So after talking with a fellow classmate about how our perceptions of public relations have changed and about what his plans are for after college it made me think I like his idea about sharing them with the world in a sense of advice. Take it or leave it. Advice and opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Three years ago when I first entered college and chose my major I was so excited about public relations because the academic advisors made it sound like so much fun. I’m a people person. They said this would be great since I love organizing, planning and dealing with people. Well who would have thought three years later I would be changing my focus all together. Is it public relations’ fault or mine? There is no fault in this situation. People change over time and teachers change perceptions. Throughout my experience teachers in my degree never could understand why I was in journalism since I am letter dyslexic and spelling is not my strong point. I’m what journalist would say is an oxymoron. I can’t spell but I’m crazy good at math. And how did I end up in journalism?
At 18-years-old I thought I loved it. Funny how the advice I was given about boys can be held true about picking a major. At 18 you don’t know what you love. Well I loved writing and people. But just because I loved it didn’t mean I was very good at it in the world of PR. If everyone was meant to do PR then what would be the purpose of getting a degree in it? There would be no purpose. Sadly for me I found out three years late and one semester short of graduation. No matter how hard I tried PR and I grew a part.
I still love to write. I hope one day I can write and speak to young adults and share my story so that it may help them. My personal life story and academic story is one for the books for sure. But I can’t say that having chosen something else three years ago would have been best for me. How else would I have learned what I am meant to do? I wouldn’t have. I now know what I should be doing.
I want to go into higher education and student affairs administration. I realized that through all the hard times in school, I could always lean on my campus involvement to lift my spirits. At UNT we have amazing faculty in student affairs administration that were always there to be a friend or a parent when I needed one. I learned that I wanted to do that for other students like myself in the future. So what does this have to do with PR? Everything.
Yes, PR is about press releases, media lists, communication plans and so much more. But it is about human activity and word-of-mouth. I see PR as a form of interacting with people. That was what I was looking for since the very beginning. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong place for my people connection. The way I see it is that PR has prepared me for knowing how to communicate with people and spread a positive image to the future students that I will interact with. I am very thankful for my time, the good and the bad. Without any of it I wouldn’t know where to go from here.
I hope anyone reading this will feel lifted in the thought that everything happens for a reason. And my big piece of PR advice: PR is nothing like it is portrayed on Sex and the City.
Happy summer.
Showing posts with label UNT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNT. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
UNT and the Class of 2026 - Blog 14
The second grade tour started with a full fledged tour of Apogee Stadium lead by NT40 members and Paul Batchelder, Senior Associate AD, Marketing. The students we led through the tunnels underneath the stadium and met some of the players that were there training. Next, they were taken up to the 5th floor to overlook the stadium at the highest point on the balcony. They were given a tour of the President’s Suite and the club level as well. They were so excited to see how the rooms transformed in order to host a press conference. 
The students were then taken to the main entry level of the stadium stands and were walking to the field when they spotted UNT’s beloved mascot, Scrappy the eagle. The second grade students took off running toward Scrappy hugging and jumping all over him. The alumni, current students and faculty in attendance fell silent with a proud smile on their face when the chorus of the song made it to them. The second graders were singing the UNT fight song with all their might and the UNT spirit was strong in them. “Visiting UNT with my kids was so much fun. Watching them run to Scrappy while screaming the fight song, having a picnic on the football field and a shopping spree in the bookstore all made this an amazing day. Or as one of my kids said, ‘Today was the best day of my life.’ Love the Mean Green and my Mean Green class of 2026” said Courtney Wright.
The second graders were able to have a picnic on the field with Scrappy and some of the athletic staff. They then were shown around the main campus and were able to see a real college classroom. The students were beyond thrilled and hyper to get to the bookstore and have their parents buy UNT swag for them.
“We should do this with all of our alums that are teachers,” said Paul Batchelder. “If we can get the kids out there growing up loving UNT then we would be in far better shape. These kids that live around here should grow up with the spirit of UNT and not the other Texas schools such as UT.” The tour was from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm on Thursday and took administration and athletics three weeks to prepare everything. This was the best example of PR that I have seen from UNT. It is not enough to just rely on the current students to tell their friends about UNT but for them to take the time and reach out to the surrounding schools was smart. And as Paul said, it is important to start them young so that they grow up loving UNT and when it comes time to apply they apply here at the school they grew up cheering for.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
College Students Use of Promotions - Blog 13
I was looking around a lot this week to see how college students perceive public relations. I was curious to know what most people know about it and think about it. This was a perfect week for this too because most of my friends are in the Greek Community. Two of the fraternities had philanthropy events and contests this week.
I was asking their PR chairs what they think PR is and most of their responses about were what I have come to learn as advertising. It made me think should there really be a define line between the two? Isn’t there a very good reason why the school combined the two majors into one? I have been talking with different employers and looking at job openings and so many are in the communications department where you need strong skills in both PR and advertising.
So the best word we came up with that described what they thought of PR was promotions. It seemed like a mix of PR and advertising. And this week I have seen so many ways of the fraternities promoting their event. They used social media in the biggest way I have seen them do yet. Part of their week long events includes Facebook “like” contests. The participants that have the most “likes” on their page will win extra points at the end of the event. And the Facebook pages are not limited to reaching just UNT students. Alpha Phi sorority had their page reach the the national level. Their nationals event re-posted the link to the page so that every Alpha Phi world wide would see it. It seems crazy that just a UNT event could reach that many people so far away.
The other fraternity also used social media but not as intensely as the other group. The Sigma Chis had their yearly event, Derby Days, this week and their strongest “promotion” technique they used was through the form of t-shirts. Something so simple went a long way. Just on Thursday when we were collecting money outside the union I saw so many people wearing the same Derby Days shirt. People were asking us why we were all in the same shirt and what it was about. This was excellent PR in the word of mouth sense.
It was quit a week for Greek Life. With the shirts, banners, social media and flyers all around campus people took notice. We were able to have many successful events all week and raised over $200 in one day for one philanthropy. The other events did just as well. And all week we promoted the Greek Preview Day that is happening this weekend.
All in all, I feel like I learned a lot from this week. I sort of thought PR was just press releases and fact sheets but this week was fun. From painting banners to sticking up Cut the Chis flyers all over campus I learned how others view PR and how in the real world public relations and advertising are mixed together and promotions is just as important as having a well put together press release.
I was asking their PR chairs what they think PR is and most of their responses about were what I have come to learn as advertising. It made me think should there really be a define line between the two? Isn’t there a very good reason why the school combined the two majors into one? I have been talking with different employers and looking at job openings and so many are in the communications department where you need strong skills in both PR and advertising.
 |
| Cut The Chis flyers. |
So the best word we came up with that described what they thought of PR was promotions. It seemed like a mix of PR and advertising. And this week I have seen so many ways of the fraternities promoting their event. They used social media in the biggest way I have seen them do yet. Part of their week long events includes Facebook “like” contests. The participants that have the most “likes” on their page will win extra points at the end of the event. And the Facebook pages are not limited to reaching just UNT students. Alpha Phi sorority had their page reach the the national level. Their nationals event re-posted the link to the page so that every Alpha Phi world wide would see it. It seems crazy that just a UNT event could reach that many people so far away.
 |
| Participating sororities driving around campus with their banners on their cars. |
The other fraternity also used social media but not as intensely as the other group. The Sigma Chis had their yearly event, Derby Days, this week and their strongest “promotion” technique they used was through the form of t-shirts. Something so simple went a long way. Just on Thursday when we were collecting money outside the union I saw so many people wearing the same Derby Days shirt. People were asking us why we were all in the same shirt and what it was about. This was excellent PR in the word of mouth sense.
It was quit a week for Greek Life. With the shirts, banners, social media and flyers all around campus people took notice. We were able to have many successful events all week and raised over $200 in one day for one philanthropy. The other events did just as well. And all week we promoted the Greek Preview Day that is happening this weekend.
 |
| Cut The Chis - Trenton Conger donating his hair to Wigs For Kids. |
All in all, I feel like I learned a lot from this week. I sort of thought PR was just press releases and fact sheets but this week was fun. From painting banners to sticking up Cut the Chis flyers all over campus I learned how others view PR and how in the real world public relations and advertising are mixed together and promotions is just as important as having a well put together press release.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Internship - Blog 12
So I’m excited to announce that I got offered an internship! I wanted to talk about it and how excited I am to be doing it this summer. It is with Substance Abuse Resource Center (SARC) on campus. I will be in charge of all their PR.
I’m really excited to be vamping up their social media presence. I am going to start Tweeting out Tweets that students would be smart to remember. Such as, standard drink sizes and what not. Also, we are looking forward to working with Denton PD on getting statistics to Tweet about the statistics for at risk weekends.
I will also be working at the orientations talking to students and parents. I get to update all the promotional materials and presentations that will be distributed to them. This will be a really great experience for me in the PR world because so far I have only learned about it in a classroom and not seen it done in the real world. Everyone says that once you have an internship you will fall back in love with your major and I need that badly. It’s even a double win for me because I will be getting to work in Higher Education which is what I want to go to graduate school for.
This summer will be filled with a lot of research, writing, advertising, promoting and presenting but I am ready for it and can’t wait to see what it teaches me and I’m ready to learn.
I have never been more excited to learn from a first hand experience in public relations.
I’m really excited to be vamping up their social media presence. I am going to start Tweeting out Tweets that students would be smart to remember. Such as, standard drink sizes and what not. Also, we are looking forward to working with Denton PD on getting statistics to Tweet about the statistics for at risk weekends.
I will also be working at the orientations talking to students and parents. I get to update all the promotional materials and presentations that will be distributed to them. This will be a really great experience for me in the PR world because so far I have only learned about it in a classroom and not seen it done in the real world. Everyone says that once you have an internship you will fall back in love with your major and I need that badly. It’s even a double win for me because I will be getting to work in Higher Education which is what I want to go to graduate school for.
This summer will be filled with a lot of research, writing, advertising, promoting and presenting but I am ready for it and can’t wait to see what it teaches me and I’m ready to learn.
I have never been more excited to learn from a first hand experience in public relations.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
You're Your Own PR Person - Blog 10
What part of your personal life is private when it is posted to the web? At what part does the judgement start when you’re interviewing for a job? When do you turn on the charm and sell yourself? These are some of the questions that are commonly on the minds of college students who are looking for a job.
Over the course of my three years in college I have learned the answers to these questions. I never really understood at the beginning when my parents didn’t like the idea of me posting a lot of personal information on myspace, Facebook and other social media sites. Now though I completely understand. No matter if the posts are deleted they are there forever. Anything I put out on the web is subject to be seen when I’m applying for jobs. Nothing is private any more when it is on the web. And that means whatever I put out there when I was 16 reflects on me now as a college senior applying for internships.
That brings me to the second question. We all wonder when do they start judging us for the job. I have had the opportunities to listen to professionals come and speak to us in many classes. They all agree that judgement starts a good time before the interview. Whether it is when you drive on the grounds or walk into the building. Personally from my experience the best answer would be that is starts from the very moment you send in your resume. They judge you on that and go and look you up in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They will know so much about you before you even walk in the door. This can really hurt some of us because some students don’t see the need to present themselves professionally online when it is supposed to be social.
I have heard from professionals that if the person doesn’t look good online then they don’t hire that person. This means that we are making an impression at all times. It is not only important to charm the boss when you are in the interview but they are always watching and it is important to be on your best behavior all the time. We are our own personal PR. Anything I do is subject to grounds of how people see me. This is not only true for PR students wishing to go into public relations but true for every person. We are the best marketers of yourselves. We need to make sure that we are always presenting ourselves professionally.
I feel that as a PR student I have the upper hand because we are taught to please the client and present things to the public appropriately and effectively. I can take all that I have learned for how to handle a client and apply it to my every day life when wanting to present myself to the public. I am glad that PR has taught me that it’s not just for clients but for myself as well.
Over the course of my three years in college I have learned the answers to these questions. I never really understood at the beginning when my parents didn’t like the idea of me posting a lot of personal information on myspace, Facebook and other social media sites. Now though I completely understand. No matter if the posts are deleted they are there forever. Anything I put out on the web is subject to be seen when I’m applying for jobs. Nothing is private any more when it is on the web. And that means whatever I put out there when I was 16 reflects on me now as a college senior applying for internships.
That brings me to the second question. We all wonder when do they start judging us for the job. I have had the opportunities to listen to professionals come and speak to us in many classes. They all agree that judgement starts a good time before the interview. Whether it is when you drive on the grounds or walk into the building. Personally from my experience the best answer would be that is starts from the very moment you send in your resume. They judge you on that and go and look you up in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They will know so much about you before you even walk in the door. This can really hurt some of us because some students don’t see the need to present themselves professionally online when it is supposed to be social.
I have heard from professionals that if the person doesn’t look good online then they don’t hire that person. This means that we are making an impression at all times. It is not only important to charm the boss when you are in the interview but they are always watching and it is important to be on your best behavior all the time. We are our own personal PR. Anything I do is subject to grounds of how people see me. This is not only true for PR students wishing to go into public relations but true for every person. We are the best marketers of yourselves. We need to make sure that we are always presenting ourselves professionally.
I feel that as a PR student I have the upper hand because we are taught to please the client and present things to the public appropriately and effectively. I can take all that I have learned for how to handle a client and apply it to my every day life when wanting to present myself to the public. I am glad that PR has taught me that it’s not just for clients but for myself as well.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
UNT Tag Line Glitch - Blog 7
Early this week UNT seemed to have a major glitch in their web system when this is what the main UNT web page looked like for an entire day.
Not too long after the reveal of the new tag line “Green Light to Greatness” was revealed the UNT main page (www.unt.edu) seemed to be having some major problems.
Now I don’t personally know if the tech guy just forgot which one was the correct tag line or not but I guess it was better safe than sorry and put both tag lines on the banner. No one at UNT tech support or staff noticed this glitch until 9:00 that night when a UNT student posted a screen shot of the home page on her Facebook account. Now it’s just speculation that it was because of one student’s post out of 36,000 students but it sure was a nice coincidence. Even if it wasn’t taken down due to her post the better question is why was it even up there? And why was it left incorrect for so long that day?
The front page read “Discover the Power of Ideas” and also “Green Light to Greatness” for the entire school day. Students were talking about “UNT’s mistake” on Facebook and Twitter for all of Tuesday but it was not taken down and fixed until that night. This is not a timely correction. If I have learned anything about PR this semester it is to be timely. Don’t sit on issues or wait for them to get worse. Do something to fix it and handle the situation.
Maybe this glitch isn’t the biggest problem out there, I know it’s not but the fact that it took tech people so long to notice it and fix it is bad. It makes UNT look like a joke. We have four bold goals now but can’t even get our tag line on our front page correct? How can we be tier one when we look like fools for an entire day?
I really hope this doesn’t happen again and it just shows how powerful social media is. Some students may not have noticed what was wrong if it wasn’t for it being discussed and posted about on social media sites.
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=744604887 - Brittni Barnett’s Facebook
 |
| Top left is old UNT tag line; top right is new UNT tag line. |
Now I don’t personally know if the tech guy just forgot which one was the correct tag line or not but I guess it was better safe than sorry and put both tag lines on the banner. No one at UNT tech support or staff noticed this glitch until 9:00 that night when a UNT student posted a screen shot of the home page on her Facebook account. Now it’s just speculation that it was because of one student’s post out of 36,000 students but it sure was a nice coincidence. Even if it wasn’t taken down due to her post the better question is why was it even up there? And why was it left incorrect for so long that day?
The front page read “Discover the Power of Ideas” and also “Green Light to Greatness” for the entire school day. Students were talking about “UNT’s mistake” on Facebook and Twitter for all of Tuesday but it was not taken down and fixed until that night. This is not a timely correction. If I have learned anything about PR this semester it is to be timely. Don’t sit on issues or wait for them to get worse. Do something to fix it and handle the situation.
Maybe this glitch isn’t the biggest problem out there, I know it’s not but the fact that it took tech people so long to notice it and fix it is bad. It makes UNT look like a joke. We have four bold goals now but can’t even get our tag line on our front page correct? How can we be tier one when we look like fools for an entire day?
I really hope this doesn’t happen again and it just shows how powerful social media is. Some students may not have noticed what was wrong if it wasn’t for it being discussed and posted about on social media sites.
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=744604887 - Brittni Barnett’s Facebook
Friday, January 27, 2012
A "Titanic" Sized PR Problem - Blog 2
Irony. That is what I would call it. I couldn’t help but play the Alanis Morissette song “Isn’t It Ironic” in my head when I saw the Titanic preview in the theater. In both of my journalism classes we have discussed the Costa Concordia cruise ship at some point within these two weeks of school. In Mueller’s history of the media class he taught us about “present-mindedness” where people today compare events in our present time to events in the past. He used the example of the cruise ship that wrecked off the coast of Italy and the Titanic. Immediately after the wreck the news articles began comparing it to the Titanic saying it was the Titanic of today. As far as news coverage goes, that is all nice and dandy but it makes me think back to my other journalism class this semester. Public relations communications. I wonder where is the PR for this wreck.
Now I have to admit upfront and be honest with my readers that I am not the strongest news follower. By that I mean, I like the "spark notes" version of news. I like to hear what people are saying and then go look it up. Newspaper articles seem to go right over my head and make me feel unintelligent, so I normally like a friend to explain things to me in everyday terms I can understand. But my PR teacher is right. If I’m going to be in the journalism world than I need to read and be apart of it. So I have been trying to read the news more. I like to see the top stories on Yahoo and then look them up on the NY Times or Dallas Morning News sites.
On Tuesday, Jan.17, the Dallas Morning News published an article that contained statements from the recording of the cruise captain and the Coast Guard captain. These statements clearly show the negligence of the cruise captain and his refusal to reboard the ship due to the fact that it was dark. I can only imagine that most readers would have a similar reaction to the dialogue as I did. The recorded argument was aired on television for the nation to hear as well.
I would not know where to really even begin if I were the PR person for the cruise line but I am also still a student and am pursuing my education so that I learn things like this. The ship had wrecked on Friday, Jan. 13, and since then there were many articles like the Tuesday one that made its way to readers. It was not until today, Friday Jan. 27, that I came across an article that had a little bit of PR from the cruise line. The cruise line is offering survivors a $14,460 settlement. Now I cannot say that I came across every article regarding the wreck but I can say that of the ones I read this one was the first one that contained the other side’s response.
Is a payoff really PR? I am a senior now and I can honestly say that in all that I have learned, I was never taught that money solves a bad PR moment. I am curious as to where are the responses from the cruise captain saying he is sorry? Where are the responses from a CEO with the company saying they are sorry and willing to do all that it takes? That was the second thing we were taught. To always apologize. The first was “be prepared for anything” and the second was to “admit fault.” I am not saying it is strictly the CEO’s fault, not at all, I personally blame the captain, but someone should have been reassuring the public that they are incredibly sorry and are doing everything they can.
Even with the settlement offer of $14,460, there isn’t a statement of how they realize no money in the world can fix what happened and their deepest sympathies are with the survivors. They just offer money as if it fixes things. I also don’t remember being taught that. I believe we were taught to make it personable and sincere if we were having to clean up after something “sticky.”
That statement just didn’t seem right to me. I’d like to see if all the survivors agree that the 14K is the certain solution to make them happy. All around I realized that the PR for this terrible accident was a prime example of “what not to do.”
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/italian-cruise-ship-survivors-offered-14-460-person-pain-suffering-article-1.1012861
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120117-coast-guard-to-italian-cruise-captain-go-back-aboard.ece
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/officials-29-people-missing-from-costa-concordia-1.3454773
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_CRUISE_AGROUND?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120114-divers-in-italy-find-2-more-bodies-in-shipwreck.ece
 |
| Costa Concordia. dallasnews |
On Tuesday, Jan.17, the Dallas Morning News published an article that contained statements from the recording of the cruise captain and the Coast Guard captain. These statements clearly show the negligence of the cruise captain and his refusal to reboard the ship due to the fact that it was dark. I can only imagine that most readers would have a similar reaction to the dialogue as I did. The recorded argument was aired on television for the nation to hear as well.
I would not know where to really even begin if I were the PR person for the cruise line but I am also still a student and am pursuing my education so that I learn things like this. The ship had wrecked on Friday, Jan. 13, and since then there were many articles like the Tuesday one that made its way to readers. It was not until today, Friday Jan. 27, that I came across an article that had a little bit of PR from the cruise line. The cruise line is offering survivors a $14,460 settlement. Now I cannot say that I came across every article regarding the wreck but I can say that of the ones I read this one was the first one that contained the other side’s response.
Is a payoff really PR? I am a senior now and I can honestly say that in all that I have learned, I was never taught that money solves a bad PR moment. I am curious as to where are the responses from the cruise captain saying he is sorry? Where are the responses from a CEO with the company saying they are sorry and willing to do all that it takes? That was the second thing we were taught. To always apologize. The first was “be prepared for anything” and the second was to “admit fault.” I am not saying it is strictly the CEO’s fault, not at all, I personally blame the captain, but someone should have been reassuring the public that they are incredibly sorry and are doing everything they can.
Even with the settlement offer of $14,460, there isn’t a statement of how they realize no money in the world can fix what happened and their deepest sympathies are with the survivors. They just offer money as if it fixes things. I also don’t remember being taught that. I believe we were taught to make it personable and sincere if we were having to clean up after something “sticky.”
“Foschi, the Costa CEO, said he was certain "we'll be able to find a material solution that will make them happy." ”
That statement just didn’t seem right to me. I’d like to see if all the survivors agree that the 14K is the certain solution to make them happy. All around I realized that the PR for this terrible accident was a prime example of “what not to do.”
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/italian-cruise-ship-survivors-offered-14-460-person-pain-suffering-article-1.1012861
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120117-coast-guard-to-italian-cruise-captain-go-back-aboard.ece
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/officials-29-people-missing-from-costa-concordia-1.3454773
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_CRUISE_AGROUND?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120114-divers-in-italy-find-2-more-bodies-in-shipwreck.ece
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