Holidays Are for Losers... Real Women like to Work

This Winter Break I decided to actually take a break and not work at my normal seasonal job "as much". While still working at Vickies (Victoria Secret), Salesnet and studying for the GMAT, one would think that I would not have found time to find adventures. One is mistaken. Below is a list of all of the things that I learned this Winter Break. Some are inside jokes and then some are words for the wise.

Things I have learned this Winter Break:

1.) When visiting The Biltmore Estate during Christmas, wear warm comfy shoes

2.) Tickets are required for Snow Mountain, Do not plan on going there on New Years Day

3.) GMAT's should be studied for WAAAAYYY in advance

4.) I can get lost while using a G.P.S.

5.) People are mean on Christmas Eve

6.) Christmas Eve service is at 6 not 7

7.) Don't wear a Pencil skirt in the "Ghetto" of Atlanta

8.) Blankets, scarves, and mittens are required when "Riding in Cars with Derek"

9.) Thou Shalt not cause more drama

10.) Put your dishes in the dishwasher

11.) Big Man in a Tiny Car causes problems when trying to drive

12.) Get your computer fixed more often

Hope everyone had a wonderful break!

Public Relations... We did it!

As my last Public Relation class comes to a close, a time of reflection is in order. As many times as I have struggled with the course load I am glad that I stuck through it. My Public Relations concentration will come in handy no matter what field I chose to go into, whether it be advertising, sales, management information systems or a typical pr job. So, the question that was brought up in class is what this blog post will be centered on. "What ten things did I learn in my PR concentration?"

1.) Take advantage of every Public Relations related opportunity, no matter how small or time consuming.

2.) Push your limits, don't stay in your comfort zone.

3.) Make connections in every walk of life and take advantage of those connections

4.) Approach everything with a Cheery disposition and a go-getter attitude

5.) Take advantage of every assignment you are given to increase your portfolio and knowledge.

6.) Your teachers are you mentors, and they will support you.

7.) Don't give up. Push through

8.) Breathe, stress is going to be everywhere but sometimes you need to just cut off your phone and take a break.

9.) Don't view your classes as just classes, they are the windows to opportunities

10.) Develop hard skin... criticism is there to make you grow.

From winning a national campaign competition to making scrap books as the PRSSA historian every experience I have had has made me grow as a Public Relations Grad. Experiences are what make this concentration different from every other major. In order to increase your knowledge in PR the best way to learn is through trial and error. Don't give up if you make a mistake, learn from it. This isn't an easy concentration, but it is as beneficial as you make it.

I have made some life long friends, and I wouldn't trade the time I have spent for anything. I am proudly a Public Relations concentration. My education doesn't stop from here, my experiences will keep teaching me.

Philanthropy as a Business- Google's Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming exceedingly popular and important for companies. It is an easy way to get in the media's good light, and many companies are tapping into this opportunity. Personally, I find it a lot easier to get a press release published if there is a "good-deed" attached. One company that I am marveled by in all aspects is Google. From various class projects my knowledge of Googles history and company structure has grown drastically. Before I begin on explaining the gist of their Social Responsibility, a brief history may be in order. For a typical Social Responsibility paper, the length of my history below wouldn't be so long but I find Google's history to be very interesting.

History:

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Page and Brin met at Stanford University as Computer Science grad students. According to the google timeline Brin showed Page around on his college Visit. In 1996 the two created a search engine called BackRub. After a year the campus server's bandwidth was not cable of handing the search engine. 1997 was when the name Google was born from "googol" the mathematical term meaning 1 followed by 100 zeros. After securing 100,000 dollars in funding, Google sets up shop in Susan Wojcicki's garage. Craig Silverstein was their first hired employee. By December 1998 Google was recognized as a search engine of choice in the top 100 Websites. From there, Google exploded with almost every year marking a new product or feature being created.

Google's mantra is "don't do evil" and they try to apply that to every aspect of their business. Their Philosophy includes ten things :

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well
3. Fast is better than slow
4. Democracy on the Web works
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer
6. You can make money without doing evil
7. There's always more information out there
8. The need for information crosses all borders
9. You can be serious without a suit
10. Great just isn't good enough

Perhaps Social Responsibility doesn't have to always be a separate entity of a company. I think Google does a great job of incorporating it into its daily business practices.

Google.org:

In 2005 Google created the Google Foundation which was managed by google.org. It took 10% of the 3 million shares of google to fund the foundation. Larry Brilliant headed up the google.org project but has since then become the Chief Philanthropy Evangelist. Megan Smith now manages google.org along with her other duties as V.P. of new business development. Google.org focuses on:

• Helping develop cheap clean energy
• Finding and fighting disease out breaks before they sweep the globe
• Inform and Empower

Google not only contributed money to google.org but it also contributed man power. Its original goal in 2004 was to donate 1 % of equity and profits in some form and also to donate employee time. One thing that Google does in it's Social Responsibility venture that is different is that they also invest in for profit companies that advocate for policies that follow Googles. This has raised eyebrows on whether this can be considered truly philanthropic. Google believes in approaching philanthropy like a business and tapping into the resources and strengths that Google has, its employees, products and technologies. One of these for-profit ventures is clean energy, this is considered philanthropic because it will benefit the greater good.

Dr. Larry Brilliant said, "... our greatest impact has come when we've attacked problems in ways that make the most of Google's strength in technology and information."

The five initiatives that Google will focus on in the next five to ten years are:

• Predict and Prevent - to predict eco and social crisis like infection disease outbreaks like the flu by spreading the information of the outbreak quickly and effectively
• Inform and Empower - improve public services of communication in undeserved areas
• SME’s - investing in small and medium sized enterprises
• RE - help combat greenhouse gas damage by developing renewable electrical energy
• RechargeIT - reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use, stabilize the electrical grid by supporting companies that feature things such as hybrids

According to this article, thus far Google.org and Google Foundation have committed more than 75 million dollars in grants and investments.

Some interesting things to look at that Google has done are here:

• http://www.google.org/projects.html
  http://www.project10tothe100.com/

PR Day!

Recently the GCSU PRSSA chapter hosted PR day on our campus for the second time. PRSSA is very new to our campus and its incredible how many times I have had to say the mouth full of a name (Public Relations Student Society of America)

Customer Relations- Using Social Media as a Listening Device

Customer Relations has changed drastically in the past couple of years. Before, complaints to a company were typically private and made through either the phone or mail. Today, complaints are typically public through twitter and other social media outlets. Some companys use Twitter as a "talking device" but perhaps it should be more considered a "Listening device". Through Twitter you can search for the name of your company and can see who is saying what about your products. The good thing about this, is if you approach them and fix their problem right away you can turn a bad thing into a really good thing. There are other programs throughout the web that measure and record the presence of people talking about your company.
My advice for this post... Listen more, talk less.

Ladies Lawn Night

Recently I competed in a National Campaign Competition with The CW and PRSSA. As a group of four, we had to research, create an event, and submit a campaign booklet in an attempt to promote the two new shows, 90210 and Melrose Place, on campus. Groups were only allowed to have four people, therefore, my Public Relations Campaign class split off into three groups. I can honestly say, between the three groups, The CW accomplished its goal of promotion on the GCSU campus. Flyers, radio announcements, news articles, and news shows cluttered the campus for a month as we all rushed to fill the deadline of when our event had to be held. Crazy is an understatement.

Three groups... three events... three completely different ideas. My event, or rather my groups event, was titled Ladies Lawn Night. A night of ladies bonding time. In between the freshman dorms at GCSU there is an amazingly inviting lawn that is flat and expansive, we chose this for the location. At the event there was a fashion show, a jazz band, trunk shows from local boutiques, breast cancer awareness, a red carpet with the actual CW background, makeup and hair consultations, and blankets were placed on the lawn to watch the two shows on a big screen. It was a lot of fun, there were tons of giveaways and there was a very nice turn out.

One of the things that I did learn during this event is how much work really goes into an event. Every minute of my spare time for over a month was filled with Ladies Lawn Night activities. From organization, to booking, to promotion, to decorations..... the list is huge. Thankfully the hard work really did pay off, the event was beautiful. For decorations we stuck to two colors, dark pink and white. White table clothes covered all of the tables, hurricanes with sand and candles graced every table, and christmas lights fenced in the area creating a very magical and girly environment. The ambience was embellished with the jazz band playing to attract girls to shop at the beginning of the event and guys dressed in white shirts and black pants running the tables.

Creating a campaign book is not an easy task. It is one of those things that you basically have to be thrown into creating, there is no "how-to" book. Everything from analysis to design goes into the large book. Everything that was created we stuffed into the book, everything that was written about the event we stuffed into the book... everything was there. We analyzed how the event went, how the show is doing, and included any research we had done. I am glad that portion of the project is over.

Now is the waiting period... who will win the competition. Keep your fingers crossed, and I will keep you updated!

Dear Job Market, please pick up

I am a little behind on my blogging, so get ready for a blast of blogs this week. Today I am headed to a graduate school fair. Despite the fact that I have been in school my whole life, minus four or five years, I am not yet ready to leave. I feel with the current economy it is best to enter the job market with my resume packed and my qualifications shinny. Jobs aren't easy to find, especially in my chosen field so I am choosing a different avenue, graduate school for Management Information Systems. How does that have anything to do with Public Relations or Advertising? With Management Information Systems come a lot of planning. Part of a Project Manager's (one of the jobs for MIS grads) job is public relations especially employee relations. Hopefully when I graduate from Grad school I will have a sure-fire job. I will basically have the qualifications for a million different jobs especially with my recent interest in computer programing classes. Wish me luck as I try to accumulate knowledge in a million different fields to increase my chances of surviving in the "real world".