At Tuesday night’s PRSSA meeting, members discussed what they learned from National Conference, on October 21-25 in Indianapolis.
At National Conference, people from chapters all over the U.S. come to one chosen location to listen to speakers at different sessions. Professor Kerns took 9 students to Indy for the weekend to learn all about the PR world, as well at network with fellow PR students and professionals.
Some of the key note speakers consisted of Allison Melangton, who is the President and CEO of the Super Bowl and Lauren Berger, aka the Intern Queen, who had 15 internships in her 4 years of college.
Each student who went to the conference discussed their favorite session or memory. Some of the top breakout sessions included:
One Client VS. Many
The Courage to Be Authentic
Pitching Perfect
Perfect Planning
Why It’s Good to Be a Girl
In Pitching Perfect, Hayden learned 3 main points: Where do we need to go?, When do we need to get there?, and executing the pitch. “Preparation is the mother of victory.” If you continuously mold and practice your professional pitch, then it will come easy to you when you come face to face with a PR professional.
In Perfect Planning, Steven received a crash course on event planning. A tip that he found interesting is that photos should be edited in blue and lighting at an event should be in amber. Also, depending on the type of event that you are hosting, a crisis “first-aid” kit should be created just in case something goes wrong at the event. For example, if it is a fashion show, extra duct tape or a little sewing kit should be kept in the box just in case one of the model’s dress rips.
Nicole went to a session about the Shedd Aquarium. The two representatives talked about different tactics that they use to attract the public. They were the first people at the scene of the oil spill in the Gulf. They were also the first to videotape a dolphin giving birth, which is a 3 hour process. It is great PR for the Shedd to have been the first to experience such crucial events in the animal environment.
Those who attended National Conference were able to tweet with #PRSSANC and connect with everyone else in the room. Live tweeting was a huge part of the conference as well as in the PR world, in general.