Working with Little Budget, and the Power of Networking

By Natalie Beasley

Through out this course of Public Relations campaigns, we have constantly been working towards goals, to succeed for our clients, and to successfully pull off an event with little or no money. I began thinking about this more today when my group hosted a silent auction in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Molly Shi Ballroom benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cleveland county. A couple weeks ago, there was frustration and confusion, and at times just pure chaos. However, today when the event went flawless, and was a complete success, it all started making sense.
Every day agencies are faced with the challenge to put on events with little or no money. Before we were faced with this challenge I just believed that there was always money for the events to happen. Who would have guessed that a great event could be put on with such a low budget? As a group we were forced to work with the community, and work with local businesses in order to have items to auction off, as well as working with all local media to get publicity.
I feel like more than ever in this day and age, public relations and the success of a campaign can deal a great deal on who you know and who is willing to help out. Networking is the basis of success. Gaylord College has prepared all the students in the college to be successful through networking. I have been very impressed with all the people I have met through the University of Oklahoma’s journalism school.
Through the process of networking with the Norman community, and working with our client, as well as the Campus Activities Council, we were able to have great success, and have so many great things and entertainment that we got all for little or no cost. Public relations is not all about the money and events really can be successful without all the cash flow.

Twitter and ESPN

By Dara Hollingsworth

We can all agree that Twitter now plays a role in public relations as is evident from the recent guest speaker in our class, Barbara Gibson, a Twitter expert. I guess I have been slightly slow to accept the whole Twitter thing, I have an account but it was updated once, nine months ago when I created an account for Public Relations Writing. But I became convinced Twitter was here to stay while watching the OU Women’s Basketball team’s recent run to the Final Four on ESPN. The commentators and analysts mentioned Twitter numerous times because ESPN has a Twitter account. The account is used primarily for feeding followers story headlines from ESPN. Additionally, Rebecca Lobo, a women’s basketball commentator, urged viewers to follow her on Twitter to get an insider’s look into the tournament.

As of now ESPN has over 63,000 followers while it is following over 69,000. So what is ESPN’s purpose of all that twittering? Maybe it has something to do with an attempt to humanize the brand. It can allow ESPN to make a personal connection with its many admirers. It can be used to measure the perception of the network. The list of the positives goes on and on.

So will other networks follow ESPN? It appears they already have. All the major networks have some sort of Twitter account and CNN Breaking News has over 792,000 followers. Which just further proves that, like it or not, Twitter is here to stay.

PR Everywhere

by Simone Fraid

PR is all around us. The efforts of people and organizations to get there messages across permeate our lives. This was especially evident at the free premiere of Observe and Report in Meacham on Friday night co-sponsored by CAC and UPB. There were free movie posters and mini giveaways everywhere, and surveys aplenty for those who were willing to participate.

The best part of the waiting game (it took an hour to get into the theater) was getting to see some of our peers in action. One of the Big Brothers Big Sisters groups was on hand to pass out fliers and then to speak to the audience briefly about the volunteer drive.

This group did a great job- their efforts were strategic, and will probably pay off for them. Their target is male volunteers, and they certainly had that audience at this premiere, where the audience was likely 80% male. Not only were they able to provide everyone with fliers, they also were able to make an announcement before the movie and speak directly to a theater full of people.

I just wanted to commend them on a great job, and it was nice to see a campaign in action. Best of luck to them, and all of the other groups as we go out into the "real world" and pitch our messages to the public.

On a side note, I don't recommend Observe and Report unless you can see it for free. That's my own little world-of-mouth PR.

Graduating Student Seeking Employment in Public Relations

By: Jayse Nelson

With the end of the semester coming to a close my thoughts of life after college have begun to consume my daily life. I have visited The University of Oklahoma’s career service Web site and their office. I have searched Craigslist.com and different hospitality and non-profit career search engines. However, my efforts are not yielding satisfactory results.

I feel like every position I look into is seeking someone with experience of more than 1 or 2 years. I have had experience in Public Relations, but nowhere near 1 or 2 years worth of experience. During my first PRSSA meeting my freshman year of college, I was instructed to get at least one internship before I graduated. I did get an internship. In fact, I had two very good internships. However, both of my internships were only for the duration of the summer and one of them was shortened due to my prolonged semester abroad.

Adding to the stress of finding a job is the recession our country is currently facing. According to information I’ve recently discovered, PR professionals need not to worry about employment possibilities. This is true, if the individual has sufficient experience and skills that can set them apart from the pack. Last year, Time magazines ranked PR jobs 19th on their list of recession proof jobs. In 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is still hope for us graduates seeking employment in the PR industry. Of the 243,000 PR jobs in 2006 the majority were in service providing industries mostly in major cities. Although there is a high rate of job competition in this industry, the BLS states that college students with a degree in PR and work related experience should exceed the competition. Maybe there is still hope for me to find a job after May.

Producing Successful Presentations

By Stacey Haire

Presentations are a major part of a PR practitioners job. As students of this profession, we too get to experience presenting in front of the class. I thought it would be beneficial to everyone to research what makes an excellent presentation and provide a few tips from the experts who have been in the industry for many years.

An article published on About.com by Wendy Russell gives nine presentation tips for students. Her top nine tips are: know your topic, use key phrases about your topic, avoid using too much text on the slide, limit the number of slides, layout of slides is important, avoid fancy fonts, use contrasting colors for text and background, try a design template to keep the look constant and use animations and transitions sparingly. The tips underlined here are for those using programs like Microsoft PowerPoint. These tips are helpful because they create a simple presentation for everyone to understand clearly. When the presentation is easy to understand then it will give you more confidence during presentation time.

With the progress of technology there is also a progression in the world of presentations. PR Fuel, a news release forum for public relations, recently published an article about how to conduct online presentations. The most important techniques necessary to conduct a successful online presentation are to be more vocal and have more animation in your voice because often times they will not be able to see you. Another tip for this type of presentation is to think smaller is better. Create slides containing one idea per slide this makes it easier to present and makes it easier for the audience to follow.

Presentations can create many opportunities for you and the clients you work for, but if they have mistakes then you and your client can miss out on big business prospects. Like every thing else in life the more practice you have the easier it will get.

Come Fly With Me

By Rachel Forsyth

Whenever I think of industries that must always have savvy public relations departments, I always think of the airline and tourism industries. Throughout the years, these industries have faced many challenges including 9/11 fears of flying, new necessary paperwork and paying for baggage. In all of these areas, there is a continuously evolving need for public relations to keep their customers and employees aware, safe and happy.

The fear of flying after September 11th, 2001 was a major test on the airline industries and tourism public relations departments. With American’s given images and a million reasons not to fly, how do they instill faith back into their patrons? According to PRWeek, the answer is Patriotism. Patriotism became and still is a major tactic for public relations departments when instilling faith to fly and travel.

The United States Department of Homeland Security’s custom and border protection launched a public relations campaign last fall surrounding new required travel documents. According to Travel Pulse, this Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative goes into effect June 1, 2009. This initiative provides the Custom and Border Protection the opportunity to put their best public relations foot forward in the launch of a new website, media advertisements, public service announcements and many other tactics in their outreach campaign.

Public relations departments have also faced new challenges as the airlines have increased ticket prices and checked baggage fees. According to the Providence Journal, Southwest Airlines provides the best rates by only charging for the third checked bag. American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways charge for the first bag. There is definitely a double edge sword in the airline industry: increasing profit or make the customer happy?

I personally find these industries to be extremely fascinating. Airline travel and tourism is an imporant part of our economy, which is definitely a contemporary public relations issue.

Print is dying. Dry your tears.

By: Matthew Burris

With the shut down of both the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News over the past couple of months, there has been an outpouring of lament for the death of print news in this country. I have yet to figure out why.

The Luddite "save print" movement misses the point. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) proposed to allow newspapers to become non-profit organizations. The senator even cited the shut down of the P-I in his bill. At least it isn't just an excuse to shovel money to an industry who will just squander it and then coming asking for more (GM, I'm looking squarely at YOU).

That being said, the problem isn't the intention. News is a nice thing to have. The issue really starts when we realize that we are attempting to rescue something that doesn't work anymore. The age has passed the newspaper business behind. Movable type is a 15th century technology.

Jeff Jarvis, creator of Entertainment Weekly, said,

We are bailing out the past, not the future. We are forestalling the need to change. Change isn’t easy. It’s hard on people. It’s destructive. It will leave voids and vacuums. But it is inevitable. The smart thing to do today is to run to the change, seek it out, find the opportunities in it, deal with the hard problems it brings instead of avoiding them.

When people decry the rise of the internet (which is what all the tears are really about), they seem like the kind of people that are too scared to make their way into the future safely, and successful PR practitioners can't be sympathetic to their ilk.

Michael Arrington, creator of the technology blog, TechCrunch, called print media "absurd,"



Link to full program: "New Media Models."

He has a point. The business model is failing. Media is screaming headlong into the 21st century, and public relations HAS to change with it.

We can not wait around and weep for the death of a failing medium. We, as professionals, will be passed by just as the Post-Intelligencer was, and just as all those who refuse to trudge ahead will be.

As the media moves online, ads will change, outreach will change, and how people get their news will change. Gone are the days of placing stories in daily newspapers. Calling up professional journalists will have a place, but the yield will be smaller and the audience limited.

People aren't going to media brands for information. They are going to each other. E-mailing bloggers and getting your story on digg.com, reddit, facebook, twitter, and their brethren will become the way to get hits.

Time's they are a-changin' indeed. Time to stay ahead of the curve or see your effectiveness as a professional falter.