For my PRCA 3711/4711 Students:

One of our assignments this semester is for you to read and review a trade book on public relations. In the left sidebar of this blog is a list of books for you to choose from. (You can also see this complete list at my Amazon.com Public Relations Trade Books page that I created for you.)

Your book review will take the form of a 5-minute presentation in class. For your presentation, create a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation. Rely more on images to tell your story than bullet points. (We’ll discuss more in class about how not to create a “Death by PowerPoint” slidedeck.)

Your presentation should include:

• Opening slide should include an image of the book’s cover
• Short bio of the author(s) of the book (perhaps with a photo of the author)
• What did you learn by reading this book?
• What surprised you in this book?
• What do you want to learn more about, now that this book has piqued your interest?
• Would you recommend other students to also read this book? Why or why not?

Once you choose the book, reply with a comment to this blog post so that you can “claim” the book for yourself; unless you are working in pairs, only one student should review each book on the list.  (If you work in pairs, both individuals will earn the same grade on the assignment.)

Optional:

• If you have a blog (and if not, why not?), please consider uploading your book review to SlideShare and embedding the slides in your blog.
• If you’re using Twitter, search for the authors of your book there and connect with them. You may be surprised how willing most of them are to reply to you when you @ them.
• Leave a comment about your thoughts on the book on the author’s blog.

Questions about this assignment?

1. Barbara B. Nixon (barbaranixon) « Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » PRCA 3711/... « Chat Catcher Says:
   August 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

   [...] 2009-08-20T12:41:52  New Blog Post: PRCA 3711/4711 Trade Book Review Assignment [link to post] [...]

2. Barbara B. Nixon (barbaranixon) « Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » PRCA 3711/... « Chat Catcher Says:
   August 20th, 2009 at 4:32 pm

   [...] 2009-08-20T13:31:51  [Blog]: PRCA 3711/4711 Trade Book Review Assignment [link to post] [...]

3. Amy Gemmel Says:
   August 20th, 2009 at 11:59 pm

   I will be reading this book for my assignment:

   Laermer, R. (2004). Full frontal PR: Building buzz about your business, your product, or You: Bloomberg Press.

4. Allie Schlumper Says:
   August 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm

   Locke, C. (2001). The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual: Basic Books.

5. Julie Smith Says:
   August 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

   I will be reading Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, by Erik Qualman

6. Haley Higgs Says:
   September 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am

   I am going to read Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR by Brian Solis.

7. Kacie Whigham Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

   My trade book is: The Business of Event Planning: Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Successful Special Events by Judy Allen

8. Sam Dershowitz Says:
   September 11th, 2009 at 2:32 pm

   I know someone already picked this, but I would like to read
   Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You by Richard Laermer

9. Meg Tidmore Says:
   September 13th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

   The one I want: Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers

10. Damara Simmons Says:
    September 16th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    Well….uummmm….clearly this seems to be a popular book, but I’ve already ordered it, so here’s what I’m doing:

    Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You by Richard Laermer

11. Barbara Nixon Says:
    September 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Hi all — just a reminder . . . the first person to “claim” the book gets to review it for our class (unless two people have agreed to work as a pair). If you’ve chosen a book that someone else already claimed, please choose a different one for this assignment.

12. Brittany Cook Says:
    September 21st, 2009 at 12:19 am

    I will be reading Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business.

13. Jonathan Daniel Says:
    September 23rd, 2009 at 9:37 am

    I will be reading Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand (J-B International Association of Business Communicators) by Shel Holtz

14. Emily Byrne Says:
    September 23rd, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    I am reading…

    The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
    By: David Meerman Scott

15. Chelsea Bailey Says:
    September 25th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel

16. Lauren Hopkins Says:
    September 25th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    The Whuffie Factor: Using The Power Of Social Networks To Build Your Business

17. Sarah Wilson Says:
    September 28th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    Crowd Surfing: Surviving and Thriving in the Age of Consumer Empowerment by Martin Thomas

18. Sarah Farmer Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stores by David Meerman Scott

19. iAmMy.Brand (So_Talia) « Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » PRCA 3711/... « Chat Catcher Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    [...] 2009-09-30T17:00:40  RT @BarbaraNixon: #PRCA3711 Students: Check your email for clarification on the Trade Book Review assignment. [link to post] [...]

20. Barbara B. Nixon (barbaranixon) « Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » PRCA 3711/... « Chat Catcher Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    [...] 2009-09-30T17:00:40  #PRCA3711 Students: Check your email for clarification on the Trade Book Review assignment. [link to post] [...]

21. Victoria Greene (KLaRity14) « Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » PRCA 3711/... « Chat Catcher Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    [...] 2009-09-30T17:31:55  RT @So_Talia: RT @BarbaraNixon: #PRCA3711 Students: Chk ur email for clarification on the Trade Book Review assignment. [link to post] [...]

22. Ashley London Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 10:56 pm

    Hello,

    Diandra and I will be dong our presentation on The Accidental Billionaires: The founding of facebook.

    Thanks in advance,
    Ashley London

23. Sam Dershowitz Says:
    October 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Instead of the book I already purchased, I will be reading “Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns” by Anne Gregory

24. Stephanie Rachman Says:
    October 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    For the assignment I will be reading Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Revised Edition by Andy Sernovitz

25. Damara Simmons Says:
    October 4th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    For the assignment I will be reading Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

26. Sara Davis Says:
    October 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    I already purchased socialnomics before I knew someone else was doing it…hopefully books-a-million has PR 2.0 new media, new tools, new audiences… if not, I’ll just read whatever they have

27. Emily Roper Says:
    October 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    I will be reading Free by Chris Anderson

28. Tico burch Says:
    October 11th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    Hey guys I guess i’m officially here comes everybody by shirky

29. sara davis Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Networking made easy- patty marler

30. Amanda Staley Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    I will be doing my tradebook presentation on “The Nature of Marketing” by Chuck Brymer.