First Day At Think!

Part of my PR program’s second year requirement is for the students to spend a month of their last semester doing an unpaid internship (sometimes it can be paid…but rarely). So the second year  get increasingly stressful until BAM you’re on your practicum…plus you’re responsible for finding your own practicum. So far this semester we’ve planned a huge event (where we raised over $10,000) and had the regular 4 months worth of classes and projects crammed into 3 months. This is then followed by our month-long practicum/internship and then a couple more projects due in April before we’re done! So the practicum basically signals the end of our schooling…which is a combination of “Hooray!” and “Oh shit…” So there’s an interesting mix of excitement and nervousness!

Carrying on…with all that said, yesterday was my first day of my practicum! This year the ‘month’ goes from March 7th to April 1st. So here I am!

I’m working with Think! Social Media for my practicum, a small, fun group based out of a building in Yaletown just up the street from the Yaletown-Roundhouse Skytrain stop. They’re a social media agency with a focus in the tourism industry. On their website it very accurately describes that they provide “Social Media solutions for the Tourism industry”. About 90% of their work is in BC and rest is spread through Alberta and a couple other locations.

Yesterday I was tasked on compiling a media list for them, including some of the major media sources and tourism/marketing media from North America, Canada, BC, Vancouver area, and Vancouver Island…so far I’m on 7.5 pages and I haven’t even started on Alberta yet! Overall yesterday was a great start! I felt productive and got a fair bit done.

On a more casual note Rodney Payne, the founder and executive director, took Robyn, Phil and I out to lunch at the Hurricane Grill in Yaletown. I’d never been there before and it was quite good!

I also wrote Happy Birthday on a whiteboard for Will one of the other Think!ers.

Myself, Robyn, Rodney and Phil

As for today, my second day at Think! I believe it will be more of the same = working on the media list and a couple other tasks. It is Rodney’s birthday today and Phil brought some balloons and little Happy Birthday hats that we were wearing…but everyone has gradually taken them off (Mine was the last one standing, hahaha).

Anyway, back to work!

A Night of Make Believe

Last night was the big night for my PR Event Management classmates and I. It was the final event we’ve been planning for over a semester now – A Night of Make Believe. We had to choose a non-profit, then plan and host a fundraising event for them. Fortunately the class isn’t graded on the success or failure of the event…but on all the little aspects that go into the planning stages, such as contracts, food, theme, entertainment, and sponsorships/donations, etc.

Since this is a yearly thing the PR students do there is also some competition to see if the current PR class can out do the year before. Last year the PR students raised $8,000 for their non-profit so that became our minimum goal for this year. However our class secretly hoped to make about $10,000 since no PR class had ever made that much before. At the end of the night, after all the calculations we done and even after we subtracted all the expenses…we made over $10,000! However this didn’t only come from the event, we’ve done mini fundraisers all semester, had a couple cash sponsors and we even did a bake sale.  From the event evening we made proceeds from our substantial collection of silent auction items, ticket sales and even a candy table where you could buy bags of candy, or make a donation to guess how many jelly beans were in the jar (There were 536…we counted!) We were also fortunate enough to have Mark Madryga from Global TV as our speaker for the evening!

We wanted something child-oriented since Small Talk is a school for pre-school aged children. Initially we started off with the theme of “Back to your childhood” but when we settled on the event name of A Night of Make Believe the entire theme shifted to that. We wanted it to be about the fun and fantasy of youth, of reminiscing about playing games and make-believe. The picture to the left is of the finished poster the PR Marketing team made up for the event.

To go along with the theme the dress code for us was to all wear black clothes and then either wear a top hat or tiara…the guys wore tops hats and some of the girls managed to find very cute, small top hats too. I, however, wore a tiara. (right)

 

The following pictures are of the silent auction tables and the candy table.

My favourite TED talks

One thing I would like to do is spend more time listening to talks on TED. It’s basically a website that posts talks and all kinda of presentations and their motto is “Ideas worth spreading.” I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to many of their talks…but the ones I have listened to I’ve enjoyed. The talks I’ve heard range from topics on funny things like the significance of “4 am” to things like Seth Godin talking about standing out. I’ve been exposed to these TED talks through my various classes in PR and my four favourite talks are the following (in no particular order):

1. Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity/genius. (She’s the author of Eat Pray Love) (19:32 mins)
2. Rives on 4am (One of the more funny presentations) (9:09 mins)
3. Seth Godin on standing out (He’s a marketing guru/genius) (17:04 mins)
4. Tony Robbins on why we do what we do (I’d love to hear a full talk of his) (21:48 mins)

I strongly urge you to take the time and watch these presentations…or cruise TED for yourself. It’s a very cool website!

I would also love it if you would like to share a particular talk you found hilarious or inspiring! I’m always open to recommendations.

PR Professionals on Ethics

One of the classes I’m currently taking in my 2nd year Public Relations program is a course on Ethics of Communications, taught by Ange Frymire-Fleming. So far we’ve learned that nothing in ethics is black and white; as our class is fond of saying, “It’s all grey.”

As one of the final classes in Ethics, Ange arranged to have a panel of PR professionals come in and discuss ethics with us on Februray 22nd, 2011. We were fortunate enough to meet James Hoggan of Hoggan & Associates, Deborah Folka from DLF Communications and Don MacLachlan who is the Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations at SFU. It was amazing to talk to them and hear some of their tips and words of wisdom when dealing with, or encountering, ethical situations in PR.

One common point I heard from all three speakers was the fact that as you learn more and grow as a person, your opinions and ethics change, or shift. Your personal and professional ethics grow as your awareness changes or is heightened.

One thing that rang true that I heard Deborah say was along the lines of us living in such politically correct times that we seemed to have been robbed of the ability to joke without someone becoming offended. We worry so much about what we say that sometimes we simply don’t say anything! Her biggest piece of advice was that once you give your word to do something, do it. However, if it goes against everything you believe in be honest and if you still can’t avoid whatever it is…resign.

Don MacLachlan comes from an extensive journalism background, so some of his stances were a little different however it was excellent to hear because as PR people we may be required to deal with journalists frequently. His biggest piece of advice when dealing with media is to NEVER lie, but with that said you don’t need to tell the entire truth either. While in an interview with media Don said a common mistake of people is to give answers to questions that haven’t been asked, and give too much information away. So always be wary of answering questions that haven’t been asked. Additionally if you find the questions getting off topic, try and find a way to steer the questions and answers back to what you’d like to talk about, to serve your own agenda. Don also mentioned that the biggest mistake someone can make when in an interview with the media is to not actually consider the answer to the number one question you do NOT want asked. What is the question you would never want media to ask you…and how will you deal with it if it is asked? How can you answer this question without seeming to give anything away so you can steer the conversation back on topic? It was something I had never thought of before and really made me think!

James Hoggan was very interesting to talk to considering how influential he is in the PR world. His biggest piece of advice was to do the right thing, and to be seen doing the right thing. However you need to not get those two things confused and you have to make sure you do them in the right order. Another piece of advice was research, research, research. Learn ALL relevant information before you begin forming opinions or talking about something. We all know what it’s like to encounter someone who is actually wrong in what they’re saying…and in the PR world you really don’t want to fall into this trap. He said the biggest mistake of newbie to the PR world is that they don’t fully know their subject material! When dealing with huge issues like climate change and poverty, you can just go spouting information. You need to know the facts and the information to back your opinion/argument!

All in all it was a very interesting class! I learned some new things and had a chance to hear them from some very experience professionals!

Catch up!

I have been wonderfully slack in the blogging department these past few weeks. I have been loaded down with the massive amount of projects that have been due for the final 2 weeks of school. However that is all over now! Yesterday was my last day of school until January 4th, so I shall take a PR break for a while and retreat to the Island to spend the holidays with my family…so after this you won’t hear from me until the New Year! (except for a blog post about my year in recap)

Well where to start…there was a wonderful CPRS Holiday Party on Dec. 7th at the Kingston Taphouse and Grill in downtown Van. I was able to network with some older acquaintances and meet some new ones whom I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting on Twitter. One such Pleasure was the lovely Deborah Chatterton, a Professional Development (junior -mid level) Director of CPRS. It was wonderful to finally meet her in person and put a real face to her name.

I also had the opportunity of having another lovely conversation with Simon Briault, who I met earlier in the year at the CPRS Socialize Kick-off Event. He’s the Volunteer Director at CPRS and so far I have always enjoyed talking with him, both in person and on Twitter.

One thing I have to say I was surprised by is that more of my PR classmates didn’t come. It was only myself, Lydia Frey and Mitch Gibb. The CPRS events are such a good way to meet new people; professionals currently in the industry, so I’m always somewhat surprised that more of my classmates don’t take up the opportunities. Either way, the company was wonderful, the food was good and alcohol was in abundance. All in all it was a wonderful night.

I also went to the Vancouver Christmas Market by the Queen Elizabeth Theatre yesterday with a couple classmates. We had our last class that morning (which was basically just to come and turn in a final assignment and then take off) Then headed to the Market near the Vancouver City Centre Skytrain stop. I have to say that I was a little disappointed…maybe its more fun when you go at night (Shaina, Charis and I went around 1pm). I had heard about it online and seen some pictures and expected it to be a little more…well more then what it was. I will say that the cider was amazing! For $8 I got a non-alcoholic mulled cider and a Vancouver Christmas Market mug as a keepsake. Before you leave the market you can choose to return the mug and get your $4 deposit back (so technically the drink only costs $4). I didn’t try the alcoholic one since I’ve tried mulled wine before and it was a little disgusting in my books…now that may also be simply the recipe our friend used. However I wasn’t about to spend money on something I wouldn’t enjoy. They had two different types of non-alcoholic cider there, at one booth there was a mixture of grape juice and couple others with the mulling spices and at the other booth there was the traditional mulled apple cider. I’d never tried the juice medley one before and I quite liked it. Sadly though…that was my favourtie part of the market. There was a booth that sold lovely ornaments and a few booths that sold German sausages, bakery goods, and treats. I was a little underwhelmed…but it only cost $2 to get in and was still an good experience.

My school life thus far

Alrighty, so I am a 2nd Year Public Relations student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University…and heaped with homework!

We’re a class of 22 student (we use to be 23 but we lost one girl after first year to a position at Nature’s Path) of which there are only 2 guys!! That leaves them dealing with 20 highly opinionated, passionate and emotional women…let me tell you the dynamic is interesting!! We have a whole age range of students as well…from a couple girls who are 18 (though one just turned 19), a few in my age range (early 20s), and most in the mid to late 20s age range, with one older mom in the class. So quite a mix, and lots of different experiences!

I am definitely learning a LOT. I’m still in my first semester of my second year and so far am taking:

• Event Planning and Sponsorship
• Writing for Corporate Communications
• PR and Advertising
• Issue Management and Crisis Response
• Computer Skills 3
• Intro to Fundraising

And even though I’ve taken this kind of course-load on before…I’m feeling overwhelmed with projects! So I’m going to have to get on top of that!!

I think what I enjoy the most is that the classes are all very practical. A few of the teachers are fresh out of the field, like our Media Relations and PR Advertising teacher, Marsha who spent 8 years working in London’s media circus. Everything she taught us she backed up with a personal story, which I absolutely loved. It made me feel like what we were learning was super relevant.

First year focused a lot on teaching us all the basics.Bringing everyone up to the same playing field and teaching us how to write news releases…and some of the PR basics.

Over the two semesters of my first year I took:

• Exploration in Mass Communications
• Visual Design with Computers
• Public Relations Writing I
• Computer Skills I
• Public Relations Practice
• Introduction to Marketing
• Media Relations
• Writing Newspapers/Features
• Public Relations Research
• Visual Presentations
• Computer Skills II

So it was a lot…though my grades were quite good and I was actually looking forward to coming back after the summer holiday.