Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving....
hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did...
Now it's time to work on my GM Newsletter for JRN 450...awesome.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I do not feel as though PRSSA national conference notes are top priority right now, it's getting dull. I am so hyped for Thanksgiving, only a few more hours and I'll be home with the family and cousins for our traditional Thanksgiving Eve, consisting of Home Alone, pizza & just hanging out. It's funny how as I get older I still look forward to the same things around the holidays.

"Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day." -Robert Caspar Linter

"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day." -Irv Kupcinet

Only a few more hours of work & then I can take a couple days off.
Still working on my GM newsletter. I definitely thought of a great idea last night.

Update after Thanks!

Friday, November 21, 2008

More PRSSA National Conference notes:

Session: Politics of Persuasion
Speakers: Georgella Muirhead, APR, and Bob Berg, Partners, Berg, Muirhead & Associates

I decided to attend this session because I am currently reading the book, The Political Brain, by Drew Westen. I found this session to be a great insight to recent political campaigns.

Candidates influence votes

Steps:
-Setting the stage
-Campaign messaging
-Campaign timing

Name recognition plays a large role in catching attention & votes (but not always).
example: Gil Hill, ran against Kwame Kilpatrick, starred in two Beverly Hills Cop movies and was a former homicide commander.

Setting up a campaign: examples given were from Kwame Kilpatrick's campaign...funny timing, considering during this conference he was sent to jail for 150 days.
anyways,

Kilpatrick Campaign Kick-off:

Kwame announced that he was running for mayor on the porch of his mother's house, the house he grew up in (Detroit, Mich).
This was a great success, considering his mother was a congresswoman. His announcement was heard on the radio, and was broadcast live on television.

Where did John McCain and Barack Obama announce that they were running for presidency?

John McCain = The David Letterman Show
Barack Obama = in front of the Illinois State Capital Building in front of thousands of people

Obama chose his route because at the time he did not have a lot of media coverage and did not have much money to campaign.

Each political candidate has a slogan.
Mayor Kilpatrick's was "Our future. Right here. Right now.
This slogan was chosen simply because it was time for a new leader and his opponent, Gil Hill, was 70 years old.
The facts of this campaign seemed relevant to the presidential campaigns.
Kilpatrick was young, Hill was older. Much like Obama vs. McCain.

Kilpatrick had an earring in one of his ears & there was great controversy about that such as giving the wrong messages of
  • too young
  • too immature
  • not ready to lead
Therefore, he removed the earring.

A great breaking point for Kilpatricks was his 24-hour campaign which consisted of traveling around town visiting local businesses such as the post office, the hospital during shift changes, and local ma and pa restaurants. The media loved this.

As I have read in, The Political Brain, and heard during this session, it is important for the candidate to emotionally appeal to voters. This 24-hour campaign done by Kilpatrick definitely did that, along with where he announced his running.

Also, when Kilpatrick was up to be re-elected his earring came out again.

Political campaigns have numerous twists and tons and tons of details. The Political Brain has given me great insight on political campaigns and the emotional role in politics. I'll have to write more about this book when I'm finished reading.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

working on creating blogs in class...so I'll just sit here and update mine...

MORE conference notes:

These are some wise words from the wise man, Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of Global Products, General Motors;
"Humor is an affective method through tough times."
"Communication is about making connections."

A message MUST BE:
Received
Heard
&
Understood

"All automobile companies are similar in buying, manufacturing, design in safety, and gas efficiency." (comparing Ford, GM, & Chrysler)
-this sparked my mind to think about what really sells...PR is a major part.

"You can be the best in the world but if your message is not compelling and you don't make your message connect than you have failed."

"Saying nothing is the same as saying the wrong thing & vise-versa. "

BE HONEST. Lack of honesty comes back to haunt you.

Lutz even mentioned the importance of AP Style; some examples he gave:
roll or role model
sneak peak or sneak peak

"Communications has value that paid advertising does not."

During this session I came up with the name of my blog.  In fact I have it written in my notes in front of me..."Public Relations is a fashion of words." Lutz must have said something to spark my creative mind.

"Communications should view the media as an opportunity not an obstacle."

-build normal relationships
-treat everyone equal, don't be arrogant 

"Communicators must evolve with communication."

-we must try new things

His comments on blogs

"when [negative remarks] come out you can drive it [away] with confidence."
"I'm very comfortable arguing back" - regarding untruthful comments towards GM

Lutz gave great insight and threw in some humor to keep everyone's attention.  I would love to hear him again.  He is defiantly an outstanding PR junkie; I would love to work for him.

Near the end of his speech, he sarcastically said to all PRSSA and PRSA attendees
"Thank-you for putting on this conference during this difficult time at GM."

Pretty sad, but true & most importantly hilarious.

even more notes later...it's a long process.

Monday, November 17, 2008

More of my National Conference notes; enjoy.

Top 10 PR Staff Must-Haves
10. ambitious, self-starter
9. master juggler with attention to details
8. high integrity & ethical
7. relationship-builder & good listener
6. deadline maker (do not disappoint people)
5. knowledge seeker- don't scan...READ
4. tech-savvy
3. responsible, accountable
2. great attitude, team player
1. AWESOME WRITER!

strategy documents- help organize and keep you on track, keeps everyone informed of details as the program/campaigns develop.

support communities in which you do business, there is a philosophy of giving back, follow it.

Q. How do I develop a strategy document?
A. First consider what you need to know and what leadership needs to know and then look to see what the extended team need to know.

Content that goes into a strategy document: overview, key messages, event schedule, media plan, story angles, internal communication, identified open issues, roles & responsibilities, contacts, budget, & of course list the lessons learned.
who what when where & how

Have a commitment to knowledge and networking!

STAY IN LOVE WITH WHAT YOU DO!

We are the future.
Healthy competition is good for the soul.

As you can see, I took a lot of notes, the conference was amazing...finish this tomorrow when I'm not so overwhelmed with homework.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

These are some of my National Conference Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) notes. It was an outstanding conference in Detroit, MI, held at the General Motors Ren Center. These notes pertain to numerous careers and speakers that were not all just PR majors. Speakers gave insights to Broadcasting, Journalism, Communications, Business and Advertising careers. Numerous types of PR such as automotive and healthcare were represented. Notes are boring to read, I know, especially with being a student but take a look, you'll benefit; even one sentence may give you something you would have never gotten before. I'm not doing paragraph form; that's overwhelming & time consuming. Just one thought at a time.

Establish relationships with clients, journalists, and anyone that is part of the media...also no burning of bridges.

Bring an extra outfit to keep in the office, fashion is key, and accidents happen.

Remember faces and names...make up a rhyme if you have to.

Research clients before first meeting

Back up files; FLASHDRIVE SEPERATE FROM COMPUTER

"The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say 'no'-they many not be smart enough to say 'yes'."
-Keith Olbermann, Broadcast Journalist and host of MSNBC.

Write and send thank-you letters, even to declined clients...they may need you one day, again, DO NOT burn bridges.

Network, network, network!

GET INVOLVED with your local community and university.

Be ethical.

The economy right now is bad...calm your anxiety because things will get better.

As part of the millennial group...I know that this is true, we "are more advanced than many college professors."

We are vehicles for change.

"Please call your parents and let them know that you have resolved to be more frugal."
Ofield Dukes, APR, Fellow PRSA, President, Ofield Dukes & Associates

You are the captain of your soul.

Don't be afraid to take an internship out of college...it turns into a job, it works.

If all technology crashed, a paper & pencil & telephone still work. When it comes down to it that's all you need to get the story accomplished...traditional ways still work!

Social Media Expert- a person who monitors, creates, and becomes involved with the most modern forms of communication (facebook, twitter, bloggers, YouTube, etc.)

40% of General Motors communication people have internal communications assignments.
Q. What are Internal Communications?
A. People that work in PR not only have a relationship with the media but also have relationships with everyone within the company.
Example: Chrysler has a website for workers and retirees only. To keep everyone updated with the company and also when crisis' approach.

The tone you set internally most likely will become external (leak out to the public). It's going to leak somehow, somewhere so handle it right, right from the beginning.

"We love research in the automobile industry." -GM spokesperson

"A lot of what we do is internal." -Rose Glenn, APR, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Public Relations, Henry Ford Health System

Details, details and more details...everything counts, everything important.

FALSE MYTHS:
  • bury negative news
  • advertisements work best when influencing public opinion
  • when competitors launch an adversarial campaign, strike back longer & harder
  • the CEO should always be the spokesperson for major news

More notes later.
I should be resting.
I'm still getting used to this whole blog thing. I should be posting more often than I do, I know.
Later today I'll post my National Conference notes, I promise.
Until then; this quote is fantastic...

"Unlike posessions, our experiences get better with time. 'We redefine and reconstrue them as we retell them, and they continue to be a part of who we are.'" -Van Boven
the research appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

I got this from an article I just read for one of my classes, Psychology of Advertising. It's an insight to 'money buying happiness'.
very intresting, check it out
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20040105-000027.html

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Why is it that i've done homework all weekend, but still Sunday night I feel like I'm cramming to get everything done?

I have a new outlook on group projects.
I have done intense group projects since my freshman year and as the classes get harder and the projects keep on coming the groups get lazier and lazier. WHY!?
I am so sick of group projects and pulling more than my own weight. I understand the importance of group work & why professors stress the expierence but honestly when it comes to the real world of work I do not know what kind of company in their right mind would ever hire such lazy, irresponsible people.
I wish I could somehow make known to professionals my responsibility and extra work that goes into group assignments.

Thanksgiving can't come soon enough.
I miss my family.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Okay, so I have a ton of homework to get done in the next few hours, yuck, and also need to write my article about National Conference for the PRSSA fall newsletter, exciting. I also need to take time to post some of my notes from the conference because they are fantastic. Always so much to do, but somehow I do it. This weekend was a blast; why is it that you never get too old for Halloween? Time to hit the books!