Strate named 2009 JacksonSpalding/PRSSA Outstanding Senior

Katherine Strate was named the 2009 Jackson Spalding/PRSSA Outstanding Graduating Senior on Thursday, April 23. Strate, the daughter of Tom and Kelle Strate of Morristown, Tenn., will graduate on May 9, from The University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in public relations.

The award, given by Jackson Spalding Athens and the Public Relations Student Society of America, each year recognizes a senior who has made outstanding contributions to the organization. Strate has served on the executive board for PRSSA for two years, as vice president of committees and membership, and as Webmaster.

“Katherine is the real face of PRSSA,” Dr. Betty Jones, faculty advisor, said. “She has represented us with professionalism and enthusiasm and has inspired younger members who are interested in careers in public relations with her creativity and innovation.

Brian Brodrick, who established the Athens office of Jackson Spalding, presented the award. Strate interned for him last summer.

“When we hire interns, we look for students with a force of personality and the talent to serve our clients,” Brodrick said.  ”Katherine had both. She was an incredible asset to our clients, the Athens community and our office in her time with us.  She raised the bar for all interns at Jackson Spalding in Athens.”

The award comes with $100 for the recipient to join a professional organization following graduation.

Two other students were recognized as PRSSA Members of the Year.

Kaitlyn Darr, a senior from Columbus, Ohio, has served this year as the director of Creative Consultants, PRSSA’s student-run PR firm. Creative Consultants provides free PR services to 23 clients in Athens-Clarke County. More than 100 PRSSA members are involved on Creative Consultants teams.

“Kaitlyn has worked tirelessly throughout the year to give Creative Consultants a much-needed face lift,” Dr. Jones said. “She values and respects the needs of the client while providing students with a good learning experience.”

Leslie Emanuele, a graduating senior from McDonough, Ga., has served this year as PRecedent editor, PRSSA’s monthly newsletter. “Leslie designed an impressive, informative newsletter for our organization this year. And she is always ready to help wherever we have needed her. Leslie has been a great team player for PRSSA.

With more than 230 members, PRSSA is the largest student organization in the Grady College at the university.

Here they are! The 2009-10 E-Board Speeches

The 08-09  E-Board decided to spice things up a little bit this year and make videos of the candidates for E-Board.We hope this will cut down on time at the elections, and will also help you get to know the candidates a little bit more!

Each video is one minute or less, so take some time to go through and see what they have to offer? These are your leaders for next year, so let’s make a great decision together!

For President:

Debbie Ebalobo

Erica Holland

Lauren Rohde

For Creative Consultants Director:

Katie Pniewski

For PR Director:

Courtney Garmhaus

Sara Fon

Hannah Keating

Marah Lidey

Lizzy Nephew

Carissa Sinacori

(Lauren Rohde)

Caroline Smith

For Treasurer:

(Courtney Garmhaus)

Katie Hart

Amanda Herrington

(Hannah Keating)

(Carissa Sinacori)

For Secretary:

(Courtney Garmhaus)

Isha Ghodke

(Katie Hart)

(Amanda Herrington)

(Erica Holland)

(Hannah Keating)

Melanie Murphy

(Caroline Smith)

For PRecedent Editor:

Rebecca Holton

(Lizzy Nephew)

For Historian:

(Katie Hart)

(Erica Holland)

(Amanda Herrington)

(Marah Lidey)

(Carissa Sinacori)

Ally Walls

For Webmaster:

(Isha Ghodke)

(Rebecca Holton)

(Lizzy Nephew)

Five pieces of advice a PR grad must consider in today’s job market:

With this economy, it has been considerably difficult to find a job
after graduation, especially in communications departments.

Offices such as Porter Novelli in Washington D.C. laid off 15% of their
office, and this is a growing trend in the field. However, at PRSSA
Senior Night, the graduating class of 2009 received some heartfelt and
practical advice from PR professionals and financial advisors alike in
how to maintain their enthusiasm, think wisely about their finances,
and find the perfect job for them, whether it takes a year or two.

Here is the some advice that ANY graduating senior could use in
today’s job market:

1) Check your parents’ insurance policies, and make sure you are insured!
Tom Strate, Strate Insurance Group, Morristown, Tenn.

Insurance can be tricking, but finding an independent insurance agent
will help you find packages that work best for your needs (especially
if you do not receive benefits at work). See which of your parents’
policies you may remain on after graduation, and assess what type of
coverage you may need after graduation. Renter’s insurance is a good
idea if you are living in an apartment, because if your belongings are
damaged or stolen, they can be covered by this insurance (which is
extremely affordable)!

2) The dream job may not come today.
Nadine Randall, CDC, Public Policy Department, Atlanta, Ga.

After figuring out that the agency life was not for her, Randall
decided that she wanted to work in a corporate setting. Understanding
what you want out of your work life is important, but this can only
come with time and experience such as having internships/jobs in
different work environments and figuring out your interests. However,
you can’t be discouraged by not finding your dream job immediately
after graduation, and make sure to continually volunteer and work with
your passions so you can find it.

3) Spend and save your money wisely.
Mike Emanuele, Horizon Staffing, Jonesboro, Ga.

Emanuele made his first budget back in 1981 when he was a student at
Northwest Missouri State University! Make sure to budget your income and
expenses closely, and allow room for emergencies! To save money after
you graduate, stay with a roommate or at home to save on costs. Make
sure you direct some of your money from each paycheck to go straight
into your savings account, so that you don’t live off of ALL of your
money and you have cushion for future expenses.

4) Keep your networking opportunities alive!
Katherine Mason, Porter Novelli, PRSA/GA representative

Joining PRSA has helped Mason, a Florida State grad, to meet PR
professionals in Atlanta and network tremendously. Sometimes, the
company will pay for your membership in PRSA, but make sure that you
are helping them by forwarding notes and tips (from luncheons and
seminars) to your boss (and to the office if given permission). Your
continuing education can profit the entire company!

5) Be proactive, especially in the first jobs of your career.
Allie Carswell, Spanx
Lindsey Berryhill, Fleishman Hillard
Kate Griffin, Kleber & Associates
Nadine Randall

If this mean that you have to ask a lot of questions, do it! Make sure
you do it in an intelligent way, but make sure that you ask them! A
lack of questions may seem to employers that you aren’t prepared to
learn, you aren’t interested in the company or you are unenthusiastic
about working there.

If you see a task that can prove your asset to the company, dedicate
yourself to it and follow through. Employers understand that you won’t
have the specific knowledge of their company, but you have the basic
communication skills to perform your job.

Senior Night Tonight!

Attention all seniors:

Tonight is Senior Night!

We’ll have Moe’s, smiles and lots of information for you, so be sure to come to the Drewry Room at 6:30 p.m.

Here are the details:

Finance Speakers:
• Tom Strate: Strate Insurance Group, Morristown, Tenn. (salary/benefit negotiation, insurance, taxes)
• Mike Emanuele: Horizon Staffing, Jonesboro, Ga. (budgeting, loans and debt, 401k and IRA plans)

PR Speakers:
• Lindsey Berryhill: Fleishman–Hillard
• Kate Griffin: Kleber & Associates
• Allie Carswell: Spanx
• Nadine Randall: CDC – Public Policy Department

• Katherine Mason: Porter Novelli (PRSA/GA representative)

We hope to have a great crowd come as we see some of our old friends, learn some new info, and comiserate on the crappy job market! Either way, you better come for a good time.

See you there, friends!

Help Out the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau

Our friends at the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau are sending around a survey asking about internships we’ve held and our experiences with them. Please be a good citizen and fill out the survey for them.

It’s only eight questions and takes two minutes. Seriously, I’ve already done it.

Go here to see the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=I_2bH_2bF9v_2bh9J4TWg7EFnj2A_3d_3d

Thanks for being great in general. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Public Relations in the Music Industry

By: Jami Houston, senior from Americus, Ga.

The following is an informational interview conducted with Michelle Roche, owner of Michelle Roche Media Relations, Athens, Ga. This company specializes in all aspects of publicity within the music industry. In addition to managing tour press for various musical artists and festivals, Ms. Roche also takes on promotional projects for DVD releases, such as Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

What do you find most challenging about your current job?

The most challenging part of owning my own company is the financial aspect, such as dealing with taxes and billing. It’s also a challenge deciding the most effective use of my time and maintaining a balance between work and a personal life.

What are the most and least rewarding aspects of your job?

The most rewarding is definitely being my own boss and having the opportunity to travel whenever I want. I usually travel five or six weeks each year. It’s also nice to have respect within the community as a local business owner. The down side of owning my own company is that no one pays for my vacation time and benefits.

Do you have any special words of warning or encouragement as a result of your experiences?

Internships, internships, internships! I think you should have several internships while in college because employers are looking more and more for graduates to have real world experience. Also, I would pay close attention to the length of the internship and the knowledge that can be gained from it. For example, if your internship was only two months, I know that you only received two-months-worth of experience, as opposed to a longer opportunity that would allow for more hands-on experience.

Meeting Tomorrow…woop woop!

Hey everyone!

Get ready for an awesome meeting TOMORROW, Wednesday, April 1 (this is not a joke, even though it’s April Fools) at 6:30 in SLC 101.

We’re having Kaitlin Tenery from Cobb Energy speak to us, and we should get some great information.

Plus, there’s a 50/50 chance we’ll have a Skype date with Eddie Garrett, the VP of New Media for Porter Novelli’s office in D.C. He’s in NYC right now teaching Pepsi executives how to Twitter, so we’ll see if they can make time for us.

Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow!

Whooda Thunk It? Twitter Analytics: 7 Ways to Analyze Twitter Streams

In a blog post I read on Social Media Today, I found some extremely interesting information relating to how to analyze people’s Twitter accounts.

Haven’t you ever wondered how to compare people’s accounts? Who posts the most? Who has the most followers? Who’s a faithful Re-Tweeter? All of these programs help answer those questions.

As communicators, we want to reach those who will make recommendations to their friends about whatever we’re trying to promote: a band, a new drug, a Coke product, an anti-wrinkle cream…you get the picture. So, naturally, we want to find those influencers and see how we can persuade them to persuade others to use or buy our product (or support our company, or whatever).

Disclaimer: I usually don’t do this, but I’ve copied and pasted each description of the programs from the original blog post. I thought he could do a better job of explaining it than I could. Plus, it’s early in the morning, and I haven’t had my coffee yet.

#1: Twitalyzer

“provides activities analysis of any Twitter user, based on social media success yardsticks. Its metrics include (a) Influence score, which is basically your popularity score on Twitter (b) signal-to-noise ratio (c) one’s propensity to ‘retweet’ or pass along others’ tweets (d) velocity – the rate one’s updates on Twitter and (e) clout – based on how many times one is cited in tweets. Its Time-based Analysis of Twitter Usage produces graphical representation of progression on various measures. Using Twitalyzer is a easy; just enter your Twitter ID and that’s it! It doesn’t require any password to use its service. Speed of analysis is depending on the size of your Followed and Followers lists.”

#2: Microplaza

“offers an interesting way to make sense of your Twitter streams. Called itself “your personal micro-news agency,” it aggregates and organizes links shared by those you follow on Twitter and display them as newstream. Status updates that contain similar web links are aggregated into ’tiles.’ Within a tile, you can see updates from those you follow and also those you don’t. Another interesting feature is ‘Being Someone’, which you can peek into someone’s world and see their ’tiles’; designed to facilitate information discovery. You can also organize those you follow into groups or ‘tribes’. You can create, for example, a knitting ‘tribe’ to easily what URLs your knitting friends are tweeting. In addition, you can bookmark ’tiles’ for future reference. Its yet-to-be-released feature, Mosaic, allows users to group together the bookmarked ’tiles’ and turn them into social objects – for sharing and discussion. At the time of this posting, MicroPlaza is still in private beta.”

#3: Twist

“offers trends of keywords or product name, based what Twitter users are tweeting about. You can see frequency of a keyword or product name being mentioned over a period a week or a month and display them on a graph. Select an area on the graph to zoom into trend for specific time range. Click on any point on the graph to see all tweets posted during a specific time. One can also see the latest tweets on the topic. Twist also allows you do a trend comparison of two (or more) keywords. Its graphs are embeddable on any website. A simple but effective tool for trending, similar to what Google Trends is doing for search queries.”

#4: Twitturly

“tracks popular URLs tracker on Twitter. With Digg-style interface, it displays 100 most popular URLs shared on Twitter over the last 24 hours. On Digg, people vote for a particular web content, whereas on Twitterurly, each time a user share a link, it is counted as 1 vote. This is a good tool to see what people are ‘talking’ about in Twitterville and see total tweets that carry the links. Its URL stats provides information on number of tweets in last 24 hrs, last 1 week and last 1 month. It also calculates total estimated reach of the tweets. Another interesting site is Tweetmeme, which can filter popular URLs into blogs, images, videos and audios.”

#5: Tweetstats

“is useful to reveal tweeting behavior of any Twitter users. It consolidates and collates Twitter activity data and present them in colorful graphs. Its Tweet Timeline is probably the most interesting, as it shows month-by-month total tweets since your joined Twitter (TweetStats showed Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, started tweeting since March 2006; 80 tweets during that month). Twitterholic can also show when a person joined Twitter but not in graphical format. Other metrics include (a) Aggregate Daily Tweets – total tweets, by day (c) Aggregate Hourly Tweets – total tweets, by hour (d) Tweet Density: hourly Twitter activities over 7 days period (e) Replies to: top 10 persons you’ve replied and (f) Interfaces Used: top 10 clients used to access Twitter. In addition, its Tweet Cloud allows you to see the popular words you used in your tweets.”

#6: Twitterfriends

“focuses on conversation and information aspects of Twitter users’ behaviors. Two key metrics are Conversational Quotient (CQ) and Links Quotient (LQ). CQ measures how many tweets were replied whereas LQ measures how many tweets contained links. Its TwitGraph displays six metrics – Twitter rank, CQ, LQ, Retweet Quotient, Follow cost, Fans and @replies. Its interactive graph (using Google Visualization API) can displays relationships between two variables. In addition, you can search for conversations between two Twitter users. This app seems to slice-and-dice data in more ways compared to other applications listed here.”

#7: Thummit Quickrate

“offers sentiments analysis, based on conversations on Twitter. This web application identifies latest buzzwords, actors, movies, brands, products, etc. (called ‘topics’) and combines them with conversations from Twitter. It does sentiment analysis to determine whether each Twitter update is Thumms up (positive), neutral or Thumms down (negative). Click on any topic to display opinions on the topic found on Twitter. In addition, it allows people to vote on topics via its website or mobile phones. The idea behind this app is good but still has some kinks to work out.”

#8: Tweeteffect

“matches your tweets timeline with your gain/lose followers timeline to determine which tweet makes you lost or gain followers. It analyze the latest 200 tweets and highlights tweets that coincides with you losing or gaining two (or more) followers in less than 5 minutes. This application simplistically assumed that your tweet is the sole factor affecting your gain/lose followers pattern. But, in reality, there are many other factors involved. Nevertheless, TweetEffect is still a fun tool to use; just don’t take the results too seriously.”

So you’re thinking about running for office…

Hi, everyone!

I hope all of you are staying dry amidst this nasty weather. My hope is they’ll turn on the fountain on Herty Field now that we’ve had enough water to last a while!

Anyway, all the officers have written little blurbs about what qualities or skills a candidate might need to have for the specific offices.  I’ll post them in a couple of different posts, so stay tuned for more updates. Our first two today are the offices of secretary and PRecedent editor. Yay!

So you wanna be the secretary…

As secretary of PRSSA, email routine and organization is key.

I serve as a representative and recruiter when students inquire for more information.

It is my job to devote love and attention to my email inbox! <3

Within this responsibility, I nurture the listserv (appropriate information without flooding), organize and send the Web master internship listings, answer questions and serve as a well-presenced liaison, as well as direct any other questions I may receive.

The main project as secretary is collecting membership applications, then organizing and sending a document of all members to PRSA Nationals.

However, all semester you work hard and help serve as a cohesive part of the e-board.

In return, you build wonderful relationships with your future partners, meet and dine with active professionals and add a wonderful experience to your resume/career - all while becoming an email wiz

Good luck with elections!

- Lauren Rausch

So you wanna be the PRecedent editor…

Think you want to be PRecedent Editor? I’m here to give you the good, the bad and the ugly!

If you love graphic design and editing, you’re the one for the job. The best editor is one who can pace themselves – no procrastinators here! You’ll be responsible for getting people to write on time, so you can design on time and have it to Dr. Jones on time… you get the picture.

Your biggest challenge will be finding writers. Be prepared to visit classes to recruit writers – don’t be shy. For the first few months, I wrote 2–4 articles for each issue. All that said, I couldn’t say enough about what I’ve learned over the past year, and the PRecedent is a fantastic way to gain experience.

- Leslie Emanuele

To see a complete listing of the officer descriptions, click here. (It will take you to another page, and you’ll have to click on “click here” again. Why? I don’t know…)

PRSSA Elections are Quickly Approaching!

Election time is almost upon us. I can’t believe it’s been a year already! Shoot, y’all.

For those who are thinking about running for E-board, this is the week to think about it even more. Our chapter cannot function without the leadership on the E-board, and we need a good, rockin’ class of officers for next year!

If you’re thinking about running, here are some things to consider:

- Check out the executive board officer descriptions here
- Start thinking about which office you will be a best fit for.
- This year, members will be able to run for their top three offices of choice.
- This is also a great time to set up a time to talk with current
officers about their duties.
- The application to be in the running for an e-board position will
posted later this week.

If you  have any questions about job duties of different officers, feel free to e-mail one of us. Our information is under the “Officers” tab.

I hope all of you are having a great week!