PRSA National Leadership Opportunities – 2012 New Professionals Executive Committee

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

2011 is winding down, and it’s time to choose a new Executive Committee for the New Professionals Section. This is a National leadership opportunity and great for any new professional looking to get more exposure in the industry and showcase their talents. There are many ways to get involved from writing articles for the newsletter or blog to serving on the Executive Committee.

Please fill out our online volunteer interest form, select the New Professionals Section from the drop-down list and you’re on your way. There are a number of questions that will help staff and Section volunteer leaders match your interests and availability with our opportunities, and we will be in contact after the deadline of Monday, Nov. 14.

The following Chair positions are open for the 2012 New Professionals Executive Committee:

  • Programming Chair (1)
  • Blog Co-Chair (1)
  • Newsletter Co-Chair (1)
  • Membership Outreach Co-Chair (2)
  • Mentoring Program Co-Chair (2)
  • PRSSA Liaison (1)

Please note you must be an active member of PRSA and the New Professionals Section to volunteer. For questions regarding Chair positions, feel free to contact this year’s Chair Sarah Siewert at sarah.siewert@kemperlesnik.com or Chair-Elect Leah Moon at moon.leah@gmail.com.

New Professionals Section Tweetchat—Promoting YOU: PR Tips for Networking, Landing a Job and Moving Up

Heather Sliwinski 1 Comment

Working in the public relations field, promoting our clients or organizations is the root of what we do. We leverage Twitter, blogs, networking and traditional media to garner the highest praise for our client. When it comes to promoting ourselves for a better position, a higher salary or maybe even our first job, new PR professionals may come up short since we’re used to working behind the scenes.

The PRSA New Professionals Section wants to answer those burning questions you have about how to network effectively, how to stand out in a saturated job candidate pool and how to continue progressing in your PR career. This Tuesday, October 25, the New Professionals Section will be hosting its first Tweetchat with the authors of our July Summer Book Club book, “Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Get Hired and Get Rewarded at Work”. Jessica Kleiman and Meryl Weinsaft Cooper will be live Tweeting at 7:15 p.m. EST with the PRSA New Professionals Section.

How to Join the Conversation

We will be posing questions from the PRSA New Professionals Section handle, with Kleiman and Weinsaft Cooper providing insight from their handle. You can follow both @PRSANewPros and @BestPublicist on Twitter, or simply monitor the #npchat hashtag to see what the whole Twitterverse is saying.

Didn’t get a chance to read the book? No worries. Read Blog Co-Chair Diahnn Henderson’s discussion of the book to get a preview of the advice you’ll gain during the chat.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from two experts in PR, publicity and personal branding and make yourself indispensable to your current or future employer! Follow #npchat with the New Pros on Tuesday night!

Our featured participants:

Jessica Kleiman is currently VP-public relations for Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines. A graduate of University of Michigan with a BA in Communication, she started her career at a magazine publicity firm and then served as director of PR at The Knot, a wedding media company. In 2011, Kleiman was nominated as “Publicist of the Year” by PR News.  She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughter and enjoys posting words she finds funny on Twitter, Facebook and her blog, Funny Word of the Day.

Meryl Weinsaft Cooper is a co-founder and principal of Allen/Cooper Enterprises, a marketing, exhibitions and events company with a focus on art and lifestyle brands.  Previously, as managing director  of the DeVries Public Relations‘ Home & Lifestyle division and as SVP-Partner at LaForce+Stevens, she led programs for a variety of hospitality and consumer brands including Veuve Clicquot, Belvedere Vodka, Pepperidge Farm, Samuel Adams Beer, New Amsterdam Gin and Ecco Domani Wines.  A graduate of Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications, her PR experience includes stints in art, music and entertainment, including time at the Screen Actors Guild’s New York office.  She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and dog, and spends her spare time writing and producing films as well as seeking out the best culinary, travel and art experiences, which she documents in her blog, Searching for Jake Ryan.

Both authors are contributing bloggers on Forbes.com’s Work in Progress section.

Getting the Most Out of PRSA International Conference: 4 Tips for New Pros

Heather Sliwinski 1 Comment

So, you’ve registered for the PRSA 2011 International Conference. Now what? All you need to do is pack and relax, right? Well, maybe. This year’s conference is going to rock! Most likely, you’ll leave with a few business cards in hand and, most importantly, the tools and knowledge necessary to take your career to the next level. But, there is much work to be done.

Here are a few tips for new PR pros to help get the most out of conference:

  • Plan your schedule– the International Conference is jam packed with sessions, and it may be hard to choose which ones to attend. By planning ahead, you’ll be able to enjoy the conference more. Look for sessions that relate to your everyday job and ones that might challenge you. As a new PR pro, you may want to consider sessions like “How to Pitch to Overworked Journalists and Harried Bloggers and Come Out Unscathed” or “The Personal Branding Project – Crafting Your Identity.” Sessions like these will help hone your craft and position you to the right audiences, especially if you are looking for a job.
  • Network, network, network – so much of what we do is about creating and retaining relationships with key media and stakeholders. It’s only fitting that in order to excel in this field, we need to make connections with other professionals. You never know where your next job offer will come from, and you never know who might become your mentor. So, don’t be shy–introduce yourself to someone new at each session you attend! A must-attend networking event is the opening-night reception hosted by PRSA Orlando (shameless plug). The reception will be a great way to kick off the conference with other industry professionals from across the country. Other must-attend events include the PRSA Connections Networking Luncheon and the PRSA and Inside PR Tweetup by the lazy river. (Yes. You read that right. There is a lazy river at the hotel. Let’s do this!) 
  • Enjoy Orlando – conference isn’t all work and no play. There will be plenty of time to soak up some sun or venture off property to explore the other side to Orlando.
  • Follow up with your connections – be sure to send personal notes to all the connections you make at conference. You’ll want to keep in touch. In fact, when you get a business card from someone, write a note on the back of the card about what you talked about or where you met them to help jog your memory later.

So, pack your bags and trek on down to Orlando. The awesomeness that is the PRSA International Conference starts in a few short days. Who’s ready for some PR fun in the sun? 

Christina Morton is on the PRSA Orlando Regional Chapter Host Committee. She is an account executive specializing in social media for CBR Public Relations in Maitland, Fla.

Save the Date: New Professionals Week 2011

Diahnn Henderson 1 Comment

I love planning events for the New Pros especially when it’s a national weeklong event celebrating young professionals! You can never have enough young professionals in your Chapter; after all, they are the future.

This year, during November 14-18, we will host our very first New Professionals Week. This week was designed to celebrate young professionals, but also to help connect young PR pros with their local PRSA chapter.

Who’s invited? Everyone. We’re encouraging everyone who’s interested in this week to get involved! PRSA New Pros National will support your local event via guest blog posts and social media channels.

How can I get involved? If you interested in contributing to our blog, contact blog co-chairs, Heather Sliwinski and Diahnn Henderson. For events, visit our website and download a fact sheet and an event registration form. This website will be the hub for all events held during New Pros week. Once registration forms are submitted, you’ll be able to see a list of events on our website, promoting local events.

We understand that not everyone may have a budget to host an event this year. For those of you who have tight budgets, here are a few budget friendly ways to participate:

  1. Host a private showing of a PRSA New Pros webinar. During New Pros Week, we feature a webinar on a topic of interest for new pros. We anticipate the webinar will be held in the afternoon on Wednesday, Nov. 16 available for purchase (only $35 for New Pros Section members) to host a private showing – invite local new pros to an office, bring a bag lunch and have a discussion after the presentation. The playback will also be available for purchase and our guest speaker can be reached throughout the week for questions via Twitter.
  2.  Host a New Pros focused PRSA Chapter meeting. What topics are particularly interesting to young professionals? What issues are they concerned with during their first few years as a PR professional? Schedule a Chapter meeting during this week and cover one of these topic(s) and/or issue(s).
  3. Participate in New Pros week via our social networks and blog. Follow our hashtag #NPWeek to join the coast-to-coast virtual networking. We’re always looking for a fresh, new perspective on any aspect of PR for our blog; consider drafting a post about your Chapter’s local new pros group, or your personal experience as a new pro.Elizabeth Rhoads

It’s going to be great week of celebrating young professionals. If you have any questions about getting involved, please email me .

Elizabeth Rhoads
PRSA New Professionals Section Programming Chair

Professional Development Brown Bag: Exploring Post-Graduate Options in PR

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

Is graduate school something you’ve considered? If so, will you choose MBA or Masters? What about getting your APR? Where does it all fit in? Do you start right after you graduate from college or after you’ve been working a couple years? For some it’s obvious, if you’re more in line with a business field, you’ll go for the MBA, but what about the rest of us? Our next Brown Bag, “Exploring Post-Graduate Options in Public Relations”, should help answer some of your questions!

We have the opportunity to hear from a panel of three guests: Arthur Yann (APR), Meg Kane (Masters) and Heather Read (MBA). Each of them comes from a different industry and will shed some light on their career and education path.

The Brown Bag will be held on Friday, September 23 from 2-3 pm. Remember, it’s free for PRSSA and New Pros Section members! Register here.

Arthur Yann, APR is vice president, public relations, at PRSA. In his 20+ years of New York agency experience, Yann has launched and revitalized consumer and business products, developed national and local media relations strategies, managed corporate reputations and crises and built brands. Yann holds a journalism degree from Ohio University.

Meg Kane is currently an account supervisor for Brian Communications in Philadelphia, Penn. She holds a Masters degree in Strategic Public Relations and Political Rhetoric from the University of Maryland. Kane has worked on the agency side of public relations for more than five years, working with brands such as Tastykake and the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Additionally, Kane served as the director of public relations for Mount Saint Joseph Academy as well an adjunct professor of communication at La Salle University.

Heather Read, MBA is an award-winning specialist in strategic communications and has 14 years of experience in business-to-business and technology PR and marketing. Read is currently public affairs program manager at DuPont, managing social media as it relates to issues and crisis communications. Previously, Read was the senior director of communications at Afilias. She holds a MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business and and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.