Advice from a PR Professional

Influences from the Past

Four years ago as I considered what my ideal career path would be, I remember looking back to my conversations with our family friend Julie, a Public Relations professional at CBS San Francisco. These conversations have impacted my life and helped with my decision to enter the world of Public Relations. I recently got in contact with Julie to fill her in on my time at the University of Oklahoma and learn more about her life in San Francisco.

History of Success

Julie Pearson graduated at the University of Texas and has now been a public relations professional for 35 years. Pearson and her family of four moved to California after her husband found a job, and for the last 22 years she has worked at CBS Broadcasting in San Francisco. What she loves most about her job is the large number of people she gets to meet and the opportunities it provides her.

“Working at CBS, or rather in the Public Relations field in general, has introduced me to so many interesting people,” Pearson said. “Not only do I come in contact with so many people, but I actually form relationships with them that will last a lifetime.”

Advice

Pearson was enthusiastic to give me advice for my career as I told her I would be graduating shortly. She emphasized my need for networking and keeping in contact with everyone I meet, and explained the many opportunities made available to her through networking.

“You never know what the smallest conversations with new people can do for you,” Pearson said. “It’s extremely important to keep in touch with someone after you first meet. A simple e-mail can make all the difference.”

Additional links:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/

http://www.cbscorporation.com/corp_careers.php?id=268

http://www.blogger.com/PRBlog

http://publicrelationsblogger.com/

http://www.pr-squared.com/

Photo: Courtesy of Julie Pearson

Looking Towards the Future

Looking Towards the Future

Monday March 29, 2010

By Lynley Kees

When given the assignment to interview a PR professional, I immediately thought of the Make-A-Wish foundation. In the past years my sorority, Chi Omega, has teamed up with theMake-A-Wish foundation. I have seen hands on what an impact this particular non- profit organization has not only on the family and friends who have benefited from Make-A-Wish, but also the impact it has on its employees. I came across Casey Thompson, who I know through a friend of my sisters who was involved with public relations. I am extremely thankful that I decided to interview her because she helped me immensely and only further accelerated my hopes of working in the field of PR and possibly one day working for the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Right now, Casey works under the Make-A-Wish foundation, where her official title is Public Relations Manager. Casey’s job includes working to accomplish publicizing wishes, where she collects the information from the program services team. She writes press releases and media alerts and then will send them to the media. Casey also works on national programs which are managed be the foundations national office and executed locally. Her most recent national program that she was involved with was with Macy’s department store. Casey’s job was to help raise money to publicize Macy’s wish, so that she an also have them cover the fund raising efforts Macy’s is currently working on. Casey is also in charge of the foundations newsletter, editing, website management, and publicity record keeping. She said that editing would probably be most important because she typically sees all the material that leaves the office.

After Casey explained to me her current job, I was interested to know more about her education and previous work experience. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, with a minor in English. She had several internships starting from Publicist Dialog to Jet stream public relations. At Jet stream PR, she went from an intern to assistant account executive. She knew that agency life was not for her and after having an internship with the Dallas Centerfor the Performing Arts Foundation, which was a non-profit organization she knew that was where she belonged. That’s how Casey came across Make-A-Wish. She knew she wanted to be involved with a non-profit organization and when a professor told her about the job opening she applied right away and after interviewing she was hooked. She fell in love with the people at the office and noticed how everyone got along so well. Casey says that this feeling has remained the same since she has been working with the company.

Casey has helped me tremendously in sharing with me details of her current job and previous experience. Learning about her job made me open my eyes to the wide world of PR. I would say I have more of an understanding and open mind now about the field. Overall, I think this experience made me more excited to start my career in PR.

Image: Logo
Web Source: Make- A-Wish


Image from above:
Web Source: Foundation

"Never make the same mistake twice"

March 9, 2010

"Never make the same mistake twice"

By: Katlin Francis

Jason Bodin is the Sports Information Director for the University of Oklahoma Department of Athletics. Bodin works closely with Men's Tennis as the media contact.

Relatively new to the industry, Bodin spent the last two years, post graduation, working with public relations. Prior to his current public relations employment, Bodin tried marketing. After attaining a Bachelors degree in Public Relations from OU with a minor in Classics, Bodin began working for Oil and Gas Company as a Lease Buyer.

However, Bodin was not fulfilled in his field as a Lease Buyer. He "realized even though it paid well it was not want I wanted to do." Looking for a new career, Bodin interned at OU for two years and is currently working as a graduate assistant. Bodin likes the career trajectory with OU athletics and sees a future of growth in this industry.

Despite Bodin's current successful career, he was not always satisfied with his work. After learning a few lessons the hard way, Bodin advises PR majors to know their strengths. PR majors should not be "afraid to ask questions." When in doubt always follow the associated press stylebook guidelines.

The top knowledge and skills needed for a PR professional are "1. Writing (press releases are key to the industry, if you cannot write PR is not for you) 2. Be able to communicate to a wide variety of people. 3. Networking"

Bodin learns from every situation and lives by the motto, "don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake... learn from it and never make the same mistake twice."

Photo courtesy of Jason Bodin

Girl Scouts Across America

By Brittany Robinson

For my interview, I decided to talk to an old friend Catherine Wagner. Catherine works for the Girls Scouts Club in Norman, Oklahoma.

Catherine decided she wanted

 to work in public relations in college when she determined she wanted to work in a writing field. "English was too intense for me," Catherine said. She felt that the daily interactions with people in the public relations field was the turning point in her choosing it as her major.

Catherine felt pretty prepared for her job when she go

t hired on almost a year ago as a full-time employee. "You can never know everything," Catherine said. She was an intern for the Girl Scouts before getting hired on, but is still learning new things everyday. Catherine was surprised when she found that people were not always out to get her in public relations as she was taught through her studies at Gaylord. "Don't get me wrong, people are always trying to catch you with your pants down, but I was as prepared as I c

ould have expected," Catherine said.

Catherine says that everyday is a new challenge in public relations. She has to learn how to work a website with no prior experience. Catherine reflected her first couple of months at her new position and found that she was caught a little bit off guard by "angry people and the press who are digging for a story." Another thing that she did not expect was for the people who are lazy and do not do their job. "I just assumed that everyone works like me in that they work hard and play hard, I have met some people who do not work hard and still play hard," Catherine said. She described trying to get them to do their work like "pulling teeth."

Catherine's daily work life begins with reading about six different newspapers a day. Emails and phone calls take up most of the morning. Updating the website all day is one of her big and daily tasks as well. Catherine says she

 usually writes about four press releases a week and will set up meetings with the press once a week that she will attend alone or with her boss. "I am usually pretty busy although I cannot recall what else would be routine for me," Catherine said.

Catherine's advice for public relations students is to learn as much as you can about anything online. "We use Facebook, Twitter and Google feeds for a lot of publicity," Catherine said. Most importantly, however, she advices that you work on people skills in how to properly manage and deal with angry people because she did not consider herself well versed in the area.

Meet Stacey Murray

Meet Stacey Murray

by: Kristin Bussell

I chose to interview Stacey Murray, the Coordinator of Special Events and Projects for the University of Oklahoma’s Public Affairs Office. Stacey graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts from Gaylord College of Journalism. She was a Public Relations major and having completed classes recently, she and I actually discovered that we’ve had some of the same teachers. This was a fun talking point!

Stacey more or less began her Public Relations career as a volunteer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association while in school. As Stacey explained, this volunteering led to an internship opportunity which then led to a job. Working for the non-profit Muscular Dystrophy Association, or MDA, was her first job out of school. She worked for the MDA from May of 2006 until October of 2007, when she came to OU’s Public Affairs Office.

I asked her about the differences between her current position and her former job with the MDA and she essentially reiterated what other non-profit, public relations professionals have reported: You find yourself involved much more in every aspect of PR as opposed to just event planning, writing or designing. In a non-profit you do everything. For example, Stacey recounted her first summer working for the MDA and told me how she was made assistant summer camp director… just out of school, no less! (MDA Summer Camp photo at right)

Working for the OU Public Affairs Office, Stacey’s job is to help plan University events through coordination with other University offices’ event staffs. Frequently, however, their office plans events on its own. Some examples of events she participates in planning include donor dinners for the President’s Associates, all events that President Boren is involved in, groundbreakings, news conferences and the graduation commencement ceremonies. (She actually knew the speaker for this year’s May commencement ceremony already, as they’ve been planning for several weeks, but wouldn’t tell me! It’s meant to be a surprise.) Currently Stacey is working on the opening of OU’s Transportation Operations Center.

With her background of PR experience, which I think is very broad for less than three years, I asked Stacey what her advice would be for an aspiring PR professional. Stacey said organization was critical! She also explained the importance of people-skills.

“It’s essential to learn how to handle and listen to people,” Stacey said.

This seemed to be especially true when there is any type of crisis. Stacey said it’s really important to be honest. In other words, the people or clients affected by the crisis always appreciate an up-front explanation when things go wrong.

Also on the topic of dealing with crisis situations, Stacey told me what her boss, Catherine Bishop, always tells her, “I’d rather you make a decision and it be wrong than not make a decision at all.”

This says to me that in order to be a successful Public Relations professional, it’s necessary to be quick-thinking in addition to being organized. After this time spent interviewing Stacey I feel like I know more of what to expect in my first Public Relations position… handling something different every day!