Public Relations Matters ›

December 12, 2008December 15, 2008

PRCA 3339 Newsletters in Review

The final project in PRCA 3339 (PR Publications) was a four-page newsletter for a non-profit organization, accompanied by a paper. The newsletter itself was worth 50% of the grade, with the paper worth the remaining 50%. A rubric was provided so that students could know exactly how the assignment would be graded. Though many students produced stellar newsletters, there were some common errors.

Common Errors in the Paper

Not including all the elements required
Having one-sentence descriptions for the sections
Not including how your newsletter will help the organization achieve its goals
Design Principles: When describing the four design principles of Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity, leaving out one or more of the principles, and often providing no specific example of where I should look in the newsletter for application of the principle.
Costs: Not including the vendor. Not including a total for one run of the newsletter.
Publication Schedule: Being vague with your descriptions of what it takes to put one newsletter together, complete with dates. This section should contain all the deadlines (internal and external) another person would need to complete a newsletter like this. For example, when do you need to determine what the articles will be? Assign writers? Take photos? You get the picture, right?
Editorial Calendar: This is quite different from the publication schedule. In this section, I was expecting to see what the themes are for each issue for a year, along with when the issue will be produced. If the May issue is dedicated to graduation, then when do you need articles/photos on this topic?
Distribution Method: Most people did fine in this section.
Skills & Knowledge: Not being specific. Saying “I learned how hard it is to put together a newsletter” does not describe what you learned.

Common Errors/Problems in the Newsletter

Leaving out required elements (like the pull quote and masthead)
Having a mailing panel that does not conform to USPS regulations
Not using all available lab time to create the newsletter. When you create the newsletter on your own with the free download trial of Adobe InDesign or use the computers in the library, you don’t have the benefit of having others around you to help troubleshoot when you can’t figure something out.
Using too many fonts. Aim for two to four fonts, max. More than that, and it will look like a scrapbook page rather than a newsletter.
Headline and body text fonts too close in size.
Body text font too large
Pixellated photos and clipart
Photos and clipart that are stretched or squished (not proportional)
Color combinations that were hard to read (for example, red text on a green background)
Not using InDesign’s built in feature that allows you to flow text from one text box to another, complete with jumplines and continuation heads.
Not using InDesign’s built-in feature that helps you align elements on the page
Putting a pull quote or image in the middle of a block of text, then having the text wrap around it. Okay to do if you are using columns, but very hard to read when it’s smack-dab in the center, and text from one line is on the left and right of the image.
Not allowing enough white space between text and borders

December 2, 2008

Deep Breath In . . . Long Exhale Out

Since it hasn’t been so long since I was a student myself, I can definitely relate to the stress involved during finals week. My best advice? Not “take a deep breath.” It’s exhale.

According to the International Breath Institute, “‘Take a deep breath’ can [actually] be very bad advice to someone who is feeling anxious or is agitated.” To balance your CO2 levels, inhale, then make your exhale last twice as long. You’ll definitely feel a difference.

I keep a framed kanji of the word “exhale” on my wall. When I’m feeling out of sorts, a quick glance at the kanji reminds me to do what’s best for me, to exhale.

In closing, here’s a wonderful quote by Koichi Tohei: “Breathe out so your breath travels to heaven.” Keep this in mind the next time you are feeling stressed.

Exhale.

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/photochiel/2672476712/

December 1, 2008

Key Learnings for Corporate PR Fall 2008

As our fall semester is winding down in my Corporate PR class at Georgia Southern University, we had a fun way to wrap up the key learnings.

Each student chose a small character (ninja, pirate or rubber ducky) from a basket and named the character. Then they each came up with a word or phrase that started with each letter in the name. (Full directions to the assignment are at my Becoming Learner Centered blog.)

A few volunteers came to the front of the class and presented their key learnings to us by showing their list and character on the document projector.

You’ll see what the key learnings for my students were as comments to this blog post. By having them create their own mnemonics in class today, I’m hopeful that they’ll remember many of the key points of this class long after it is over.

December 1, 2008

Key Learnings in PR Publications Fall 2008

As our fall semester is winding down in my Public Relations Publications class at Georgia Southern University, we had a fun way to wrap up the key learnings.

A few volunteers came to the front of the class and presented their key learnings to us by showing their list and character on the document projector.

December 1, 2008

Key Learnings in Public Speaking Fall 2008

As our fall semester is winding down in my Public Speaking class at Georgia Southern University, we had a fun way to wrap up the key learnings.

A few volunteers came to the front of the class and presented their key learnings to us by showing their list and character on the document projector.

One of the characters, Bocephus the Pirate, even had a crush on me. It said so in the speech bubble near his head. Cute!

November 30, 2008

Creating Our PRCA 3331 Final Exam

Together, we (the students and I) will create the final exam for the PRCA 3331 class at Georgia Southern. In class on Monday, students will choose which topic areas to write questions about. Each student will write at least five questions total, from at least three different topic areas.

Need some tips on writing multiple choice questions? HINT: Learning how to write good questions is likely to help you become a better test taker, too.

Loading…

November 30, 2008

PRCA 3331 Final Project :: Last Minute Reminders

For your final project in PRCA 3331, you are analyzing a Fortune 500 company. The project is due by midnight on Tuesday, December 2.

Here are some important last minute reminders:

Review the grading rubric to ensure that you’re doing everything you need to for the project. (And I’ll even provide 10 bonus points if you print and complete the rubric by circling how you’d grade yourself in each area and bring it to class on Monday, Dec. 1. You can assess the project based on its current, not final, state.)

If you are doing the blog version:

Respond to this blog post with a comment that includes the name of your Fortune 500 company and the URL to the “table of contents” page for your project. This is the ONLY way I will know where to look for your project.
Have a friend using a different computer check all the hyperlinks to be sure they work.
If you’ve pasted from Word into WordPress, ensure that no odd code came along with your words.
Proofread carefully. Use WordPress’ spell checker, but don’t rely on it exclusively.
Tags are required on each post.
Photos are a nice addition, but are not required.

If you’re doing the paper: