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!

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.

Cossette!

Today, instead of having my regular PR and Advertising class with my teacher Marsha D’Angelo our entire class went on a bit of a walkabout.

At 12:50pm we all met in Yaletown at the main floor lobby of building 1085 Homer Street. Aside from a couple other businesses, this building houses Cossette Communications Group. Now for those that don’t know of Cossette (like myself until a year ago) this is an agency that integrates all the numerous communications-marketing disciplines into one company. I had never heard of them before I entered the PR Program at my university and so I had no idea until today just how HUGE they are!! Cossette is leader in Canada’s communications landscape…and has an international reach as well.

Our teacher Marsha use to work for Cossette and then moved to one of their main subsidiaries in the UK, Band and Brown Public Relations where she worked for about 8 years (I think). Through Marsha we were able to go as a group today and take a tour of Cossette and see the inner workings of an agency! It was amazing to see and this, combined with a very cool presentation I saw yesterday by a previous grad of the PR Program I’m in (Natalie Burgwin), has really started gearing me up to leave school and finally get out and join the PR work force. (It’s still a very daunting concept for me…but I’m a little more excited about it now!)

When we first got to Cossette, we went up to the 5th floor and watched/listened to a presentation about Cossette from Optimum PR’s Vice President Jackie Asante. She talked about Cossette’s humble beginnings to its most recent changes in structure such as the addition of a Dare Digital office in their building! Dare is an award-winning interactive agency based in London, UK however they now occupy the 4th floor at Cossette. It was a very cool presentation and I learned a lot from it and about agency life. Jackie has worked both in-house and in agency life…for over 20 years! So she definitely knows what she’s talking about. After that our class was split into three groups and we separately toured the three floors that make up all of Cossette (floors 4, 5, and 6). It was eye opening to actually get to see the inside of an agency (This is the route I’m thinking of taking…but I’ll get into that more later). We saw all the cubicles and the areas where the designers work, the media buyers, and all the different teams that make up Cossette. It was a place I could envision myself working and got me thinking a lot.

I’ve always leaned in the direction of working in an agency. At least initially anyways. I like the idea of starting off with people who know what they’re doing and are experts in their respective fields. I’d get to try something new everyday and never have the same day or experience twice. I’d have room to grow and find out exactly what it is I’d like doing, and learn heaps about everything along the way! Maybe one day I’ll work in-house, but for now I think I’ll aim for agency life and get some experience under my belt.

All in all it was an exceptional day, and has got me interested to start my month long internship…instead of dreading the process.

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.