I recently had the amazing opportunity of attending the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) National Conference in San Diego, CA. The conference was a great place for students to connect with other students and professionals in the industry, as well as to get a better feel for where public relations is at and where it is going. There were many workshops that I attended, but I am going to focus on two of my personal favorites from the event.

The first workshop, "A View From the Top: How to stand out as a young professional" was lead by Ron Culp and Kevin Saghy from Ketchum PR. This was a very valuable presentation because it gave both an upper and lower management view of young professionals coming into the field of public relations. They posed four main questions and then gave the responses they received from both upper and lower management, across many different agencies and corporations.

The four questions they asked were:
1. How can young talent stand out in your organization?
2. What example comes to mind of a young professional who advanced quickly in your organization, and why have they done so well?
3. How can/have employees hurt themselves by trying to raise their profile?
4. If you could anonymously say one sentence to your junior staff, what would it be?

There were many responses and quotes given for each question, so I will briefly go over the most common and relevant responses.

1. How can young talent stand out in your organization?

Senior Management - They show initiative, and they are a team player.

Junior Staff - They go the extra mile, and they show a positive attitude.

2. What example comes to mind of a young professional who advanced quickly in your organization, and why have they done so well?

Senior Management - They know the business, they show quality work, engage us with intelligent ideas, and they go the extra mile.

Junior Staff - Quality work, they present smart ideas, they work hard and they are willing to explore new learning opportunities.

3. How can/have employees hurt themselves by trying to raise their profile?

Senior Management - They should not seek credit all of the time, or follow own agenda instead of the agenda of the team.

Junior Staff - Don't throw co-workers under the bus, and don't skip the tactical work. The ones who succeed are the ones who do not have a sense of entitlement.

4. If you could anonymously say one sentence to your junior staff, what would it be?

Senior Management - What are you doing to prepare yourself for the next level? There is not a bad idea in a brainstorming session.

Junior Staff - Become known for your willingness to take on the most challenging, difficult assignments no matter how big or boring. Be the 3 C's: current, curious, and creative!

I feel they addressed a lot of the prominent questions a young professional has when going from college into the professional world. I also had the opportunity to stay after the seminar with a few other students to hang out and talk with Kevin and Ron for about 40 minutes. This was where the real insights came out, and allowed for some great one on one discussion about how the industry is evolving and where they feel it is going from here.

The other event I am going to talk about was the speech given at the PRSA National Conference by Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)Arianna was a great speaker, and had some great insights on the industry. The most important piece of information she shared I felt was how drama is a necessary component in the news and in public relations. This is the driving force behind passion, and getting people to care about what you have to say.



Arianna Huffington speaking at the PRSA National Conference in San Diego, CA


Overall, I would say this was an amazing conference where I had the opportunity to meet a number of students and professionals in the field and get some great insight on how Public Relations is changing. Since the day I started at Drake Cooper, I have witnessed a passion and desire to always be ahead of the game by everyone in the agency. This conference strengthened my view on how important this fact is not only for young professionals going into the field, but for professionals already in the public relations field, and in any field for that matter. It is this drive that sets apart the amazing crew at Drake Cooper, and I am very blessed to be apart of it all.

Sean Winnett

Labels: Arianna Huffington, Drake Cooper, National Conference, PRSA, PRSSA, Public Relations

As reported in the Idaho Statesman this week. Congratulations Joanne!

Idaho's chapter of the Public Relations Society of America has announced its slate of officers for 2009. The chapter will be led by president Joanne Taylor, director of public relations and social media strategy at Drake Cooper, a Boise-based marketing communications agency. Taylor has more than 20 years of experience in public relations management, having led PR efforts for three publicly traded companies and several clients at Drake Cooper. She has served on the PRSA Idaho Board of Directors since 2005 and is an adjunct professor at Boise State University.

Here's a link to the story in the Statesman.

You can also find Joanne on Twitter and befriend her on Facebook.

Labels: Drake Cooper employees, Drake Cooper PR, Joanne Taylor, PRSA, Public Relations

Courtesy of a PRSA teleconference, four members of the national news media weighed in about Twitter. The panelists ranged from a technology reporter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, a business columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, and the digital audio manager for ABC News. About 10 PRSA members from Boise came over to Drake Cooper agency to participate in the discussion.

A blogger once described Twitter as "the latest Silicon Valley play thing" or "instant messaging for adults." Approximately 4 million people are using it now, a 440 percent increase from this time last year. Between 250,000 to 500,000 new people are jumping on board each month. This compares to 41 million unique visitors who frequent Facebook per month. Twitter is growing, but it's certainly not the only social media tool out there. Even so, because million of people are using it, it has become a marketing tool, it's a great way to pass on information to your friends and associates, it's being used by journalists to find sources for stories, and it's being used by PR people to pitch stories to journalists.

So, Twitter is another conduit that PR people can use to reach journalists who may have blocked their email inbox from unsolicited queries. How do we find these folks through Twitter? There are several lists out there online. Click here to see a pretty inclusive list of twittering journalists. This is great intelligence for the PR professional.

BUT ... the journalists on the panel warned us that sending them a story pitch via Twitter may not be the best way to pitch a story. Some of them prefer to receive a pitch via email, and some of them suggest getting to know them first by following them on Twitter, and then pitching them later.

They also reminded us that the same rules apply for pitching stories to them:

1. Research their bio and know what topics they cover.
2. Research the media outlet they work for and make sure they haven't already covered that story.
3. Get to the point quickly.

On the last point, Twitter requires you to be succinct because a "tweet" can not exceed 140 characters. Some journalists in the high-tech field prefer to be pitched on Twitter so they don't have to wade through a lengthy email to find the crux of the story pitch, if one exists at all.

The journalists also suggested hooking up with them via Facebook. The techie reporter for the St. Paul paper said he loves Twitter and hates Facebook. He also just finished a book about Twitter titled, "Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company."

The other journalists on the panel liked Facebook, and see that service providing a lot more information and bells and whistles than Twitter.

Ultimately, we should know that Twitter is a unique social media tool, and it should be used accordingly. Figure out your goals, and use whatever communication tools are best suited to reach your goal. None of the tools are the end-all be-all by themselves.

But as new tools emerge, the Drake Cooper PR team believes that it is prudent to learn more about them and know how to use them.

A couple of Twitter resources:

• twitturly.com - Shows popular url's that people are sharing on Twitter.
• tweetbeep.com - Set up like a Google alert to keep tabs on what people are saying on Twitter about you, your company or your products.
• twitter.com/stevestuebner My Twitter handle.
  
  

Labels: agency, Boise, PRSA, Public Relations, Twitter