My Semester as practicum student for Digital Bridges

This semester I worked my practicum for Digital Bridges, a program in Milledgeville which I was already quite familiar with. From January through May I was employed by Digital Bridges as a public relations student assistant. My duties last semester were diverse and included tending to the social media sites Facebook and Twitter as well as other secretarial duties such as contacting news outlets with press releases which were self-generated as well as created by my managers.
This semester has been much different. I was given main duties such as creating a social media policies page to add to the policies and procedures booklet that is already in use at Digital Bridges, as well as logging, copying and compiling all of our press mentions. In addition, I was asked to attempt to reach over 200 Facebook likes. I created Facebook events and also created a large number of tweets in regards to the Candidate Forums, a series of events that took place at Digital Bridges this semester, which were shown live online as the forums took place. I publicized this event by placing posters around town and distributing handbills to students on campus that informed them of the events.
As for the successfulness of my projects I believe I did very well and succeeded. Since I spent only a little over three hours per week at Digital Bridges, it was crucial that I find another way to keep the social media updated when I was not in the building. For this, I created a Socialoomph.com account that I used to automatically post my tweets to our Twitter page throughout the week. I also created a hootsuite account although I did not get any use out of it. I created tweets not only about the upcoming events such as the Candidate Forums and the city-wide mobile treasure hunt, but also tweeted links to articles found on sites such as Engadget, Gizmodo, Mashable, NTEN, Readwriteweb, and Techcrunch that made mentions of technology or programs related in some way to the Milledgeville community. I also reached the goal set my Daniel McDonald of getting our number of likes to over 200. We now have 214. Previously we had about 100. I did this by continuing to suggest the program’s page over Facebook. I created all of the events that occurred this semester as Facebook events and invited all of our friends.
A large task which I took on this semester was logging all of our press mentions into documents as well as making copies of those, which I then turned into PDF’s online. The point of this was to make sure that all of the articles about us that have been published are now able to be published online on the Digital Bridges website to be viewed by those who visit our website. The log was created so that the articles could be cut out of the papers and we would still know the newspaper and date they were published.
My most important task of the semester was thwarted however I did remake it. I did a lot of research on the social media policies of large companies such as IBM and NPR. I constructed a mission statement for Digital Bridges social media use as well as a list of social media policies and procedures. This large document that had been sent by e-mail was lost when the Digital Bridges computer’s documents were cleared. Daniel no longer had the document in his e-mail either. Thus, after 3 weeks of research and drafting, I started over on the policies and procedures document. This time, it was saved to multiple e-mails to avoid the same mishap.
The last duty of my practicum was to distribute posters to various businesses around Milledgeville. I also created a document listing these businesses as well as a contact at most of them. I also took handbills for both shoplocalmilledgeville.com and the Candidate Forums and passed them out to people around campus. The problem with this is that I do not think that all students care as much about the candidates as the people of Milledgeville do. The students are all here for a limited amount of time and many are not registered to vote in Milledgeville if they are registered at all. All in all, I believe I had a productive semester with Digital Bridges. I produced content which was used by the program and I believe I have left my mark due to the creation of social media policies which will, of course, have to be mended once new social media sites come into the picture.

** I do not own the picture posted. It can be found at http://thedigitalbridges.org/

Professional Development Session 1 PRSSA National Conference

Bob Lehrman, a former speech writer for Al Gore as well as Taylor Griffin, who worked for the Bush campaign, were the first set of speakers at professional development sessions who I had the pleasure of listening to.

Here are some semi-random thoughts and things which I learned in this session:

1) Obviously, the Press Secretary is going to be highly scrutinized for everything that is said. He and the president really do need to spend tons of time together so that all of the information that the two of them put out can be in perfect harmony. The things that are said have to have a certain grace to them. Phrasing something one way could make some people happy, however could endanger our soldiers overseas, or saying that our soldiers overseas aren't doing well could be detrimental in other ways.

2) Unless you have been living under a rock you should know that news cycles have changed greatly. The first source for information in the past was the AP wire, but now any media outlet is putting out news instantly. News output is continuous and stories are updated so frequently that what used to be in the paper one night would be irrelevant by the time it got to you the same morning. Also, now with technology as advanced as it is becoming, average citizens are often the first to report breaking news over their phone internet, picture uploads to the web, etc.

3) This is something that may not strike people as obvious but it makes a whole lot of sense. The president and those who speak for him should never write a speech above an 8th grade reading level. Why? The average American reads at a 7th grade level. Yes ladies and gents, sad but true. So, speech writers really are limited by what the average voters can understand vocabulary wise. You may think that using big words will prove to everyone that you are smart, but really it just loses your audience.

4) Who are the people who you focus on in a race? Since the majority of people do vote on party lines, the people you really need to worry about are the 2-3% who are undecided. This makes a lot of sense when you look at the last presidential election.

5) Advice for those of you who would like to work in politics in D.C.:
-Do a semester/summer in Washington. An internship, though often unpaid, is the best way to get your foot in the door. Visit your home state senator's or representative's office and ask if you can start a position locally.

PRSSA National Conference 2010; Washington, DC

First of all I am so grateful to Bobcat PRSSA and GCSU SGA for helping to fund this trip to Washington, DC giving me a chance to soak up so much knowledge, expand my contacts, and steer my future career. This experience was such a wonderful tool.


The trip to DC was quite a trip. Not only were we there for our 12 hour days of workshops, speeches, and group meetings; We spent our nights exploring rich American history of the U.S. capital. Oh, and an hour in line at Georgetown Cupcake. Trust me, the Salty Caramel flavor cupcakes are well worth it.


Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting about individual lectures and speeches which I listened to while at the convention. First, I would like to write about the speech given the first day of the conference given by Jim Margolis. GMMB's Margolis worked on President Obama's 2008 campaign.


Margolis took us through how the campaign came to be, as well as what it meant. The focus of this campaign: CHANGE. A great part of his speech was about how Obama's campaign was unlike any other past campaign in the way that it truly embraced the online audience (social media as well as websites), from children to teens to adults. The campaign was very technology fueled. This is how Obama created a movement. An iPhone app was even created in order to show supporters how many people were being reached on a daily basis who were exposed to the beliefs of the candidate. Not only did his iPhone app and website help to fuel the campaign, over 442,000 user generated videos were created! Perhaps the most powerful and memorable video was the "Yes We Can" video with Will I Am.


Obviously Jim Margolis's efforts and campaign designs have not been in vain...


He is currently working on the Barbra Boxer campaign in California.

PRSA Shadow Day 2010

On Thursday, September 30, I attended Shadow Day. Students from Georgia were assigned to various PR agencies, corporate PR groups, and Non-profits. I was placed at Porter Novelli, a PR agency in Buckhead. Upon arriving at PN, we were seated in a conference room where we met Tia Jackson, the HR Manager for Porter Novelli. Throughout the afternoon we listened to several presentations about topics ranging from today's marketing mix to corporate crisis management. Learning about how very diverse the projects which PN's employees work on was a great indicator of how a day in the office at the agency could go. Previous interns turned employees explained to us the types if duties they are given while they were interning. Responsibilities included maintaining the intern blog, and also, and more unexpectedly, working side-by-side with the agency's employees on accounts on the very first day. They explained that they felt as if they were part of the team right away and that their input was as important as any other employee's. I really enjoyed hearing from the interns about how much they enjoyed being interns for PN. As explained, working for an agency first is the best way to enter the PR world. Why? I understood that because of the various projects which you are given. You are expected to work on more than one account at a time.
I am not sure where the future will take me, but I will not rule out an agency for any reason. Thanks to Porter Novelli for the experience they provided us!

Crisis Communication

Last week I gave a presentation to the Fall 2010 PR Campaigns class. This presentation outlined crisis communication. Because you cannot post Powerpoint presentations on Blogger, I have created an online location for viewing: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38358252/Crisis-Communication-CDC

I will go into detail, slide by slide.

Slide 2- What makes something a crisis?
Possibly being unforseen.
Crisis is defined in the Merian Webster Dictionary as:
an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially one with the distinct possibility of a highl undesireable outcome.

Slide 3- Ways to prevent a crisis. Conduct a risk assessment. What is a risk assessment? An internal activity that identifies potential problems within an organization. One way- learning from others mistakes. Ex. after Katrina- other cities like New Orleans viewed their risks.
Another way: Environmental Scanning- An external activitywhich requires careful objectiv scrutin of an organizations outside environment. It looks for problems faced by similar organizations. As simple as reviewing feedback. Also reviewing trade publications.

Slide 4- PR's role. To identify problems. Prioritizing problems- weighing which could be most serious if not dealt with. Managing problems- so that they don't become a serious issue.
PR & Managers ask: What if? and always think in worst case scenario.

Slide 5- Big crisis- product failure, facility, destruction, employee strikes, etc.
Small crisis- need appropriate responses for each situation.

Slide 6- key players in the crisis management team-
1- senior on scene- will make decisions and stay on spot.
2- security liason
3- PR/Affairs expert
4- Info center coordinator
others: IT, lawyers, counselors, advisors

each member taps ey individuals responsible for carrying out portions of the crisis plan.

Slide 7- What Happens once a plan is created?
Sitting around and waiting for something to happen is not an option. The plan must be tested and retested often. If they are not tested they are worthless. Must be able to act quickly.

Slide 8- There are 7 ways an organization can react to a crisis ranging from defensive to accommodative.
1)preemptive action strategy
2)offensive response strategy
3)defensive response strategy
4)diversionary response strategy
5)vocal commiseration
6)rectifying behavior
7)strategic inaction

Slide 9&10- defensive & accomodative strategies

Slide 11- Preemptive Action Strategy-
Prebuttal- an organization tries to be the 1st to tell the story & set the tone before others.

Slide 12-Offensive Response Strategies-these tactics use shame, threats & embarassment.
attack the accuser- when accusers logic/facts are faulty & if said negligent/maliciously.
embarassment- humiliation to lessen accusers influence
threat- of lawsuits or exposure

Slide 13- Defensive Respose Strategies-
Denial- of a problem existing or that they have part in something.
Excuse-
Justification- such as "well nothing happened so it's ok". Sometimes blame shifts to victims. Ex. the six flags decapitation event.

Slide 14- Diversionary Response Strategies-
Concession- an organization gives the public something it wants, valued by both groups.
ingratiation- actions taken to appease unhappy people. ex. cupons or a donation.
disassociation- from the wrongdoer.
relabeling- new name for something if the old name has a bad connotation

Slide 15-vocal commisseration strategy-
Concern- no guilt however
condolence- recognizes sorrow. still, no guilt.
regret- admitting sorrow and remorse. may or may not admit guilt.
Apology- takes responsibility & asks forgiveness. Money is often included.


Slide 16- Rectifying Behavior Strategies-
Investigation- examines what led to the situation
corrective action- steps taken to repair damage & prevent reoccurance
restitution- restore to former state
repentance- fully accepts responsibility and offers to change practice

Slide 17- Strategic Inaction- Silence.
NOT "not comment"
An instance is victim privacy.

Slide 18- Actions to take during a crisis-
1- put the public first. Ex. pulling a product from the shelves. Whatever is best for the public. An exmple of this is Tylenol and their poison crisis where 6 people died. They pulled all products from shelves and now, they are still existing.
2- take responsibility- not always caused by an organization but still should take a leading role in fixing it. Fix first, blame later.
be honest, don't speculate.
3- Stick to the facts AS the story unfolds. Letting the public know why something happened "isn't known" but "is being investigated" is better than "no comment"
Keep facts straight.
4- Be accessible & accommodate the media. Communicate frequently. The news seeks constant updates. Don't make them go elsewhere for the story. This leads to speculation. This could be from employees, outside experts.
Leadership meets with news. Website uopdated. Respond quick to top tier media.
5- Single spokesperson- CEO or other high ranked official
6- monitor news coverage. May be monitoring service. If a news media puts out incorrect information, send them the correct information to correct it.
7- Communicate with key publics- Don't get lost in the media. Stay in contact with investors, employees, retailers, and customers because they are the stakeholders. Investors want to know how their investment is being protected. Retailers and customers also need to know if there is some type of recall.
8- Consult crisis communication experts- before a crisis strikes

Slide 19- Three C's

Slide 20 & 21- Do's and Do nots

Slide 22- The CDC’s Smallpox Communication Crisis Plan

Slide 23- Facts: 30 % of people who get it die. It's a very small, very contagious diease. It's transmittable through the air. You do not show symptoms right away. Just one case being identified in the U.S. makes a public health emergency.

Slide 24- Reponse Plan. This particular response plan addresses 8 areas including a 27-page communication plan and activities.

Slide 25- The Plan Covers- Several ready-to-go elements(fact sheets, tracking forms, vaccine guidelines)
When info is released, what is said and how it is said can have a big effect on a population. Fear v. panic. Be sure not to downplay a crisis such as Smallpox because of problems such as the SARS virus being downplayed in 2003.
The response plan covers 8 areas. Goals & Objectives for Smallpox communication, Key consideration for Smallpox Communication, Guiding crisis communication principles, communication preparedness strategies, CDC communication in event of an outbreak, core communication functions & CDC's emergency communication system, key stakeholders, CDCs key preparedness communication activities.

Slide 26- The plans Key Communication Goals- listed on pg. 119 but are mostly to increase the understanding of Smallpox. The key is already having plan & relationships in place. CDC partnerships with man organizations.

Slide 27- Early messages- Emphasize facts, transmission, symptoms.
Communication Presparedness strategies- getting materials to key publics.
The plan incorporates communication activities before, during & after

A list of preparedness activities is listed on p. 120- regular updates and mock outbreaks.

Nonprofit PR

This semester I will be working my practicum for Digital Bridges Milledgeville. All last semester I worked for them as their Public Relations student worker. Over the summer, one of the management figures changed, thus, my job description has changed. I used to find articles online 2 days per week which pertained to how technology could be related to and/or affect the community. A huge project which I am beginning my work on is working with a website called ten questions (10questions.com). It gives people a change to record themselves asking questions which they would like to ask to the candidates for governor and house, both at local and state levels. Visitors of the website are asked to vote on the questions which they would most like to be answered by the candidates. The ten questions with the most votes will be asked to them. My job is to create a campaign to draw people into Digital Bridges in order to record their questions. Any ideas?

Little Tidbit About PR for Sports Information

Working for Al Weston, the Sports Information Director, hasn’t been easy, but it’s been quite the learning experience. As we began working with sports last semester in PR writing, Al Weston became our liaison between mass communication and athletics. As his student assistant, I did a variety of jobs. As far as print goes, I wrote a couple short press releases for the Athletics website, as well as created numerous table tents and game programs for various sports. On the non-print side of my practicum, I worked all of the GC&SU basketball games this semester as well as a few softball games.

My hours were sporadic, except for my usual Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:15 to 5:15. Other than my usual hours, I worked on game days. Setting up for the games began at about 4, and the ladies games began at 5:30, the men’s at 7:30. By the time cleaning was done I was out of the gym by about 10.

Leading up to a game on the day of, there is a great deal of preparation to be done. I The screen between the score boards is a color screen and message board. One of my pre-game jobs is to make updates in the computer program which corresponds with the board. After updating the slides that cover topics such as upcoming games, the athlete of the week, and the team’s rankings in the Peach Belt Conference, I take the wireless router which connects the computer and the board without a wire and I transfer the information to update the board so that event goers will be aware of the current information. Also before games, I created game programs which include statistics for both teams, rankings in their conferences, individual player positions and statistics, and information about coaches. The programs must be placed on the information table located at the front of the venue, as well as be readily available at the court-side media table for announcers to use in their broadcasts. I create a box of goodies such as Frisbees and t-shirts for the cheerleaders. I usually wrapped up about 30 Bobcat t-shirts into throw-able balls using rubber bands , for the cheer leaders to throw to the crowd.

I learned a lot working the athletic events. At the basketball games, I ran the score board and the message board, picked random crowd members for the trivia question and Frisbee competition during time outs as well as conducted the Frisbee competitions. I must add that finding people who are willing to volunteer to answer a trivia question is not as easy as you would think. People seemed so reluctant to answer a simple sports question in front of a crowd.

Whenever something went awry such as a printer out of ink, cords disconnected, or anything of that nature, I was Al’s go to girl to fix the problem, keeping me on my toes and nearby at all times.

If I could do it again, I probably would not have picked this practicum because I will most likely never work in sports, however the practicum did cultivate a greater appreciation and enjoyment of basketball within me. Working with two of Alan’s graduate assistants, Katie Parker and Tyler Peck, was a good experience for me. I learned a lot from them while working on projects. Researching opponents was essential to creating the documents which I completed for athletics, and I learned how to work with the programs QuarkXPress as well as Adobe Pagemaker. I would reccommend this internship for a student who has an immense love for sports, or would like to work in sports information.