Teaching PR

Both Lauren Vargas and Kevin Dugan tagged me for this latest meme on media snacking-- you may recall the first time I got tagged, I was so excited I actually used an exclamation point (!), so you can imagine how being tagged twice went over-- but I'm sorry to report that snackers won't get much help here.

As several others have mentioned, I do include my Twitter feed on my blog, and I suppose the Week's Best for PR Students could be considered an aid to snackers, but for the most part I make my readers read. Guess it's the teacher in me. ;-)

Kaye Sweetser, Gary Schlee, Christine Smith, Bob Batchelor, Greg Smith, and Kelli Matthews, you've been tagged.

Labels: blogging, meme

It was a big weekend at UGA: some of us were so happy to beat Florida in football that we broke the Chapel bell. Nonetheless, the teaching and learning continue. Here are some highly recommended reads this week:

Impaired Crisis Communications: FEMA on California Fires, Eric Eggertson
PR Will Lose Social Media to Advertising Because of Sex, Jeremy Pepper
Owning It, Todd Defren and 5 PR Pitches: The Good and the Bad, Marshall Kirkpatrick
Eight PR Mistakes Trade Show Exhibitors and Their PR People REPEATEDLY Make and It Drives Me Batty, Russell Shaw (via Peter Himler)
Cases 2.0 (via Ross Mayfield)
Tips for Salary Negotiation, Michael Mardis on Forward
My Students' Blogs: Works in Progress, Kelli Matthews
Survey of Business Journalists by Arketi Group Finds Blogs and Other Online Sources Growing in Popularity-- this is the survey Mike Neumeier reported at the Connect conference

And, two--count 'em, two!--posts on PR history:
History of Public Relations, Tom Watson
Need to Rethink PR History, Or Why Bernays is NOT the Father of Public Relations, Bob Batchelor

Labels: public relations, students, week's best

Christi Eubanks tagged me, so here are my thoughts on student online reputation management:

1. DO recognize that online, personal and professional are the same. What you post on Facebook is equally relevant to a potential employer as what you write in your cover letter.
2. DO be strategic. Make a plan for yourself that involves both learning social media tools and presenting a public face.
3. DO be prepared for people to disagree with or criticize you. As I've written before, participating in the social media space invites criticism. You must defend yourself, be willing to change your mind, or admit that you're wrong.

1. DON'T post something when you're too mad to think it through. I'm not saying you shouldn't be passionate. You should definitely be passionate. You just shouldn't be mean, irrational, or careless of the impact of your words.
2. DON'T be anonymous. You'll put more thought into your words if you own them, and you'll be creating an online portfolio at the same time.
3. DON'T forget to search for your own name and see what comes up. If you don't like the result, do something about it!

Labels: social media, students

I don't even know what to say about this: Tide's online soap, Crescent Heights, starring "Ashley," who moves from Wisconsin to L.A. to work in public relations. This is fodder for so many discussions-- online marketing, media representations of PR, Wisconsin jokes (I lived there twice for a total of 11 years, so I'm entitled) -- I don't know where to begin.

Luckily, tomorrow and Friday we're on fall break so I have a few days to take it in.

Thanks to Grady colleague Peggy Kreshel for passing it along.

Labels: PR of PR

Just finished my first meeting with UGA's team for the 2008 Bateman Case Study Competition. The client this year is Chevrolet/Safe Kids Buckle Up.

The team members are: Ashley Beebe, Jarek Beem, Abby Blaylock, Audrey Califf, and Sydney Carroll.


This team has big shoes to fill. I won't be writing about them because it is, after all, a competition; but we'll be working hard. Stay tuned.

Labels: Bateman, campaigns, students

It's tempting to link to all the social media coverage of the Connect conference and leave it at that. ;-) But, there's lots of great reading out there this week, so tear yourself away from UGA Connect and read/watch/listen to some of these:

"A Vision of Students Today" (video) and A vision on a Vision on Students Today, Heather Yaxley
Social Media 101: Five Lessons You Can Follow from Your Desk, Kami Huyse
The Rundown with Sarah Wurrey, Luke Armour (podcast)
Textbooks: Who Needs Them?, Gary Schlee
Do's and Don'ts for Digi Natives, Stephen Davies; Crowdsourcing: DOs and DONTs of Online Reputation Management, Christi Eubanks; and Crowdsourcing: Reputation Management for Digital Natives, Paull Young
Blog Action Day, Lauren
Cat Herding Fizzled, So Hype Machine Launched Anyway, Eric Eggertson

And, okay, there are a couple of things from the conference I just can't resist pointing out:
Is Content King? (video), Kevin Dugan
UGA Connect 2007: Inspiring, Awesome, Intense, Ashley B.

Labels: public relations, students, week's best

After months of planning, the Connect conference whooshed by in no time. I couldn't possibly pick a "best" thing, but here are some of the things I loved:

• Kevin Dugan’s video -- provided the unofficial Connect anthem
• Inspired students and a new bunch of Twitter addicts (Phylecia, Kristin, Lacey , and Katie, not to mention doctorwom)
• That a bunch of people created blogs during my how-to session (send me links!)
• Josh and Constantin said they liked the session with the academics
• Three of my Grady colleagues who came, Peggy, Karen, and Kent, don't even teach PR! (And thanks to Betty, too.)
• When Kevin sat with the Connect student planning team for dinner
• That people who weren’t even there were there: Phil Gomes, Luke Armour, Christi Eubanks, Awais Sultan ; and that people like David Phillips are taking time to comment on the UGA Connect blog
• Paull’s enthusiasm--it’s infectious
• Seeing old friends and meeting new ones
• That Meg Lamme brought PR history into the conversation
• What Constantin said about the NYC firefighters calendar
• That Katie Paine was in a good mood the whole time that her luggage went from Charlotte to Athens to Atlanta to Philadelphia, all without her
• Converseon's announcement of an award for academics
• Listening to political blogger Johnathon McGinty
• Karen Andrews and Diane Murray, the secret weapon of any Grady conference and my new Facebook friends

My payoff: an hour-plus discussion about how to take it into the classroom--LOTS more on this to come.

Labels: conference, education, public relations, social media, students

The binders are stuffed, the gift bags are ready, and the caterers have been given final headcounts-- Connect is almost ready to roll.

Kevin Dugan, the finally tally for your keynote speech on Friday night is 48. The multitudes are sure to be enthusiastic about your talk on the importance of content. :-)

Constantin, Josh, and Katie: we're looking at around 60 for Saturday. We ended up with more students than expected -- at least half, I'd say, with the other half being educators and professionals. Paull, your case study on Forward blog and podcast will be of big interest to all those young PRs!

Can't wait to see you and all the other speakers and participants on Friday and Saturday. And if you really wish you could go but can't, you can follow our blog, Twitter and Flickr updates, all handled by Dr. Kaye Sweetser's social media class at UGA Connect.

Labels: conference, social media

Social Media/Internet Communication Trends: The Conversation, Jeff Pulver
Another Take on the Social Media Press Release, Maggie Fox
Getting, Keeping, and Changing Communication/PR Jobs, Les Potter
Amanda's Backstory Reveals Ugly Character:: Did You Know?, Robert French
Off Target, Kaye Sweetser
Let's Talk About Al Gore, PR and Ed Bernays, Whatdaya Say?, Bill Sledzik

Labels: public relations, students, week's best

Just learned that my friend Kirk Hallahan has won this year's Pathfinder Award for best PR research program from the Institute for Public Relations. Kirk and I studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison together, but what you really need know about him is his Web site -- just a couple of days ago I overheard one of our grad students recommending it to another. Kirk's contributions to research have been many, and he is richly deserving of the award.

(Kirk, by the way, they don't really give you a Pathfinder.)

Labels: education, public relations

In my continuing quest to find out what we know about the job prospects and satisfaction of PR program graduates, I contacted the University of Georgia's Career Center. They conduct a "Post Graduation Survey" every year, and they pointed me to the results of the 2006 report (on 2005 graduates) posted on their Web site.

The survey is voluntary, and only 27 PR majors responded (follow the Journalism/Mass Comm display and choose the PR major display). Much like the Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Graduates, which I discussed last week, this survey shows a broad range of post-graduation jobs among Grady's PR majors. Happily, only one of the 27 was still looking for a job; 21 were working and the others had gone on to graduate school, volunteer service, etc.

Here are the job titles the 2005 graduates listed:

Account Manager
Architectural Representative
Assistant Teacher
Assistant to Director
Bilingual Recruitment and Training Manager
Community Education Specialist
Community Relations Specialist
Corporate Concierge
Creative Services Manager
Fundraiser
Loan Officer
Marketing Coordinator
Media Specialist
Paralegal
Public Relations

In other words, this survey also indicates a number of PR majors working in non-communication field jobs. But once again, it doesn't tell us if they got into an area they actively sought, or just got a job.

Labels: education, public relations

Facebook, Texts Warn Students of Gunmen, Lee Aase
Harness the Power of Google News Alerts, Bill Sweetman (podcast)
PR -- A Matter of Degree, David Reich
The Top 10 Lies PR Agents Tell Their Clients and Prospects, Steven Blinn
Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room, Todd Andrlick
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take Two), Kaitlyn Wilkins
Die, Resume! Die! Die! Die!, Bryan Person

New blogs for PR students:
Centennial Program Launches a Blog, Gary Schlee
Fall 2007 Student Blogs, Robert French

Labels: public relations, students, week's best

Labels: education, meet the teacher, public relations

During the ongoing discussion about PR education, several different sets of numbers have been cited about PR majors working in PR jobs. I consulted my colleague Lee Becker about it this morning because he conducts an Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates. Lee pointed me to Grady's Cox Center Web site, which published last year's report in full.

A sample of 89 schools listed in the AEJMC Directory participated in last year's survey, in which questionnaires were sent to all spring graduates. Many of the questions are analyzed based on communication graduates generally, but in a few instances Lee and his colleagues pulled out results by major. Here are some stats:

By Oct. 31, 75% of PR majors had a full-time job; 6.3% had a part-time job; 6.3% continued in school; and 12.4% were unemployed.

Of those employed full time, the median salary of PR majors was $30,000, identical to the median for all 2006 bachelor's degree recipients with full-time jobs.

The most interesting finding in terms of the current debate concerns the type of job (see chart S18 in the appendix to the report). Of PR majors (or "emphasis"), 20.3% were working in PR jobs, almost equal to the number (18.5%) in jobs not in the communication field. Moreover, another 37.8% listed themselves in "other communication" jobs, which does not include telecomm, newspaper or advertising. I assume this would include graphic design, Web design, perhaps grant writing and the like.

Among ALL majors (not just PR, and excluding those not seeking work), 24.7% report seeking jobs at a PR agency and 26% in a PR department. The actual numbers hired were 3.9% and 2.5% respectively (chart S7).

Finally, again counting all majors, 4% say they never intended to work in communications. Assuming this holds true for PR majors, there are still almost 15% of PR majors in the survey who wanted to work in communications but couldn't find a job. Another 12% were unemployed. And we don't know if the 38% in the "other communication" jobs are happy with that.

Anecdotally, Lee mentioned to me that PR majors have consistently been the most likely to work in other fields. Is this because PR is a major that opens many doors? Or is it simply that they can't find jobs? It seems pretty clear that we have an obligation to find out.

Labels: education, public relations, students

I want to make public my thanks to Jack O'Dwyer for sending me the passwords to his site and inviting me to share them with my students. I will do so.

Labels: education, public relations

Dr. Kaye Sweetser's class on Social Media will be supporting Connect, Grady's PR and social media conference, with live blogging, Flickr, podcasting and more. They want suggestions and advice from the pros. See Kaye's post on the class blog for the details.

Labels: conference, public relations, social media

A couple of weeks ago, Chris Brogan posted a list of "100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write." I'm not that ambitious. But here's my list of a dozen things that I wish PR pros would blog about for my students (and the other 35,000 out there). Feel free to modify them to fit what you want to say. Or add to them. Or whatever else you're inspired to do.

Update: a few people have agreed to write posts. I'm adding links as they come in. In Judy's case, she'd already written the post the day before!

5 ways not to get an entry-level job in PR -- David Reich
The biggest mistake I made early in my career
What to expect the first week on a new job/internship
The cover letter pitch -- Kevin Dugan
Reasons a student should get involved in social media -- Joe Thornley with Chris Clarke
What I wish my new employee knew -- Todd Defren
5 ways to dazzle a potential employer -- Francis Moran
3 things never to say to your boss -- Lauren Vargas
How to behave in a client meeting -- Sherrilynne Starkie
Office Politics 101 -- Colin McKay
How to get promoted -- Judy Gombita on PR Conversations
If I knew then what I know now -- Donna Papacosta
Additions: E-mail etiquette
5 things all PR students should know about their choice of career -- Steven Silvers

Labels: blogging, public relations, students

How PR Professionals Can Avoid Bad Blogger Outreach in 3 Easy Steps, Scott Monty
Corporate Social Media: What's the ROI?, Geoff Livingston
What's Wrong with PR Ed, Strumpette
Wanted: Angry Young Women (and Men), Richard Bailey
How's This For Passion?, Lizzie Azzolino
Lessons from Detroit-- Blogging in a Strike, Dan Greenfield
The Measure of a Relationship: A Role for Public Relations Beyond Publicity, Kami Huyse
Indecency, Emmanuel Tchividjian

Labels: public relations, students, week's best