Secure. Promote. Create. Execute. Host.

Pictured is the Oklahoma City All Sports Staff. From left: Jordan Satarawala, Brittany Hussain, Tim Brassfield, Megan McGuire, and David Forester.

By: Kati O'Kelley

Megan McGuire graduated in 2008 with a bachelors degree in Public Relations from Oklahoma State University. During her college years, she served as a public relations representative for OSU's Greek organizations, Orange Peel, campus communication services at OSU, and Varsity Review. She also served as an intern for the Oklahoma Film and Music Office and was a lab instructor and teacher's assistant for media classes at OSU. Megan decided to get into public relations because she loved to write but didn't want to be an English major. She loved how PR mixed journalism and writing.

Today, Megan serves as the Manager, Events and Public Relations Specialist for the Oklahoma City All Sports Association. Oklahoma City All Sports Association is a non-profit corporation that creates, pursues, promotes, hosts, executes and secures quality athletic competitions in the state of Oklahoma. Megan has been at Oklahoma City All Sports since August of 2008 and has loved the diversity of her job. Megan does many different jobs such as shopping for center pieces for tables at events and sponsor gift baskets, writing news releases, interviewing potential interns, getting logistics such as police set up for events, and working with different sports mangers from across the country. Some of the events that Oklahoma City All Sports is putting on this year are: the All-College Basketball Classic, Sooner State Games, NCAA Women's College World Series, 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball 1st and 2nd Round, Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, Big 12 Softball and the State Games. At least $30,000,000 in new money is brought to Oklahoma City every year as a result of these events.

In the future Megan plans on staying with Oklahoma City All Sports until she feels the need to move on. Megan says that in the future she would love to keep working at non-profits and would like to work for a company that helps people.

Megan's advice to future PR practitioners is, "Any position is what you make it. If you don't like what you are doing, change it. Don't think that what you do, no matter how small it may seem to you, goes unnoticed. And always keep your PR Style book with you!"

Sports PR Today

by Callie Cady

Jason Rademan has been the Director of Media Relations for the Dallas Stars since the 2002-2003 season. He graduated from Penn State University in 2000 with a Bachelor's in Kinesiology.

Rademan's background includes an internship with PR department of the Orlando Magic, followed by a graduate assistantship with the athletic department at the University of Oklahoma. He then worked as an intern with the Dallas Stars PR staff for a year before being hired full-time. As a full-time employee he started out as Manager of Media Relations and Team Services until last summer when he was named Directorof Media Relations.

The Typical Workday

Gamedays start at 7:30 am, getting the game notes, clips, stats and roster sheets prepared for that night's game. Rademan covers the morning skate, handles all the media requests for the morning, then heads back to the office. He gets to the arena again by 4:30 and handles another round of interviews in the afternoon before the game begins. Rademan also runs the press box during games, moderates the intermission (or bench) interviews, and then does the same after games. After the last of the media is gone from the locker room, he types up a set of postgame notes that are sent via email to all the local media. On non-gamedays, Rademan covers practice, works on the game notes for the next game, handles interview requests and plans for the rest of the homestand/road trip.

Advice for a Graduating PR Student Who Wants a Sports Career

"I think it's very important to get any kind of experience you possibly can in the sports field, to network with those you work with and to always try to get the job of the person immediately above you on the totem pole. Any and all experience is valuable, any and all contacts you can make in the industry are more valuable, and you should always want to be doing more within the framework of your particular team/department/company."

-Jason Rademan

Diversity in new Gatorade campaign

By Brian Russell

Gatorade has started up a new marketing campaign this year to highlight their new logo, the "G". For many people and athletes alike, Gatorade is a must have when going to the gym or a nice recovery drink after a workout. Looking on almost any sideline in professional sports you can see the impact of Gatorade; from towels, water bottles, and jugs to sweatbands and gym bags.

Their newest campaign introduces the logo along with many professional athletes from the past and even present day sports icons. Older commercials for Gatorade in the past have had athletes sweating out Gatorade to scientists (who were old white males) describing how and why they came up with Gatorade. This newest campaign has caught my eye, along with many other bloggers and youtube fans for the diverse group of athletes and sports icons.

The first thing that caught my attention was the narrator, and no it wasn't Morgan Freeman, but to my surprise it was none other than Grammy award winner Lil Wayne. At first I thought this was a bit random, since he is not a professional athlete or to my knowledge have any previous links to Gatorade. Then it hit me, Lil Wayne (being a famous figure in pop culture) is conveying the message to today's youth that all of these athletes over the years used Gatorade and this made them what they are today.

As a sports fan, I personally think this is a great look at people from all different backgrounds and time periods and hope the campaign continues with individual commercials of these athletes later in the series. By having Lil Wayne and the large array of sports icons, I believe this reaches a very diverse audience from young to old and will be a great campaign for Gatorade in 2009.

Sports PR - Importance in Communication

Sports PR

My dream job in Public Relations is in the sports world, serving as a broadcaster, sports agent, or media relations/public relations communicator. This field is a fast-paced, constantly growing industry that requires quick thinking and an “on-your-toes” approach.

Because the sports industry provides constant changes and unpredictability, there are bound to be several crises that occur. Crisis management will be a key public relations practice that should be implemented in my line of duty. In “Human Relations: Interpersonal Job-Oriented Skills, 9th Edition,” by Andrew J. DuBrin, he identifies several strategies in handling conflicts before they happen. Some of his preparation advice includes confronting the problem constructing criticism, cognitive restructuring, negotiating and bargaining, and combating sexual harassment.

Another important aspect my job will entail is time management. With an on-the-go atmosphere, time is a limited resource. Career-Success-For-Newbies.com offers the importance of time management for career success. The efficiency of your work is related to the optimum use of your time, which can offer a competitive advantage over your coworkers. When you practice good time management, you often can lower your level of stress by not procrastinating. Your performance will be better acknowledged by your superiors.

Effective communication is also a key aspect in the sports world. As it is often changing, constant communication is a must. 7 keys to good communication provided by Harriet Meyerson, Top7Business, are as followed:

1. Personal contact is important.


2. Develop a network.


3. Always be courteous in your communication with others.


4. Be consistent and clear in workplace communications.


5. Compromise decreases the tension associated with conflict.


6. You cannot hold a person's interest if you have nothing interesting to say.


7. Listen to what others are saying and show interest in the conversation.

Overall, in any job or career in public relations, it is important to remember the code of ethics and practice morals and values when dealing with employers and coworkers. The PRSA Member Code of Ethics is a good guideline to follow when in question about a difficult decision.

Living the Dream

Living the Dream
By Tabitha Brown
May 1, 2008


My ultimate dream job is in brand development and management. Over the past four years I have had the opportunity to work in several capacities where the main goal and focus of whatever project it may be was to be giving back to the community. In all companies and corporations the community’s view of that organization is very important. One way to improve the view is to increase or know how to acknowledge the community service members of the company as well as the company participates in.

In my college career I have also been able to work for the Oklahoma RedHawks and OU’s athletics department. I have always had a passion for sports and working in them. The internships I obtained and participated in validated that passion. In these I was taught how to combine brand development and management with athletics, thus creating the perfect field for me.

My dream job is to be the Director of Brand Development and Management of either a professional sports team or a major university. In this position I would oversee the licensing division, community relations division and the marketing division. Because this is a dream job, I acknowledge it is not a position I would obtain directly out of college. To become closer to my goal, I would like to begin my career by working for either IMG or CLC. Both of these companies would place me in a position to gain the necessary skills and experience I need to move to the next step.

A large portion of public relations is developing the brand and view of a company. It would be ideal to use the skills I learned in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication to further the brands of any company for which I become a part.

O.J. Simpson... Really?

-Joshua M. Jones

Last Week O.J. Simpson was arrested, again. So, I will spare everyone the commentary on O. J.'s past and get right into what we are seeing here today. But first, the rundown...

O.J. was charged with 11 felony counts in a Las Vegas county courthouse on September 16. Armed robbery, assault and conspiracy charges were among them. He claims that he was conducting a "sting operation" in the Palms hotel and casino, and was simply trying to reclaim what was rightfully his. Let's not forget to mention the rather unsavory cast of characters in this sordid affair...
Timeline


What everyone seems to be missing here is that, this is a justice system that has been craving more of O.J.'s blood for more than a decade! This is truly a man on trial for his past and whether you agree or disagree with that, you must acknowledge that these people Simpson conducted his "sting" on, are the worst kind of people. So where do we draw the line? Where do we acknowledge whether or not there is even an objective truth to this story. O. J. Simpson's life represents this postmodern line of thought more than anything, what I mean is that, with the convoluted results of Simpson's first legal fray, we lack a real context of how we should feel about this current debacle.
Postmodernism


The question I pose is this. How does a PR practitioner use this postmodern "reality," or lack thereof, to their advantage when trying to frame the image of a client? How do you help O.J. Simpson if you are his publicist? I think what you would do is first set the context to O.J.'s past in relation to his present, whatever angle you want to approach that from. Then you address the ridiculous book deal that further tainted his image last spring.
Book Deal


If you can bring those forces together in a coherent way, you may be able to do the impossible, and save a man's future. Because no matter how you look at it, Simpson's life is a reflection of a justice system that is deeply, deeply flawed.

John Ridley's two cents.

Sports PR: A Dream Career

By: Holly Gibson



A growing and exciting field in Public Relations is coming forth and taking the field over with a storm—Sports PR. For die-hard sports fans in the journalism field, there couldn’t be a better match for a career opportunity. There are many different positions one could choose in the field, the most glamorous and prestigious being the Sports Information Director, or SID for short.

An SID can work for college or professional sports teams. He or she is basically the liaison between the team’s program and the mass media, just like any PR practitioner is between their company and its publics. Their position includes a wide range of job tasks: holding and organizing media conferences, dealing with all of the team’s publicity, writing press releases and newspaper stories, campaigning, publications (media guides, promotional vehicles), game management and supervision, handling crisis situations and compiling statistics and sports data.



Colleges and universities all over the nation are starting to recognize the growing interest in the field of Sports PR. Journalism and Mass Communication departments are starting to offer courses dealing with the specifics of being an SID. One of those colleges is the University of Oklahoma, where SID Kenny Mossman teaches an exciting course where students learn hands-on the duties and responsibilities of Sports PR practitioners.

The sixteen-week JMC course at OU teaches students the ins and outs of the Sports PR world, with a focus on intercollegiate athletics—right from the horse’s mouth, so-to-speak. Mossman explains all of the aspects of his job as the SID at OU, and is able to give in-depth insight to the duties he performs on a daily basis. Students get the chance to visit the football stadium’s media rooms to see where all of the hectic action occurs on game days. Their midterm assignment is to creatively compile a campaign for a college sports athlete. There is even a mock crisis management situation and press conference where students test their PR knowledge and skills in a real-life setting.

The business of Sports PR is difficult to get into at first, as most professionals start out as graduate assistants or interns. Experience is required in writing, research, publications (and publications programs such as Adobe InDesign and PhotoShop) and campaigning. Sports Information Directors have a difficult job, many working 7 days a week and traveling a substantial amount, but for a true sports fanatic, it is absolutely the definition of a dream job.



For information on job openings, visit the NCAA website at http://ncaa.thetask.com/market/jobs/sports_information/index.php.


Links:
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall01/latimer/ -- Sports PR
http://www.jobprofiles.org/eduunisports.htm -- Sports Information Director
http://www.hr.niu.edu/employment/specs/spec1047.pdf -- job tasks
http://soonersports.com/genrel/mossman_kenny00.html -- Kenny Mossman
http://www.cmiatl.com/news_article43.html -- crisis management
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/pdfs/200101/20010108idsnprof.pdf -- Adobe InDesign