On Friday Feb. 19, the Georgia Chapter of PRSA hosted Real World PR for members of PRSSA at the Loudermilk Center in Atlanta. It was a day for PRSSA members to gain insight from professinals who already are working in our fields of interest.
It started out an early morning departing from the Milledgeville Starbucks at 5:30 a.m. and driving two hours. We arrived to breakfast and an opening session which was a general overview of what the day would entail. They gave us a few key points for meeting professionals. First, always smile. Second, have a great elevator speech that includes who you are and things you do. Third, take notes on the back of the business cards so you will not forget what you two talked about. Fourth, network with your peers. There were students from all over the southeast there and it was a great opportunity to learn more about what they are doing in their classes and with their internships.
We later had our first session and the one I attended was entitled, "Agency or Corporate". Agency was described as a 24/7 job where the employee can always contact you. You have weekly meetings with your account team but other than that you are working on your own client. Corporations is more about how important PR is to your business to ensure good communication. Both are very fast pace, entail a variety of things, require working with perfection and can be unpredictable. Some other valuable information they shared was you need to stay at a business for at least three years. If not you will seem uncommitted. They said quality writing was very important and also be a good reader. Learn how to write short sweet sentences. I learned about becoming APR certified and how important it is. "PR is a management function, not a marketing function." I do not believe I am cut out to work in an agency. Everything is too cut throat and fast pace for me and I like to focus on one thing and perfect it rather than jump from client to client.
The second seminar I attended was "Focus on Healthcare, Nonprofit and Government". I learned that will all three of these you are presented with a lack of resources. You use what you have. You do however have a lot of ownership in how you want to take the PR. It is important to be a sponge and soak up all the information you can because you may not be familiar with the section of work you do and need to be familiar with the terminology. It is important to make friends with reporters so they will go to you for information. I like the pace of the Nonprofit because it is for a good cause so it is not as cut throat as some of the other sectors.
After this session we ate lunch and listened to Sean Cassidy speak on the evolution of entertainment and celebrity PR from publicity to brand building.
After lunch we had resume critiques and sat at a round table with a professional about what a good resume should look like. Unfortunately our table leader was not very helpful but I did get a girl's awesome resume who was at my table and I will play off of hers for ideas.
Over all I had a great experience at Real World PR 2010 and learned a lot of valuable information. Public Relations is such an exciting field to work in and I am excited to be apart of it and see where my future will take me! #RW2010
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