The venue looked amazing fully decorated especially with the staff (our class) dressed in purple, black and white.

The best part of the event (in my opinion) was the slide show. A special thanks goes to Keri and Andrea for putting together a very moving and touching slide show! To expand the slideshow concept to the decor we decided to put poster-sized pictures of the cancer survivors on the wall. Thanks to a donation of time and resources from my dad we were able to give the survivors these pictures so they can remember and celebrate a memory.

Through all of these donations of time, resources and money we were able to pull together this wonderful evening for cancer survivors and those involved with Relay For Life. This event was rewarding and I hope that I will get to work on another event that is just as rewarding in the future.

A Fighter for Now a Survivor in the Future

2009-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

In this world there are fighters and destroyers. There are the people that lift you up and those that bring you down. There are survivors and those who all too easily admit defeat. From the first time I met April I knew that she was not later of those groups, she is the fighter, the lifter and most important of all the survivor.

“Right now I am a cancer fighter and in the future I will be a survivor,” said April McMillan. Last January, April found what all women hope to never find, a lump on her breast. When she first discovered it a million thoughts went through her mind of what it could be. Of course cancer was on the list, but at the time she convinced herself that it was a cystic fibrosis that is caused from drinking too much caffeine. “At that time in my life I was drinking three cups of coffee a day” said April “when you are a music major you tend to drink a lot of coffee.”

Finally in July, two weeks after two of her grandparents passed away (only 38 days apart from each other) she broke down and went to the doctor. “After my grandparents died I realized that I probably needed to get myself checked out to make sure everything was okay,” said April. The lump had grown significantly since her discovery in January and the week before the doctor’s appointment it was causing her great pain.

After the doctor took one look at the lump, she immediately referred her to a surgeon. The surgeon did a series of tests, commentating that he did not like the look of it. “I think he has seen this so many times that he knew what it was right there, but still he told me to wait for the results to be positive,” said April. After waiting two long days April received her test results back from the doctor, only to find out that it was what she had been fearing all along. “In the back of my mind I knew what is was, but being in that reality and hearing the doctor say it was shocking and scary,” said April.

April was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Since her diagnosis April has undergone chemo treatment and radiation that so far has worked successful in shrinking the tumor. “The cancer had spread to little parts all over body,” said April,“I only wish that I had gone to the doctor when I first felt the lump then this could have been caught earlier.”

Since the discovery of her cancer, April has made it a point to do everything in her power to influence women, especially young women the importance of getting a monthly exam. “I do not want anyone else to go through this,” said April, “I want people to learn from my mistakes.”

April is not the only person who has fought cancer in her family. Her grandmother, Jeneane Vinson also had breast cancer and has attended Relay For Life every year since. April’s great-grandmother also had ovarian cancer. Allow there is a history of cancer in her family, April’s cancer is not hereditary.

April is a senior Music Ed major at Georgia College, she plans to graduate in May and continue her education by going for her masters at GCSU in music education. Her goal for the future is to teach music to middle school students. Having grown-up in Milledgeville she attend Georgia Military College in seventh grade where she first learned how to play the flute. “I have always enjoyed music every since I was little,” said April. Besides having played her flute for a decade, she also can play and variety of other instruments and sing. She is currently blogging about her experiences on http://aprilee2010.blogspot.com.

“Cancer is one of those things that you never know what is going to happen or how you are going to come out of it,” said April, “Sometimes I think God puts you in certain situations in life so that you can have the chance to influence others.”

In the Eye of the Reporter

2009-10-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

Reporters hold the key to communicating to the masses. PR professionals can only go so far before they have to give up the regions to the reporters and hope they decided to broadcast their event. That is why it is so important as a PR rep to keep a good relation with your media outlets and know how to catch their eye and keep their interest.

Being a PR a major at GCSU I have learned how pitch to newspapers and radios, but not so much television stations. The reason for this being the remote location of Milledgeville being stuck somewhat in between Atlanta and Macon. The closest news station that people are able to turn into is at least 30 minutes away. In other words in order to get a 'published' on a station your pitch has to be top-of-the-charts newsworthy. Because most of the events I have worked with so far have not called for news stations and reports to cover, I have had little to no experience when pitching and dealing with tv reports. Considering this type of media is one that I hope to be working with in the future I am very much interested in learning more about the 'edicate' when communicating with them.

Last week I was looking over my 'tweets' when I noticed one of the PR professionals I follow posted this article about the do's and dont's when it comes to pitching to tv reporters. The article is called How to pitch to a Busy TV reporter; she found it on Ragan's PR Daily on ragon.com. In the article a TV reporter is interviewed and asked what she does and does not take when it comes to pitches from PR reps. I thought it was interesting that the article was written from a reporters perspective.

The most usefully tips I got from the article was to make a catchy and short subject line. In life they tell you to prepare a 30-sec. elevator speech because that might be all the time you have when pitching yourself to a future employer. This concept of short and sweet carries over into public relations. Reports do not have the time to sit and read a long email or listen to a two-minute voicemail. And if you are lucky enough get whatever you are pitching a slot on the air, they only have tw0-minutes to develop and explain the story to the viewers. Keeping this in mind, it is important to remember to keep everything short, catchy and clean.

Another important point from the article is to make sure the story you are pitching is newsworthy in the first place. Somethings are just not meant to be on the news or are not that interesting to keep the attention of the viewers. It is important to keep a good relation with reporters and one way to ruin that relationship is to send them a 'dud' story.

There are many more important points in this article. I recommend reading it and taking in this valuable information. It be the difference one day in being the saved email vs the deleted one in a reporters inbox.

The Power of Relay For Life

2009-10-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Relay For Life has been around for 26 years. It spreads across small towns and big city in this nation. Although each event is united under the main theme for Relay each year, each individual event has made it their own and customized it to ‘tip’ in their area. How did they do this? And how can we as a class make our Relay For Life Kick-off ‘tip’ in a significant way?

According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, in order to create an epidemic and make something push over the ‘tipping point’ it has to contain three main components. These components are the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of the content. Our challenge as a class is to take this information from Gladwell, apply to the Relay event, and create an epidemic out of it. Not such a small task, but it can be done.

The law of few discusses how certain people need are gifted with the ability to make things work and get others interested. Gladwell separates these privileged few into three categories Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.

Connectors are those who have the ability to link others together. These people know everybody and everybody knows them; their contact and Facebook friend lists are endless and the great part is they remember everyone of their contacts and have good reputations with them. In terms of Relay, Kendall Stiles, the director of The GIVE Center, is definitely a connector. Everyone knows her and if they don’t they have at one point heard about her. On the reverse she knows everybody and has a contact list a mile long with very valuable names on it. Considering that she made The GIVE Center tip to the point of epidemic portions in Milledgeville, I think she has what it takes along with all the other connects on the committee to help us connect to the right people and make our Relay event tip.

Gladwell defines the word Maven as a Yiddish term meaning ‘one that who accumulates knowledge.’ These people are not necessarily as sociable as Connectors, but they have the ability to retain valuable, useful and interesting knowledge. They are a walking encyclopedia, almanac and guide. If you want to know the best place in town to change your tires or what company to buy stocks from you would go to Maven. In terms of Relay these are the people who can help us with knowing where to get black and white blown-up pictures and how to strategically arrange the tables to get the best flow of traffic. They will be great assets in helping us work out all the little nit-picky things that make up our event.

The final chapter in the law of the few is the Salesperson. These people have the power of persuasion on their side. We have all seen these people in action and walked out of a store wondering why we felt the sudden urge to purchase a new toaster when we already have a working one at home or sign a 2-year contact to a timeshare in Alaska when you hate snow. A salesperson has the ability to sell the product to others. We need sales people for Relay in order to convince people to come and donate money this great cause. I would like to think that I fit into this category the best. Between being a double concentration in advertising and pr, selling ads for the Colonnade and being the oldest sibling I have mastered the art of the sales pitch. I am not afraid of talking and persuading people to do things as long as I have all the facts. At the Relay event I can use my persuasiveness to convince people to make a card for cancer patients. Looking at the bigger picture I look forward to helping out with getting people to donate money and raise awareness of different cancers.

The stickiness factor is what makes the message or content that you are trying to convey stick in people head. If the message does not stick then what is the point of getting it out there? In order to create this stickiness for Relay we have to look at who we are trying to get the message out to. What makes a message stick depends on who is getting the message and if it applies to them or not. Our objective for the Relay event is get team leaders and cancer survivors to attend the kick-off and get them excited about Relay For Life in the spring. We have chosen to appeal the message to by incorporating it all through-out the event. Every inch of the kick-off from the moment they receive invitations to the lighting of the birthday candles will be about Relay and will hopefully stick with them and get them excited about fundraising. Also how we present the message to them through slideshows, symbolism, and even in the decorations we hope to touch them in such a way that the message sticks with them. In return after the message sticks they can help us spread the epidemic by sticking the message to other through word of mouth.

Cancer is a very powerful word. In this century, it is very rare to find someone that does not know someone who has been affected by cancer. The power of this particular content appeals to people because they can relate to it on some level. The power behind Relay For Life is that people can relate to one another through the common factor of the same content. By establishing a relationship through the same content we hope to unite our audience and get them to understand the importance of Relay, why we do it and why they should get involved. Relay For Life is a powerful thing and when done right we can help make a big impact on the lives of cancer patients just by presenting the content to the right people and creating an epidemic.

Relay For Life has been successful in creating an epidemic in fundraising for cancer research because they have had the right people, strong content and a method that makes their message stick. I believe that my class has a good mixture of connectors, mavens and salespeople to make this event tip and spark the epidemic of Relay For Life in Baldwin Country. I look forward to making this event happen and seeing the difference our ‘little things’ made.

Climate Change from a PR perspective

2009-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

From the moment the earth was formed it has been changing. In terms of the age of the earth it is relatively young. The world will one day end that much is inevitable, but we as the only species with the ability to think should help prolong this day. As the world grows older the temperature of the Earth slowly increases. Climate change is going to happen to the Earth naturally, however because of the way humans are choosing to live is greatly affecting and speeding up this process.

The question that should be on everyone mind is how they can help and change a little bit of their lifestyle to increase the quality of the Earth. What does this mean for a PR professional?

It means that that we should us our ability to communicate with the masses to get the word out on climate change and what people can do. On almost every website of any organization that promote 'green' living there is a press or news room link. Companies all around the world are trying to 'go green' and need pr pros to get the message out about their changes. This summer I worked with Greenway Medical as pr writer. They needed someone to write their press releases, PSAs and web material that covered their 'Going Green' campaign. It was a great opportunity and one way that I was able to contribute to raising awareness about climate change.

It is important to live eco-friendly and be environmentally conscience about how we our lifestyle affects others. Not everyone has this attitude nor is educated in what is truly going on with the Earth. It is our job as pr professionals to supply the outlets and information necessary for people to further understand about their environment and what they can do to help. Climate change is going to continue to happen, but every little bit helps. Just by participating in Blog Action Day I am already taking a step in the right direction in terms of raising awareness for climate change.

Go Team Cupcake!

2009-10-06T22:19:00.001-07:00

My PR class this semester is responsible for the planning, promoting and running the Relay For Life kick-off. This kick-off happens in the fall and is the beginning of the fundraising for the big event in the spring. I am a huge supporter of the American Cancer Society and was extremely excited when I found out that we would be putting together one of their main events!

Our class broke up into 5 groups of 3 (through the method of PR fantasy football) and came up with five different pitches to present to the RFL committee. The ACS overall theme for this year was 'celebrate another birthday'. Each group did a spin off of the theme and created a slogan, logo, invitation, menu, decorations, and budget that was presented to the committee in a packet.

My group (aka team cupcake) came up with a creative idea to have a fun and simple birthday celebration. Our slogan was 'Pin the Cure on Cancer' using the logo as a birthday button. Everything that we came up with was personal, simple, and completely incorporated what Relay For Life is all about. We designed a special lighting ceremony using cupcakes and birthday candles. For decorations we used 26 3-foot birthday candle replicas to represent the 26 years RFL has been around. We also came up with a 'hassle free' menu option and created a birthday card making station where guests could make bday cards for cancer patients. I thought our group did a wonderful job thinking, organizing and presenting the pitch.

In the end the committee ended up picking a little bit from every group because they liked all the ideas. I felt honored that after combining all of the groups, the majority of our ideas will be used in the actually kick-off dinner.

In terms of PR I thought this was a good learning experience of how to put together a pitch a present to a client. In real life I do not think a client would pick 5 companies to merge together to do an event, but I do believe that it is also a good learning experience on how to fit together different puzzle pieces in order to get the puzzle that the client wants.

I am very excited to see the end result and to frost over 100 cupcakes!!

Communication Breakdown

2009-09-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

Why are some people afraid to communicate face to face? Why are some people more comfortable texting or emailing someone? Why are we more and more finding out what our friends are doing because of their statuses on Facebook and Twitter?

Communication breakdown is not just about the lack of communication, but also about the lack in face to face or vocal communication between people. No I am not trying just to get the Led Zeppelin song in your head, I also am trying to prove a point that the majority of society has a problem communicating in person, and it is only getting worse with the increase in technology. As PR professionals it is our jobs to make sure the lines of communication are not cut and if they are then we must find out where it was cut and fix it.

I came to this realization last weekend when my apartment turned from civil to complete shambles in a matter of minutes because of the lack of communication between my roommates. Basically roommate 1 was mad at roommate 2 for 'excluding her' or not communicating how and when she was going to this party. And roommate 2 was mad at roommate 1 because she said texted her. This lack of communication has been going on for months now between these two and the tension has been building along with driving a wedge between their friendship. I was stuck in the middle with roommate 3. We heard both sides of their arguments for months now, but neither one wanted to confront and communicate to the other face to face. Finally roommate 3 had had enough and bringing them in the same room sat them down and told them they could not leave until this was fixed.

Now this sounds a bit elementary, but it had come down to just that because of the lack of face to face communication. If roommate 1 and 2 had talked to each other from the beginning the problem would not have snow balled into something bigger. Because both parties had only survived on texting each for so long, instead of talking face to face, they grew comfortable there and became almost afraid to talk to the other one in person. Why have some people worked themselves to a 'comfort zone' of communication via texting or messaging?

Think about how many times you call and talk to someone vs. texting, messaging , or emailing them. The majority of people I think would prefer to text someone all day long, rather then call them and talk to them for an hour or two. I am just as guilty as the next person, but where exactly should we draw the line and break through the breakdown? How many of my fellow classmates would rather email their assigned food vendors then go and talk to them in person? This summer I shadowed a PR rep from a local hospital and she told me how she is an 'email kind of girl.' Meaning that she would rather email someone then talk on the phone them and if she did have to talk on the phone she would dread it. I was shocked to discover that communicates for a living hated talking to someone on the phone. I think this problem of face to face or even vocal communication is becoming a problem with the younger generation.

No it is not completely a bad thing to have new technology that keeps the lag time between communication almost non existence. Next time you go to text or message some think about the last time you heard their voice, in person or on the phone. Communication breakdown has a very simple solution, its communication, good communication, and sometimes that requires using your voice not your fingers.

The Future of PR: Changes in Media Relations

2009-09-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

The increase and improvement of technology over the last two decades has created an 'instant messaging' society. A society where patience is now considered a rare and valuable virtue. The waiting time for information is decreasing as technology improves. While this is a wonderful thing, it creates a problem or more like a challenge for those involved with media. For public relations it means thinking creativity, keeping up with the latest media trends and identifying the merging lines of social networking and news media sources.

In the recent article The Future of the Media Relations: Expect the Unexpected, Pr News interviewed three professionals about their thoughts on where public relations is headed toward in the not so distant future.

Steve Cody, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, predicts that companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and IBM will be in direct competition with major media networks like USA today, CBS, and Fox. In the future people will turn to these major companies as their source of news instead of the networks.

Ronn Torossian, Founder and CEO, talks about how public relations agencies will have the power to shape the future of communications in social media. This would amazing if we had the ability to hold the strings of the social media in the future.

Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President/Director of Insight , explains how the line between media communications and social communications is slowly disappearing and morphing into one. Rublel suggests that PR professionals should rethink how they measure the media. I think it will be interesting to see in the future how will measure decide what is considered valuable media to the public.

It is hard to think of where the future of media will go. It is an important issue, especially for pr students to stay on top of, considering this will be the meat of our jobs. I believe that this is a very critical and essential issue that will always be around, but that we as ‘the communicators of the world’ should always be on the front line if not one step ahead of the change. One of the most important part of our jobs is media relations. How can we relate with the media if we stay in the dark about the changes in media? We can not predict the future, but we can prepare for it.

My Melting Pot of Public Relation Attributes

2009-09-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school I competed in 'Emerging Business Issues' at the F.B.L.A (Future Business Leaders of America) State Convention. My topic was to argue the affirmative side on the growing problem of the depleting social security funds and how my generation would probably not see a penny by the time we would draw from it. The problem was I was given a panel of judges who in 5-10 years would start drawing from the pot. How could I pitch my argument to the judges who saw the problem in a completely different spectrum then I did? Somehow I managed to convince them of my ideas and walked away with the 4th place trophy, but it was afterwards in the brutal interview session when I realized the power that was in my communications skills. The judges asked me what I would be my major in college and I told them I had no idea. One of the judges looked up and said, "might I suggest sales?" I asked, "Why sales?"and he answered, "because you just completely sold me on your ideas and you argument, you have amazing communication and speaking skills, use them wisely and you will go far."

Communications skills are essential in the mass comm world. Good communication skills will get you far and great communications skills are like having a gold mine. I always knew I had great communication skills because I was the one in class that was excited to give a speech in while my classmates cringed.

As I learn more about public relations I realize that having great communications skills will only get you so far. There are other attributes that are just as important if not more important to being a well-rounded PR rep. I like to think of the skills talked about in Dave Fleet's article as a melting pot of traditional and new skills that only gets better with time and the addition of new skills that you master and add to your pot.

I do not believe that I have mastered any particular skill completely or ever will because there is always room for improvement. However there are skills that I am stronger at then others. My strong skills that I bring to the table and place as the foundation in my melting pot are: communications, writing, proactiveness, work ethic,and social networking. I am not afraid to communicate with people whether it be with 2 million or 2. I consider myself a good and creative writer; I try and put an interesting spin in my writing so that it is eye catching and people will enjoy and want to read it. I am very proactive about getting projects and deadlines met in a timely fashion. I live, eat, breathe, and sleep by my planner as does every other public relations student. When I am working on something, especially for a client, I like to make sure that it is done to the best of my abilities and that I have something to turn in that I can stand behind and be proud of. Sometimes that might mean that I have to stay late, and sacrifice my time, but I would rather do that then present something that was half-heartedly done. Social networking is something that I feel every college student has down, but at the same time being a public relations student I feel like I have a slight edge in that skill over the majority.

There are skills that I would consider mediocre and would like to expand my knowledge on before I spread my wings into the real world. These skills I could add to my melting pot, but are not quite seasoned yet: media relations, attention to detail, blogging, microblogging, blogging relations, and social media ethics. Last spring was the first time I was introduced to media relations and I feel like I know more now, but I still feel a bit like an amateur when dealing with the media. Attention to detail is one of those hot and cold skills for me. Sometimes I am at the top of my game and can pick out all the details that others passed over and other times I am in shock at how I let a detail slip through like that. As far as blogs, microblogging, and blogging relations goes I am definitely still in the baby-step-stage. However I feel like this skill is something that is 'user-friendly' and can be acquired through trial and error. Social media ethics is a personal skills that I have not really tested and would like more guidance on because I feel that there are no set rules, but more guidelines when it comes to ethics.

Coding, RSS, and SEO are attributes that I would definitely not stick into my pot, but I would like to learn more about so I could one day use them in my future career.

There are only two more skills or attributes that I would add to my melting pot: creativity and flexibility. I am a very creative person it is one attribute that I am very strong in and believe that it might not be essential to PR, but it definitely gives me an edge. Flexibility is one those attributes that is so important to PR because nine times out of ten something does not go according to plan and you have to have the ability to think on your feet and work with what you are given to move over the obstacle.

All these skills whether I am strong or need to expand on make up my melting pot of PR attributes. I feel like my pot has a good solid base of skills , but there is definitely room in there for additions and improvements.

How I FINALLY decided on PR

2009-08-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

The majority of college students enroll in a school with an idea of what they want to do for the rest of their lives. They might change their mind once or twice, but basically they have a rough draft of what they want their future to be. They probably decided based on an experience, or the influence of someone important in their life. Not me.

When I first came to college I had absolutely no idea as to what major I wanted nor what future career would suit me best. I came to GCSU as 'undeclared'. My parents, friends, and every professor I ran into had an opinion on what major I should declare. I jumped back and forth between the ideas of different majors, but nothing really caught my eye.

When I was a sophomore I sat down and calculated the exact time and day (and I mean exact) when I would have to declare a major because if I did not do it by that date I would have no classes left to take. The magically date of decision was 5 a.m. on an October morning, when registration opened for Spring 2008. With two weeks left until the 'big' decision', I was running out of options for advisement so I turned to the counseling center. There I took every test known to mankind that could interpret your personality and what jobs would fit you best. After a week of testing I meet Jennifer Stole, a simple counselor with a big heart. If I had to pick the one person who influenced me to go into public relation it would probably be her. The reason being that she was an objective third party to my situation and read me perfectly.

I will never forget the moment I finally decided to join the world of mass comm. Based on the results of my scores and my gut feeling I had narrowed my choice down to two options: physical therapy or public relations (total opposite sides of the spectrum). I really wanted to be a physical therapist because I have always had a passion to help other people in need, but I have an insane and abnormal fear of hospitals and blood. Also my dad is a doctor and I wanted to carry on his work with helping children in need of care. I believed that physical therapy was a great option because a) I would still be able to help people, but without a huge amount of sickness and blood and b) I could incorporate my passion for dancing into my job by treating injured dancers. I really had my heart set on becoming a physical therapist and was about to walk out of Jennifer's office and declare myself as an exercise science major when Jennifer mentioned something that changed my future. She said that I obviously had a passion to help people, but she said that when I talked about becoming a public relations professional my eyes lit up and my smile was more defined then when I talked about becoming a physical therapist. I sat and questioned this new outcome. I had never thought of public relations before and barely knew anything more then what the generic definition of the job read. However it did sound like it would fit me well and it looked like fun.

I know this story sounds crazy but it is completely true. My decision was not based solely on the way I smiled when I talked about public relations; a lot of research and time went into making my final decision including shadowing the PR rep of GCSU. The most important part was that it felt right, I saw myself more as a communicator and a planner, then someone who had a wealth of medical knowledge. Also I am a very creative person and like to be in environments that challenge and allow me to use the creative side of my brain. As an added bonus, with public relations I can go into pretty much any field and therefore can also satisfy my need to help people in need by choosing a field that allows me do that.

I knew I was in the right major when all of my friends and family kept saying how perfect PR fit my personality, that it was the perfect job for me and that they could picture me doing it. The most important part of this story is that I was finally happy to decide on a major after 19 years of indecisiveness. Sometimes the idea of going to PT school will pop into my head, but I know for a fact that I made the right decision!

2009-08-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

I did it! I have officially made my first blog. This is new and uncharted waters for me, but hopefully this semester I will be able to bring my knowledge and skills of public relations to a whole new level through this blog!