"Be flexible" Becca says to future PR professionals

"Be flexible" Becca says to future PR professionals

Thursday March 25, 2010
By Joshua Fried

Becca Salmon has always had a knack for organization. As young as high school Becca was planning events for her community and church, truly developing a passion for events. While at OU Becca worked for museums publicizing events, statewide political campaigns, the Oklahoma National Democratic Party and the American Cancer Society. She was also a student intern for the OU Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering; helping plan joint conferences and maintain their scholarship database.

Becca received a B.A. in Planned Program and Organizational Studies and Social Sciences with a concentration in Communication and Criminology from the University of Oklahoma in May 2006.

Becca is currently in her forth year as an Event Coordinator at the Center for Public Management in the OU College of Continuing Education. Becca’s job involves creating events and awareness for state agencies such as the Department of Human Services .

Becca is responsible for all aspects of the events she contracts; from the location and the food served to the color scheme for the logo. Initially she meets with the customer to hear what kind of event will be held and then creates a proposal including various locations and their costs, speakers and breakout sessions, handouts and publicity.

In order to create a mutually beneficial relationship for the client and their public, Becca will analyze both the advantages and drawbacks of a certain speaker or giveaway and present this to the client. During the planning stages of an event “all of the problems end up on my desk to be fixed” she says. “Cleaning up the mess” as Becca refers to it is a specific skill of hers. Issues that arise during an event look bad for her customer and the OU department that she works for, thus, she always strives to create a positive image for both of them. After an event Becca uses surveys to create a report for the client on what was and was not successful.

“I love my job,” Becca says with a smile as she continues planning an event that will host over 500 people in the upcoming month. When asked for advice for future PR professionals, Becca immediately stressed the importance of flexibility.

This is the logo from the last event Becca organized.

Making it big in Media

Making it big in Media
By:Lauren Hale


The more I browse the wide variety of public relations related professions, the more I realize that developing skills for success in this field is like a connect the dots picture. The more skill and experience you can offer, the bigger your picture gets. I currently intern with a woman who has made a career out of public relations. Sarah Burris is the Director of New Media for the Askins for Governor campaign in Oklahoma City as well as the Managing Editor for the popular online blog, Future Majority. Since graduating from the University of Kansas as an English Major, she has spent the past seven years working in various fields of PR. Her work in politics stems from her solidified beliefs and passion for policy and social justice. Burris has worked for Rock the Vote, Emily's List, Politicorps and Skyline Publics Works. Currently she is a writer for Future Majority, which is a blog dedicated to increasing involvement of America's youth in progressive politics, something that Burris is very passionate about. She is also a partner in a Kansas based media company, Mixed Media, where she serves as a consultant for many companies and campaigns on social media and networking. Burris believes that a top public relations professional much possess excellent writing skills, impeccable organization, the ability to quickly develop influential relationships and honest relationships with media.

These relationships include but not limited to reporters, bloggers, media outlets." Burris said, " you can't forget the catch all skills: good event planning skills, ability to quickly adapt, ability to quickly learn new media skills as they are developed relating to technology."

Burris is an advocate for hard work and dedication to professions. She believes that loving what you do makes you better suited to execute anything thrown your way. When I asked her what her advice for future public relations professionals was, her straightforward and non-flowery answer matches her work ethic.

"Don't ever assume that your education will get you a job. No one cares about where you went to school, how well you did, whether you volunteered, what clubs you were in, or what your GPA is. Did you intern? Where did you intern? What did you learn? What skills did you develop? Do they set you apart from your main competition for the job? What relationships do you have that can give you a better edge over your job competition? These are the only criteria on which I base a hire - that and their ability to work really hard and have the knowledge I outlined above."

“There is always a need for public relations”

By: Christy Ferguson

There is always a need for public relations--

Third Degree Advertising is an agency that focuses on helping brand companies to give them a clear and distinguishable identity within the community. Although a fairly small agency, they help companies create unique campaigns that will be noticed by their target publics. Karla Bradshaw, although not an advertising expert, is highly important within the company because of her long-time professional background in public relations.

Bradshaw received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and double-majored in marketing and public relations. She has had 15 years of experience working in the fields of communication, public relations, marketing and sales. With all that hard work, she earned the title of Director of PR and Marketing at Third Degree Advertising.

“I am an avid member of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and really enjoy being able to have students come shadow me and my colleagues working hard at Third Degree Advertising,” said Bradshaw.

Before Third Degree, Bradshaw worked other public relations jobs and realized that it was time for a change and a more “open, conversational environment.” Bradshaw believes that it is very important for there to be open communication at the work place in order for it to be a helpful and construction working environment. The open communication allows for the employees at Third Degree Advertising to efficiently pitch ideas to their clients and/or potential clients. Bradshaw believes that when the marketing, public relations, art department and advertising department work as a team it allows everyone to be on the same page, which leads to people doing collective work for the client.

As an employee and team member at Third Degree, Bradshaw works by the motto which is “we serve it up daily is fresh, hot, friendly and right.” According to Bradshaw the motto means that they want, “a fresh new approach to marketing and advertising, with a hot leading-edge creative product and a passion for client-friendly processes.”

Bradshaw used her journalistic and technological skills to help create a Web site called Credit Union Savvy. This site helps credit unions target their specific publics, provides the audience with case studies based around credit related issues and also helps to differentiate credit unions from each other.

Along with being very professional, Bradshaw was very sweet and willing to give up some of her time to help out a future public relations practitioner. Her advice to a future professional is that you should do what you think feels right. Having a job that you don’t enjoy is never the route a young professional should go. Bradshaw clearly stated to me that no matter where you work, there needs to be open communication within the workplace so that everyone can be on the same page. Whether a young PR professional works for an advertising agency or marketing firm, there will always be a need for public relations help. She left me by saying that she thoroughly encouraged students to join Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) to get a feel for what they can do for public relations and what public relations can do for them.

After talking to someone who was so passionate about her work, it really made me want to find a job that I could enjoy just as much. Although I do enjoy the public relations field, I think I still have some serious job searching to do before I find a job that suits me perfectly. I have come to realize that my first job probably won’t be my dream job, but I can definitely work towards that in my future.


Top picture provided by Third Degree Advertising Web site