The Facebook of PR: PR Open Mic

I recently became a member of PR Open Mic, a social network for PR students, faculty, and practitioners. I don't really know where to begin about this mega PR site, there are blogs, forums, groups, news about PR, jobs and internships, videos and best of all... networking!!!

Take a look at my profile. I included what kind of PR I was interested in hoping that someone who is in the non-profit/ministry field of PR . I am having trouble figuring out how to see my friends list...maybe because I only have 1 friend (thanks tyler!)

It is very similar to Facebook in the sense that you have a profile, friend requests, pictures, groups and events. PR open mic has a multitude on information on happening PR events and news. I found myself spending a while on the homepage reading the news stories and following links. It was really interesting to read about different schools PR events.

My favorite aspect of PR Open Mic is the networking. There are so many people on PR Open Mic, you never know who knows who and someone could one day put in a good word for you. Not to mention I think we could learn a lot from other students who are a couple steps ahead of us, I will always take good advice!

I am still exploring PR Open Mic and I am trying to get the hang of it, but so far I think it is a great social media for us PR people to talk and share PR!

GCSU Athletic Auction: Success!

This past weekend was the 11th annual Georgia College & State University Athletic auction coordinated by my Public Relations Administration class. This is the athletics department largest fundraiser. The theme was motorcycle themed and titled"Thunder Rolls." Take a look at a few pictures

Our class was designed the invitation and flyers, wrote press releases, decorated the entrance, came up with the table scape, decided the menu, and did various others tasks for the event. Everyone worked so well together and the event ran so smoothly because our class was so prepared. Not to mention our publicity obviously worked because some people dressed up in motorcycle attire for the event. 

There were about 300 attendees, silent and live auction and reverse raffle. The auction was held in the Centennial Center. My class had event staff shirts made so we stuck out easily and it unified us. 

Personally I had a great time at the auction, because of class was so well prepared we were able to enjoy ourselves during the event, no crisis management needed. We even got to goof off and take class pictures on the motorcycles.

I wish we could do it again next year because we would dominate the auction 2 years in a row and we now know how everything works and could do even better. Our class is diverse and everyone has their speciality to the group that we make quite the event planning team. 

I love our PR Admin class!! 

New PR Opportunity for me!

Okay disclaimer: this is going to be a short post because this week is hectic, I've got a test thursday and a spanish test friday (spanish is not my favorite at the moment) and then the athletic auction on Saturday! This week is a full planner week, meaning there is no more room in my planner to write anything because all the days are filled up with To-Do lists and assignments!

Enough negative, now positive news... I am going to be doing PR for The Wesley Foundation next semester! What a great opportunity because it combines the ministry and PR, two things I am very interested in. 

Wesley is a campus ministry that meets wednesdays nights at 8. It is filled with worship, encouragement, prayer, fellowship, and a lesson. I started going this year and it has been such a blessing for me to unwind and worship in the middle of the week, plus I have met some amazing students!

The previous director left because he was called elsewhere and there has been am interim director but now we have a new director that is really going to shake things up and be very refreshing for the ministry. I met him and his wife this past weekend and they are so passionate about the ministry and working with college students. I am so excited I willbe part of this process. What a PR dream to be the one responsible the spread the good news about Wesley. I am really hoping my PR skills, new brochures, flyers, newspaper articles and word of mouth will inform GCSU students about Wesley and our numbers will increase!

I think it is so important in college to be involved in a ministry. It is such a great support system and a place to come get spiritually fed, not to mention you get to go on cool retreats.

I am in the process of brain storming ideas of how to publicize Wesley better, and I am open to suggestions! So if you are interested in coming, have any questions or ideas please comment or fell free to Tweet Me!

May you all have a blessed day!

If Mamma ain't happy, nobody's happy!

We have all heard the saying "If Mamma ain't happy, nobody's happy," and even the PR world is now following that rule.

I noticed many more moms engaged in social media. This website is specifically for social media moms to network and discuss what is going on in the world around them. There are some interesting links and discussions all targeted towards moms. 

 We sometimes don't give the stay at home moms enough credit for playing such a large role in the PR world, but if you can get the social media moms talking positively about your company/product you have done well. Everybody knows moms talk.... a lot... which can be a great PR tacit. Moms are a great group to please and companies should take note of that!

Take for example the Motrin mom controversy. (Read this if you don't know what I am talking about.) This uproar of moms started on twitter! Can you believe moms aret hat active on Twitter? My mom even the other day said something about getting a Twitter account. 

The writer makes a good point that Twitter acts as a warning system, companies need to be aware of what is being said about them or their product on Twitter and fix the problem before it spreads all over the internet like a wildfire. A lot of embarrassment can be avoided if you catch it early on Twitter.

Moms tweeting was the cause of this huge attack against Motrin. I am sure the PR people of Motrin didn't see this one coming and had a lot of repairing to do for their company considering their main target audience is moms and since moms are the ones who buy medicine for their children.

Couponmom.com is another example of social media savvy moms joining together talking about products and great deals. What a PR opportunity! I looked around on this site for a while and found some great buys.

These are just a couple examples of how important moms are in the PR world. So if mamma ain't happy about your product, she is going to let people know about it and then nobody is going to be happy about your product! Once again this statement rings true not just in the home but in the PR field!

Discovering my passion: FCA Girls Night Out

Recentley I have really been thinking about event planning as a career. I realize how much I enjoy working hard putting on events and then seeing the final product, it is so rewarding pulling off a fabulous event especially when it is for the glory of the Lord, I get an extra fire underneath me when I know I am serving Him.

I have been planning Parkview High School's (my alma mater) FCA's Girls Night Out. It is this weekend, March 21, and I am so excited it is finally here. I have been using my skills I have learned in my PR classes but it is totally different planning an event with people who are not trained in public relations. Us PR people we just think differently! But God has been so faithful in providing for the event and His timing is such a blessing.

Let me just give you a brief run down of the event because for the past months this event has been my little project (and has some time consumed me more then school):

The theme is "Sweet Dreams" and the decorations are modeled after a dorm room similar to how Victoria Secret's store set-up. Lots of bright colors and polka dots, very friendly and bright. The girls are getting shirts there and are asked to wear pajama pants. The event is in my church's newly built fellowship hall, so it will be perfect. We are serving them dinner and having various make your own dessert stations around the room with a college leader at each station to just chat with the girls.

Now if you are thinking this is on the cheesy side remember there are middle school and high school girls!

We have a panel of college girls that are speaking on various topics. I thought the girls would enjoy hearing from people closer to their own age about issues we face in middle/high school.

The GCSU Wesley Praise band is leading worship and they are such a blessing to hear. My boyfriend is the lead singer so I was able to pull some strings to get them to come all the way to Gwinnett. I enjoyed making the flyers (image above) and sign-up sheets using my photoshop skills, those sure do come in handy! 

There are so many smaller details I am excited about but I figured you would appreciate it if my blog wasn't a novel. 

I am writing about all this because I have discovered my passion for planning events to minister to young women. I get so much joy out of knowing God is going to touch these girls hearts and providing these special girls with a night they will always remember. 

High school is such a crucial time for young women and I would have loved going to FCA Girls Night Out and hearing the encouragement and advice from college girls. I have such a  passion for the hearts of young women and have so much I want to share with them. 

I am hoping God placed the opportunity to plan FCA Girls Night Out in front of me to prepare me for many more events like this in my future. Maybe one day I will be planning women's conferences or retreats and all my PR girls can come to it! (Tyler, our solo PR guy, I will find you a men's retreat so you don't feel left out!)

If you know any connections with a women's ministry please feel free to tweet me @LChandley or leave a comment!

Learning how to "Tip"

I just finished Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. I am fascinated with the tipping point concept because it something I haven't thought much about but now I am noticing tipping everywhere. 

It is difficult to define what the tipping point is because it takes the whole book to really grasp the full concept, but here is my attempt of explaining: the tipping point is the peaking moment when a trend or idea becomes a thriving epidemic. Whether it is a brand of shoes or a STD it spreads like a virus.

Gladwell gives three agents of change necessary to achieve the tipping point: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. 

While reading I was thinking of the athletic auction our PR class is planning and how our class can make it tip. We need to milk the law of the few for all it's worth. The idea of the law of the few is society is really driven by a handful of people. I loved the example of the hush puppy shoes and how they tipped because a a small number of people in Manhattan started wearing them and then they became the next fashion craze. In the case of the auction we need the most influential people of Milledgeville to attend our auction and to start the tip. Having the right small group of people attend the auction will encourage the tip, the problem here is figuring out who that select group is. 

The stickiness factor will bring the people back every year so it becomes routine and tradition. Our PR class also need to use the power of context for the auction. Our goal is for people to WANT to attend the auction. Instead of saying, "Why would I go to another auction and waste money," we want our guests to say, "I can't wait until the auction!"

This brings me to my next point of the three types of people: connector, maven and salesperson. All three people are beneficial to reaching the tipping point.

The connector is the person who knows everybody because they are in several social circles. These are the kind of people we need to come to the auction to increase the numbers because of their vast network. The mavens are crucial because they are the ones who inform the connectors of the information. The mavens have the inside scoop and the knowledge, the connectors just pass on the "virus." Including a group of salesmen wouldn't hurt either. These are our people who could sell snow to an eskimo. Since the auction is a FUNDraiser, selling the idea of coming to the auction and biding on items is key in reaching the tip.

I enjoyed reading about these types because certain people came to my mind when I was reading. For instance my dad is the perfect example of a connector. I am pretty sure he can make a connection with anyone in Atlanta and knows someone everywhere we go. My mom is such a maven, she always knows the inside scoop of what it going on. 

This leads me to believe that I am a combination of a connector and maven. Here at Georgia College & State University I have several social circles, Alpha Delta Pi, Ambassador Team, PR class, Wesley Campus Ministry, and a few other groups. I enjoy making connections with people and never pass up the chance to introduce myself to someone. The maven part of me loves to be in the know and share it with people. I love being able to share information with my peers before they find out. I do know that I am NOT a salesmen, I hate the feeling of making someone uncomfortable or forcing my ideas on them. Therefore I will not have a future career in sales. 

As for social media I think Twitter is well on it's way to hitting the tipping point. When I first got Twitter I didn't hear much about it and was a little confused by the concept of a microblog, but now everywhere I turn I am hearing something about Twitter, my dad is even on Twitter now! Come to think of it, all of social media is reaching the tipping point. After attending Real World PR and hearing the professionals stress the importance of social media it sounds like social media is going to be taking over the world soon. It surrounds us and our generation thrives for Facebook, Twitter, etc. 

I am curious to hear what everyone in PR class tomorrow thinks about The Tipping Point because I think we have the ability and resources to make the auction Tip! As for someone who pays attention to details I appreciated how Gladwell stressed the importance of the little things, I think that is very optimistic of him. 

"Left at the Altar" Book Party Sparks a Career Interest!

This Saturday evening I attended a book release party in Atlanta for a dear family friend, Kimberley Kennedy. 

Kimberley wrote a book about her journey of being stood up at her rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding 10 years ago. I think that is every girls nightmare. After years of coping and healing Kimberley decided to write the book and share her experiences with other women and how she found the true love of her life to be Jesus. It is so neat to hear her talk about how she realizes this was God's plan for her to write this book and how passionate she is to share her story with other women.

The book release party was held at the Capital City Club, the place her rehearsal dinner was supposed to be and this was the first time she was able to come back. (how ironic where he left her is where she has her book release party, ha you go girl!) While I was there I did network a little, every chance I have to tell professionals I am a student graduating in a year I take advantage of the opportunity. 

Kimberley works at WSB, where I am hopefully interning this summer and I am really excited about spending time with her and learning from her. She will be such a great mentor. I look up to Kimberley because she is such a beautiful, confident woman of God. 

So this summer I will be sure to share my idea for my new dream job idea with her:

I would love to be her publicist for her book. I could schedule book signings, speaking occasions,  write press releases, create a twitter, blog and any social media page, and just do anything I can to get the name of the book out there. 

As many of you know I really want to be involved in a women's ministry and this is would a perfect mix of the ministry and Public Relations.

Obviously this is really far fetched, but it is always nice to dream! I'll keep you all updated if my dream job works out! I encourage you all (especially my PR girls) to order the book off amazon, I just ordered 3 copies to share! here is her website, take a look!