everyday public relations

I am so excited today! My new internship with Gwinnett County starts in a few hours and I think it will be a great experience. I will be working in the human services office and mostly planning for the county office’s 35th anniversary celebration (sounds like famailiar territory doesn’t it?)

Anyways, the people I have met so far are really nice and I am really looking forward to really geting to sink my teeth into some real public relations.

I will keep you posted!

I simply can’t stress enough how crucial planning and practice are in the business of public relations.

Take a simple public relations campaign, you have to do the research, you have to plan how you will present that research and you have to have a game plan in place in case something goes wrong (as it always does).

I am not one to rant mindlessly. I always try to pick my battles. After all, life is to short for immature name calling and finger pointing. I will say this though. If you are indeed in charge of a campaign and for that matter any project that puts you in direct control over other people’s lives, money, grades, or reputation, please know what the hell you are talking about, and what you are doing.

Do not put things off and hope they will get done, they won’t. Do not pray for miracles (they won’t happen) and nobody will go behind and clean up the mess. I hope that my personal work ethic will always prevent me from embarrassing my peers. I am not above mistakes, but I am not above apologizing and making up for it to. (and I do not mean a cheesy empty apology, I mean real down and dirty effort to put right what went wrong.)

This is all I have to say on the matter. No name calling and no finger pointing as promised. It is not needed as you know who you are.

Way to go ONE Campaign!

I saw American Idol the other night and while generally I am not a fan of cheesy contest shows, or even television for that matter, I have to say I was impressed.

The show was an attempt to garner national attention for some global issues as well as national issues that are near and dear to my heart; Primarily global poverty and Hurricane Katrina relief. There were various celebrities on board, all with there own message as to why America needs to take action.
The show was entitled Idol Aid and managed to raise $30 million dollars. I have to say, that is an impressive feat. I was most ecstatic however when Bono came on and talked about the ONE Campaign. As executive director of the UGA chapter I was excited that:

1) the level of reach that show has is guaranteed to up the awareness of ONE’s goals and
2) maybe now I will stop getting that glazed over “huh” look when I tell them I am a part of ONE.

I think that when ONE changed direction earlier this year with a new CEO, they made some changes in their media strategy that will only serve to enhance the goals of ONE. I loved the recent voting commercials, and having a mention by Bono on American Idol, while a little cheesy, is great for business. I am so excited that ONE is finally getting into to the public eye. I really feel as if my little group here at UGA is making a real difference and maybe now people will know why we work so hard.

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I have worked for the last week as a PA, or a production assistant for the filming of a new reality show. While I am legally bound not to talk about the actual show, (Non-disclosure Agreement!) I can say that I learned a lot about public relations matters while working.

First of all, everyone has to sign paperwork. Now if you have ever run a campaign and had to work with “talent” for any kind of story, article, commercial etc, then you know that getting the release is key. Without the release you just did a whole bunch of work for absolutely nothing, and I do mean nothing. So always get everyone, and there brother while you’re at it to sign a million papers explaining that they will never talk, sue or otherwise benefit in any way from your work. Well maybe that is a little extreme, but hey, I think you get the point of the pressure I was under while working for the release coordinator this past week.

Another thing is networking. Now I have talked about this before, but never was this driven home over and over again like it was on this job. Everyone knew EVERYONE else. When the transportation coordinator needed an extra driver, he just picked up his cell phone. He had a couple dozen people he could call in the area who he had either worked with, for, or in some capacity was connected with. I was amazed. (I guess I shouldn’t be since the only reason I was there was because my husband pulled me in when they needed extra people.) Nobody submits resumes or interviews or does anything else even remotely related to your traditional job search in this industry. It really is ALL about who you know.

Lastly, everything is planned. Right down to the continental breakfast for the crew. The crew set up camp in a hotel conference hall and had coordinators for everything imaginable. Transportation coordinators, field producers, story producers, talent wranglers, release coordinators and even a guy in charge of petty cash, kind of like a traveling accountant. Then you have a whole team of lawyers, sponsor reps and yes PR people who call a million times a day just to tell you the same things they told you in the last five phone calls.

It is exhausting work, often lasting 14-16 hours or longer if you have a finicky executive producer who wants dinner or a field producer who decides at the last minute they need you to buy them luggage. However, I am glad that I had the experience, if only for the fact that I will never again wonder why my husband is so tired after dealing with these types of people all day long.

Being a PA was easy to pick up for a PR student, even though I had never done most of what they asked me to do. It is all about the show and the client, which I found to be the common denominator in both mine and my husband’s line of work. He makes them look good on camera and I make sure they have something newsworthy and hopefully entertaining to say.

When I heard the news of the terrible tragedy in Virginia, I was tempted to jump right on and write about it. However, having a waited a couple of days I am glad I let the news settle in before writing off the cuff.

To be honest I am a little disturbed by the media coverage of the shooting. First of all, let’s think about the use of the word massacre. While I am not disputing that this was indeed a tragedy, I think this is a poor choice of words, as I feel that it will always be linked to the school. Just today I heard a similar argument on the radio, so apparently I am not alone in this sentiment. (During the memorial the President of the college also mentioned that he hoped students would still enroll at the school, so I know they are worried as well.)

Next I don’t understand both news and radio personalities that insisted on spouting off about the shooters “state of mind” before they had the facts. I am not defending the young man at all, lest you start to think I am on his side. However the fact remains that before the dead were even all accounted for the media were commenting viciously about the young man, stating that he was a loner(so what?), and that he was so mentally disturbed that people felt uncomfortable around him. His creative writing teacher mentioned that his writings scared her. One reporter even went as far as to say that students and faculty alike were afraid he would cause harm to others.

That is a STUPID thing to say. If people were so disturbed by him and were so sure of his capacity for violence then how come nothing was said until after the fact? I really hate how some of the media have to dramatize everything. In this case, the facts are sad enough, there is no need to make it “juicier”. Trust me; the story will sell on its own, without any additional window dressing.

Public Relations is supposed to be about truth, not spin. I think that in light of this terrible tragedy, the school, the authorities and the media need to work hard on finding out the facts, not blowing up another school shooting story with suppositions and wild assumptions to increase the ratings.

As a final statement, I do not in any way condone the violence that occurred and my thoughts and prayers go out to the affected families and friends. I am sure they want the truth more than anyone. I think the media should respect that.

I have recently polled various people working in different aspects of the communications field. They are all successful in their own way and I was curious to know if they might have some advice for up and coming college graduates on how to become successful leaders in their chosen profession. I have compiled the following “Top Ten List” of books every communications graduate should read and refer to in order to become successful in the communications industry, no matter which avenue they pursue. These ten books are excellent references that every communications student should read and several should be owned and referred to often.

I want to thank my contributors who consist of publishers, activists, teachers, film producers and yes, public relations professionals. Your advice is greatly appreciated!

And now on to the LIST!

1. The Art of War – Sun Tsu
2. The Leadership Moment - Michael Useem
3. Windwalker – Blaine Yorgason
4. The Mouse That Roared- Henry A. Giroux
5. The Prophet- Khalil Gibran
6. How To Start Conversations and Make Friends – Don Gabor
7. Storm of Steel – Ernst Junger
8. The Little Black Book of Connections- 6.5 Assets for Networking your RICH relationships – Jeffrey Gitomer
9. Rules for Radicals - Saul Alinsky
10. Crucial Conversations – Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High – Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzer

The aforementioned books have been instrumental in changing people’s lives as testified to by the individuals I interviewed. There were other notable additions but these ten were mentioned the most often.

Hopefully this list will prove a useful and resourceful tool for all communications graduates.