Toshashanks’s Weblog

So, not only am I over this semester I’m over school in general which brings me to my point. I could graduate in May if Southern didn’t make you take a bunch of stinking electives. So I get to stay an extra semester and won’t be graduating till December 2009 just because I have to take a whole semester of electives. Because I have to take a whole semester of electives I wish Southern offered more Comm classes that interest me. I don’t want to have to fall over into another form of Comm that doesn’t interest me. I just really wish they had more to choose from.

I have to say that I am kinda excited that our final project isn’t relating to our focus topic. I think this makes me so happy just for the fact that I am out of things to talk about with it. I think if i could go back in time I would pick out a different topic; one that has more information to it. I really liked my focus topic just because it really is something that I’m interested in, although, from the classes stand point I don’t think that it had enough information to talk about. Maybe in classes don’t the line I will think ahead if we have to pick a subject to stick with all semester.

Because we are going into the turkey week I felt it was most appropriate to step away from Public Relations and talk about my plans for the week (Just because I know everybody wants to know so bad). Well, Unfortunately I have to start this wonderful week out with school. But I’m very excited about Tuesday, not because I have to go to work, but because I have an interview for an internship with the Springfield Cardinals!!! Wednesday I get to drive all the way to Rogers, Arkansas to get my car worked on. And then finally, Thursday, I’m so excited about Thursday because it’s a day that my whole family gets together. I am a HUGE family person, so yes- this is very exciting to me. Unfortunately I have to work on black Friday so there will be no shopping for Tosha, as tragic as this sounds I don’t really need to go anyway. As for Saturday I will be going to Silver Dollar City to look at the beautiful display of Christmas lights (you all should really go if you haven’t). Sunday is just another work day but I will have the last week of school to look forward to. I hope everybody else has a WONDERFUL turkey week and is able to share their plans too.

I thought it would be important to look at PR from another view. When companies are looking for a PR agency, what exactly is it that they are looking for? And what do they want that PR agency to do for them? Well after reading an article, it told me just that. What a PR agency can do for a company is raise their profile with the public and with the media. The article suggested that the agency can help them launch new services and products, as well as different news releases, or any document or letter needing made. They can help run focus groups or even conduct marketing research for that particular company. The article said when you are a company looking for a PR agency, these are the things that you need to look for:

1. Are you introducing new products or services into the marketplace?
2. Is your company facing an imminent image crisis?
3. Would your business benefit from media exposure or do you need time to grow it gradually, by word-of-mouth or referrals, before talking to the press?

I think if your interested in eventually working with a PR agency these are some things to keep in mind. I think after reading it you could realize were your strengths are in PR and what things that you could work on.

If you would like to read this article you can go to: http://www.business.com/directory/advertising_and_marketing/public_relations/agencies/

Ok, so I decided to go to the KC PRSSA Day so I thought I would talk a little about it. Over all I think the day was a waste of time. We sat there listening to speakers, we got a few helpful tips about interviewing, but that’s about it. At the end of the day we did an activity that was called “perfecting your platform,” which was a group of professional PR people who showed you ways that you could improve your resume. (So basically i thought, oh, I’m finally going to get something out of today!) I got in there an it’s almost like the guy was in so much of a rush that he didn’t even want to take the time to really look at my resume. He glanced over it and didn’t say anything that would benefit it at all. I would recommend not going to one of these events, it’s a waste of time and money.

So for the past semester I’ve been trying to find an internship in the Springfield area for the summer time. It has turned into quite the delima. What I would ultimately like to do is fundraiser or event planning for a non-profit organization, so i have been looking for an internship that would put me in that path. I have contacted so many places it isn’t even funny. I don’t know if it’s just me or what but most of these places say that they don’t have any internship programs available for the summer time. If you have any recommendations let me know!!!!

There will be a PRSSA day in Kansas City on November 7 and I have been trying to decide if I am going to go or not. Chances are I will probably go I think it is a great way for students to see what getting a career in PR is all about. The events of the day will be:

This is probably going to be a great opportunity although I do wish it was a little closer….if you want to know more about it you can go to: 

http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevalD=167214

I was reading a update on all the financial crisis’s that are going on and began to think, “how does this relate to the PR world,” well it completly relates. I think that PR is going to be so important right now with things like Wall Street. How are people going to trust these financial businesses again after what has happened. It is the PR people that are going to reinstall this trust, although its going to have to take something very creative to pull this off. I think at this point if these businesses what to see a future tomorrow they have know choice but to rely on PR people to do this.

So i was sitting here thinking about what i was going to do this weeks blog on, well Igot to looking on PRSSA website looking at what was going on in the PR world, and then I found it. The site tells you what PR is like in other countries. It discusses what exactly PR is like in Australia, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Not only does it tell you what PR practitioners do there but it givesyou the history, what schooling you need and everything. Often times you can get so wrapped up with what is going on in this country that you don’t stop and think about what is going on in other countries. For example, in Greece the PR agencies combined together to form one big one which is called The Hellenic Society of Public Relations. This really makes you wonder what kind of crisis’ they deal with with in organizations over there. It just really opens your eyes to the world of PR.

If you would like to visit any of these sites you can go to:

United Kingdom: http://www.prssa.org/prsic/uk.aspx, Spain: http://www.prssa.org/prsic/spain.aspx, Italy: http://www.prssa.org/prsic/italy.aspx, Greece: http://www.prssa.org/prsic/greece.aspx, Austrailia: http://www.prssa.org/prsic/australia.aspx

So I recently read a blog on PRSSA’s website about “working within the organization.” It was based on the idea that public relations professionals can come across as negative or down on the organization. It said something very true, which was that in order for us to be effective, we would need to be trusted and considered as part of the team. Honestly though, without trust what do you have as a public relations person.

Ok, so the question she asked was, “What do you think a professional can do to assure management that they are representing the company in all that they do? Well, I would have to say that it really is hard to not come across as negative when you are trying to warn management of possible crises. Although you need to do it in a positive outlook, for instance, with everything bad comes something good. So you could just bring up the crisis but have what the outlook is going to be on it, and let them know if anything good is going to come out of it. There are many ways of getting negative news across without you (the middle man) always looking like the bad guy.