Benefits include:

• Gaining real-world experience
• Boosting your resume
• Leadership opportunities on the executive board
• Networking with industry professional
• Having fun and making friends!

Ellie Barlow, Caitlin Ursini and Carly Garber outside of Zocalo

Carly, Caitlin and I had the opportunity to tour Leo Burnett and Zocalo Group in Chicago on December 2^nd with a group of 20 IU journalism students hosted by Professor Craig Wood and Marcia Debnam. Caitlin and I began our morning with breakfast in Lincoln Park and then made our way to meet the rest of the group at Leo Burnett. We began our tour at Leo Burnett with a presentation about the agency’s background. Each student was given Leo Burnett notepads as well as the signature Leo Burnett eraser-less pencil; Leo Burnett believed no idea should ever be erased or forgotten. We also learned about the internship program the agency offers and the ins and outs of the account coordinator position through a Q & A session with six Indiana University graduates.

After the Q & A panel was over, we were given a tour of the different floors within the Leo Burnett office. We were able to see where the creative team works their magic. It was exciting to see all of the different accounts Leo Burnett is in charge of (Special K was my favorite!). Following our tour and Q & A session at Leo Burnett we headed to lunch at Wildberry Cafe. This provided a more informal setting to get to know the IU graduates and their background. Caitlin, Carly and I chatted with Priya Vaswani, a recent graduate who now works at Edelman Public Relations.

Around 2 pm we arrived at our final stop of the day, Zocalo Group. Zocalo is a relatively new and fast growing word of mouth and social media marketing agency. We were able to hear from five employees, two of which were IU graduates. Zocalo focuses on growing word of mouth marketing for their clients through research and blogger outreach. David Spreckman, a recent IU grad, told us about an event in which he reached out to “daddy bloggers” to increase promotion for an event with male razors.

The trip, although quick, was eventful and exciting. I enjoyed meeting IU alumnus who enjoy their professional lives and were interested in giving our group valuable advice.

Ellie Barlow

Vice President

@CourtneyStiehl Courtney StiehlMust add results to portfolio! Photos of events, followers from social media, etc. Thanks for the advice @BruceHetrick & @iuPRSSA #portfolio

@kbbacher Kaleigh Bacher”Real work with real results count more than classroom projects and grades.” @BruceHetrick #interships #portfolios @iuPRSSA #PRSSA
 
            Finally, if you needs some tips on making an online portfolio, check out our Prezi from the workshop: http://prezi.com/f9toqpzlw_9a/prssa-online-portfolio/

Sarah Thacker

Director of Alumni Relations

Courtney Stiehl (in the middle) at Borshoff with her Half Day With A Pro group.

I spent my half day with a pro at Borshoff, a strategic, creative PR agency in downtown Indy. I was instantly met with friendliness from PRSSA members from other chapters, and Borshoff had coffee and donuts waiting in the conference room. My host, Kassie Mills, arranged professionals from different facets of the agency to speak with us for insight on how the team works together. Experts in community relations, account management and event planning explained how they create integrated campaigns. What surprised me was how heavily the agency relied on innovative graphic design, and the creative work was the best I’ve seen. The pros said they back their strategies with effective logos, pamphlets and websites to reinforce a cohesive message and enhance their clients’ brands. Every aspect of Borshoff fit together, and the values-driven agency is itself a memorable brand. Mills finished the half day giving us practical advice on how to get hired, reinforcing what I’ve learned about the importance of experience, strong portfolios and interviewing skills. I attended the luncheon afterwards to continue my break from the norm and inside the world of PR professionals. I’m fortunate for both the experience and opportunity to network with the talented PR pros. It was an attractive glimpse into agency life.

By Courtney Stiehl

• Research. Make sure you are familiar with the company’s mission statement, previous work and how they function as an organization. This will show the employer you are interested in the company and have spent ample time preparing.
• Prepare stories for every accomplishment on your resume. Telling stories about your past accomplishments is a more engaging way to connect with the person interviewing you.
• Keep eye contact. Maintaining strong eye contact throughout the interview shows your interviewer that you are interested in what they are saying. Looking away will make you appear disinterested in them as well as the open position.
• Be yourself. No need to present yourself as something you are not. The employer is interested in getting to know your past accomplishments as well as your personality.
• Turn a negative into a positive. A common question is: “What is your biggest flaw or your biggest failure?” Prepare in advance an answer possibly detailing a failure in your life and how you we are able to learn from it and better yourself.
• Ask questions: An interviewer will most likely always ask at the end of the interview if you have any questions for them, at this point you should always take the opportunity to learn more about the organization.
• Send a handwritten letter that same day. Remind the employer of what you spoke about and thank them for their time. This will help them remember you. A handwritten letter will always get you farther than a typed one.

Sarah Melton, IU alum and Director of Communications for the Dallas Mavericks, spoke about her experiences in the sports public relations field and gave advice to about 90 students during a meeting of The Beth Woods Chapter of PRSSA on November 2, 2011.

Melton encouraged students to use all their resources and take any opportunities they could find.

Melton said she turned her passion for sports into an opportunity. She said her love for IU basketball was one of the reasons she attended the university.

“I knew everything there was about basketball, and I had no idea what to do with it,” she said.

Then, she met Kit Klingelhoffer, then with the IU Athletics communications office, who inspired her and showed her what she could do with her knowledge about sports.

“It’s so important to build good relationships with people like that, who can open up opportunities for you,” she said.

Melton told students that having experiences plays a big role when deciding whom to hire in the sports industry. Everyone wants to work in sports, but it’s not that easy.

“There’s so much competition in sports. And the thing is, GPA doesn’t matter as much as any experiences you have,” she said. “When I look for interns, I want to see some sports internships in their resumes.”

She told students to take advantage of the countless opportunities IU has.

“There’s so much here you can experience, so do it. Do it while you can,” she said.

Michael Conley

Director of Communications

://storify.com/kbbacher/melton-of-mavs-meets-with-beth-wood-chapter

Weber suggested that members be aware of what social media tools and platforms are out there for them to use. Also, he emphasized the importance of being a good writer and more importantly, being a good creator of online content.

Online we are seeing less text because text is being replaced with visual content, which is why it’s so important to have a base understanding of creating video content.

The key to blogging is incorporating engaging content. This can be done easily with these three tips:

• Video—keep it short and to the point. Write out a script; do NOT ad lib.
• Know your audience—People like stats, facts, etc. SurveyMonkey is free so why not create a survey to get the answers to the questions you and your readers have?
• Promote your media—get it out to other people! Have guest bloggers who have a big following and let people know about your new post via facebook and twitter.

Weber recommends these writers for aspiring bloggers to follow: Paul Gillin, TechCrunch, Jeff Jarvis and Mary Meeker.

Kaleigh Bacher

Director of Membership

To be honest, before going to the Conference this past weekend, I was skeptical of it all. I have been a member of PRSSA since I was a freshman and am now the Co-Director of Programming on the Executive Board, but I cannot say I truly felt well connected to the Society prior to this weekend, especially on the national level. I knew our Chapter had won two free registrations to the conference and I thought, why not? So on Friday, I found myself among more than 1,000 students from across the country who made their way to Orlando just for this experience.

Michael Conley, the Director of Communications for our Chapter, and myself were the two representatives from IU, beside Amy Bishop, FORUM Editor in Chief for the National PRSSA Committee.  The first sessions we attended pertained to chapter development. I really got a feel for how different school’s Chapters were actively learning and practicing public relations on campus.  Other schools take agency trips to network and learn about the different types of public relations practices.  As a director of programming, this had me generate tons of ideas for our Chapter to further involve our members with engaging activities.

The next two days felt somewhat like a blur of hearing from high profile public relations professionals, networking, and meeting tons of students. We got to hear Rick Leventhal of Fox News speak; Soledad O’Brien of CNN talk about her experience as a reporter and storytelling; Craig Dezern, vice president of global public relations for Disney Destinations speak about international public relations. Past members of PRSSA who are now professionals were so helpful in teaching us about the industry and how we can get our foot in the door. Professionals from some of the top agencies, including Edelman, Hunter PR, and Ogilvy, were all there to share their experiences and offer advice.  Everything from corporate, fashion, agency, tourism and travel, sports, to entertainment PR were all well represented and there to answer your questions.

Yet somehow between our long days of sessions, we managed to meet tons of amazing students, dance at a Masquerade Ball, and visit Downtown Disney to pick up a pair of Mickey Ears. Perhaps my favorite part was late nights, lounging around the pool after hours, awaiting security to kick us all out.

Overall, the PRSSA National Conference has been the most beneficial experience as a public relations student thus far. Between the contacts I made for possible internships and maybe even jobs, the driven students I met, and the dynamic speakers, I have a new found appreciation for our Society. We may be small in numbers compared to other Chapters, but we are just as important and pivotal to the make up of this organization that exists solely to help public relations students learn about their desired profession.  I urge members to take advantage of the opportunities PRSSA offers and become involved with our Chapter because it is knowledge you cannot possibly gain in a classroom.

Carly Garber

Co-Director of Programming