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Overall Feedback on Your First News Releases :: #PRCA3330

A - elisA, boathouse sign, by Eva the Weaver

After reviewing all the first news releases in PRCA 3330, I am generally pleased with what I saw, considering it is the first news release you have written. Many of the news releases were spot-on; they were newsworthy and clearly written. You must have remembered what you learned in your Intro to Journalism class!

Here are some common errors I saw:

  • Improper use of commas (either too many or not enough)
  • Puffery (making statements in the news release that don’t seem newsworthy. Some of these would be okay as part of a quotation, however.)
  • Format (forgetting to put an embargo date or For Immediate Release, end sign, page slugs, letterhead with mailing address, etc.)
  • Calling women “girls” or “ladies” (even though it’s common in sororities to do this, AP Style calls for the use of the word “women” when you are writing about female adults)
  • Abbreviating the word Georgia as GA, rather than Ga. as AP Style calls for
  • Using “we” or “our” when it’s not part of a quotation (a news release needs to sound like a story one would read in an impartial newspaper, not in a company newsletter)
  • Improper formatting on dates, times, numerals, etc.

Be sure to avoid these errors when writing your Personality Profiles that are due next week.

To learn how to see my specific feedback for you in GeorgiaVIEW, see this short video below.

View on screencast.com »

Questions?

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Poynter’s NewsU Courses Benefit PR Writers

For fall semester’s PR Writing courses that I’m teaching for Southeastern University & Georgia Southern University, I am again augmenting my own content and our textbook with several courses offered by Poynter’s NewsU.

Here are the courses we’ll be using:

When you have finished with each course, be sure to send me your Course Report. The short screencast below shows you now.  Have the report come to my university e-mail address. (NOTE: This screencast was recorded earlier this year, so some of the dates are old, though the process remains the same.)

View on screencast.com »

For some courses, you’ll blog about what you learned as a Topic of the Week. For the ones that are not required as TOWs, you can choose to have them be PR Connections, if you wish.

[NOTE: Complete the NewsU quiz for the course & submit your Course Report by Saturday midnight during the week it’s assigned.]

Questions?

barbara_is_listening.

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Tracking Your Blog Comments, Fall Semester

When you blog, you become a part of a community. And as a member of a community, you’re responsible for encouraging conversation. Commenting on others’ blogs is a great way to further conversations.

In addition to writing your own blog posts, you will also comment on others’ blogs; these comments will count as 25% of your grade on your blog. Aim to comment on two blog posts each week; you will need 25 comments before the end of the semester.

Aim to include a variety of blogs that you comment on, ranging from your classmates’ blogs to those of PR professionals. (For a great way to find new and interesting PR blog posts to comment on, subscribe to Ragan’s PR Daily. Or, visit my social bookmarks for PR blogs.)

To track your comments so that I can easily find them, create (and keep adding to) one blog post where you will include

  • Comment # (keep a running list)
  • Title of blog post you commented on, followed by the author’s name
  • Hyperlink to the blog post
  • Date of your comment
  • Your complete comment (copy and paste)

See Lisa McLaughlin’s blog and Marie Walker Ervin’s blog for some great examples of how to track your comments.

NOTE: In order for the comment to “count” as part of your grade for this course, it needs to be at least 100 words long. You are welcome (and even encouraged) to write comments of varying lengths, but for class credit, 100 words is the shortest I’ll accept.

And whatever you do, make sure your blog comments aren’t whack.

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Blogging Guidelines for #PRCA2330

This post explains the types of content I expect you to write about in your blog for PRCA 2330: Introduction to Public Relations. (For information on how to start your blog, see Getting Started with WordPress.)

Please add a category for each type (listed below), and make sure each post is categorized appropriately. Each post for this class must have the category of PRCA 2330″ along with at least one additional category. (If you do not categorize your posts with the name of the class, it will be much more difficult for me to find them, and you cannot earn full credit.)

1. Reading notes – brief notes or key ideas from the reading assigned for that week’s class. Jot down 3-5 ideas that you believe are the most important & wish to remember. Be very brief, but write enough so someone who can’t read your mind understands what you mean and I am convinced that you actually did the readings. Remember to cite your source(s) when you paraphrase or quote materials from the readings; use a hyperlink to the book (either at the publisher’s site or at a bookseller like Amazon.com). Though these weekly assignments are due Friday at 11:59pm, many students prefer to do their Reading Notes before they take their weekly RATS (Readiness Assessment Tests).

2. Topic of the Week – Starting the second week of class, you will have a specific topic related to public relations writing to write about. You will have seven of these before the end of the semester. See our TOW list (which will be updated weekly).

3. PR Connections – commentary, reflections and opinions about PR issues/examples that were not addressed in class. These can be responses to other PR blogs you read, links to interesting posts or articles, embedded YouTube videos, etc. You should write at least five of these during the semester, with the first two complete before the end of May, and the remaining three before the end of the semester.

4. Blog comments – whenever you comment on someone’s PR blog (whether it’s a PR professional or a PR student), add the comment to ONE post that you update throughout the semester so I can assess your online participation. You will need 15 comments during summer semester. Do this only for PR-related blogs. See Tracking Your Blog Comments for Nixon’s Classes for more information, including specifics on the formatting.

5. Personal – optional category. Use it for any posts not related to public relations.

You may add other categories and sub-categories of your choice. Please keep in mind that when I evaluate your blog I will pay special attention to the categories listed above, but I will not ignore other posts. I will perform a wholistic evaluation of your blog, looking for:

  • professionalism: Clear, correct, thoughtful writing
  • frequency: Sufficient posts in categories 1-3, posted throughout the semester. There will be at least four blog checkpoints during the semester.
  • linking: Identify other PR blogs (use PR Open Mic or my blogroll in my Delicious bookmarks as starting points) and link to them. Respond to others’ posts. Become a part of the blogosphere. Blogging should not be lonely.
  • readability: brief & concise writing style, use of white space, bold characters, images, bullet points

SUPER-IMPORTANT: In order for you to get credit for your blog, I need to know where it is. Tell me your blog address by completing this Google Form; do this no later than May 24.

Questions? Just let me know.

barbara_is_listening

NOTE: Many thanks to Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu at Purdue University, who allowed me to use her blogging guidelines from her PRinciples class. They were so well-written that I made just a few tweaks for my own class. Dr. V knows that Blogs Matter.

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Informational Interview Recap :: #PRCA2330

customer-loyalty_retention.jpg by enriqueburgosgarcia.For this assignment, you will choose and interview a public relations professional, and then write about this interview at your blog. This post will be a minimum of 500 words. Post your recap on your blog, and in the Assignments area in GeorgiaVIEW, you’ll need to provide me with the PR professional’s contact information (name, title & company, phone number and e-mail address).

Wondering how to find a PR professional to interview? Join PROpenMic, where there are hundreds of pros willing to help students.

Though a face-to-face interview is preferred, a phone or webcam interview is acceptable. An interview that is e-mail or text-based only is not acceptable.

Schedule your interview at least a week before this assignment is due, preferably two. PR professionals sometimes have unpredictable schedules, and it’s possible that you may need to reschedule.

Include an introductory paragraph that introduces the PR professional, including title and company, educational background, etc. Mention your connection to the professional (how you found him/her) and how you conducted the interview (face-to-face, phone or webcam).

Questions/Topics you need to include:

  • What’s a typical week like? (If no week is typical, then what was last week like?)
  • Tell me about a project you worked on that you are especially proud of.
  • What do you do to keep current in the PR industry?
  • What do you wish you would have known before starting your career in PR?
  • How important is writing in your career?
  • What three tips would you offer someone just starting out in PR?
  • After interviewing this person, are you (the student, not the practitioner) more or less likely to want to have a career in PR? Why?

Some questions you may wish to ask:

  • Did your education prepare you for working in PR? How?
  • What has surprised you the most about working in PR?
  • How has PR changed since you entered the field?
  • How does technology affect your daily work?
  • When your company is hiring for an entry-level PR position, what makes a candidate stand out?
  • What professional organizations are you involved in? (For example, PRSA, IABC, etc.)
  • Ask for feedback on your resume
  • More informational interview questions

Some things you may wish to do:

  • Include a photo of your interviewee. (This can be a photo he or she provides or one that you take yourself.)
  • Link to your interviewee’s LinkedIn profile and/or blog.

Questions?

barbara_is_listening

[NOTE: This must be a new informational interview that you conduct this semester. Do not “recycle” an interview that you conducted during a previous semester.]

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T.O.W. :: Topics of the Week for #PRCA2330

In our Introduction to Public Relations class (PRCA 2330 at Georgia Southern University), we’ll all blog about the same general topic each week during the summer semester. Your TOWs of 300 words or more should be posted by Saturday at noon at the end of each week (except for Week Two, which is due Friday by 4:45 pm for your first Blog Checkpoint).

Some weeks have more than one topic listed; choose one of the available topics on those weeks.

If you mention a website or another blog, be sure to hyperlink to the post. And consider inserting graphics to add visual interest for your readers.

If you are unsure how to get started writing these TOWs, many times you can use this three-pronged approach:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. What surprised you?
  3. What do you want to know more about?

WEEK ONE

  • No TOW required. But if you would like to go back and write one, what is a “public”? Which publics are you a member of? How did you choose to become a member of those publics? (Choose and discuss at least three.)

WEEK TWO

  • Why are comments such an integral part of blogs? What advice would you offer on writing effective blog comments? (Be sure to link to at least two sources for your information.)

WEEK THREE

  • Based on what you read in Chapter 4 of your Public Relations Strategies & Tactics book, do you think it’s more beneficial for a new PR practitioner to begin his/her career in a PR department or in a PR firm? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? (Be sure to link to at least two sources for your information.)

WEEK FOUR

  • Watch my interview with Martin Waxman. Use the three-pronged approach (described toward the top of this blog post) to react to the interview. (And consider visiting Martin’s blog and leaving a comment there for him on one of his posts.)
  • Watch my interview with Kneale Mann. Use the three-pronged approach (described toward the top of this blog post) to react to the interview. (And consider visiting Kneale’s blog and leaving a comment there for him on one of his posts.)

WEEK FIVE

  • One Week of Twitter (complete your One Week of Twitter assignment during Week Four, then write about it during Week Five).

WEEK SIX

WEEK SEVEN

WEEK EIGHT

  • Public relations practitioners often use news releases to get their clients into the news. Provide 10 tips for writing an effective news release. (Be sure to link to at least two sources for your information.)

WEEK NINE

  • What advice would you offer PR students who are new to blogging? Come up with your own Top 10 list. [NOTE: This blog post is due on the MONDAY of the last week of class, July 12.]
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Portfolio Review Assignment :: #PRCA3711

As PR students near the end of their college careers, many of you will need to create a portfolio that highlights your best work over the past few semesters. See Portfolios for Public Relations Students for details on how to create a portfolio.

For the Spring 2010 PRCA 3711 class, you have five options for completing the Portfolio Review Assignment. Choose an option by April 15 and let me know your choice on this Google form. (If you do not make a choice, your choice will default to Option Five.)

Option One: Hard-Copy Portfolio

  • Create a hard-copy portfolio with at least five work samples & mail it to me so it arrives no later than April 30. E-mail me to let me know when you have mailed the portfolio.
  • Include a “script” with what you would say if the potential employer asked you to talk him/her through your portfolio (why you included each piece, how the client benefited from the piece, etc.)
  • There’s no need to go to great expense with the portfolio itself; a simple folder will suffice for this assignment
  • In GeorgiaVIEW, submit the date you mailed the portfolio to me.

Option Two: Social Media Resume

  • Create a Social Media Resume
  • In GeorgiaVIEW, submit the URL of the Social Media Resume.
  • NOTE: If you are in PRCA 3030, you can use the same SMR as you are creating for that class (if you chose that option in PRCA 3030).

Option Three: Video Pitch

  • Create an 8-10 minute YouTube (or Vimeo) video of you pitching yourself to potential employers.
  • Show some of your portfolio pieces in the video
  • OPTIONAL: Embed the video in your blog
  • In GeorgiaVIEW, submit a link to the video

Option Four: Skype Interview

  • Meet with me via Skype (audio and video) for a 10- to 15-minute mock interview. Contact me via e-mail to schedule this interview.
  • Prepare as you would for an video-based interview with a potential employer (dress appropriately, consider what’s in the background of the video, etc.)
  • In GeorgiaVIEW, submit a self-evaluation of the mock interview, including what you would do differently in a future video-based interview.

Option Five: No Portfolio

  • Have your grade in PRCA 3711 based only on the other assignments you have completed, and not do a portfolio review.
  • In GeorgiaVIEW, for the Portfolio Assignment, insert a comment that reminds me you are choosing not to do a portfolio review.
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Media Contact List :: #PRCA3330 #COMM4333

Rolodex by renaissancechambara.All successful public relations practitioners have their own media contact lists that they maintain on a regular basis. They will contact different members of the media depending on the messages they are seeking to share on behalf of their clients. In the “olden days,” we would maintain our contact lists in our desktop Rolodexes.

For our PR Writing class, create a Media Contact List. With your specific client in mind, create a media contact list that will be helpful when you are seeking to share messages on behalf of your client.

At a bare minimum (to earn a C), your media contact list must include at least one radio station, one TV station, one blog and three print publications. Use a table to compile this list; you can use either Word or Excel.

Contact info will include:
  • Organization
  • Contact’s Name
  • Title
  • Snail Mail Address
  • E-mail Address
  • Phone Numbers (phone, fax, cell . . .)
  • Website/blog address
  • Twitter username (if relevant)
  • Comments about this contact
  • AND, rationale for including this media outlet
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Public Service Announcement Assignment :: #PRCA3330 #COMM4333

Echoes From Another Time by drp.One way that nonprofit and government associations get the word out is through public service announcements.

For our PR Writing class, create a 30-second public service announcement or radio news release for your client. (If you have a nonprofit or gov’t client, write a PSA. If you have a for-profit client, write a radio news release.) Review the information in Chapter 9, especially pages 208-222 for tips on how to write.

Things to keep in mind:

  • Thirty seconds is not very long, approximately 75 words. You’ll need to get to the point quickly.
  • You’re writing information that will be spoken, not read silently. There’s a BIG difference between the two. Ask a friend or two to read your PSA or radio news release aloud. Edit and adjust as needed.
  • Write conversationally.
  • Use the same standard header that you have used on previous news release assignments (for contact information, etc.)
  • Feel free to write on the same topic as you have in previous releases, as long as the topic can fit this assignment.

Additional resources: