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Jumpstart on Nixon’s Spring 2010 GSU Classes

If you’re looking to get a jumpstart on my classes at Georgia Southern University this spring, here are the books that I will be using. I’ve linked to many of them at Amazon.com, but of course you can purchase them from anywhere you like. I recommend you try the Facebook Marketplace first, so you can get a good deal AND help a fellow student.

For all my classes

  • Reliable Internet access
  • Headset/mic (for interaction in online class discussions)

Social Media for Public Relations (PRCA 3030)

Public Relations Writing (PRCA 3330)

Public Relations Practicum (PRCA 3711/4711)

Making Connections: Facebook and Beyond (FYE 1220)

  • No textbook needed

Questions? As always,

(PS: Syllabi for my classes will be posted in early January.)


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The 5 Rs of Prepping for a PR Writing Test

One of my former students at Georgia Southern University found out recently that the job interview she secured also involves a writing test. She asked for some advice on how to best prepare. So . . . here we go.

  1. Read several of the company’s recent news releases to get a feel for the company’s style.
  2. Re-read Strunk’s The Elements of Style. Though it was written long before most recent grads’ grandparents were born, its principles of simplicity and clarity still ring true.
  3. Register for one (or more) of Poynter’s News University courses, such as Cleaning Your Copy or The Lead Lab.
  4. Review your The Associated Press Stylebook 2009, and use Post-It flags to mark sections that are problematic to you. Maybe even take some of the online AP style quizzes.
  5. Refresh yourself on common editing marks. You may also be asked to edit a story someone else wrote.

What additional suggestions would you recommend?

barbara_is_listening

(Many thanks to John Kraft and Sherry Carr Smith for their suggestions.)

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Best Blog Posts from #PRCA3339 Fall 2009

Italia! by Kaptain Kobold.My Public Relations Publications students have been blogging all semester. Today, I’m taking the time to highlight some of the best blog posts from the semester.

I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I did.

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Survive, and Maybe Even Thrive, in a Group Project

UPDATED 12/5/09 – Scroll to end to see update. [Originally published on 9/2/09]

Working Together Teamwork Puzzle Concept by lumaxart.

“Oh, no . . . you mean we have to work in GROUPS in this class?” Though my PR Research students didn’t lament this out loud, I wondered how many of them dreaded the thought of ever working in a group project in a class. I bet many of them did (or do).

In today’s PR Research class, we collaborated, using Google Docs, on tips for how to survive a group project. Here’s a summary of what our class recommended:

  1. Communicate regularly
    • Mass messages….so all are on the same page
    • Praise often; it will motivate the team to work harder to achieve a common goal
    • Summarize at the end of each team meeting to ensure that each person leaves the meeting knowing what’s expected before the next meeting.
    • Send out a weekly update (with what’s been accomplished and what’s left to do)
    • Communicate as a whole, by using group text messages
    • Form a Facebook group
  2. Ensure that you’re aiming to achieve the same goals
  3. Manage your time.
    • Consider making a group calendar filled with internal deadlines that you set for yourselves. (Google Calendar might work well for this.)
    • Show up on time for group meetings (let people know if you’re running late)
  4. Meet regularly, even it’s only to touch base and confirm you’re where you should be in your project work.
  5. Delegate task based on strong points, and make sure you complete what is delegated to you
  6. Remember the platinum rule: Do unto others as they want done unto them
    • Be considerate of others
    • Be patient with your group members
    • Be flexibile
    • Have a good attitude
    • Be respectful
    • Work together
    • Contributing the same amount of work and time

Finally, before you begin working together in earnest, make an inventory of the skills of each group member. Also find out what each person would rather NOT do, if given the choice. This will help you divvy up the work more effectively. And exchange cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses, Twitter usernames . . . whatever will help you stay in touch effectively.

UPDATE: Ensure that every member of the group thoroughly reviews the entire project before submitting it. (And reviewing is more than simple proofreading.) You don’t want any unpleasant surprises based on information that was primarily written by another group member.

What other tips do you have for working together successfully in teams?

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PR Portfolio Reviews

Before the Thanksgiving break, my students in the PR Practicum class met with another colleague and me for their portfolio reviews. Many thanks to Lisa Muller, Pam Bourland-Davis, Urkovia Andrews, Michelle Groover and Alex Grovenstein for their assistance. Though many students did exceptionally well, here are a few things I noticed in the portfolio reviews that might help you in the future, when it’s for a job and not for a class:

In the Hard-Copy Portfolios

  1. Turn your portfolio toward the interviewer(s) when sharing its contents. I was surprised at how many students didn’t think to do this.
  2. Put tabs in your portfolio to make it easier to find specific items when they are asked for. Don’t fumble through the portfolio trying to find the items.
  3. Include as broad a range of items as you can to show off a variety of your public relations skills.
  4. The more samples you can include that were actually used by clients, the better.
  5. If you include a lengthy paper/project as part of your portfolio to highlight your research skills, include an executive summary to showcase three or four of the key findings. It’s highly unlikely that the interviewer will take the time to read the whole paper/project.
  6. For your leave-behind, always include a copy of your resume (even if they already have one), along with a sampling of your best work (perhaps one news release, one photo, one brochure/flyer/newsletter). Put this in a professional-looking folder.
  7. Use a new portfolio, not something you’ve recycled from a class. New doesn’t have to mean expensive; shop around.

During the “Regular Interview” Portion

  1. A few students rephrased the questions as the start of their answers; this was a nice touch. It showed how carefully you were listening. This is also a great skill for company spokespeople to have.
  2. Ladies, watch the length of your skirts. Some were a tad short (or had slits too high) for a job interview.
  3. Tone down the amount of jewelry. In general, women can wear one earring in each ear (lobes, not cartilage). In general, men should avoid earrings.
  4. When you speak, be sure to drop your voice at the end of declarative sentences. When your voice goes up, it makes you seem unsure of yourself.
  5. If you are interviewing with more than one interviewer in the room, answer the question to the person who asks it, and make at least occasional eye contact with the others in the room.
  6. And, always (ALWAYS) have a few questions prepared that you can ask the interviewers.
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Public Relations Research Final Exam

New pens and crochet-in-progress by hddod.PRCA 4330 Students

For your final exam in Public Relations Research, we’ll do something a little non-traditional. Create a list of the five most important things that public relations students need to know about conducting research, and explain why these things are important. Be sure to touch on a variety of the topics we covered in our PRCA 4330; the only required topic to discuss is the role of ethics in PR research. This exam (as noted on your syllabus) is worth 15% of your grade in the class.

Format (your choice)

  • Create a PowerPoint & upload it to SlideShare (should have at least 7 slides, with detailed notes in the Notes panel)
  • Create a podcast (audio recording) using Utterli (should be ~5-10 minutes long)
  • Create a video & upload it to YouTube (should be ~5-10 minutes long)
  • Write a blog post of ~500 words
  • Write a traditional paper and post it in GeorgiaVIEW as an attachment to the Final Exam assignment

DUE: No later than Wednesday, December 9 at 5pm. Reply to this blog post with a hyperlink to where I’ll find your final exam. (My preference is for you to embed it in your own blog.) Remember, if I can’t find it, I can’t grade it.

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Public Relations Practicum Final Exam

PRCA 3711/4711 Students

For your final exam in Public Relations Practicum, we’ll do something a little non-traditional. Create a top ten list of the most important things you learned in our class. Be sure to touch a variety of the topics we covered:

  • Resume writing
  • Job interviewing
  • Searching for a job
  • Creating & sharing your portfolio
  • Using LinkedIn
  • Tips you learned in your informational interview with a PR pro
  • Something you learned by reading your PR trade book

Format (your choice)

  • Create a PowerPoint & upload it to SlideShare (should have 10-15 slides, with brief notes in the Notes panel)
  • Create a podcast (audio recording) using Utterli (should be ~5-10 minutes long)
  • Create a video & upload it to YouTube
  • Write a blog post of ~500 words
  • Write a traditional paper and post it in GeorgiaVIEW as an attachment to the Final Exam assignment

DUE: No later than December 2 at 5pm. Reply to this blog post with a hyperlink to where I’ll find your final exam. (My preference is for you to embed it in your own blog.) Remember, if I can’t find it, I can’t grade it.

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WordPress and Facebook and Twitter . . . Oh My! #NCA09

On Saturday morning, I am presenting at the National Communication Association convention in Chicago. The panel that I am a part of is Discourses of Stability and Change: Public Relations Educators Prepare Students to Learn Traditional Foundations While Grasping Social Media Trends. Other panel participants include:

Though I will not have the opportunity or ability to use technology as part of my session on social media, I am sharing here the basis for my short talk.

WordPress And Facebook And Twitter Oh My

Links & assignments referred to in my presentation at #NCA09:

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First, Do No Tweeting (at #NCA09)

notweetingThis week, I am attending the National Communication Association convention in Chicago. In its own words, “NCA is a scholarly society that works to enhance the research, teaching, and service produced by its members on topics of both intellectual and social significance.”

While preparing to attend this convention, I told my students at Georgia Southern University that I would be sharing what I learn, along with random observations about the convention, using Twitter and identifying the NCA-related tweets with the hashtag #NCA09 to make it easy for them to find what I was writing.  NCA itself is also using a Twitter account to share information & answer questions about the convention, as well as maintaining a Twitter list of NCA members attending the convention.

But then something took me aback.

At the first session I attended yesterday, I had my Palm Pre out and was prepared to take my notes on the session on the device and share them via Twitter.  The session chair stood and made his opening remarks about the panel discussion that was about to take place. And then he asked everyone to turn off and put away all electronic devices.

I was taken aback, but I complied (mostly because I was sitting in the front row.) Then I took my notes old-school, with a notebook and paper. (I did notice later that I was taking my notes in 140 characters or fewer. Hmmm.) This must have been an aberration, just the preference of one panel? Over lunch, I did a barrage of tweets with everything I would have tweeted live if I had been permitted to.

Apparently at the Newcomers Welcome Session, NCA participants were specifically asked not to tweet during sessions. (I arrived in Chicago after the welcome session, so I was not there to hear the request myself. This bit of information was shared with me at the #NCAtweetup held at Buddy Guy’s Legends last night, where ~30 or so NCA members who are connected via Twitter gathered to meet in person.)

UPDATE as of 7:27am on 11/13/2009: According to the NCA Twitter account, “Tweet restrictions during sessions are decided by presenters, not NCA. We do not have any policies against tweeting during sessions.”

At a later session, on the use of social media in public relations classes, I asked permission to tweet, and that request was warmly welcomed by all members of that panel. So several of us DID use Twitter during that session, and we even received feedback and questions from others not attending the convention while the session was going on. We shared those tweets with the panel during the Q&A session. And to me, THAT is the power of Twitter.

solis

So here are my questions…

As a speaker, what are your thoughts on people tweeting while you speak?

As a listener, does Twitter enhance or detract from your listening?

As an association, does asking/telling members not to tweet equal a type of censorship?

I welcome your thoughts.

barbara_is_listening