My Experience at Real World PR

This past weekend I went to PRSA's  Real World PR in Atlanta. It was such a neat experience. 

Our day started really early, the PR girls and I left Milledgeville at 5:15 a.m. I hadn't been up that early in quite awhile! We made it to the conference center and it began with the breakfast and a panel of 3 employees from CNN answering questions about social media. Overall every PR professional stressed the importance of social media. There were many discussions on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and others. 

During the day there were 4 sessions, each time there were 3 to choose from and PR professionals were the panel that spoke and answered questions. Every session was about an hour.

After the panel I went to our first session. I attended "Make yourself Marketable." We discussed interviews, resumes, and how to land an internship or job. Once again they stressed networking and using social media and improving your resume. 

The second session I attended was "Non-Profit in PR." I really enjoyed this session because I am interested in having a career in non-profit. The panel were all professionals working with different non-profits and it was really neat to hear the pros and cons and their experiences in the profession. Non-Profit is appealing to me because it requires so many skills different skills and for the PR professional to wear many hats, not to mention it's for a good cause!

"What your Professors didn't tell you about your first job" was the third session I attended.  This was quite the eye opener. The PR panel was really blunt how different college life and real world life is. It will be quite the transition. They talked a lot about working your way up and not being afraid to ask questions when you first start your job. The panel also stressed being on time and asking your boss for weekly or monthly reports. Although it was a bit intimidating realizing I am just a couple years away from entering the job market, I thought it was a great session.

The last session was one of my favorites because it was on event planning. I love planning events, I really feel like I could make a career out of it. I really enjoyed hearing the 3 PR professionals talk about their job and how it is something different everyday. They all said you have to be organized and able to delegate well. I see myself as an organized person but could learn to delegate more. They stressed getting experience to build your resume and form a strong network of people to help with events.

Overall my experience at Real World was great, the only negative was we got lost in Atlanta on the way home. I got a few business cards from professionals and gave out some of my not so professional business cards. I will go back next year and network more. I am glad I was given the opportunity to go and get great advice from people who are in the field.