The End of an Era

I feel this blog needs a closing post. The purpose of this blog was to show the transformation as I "budded" into a PR professional. I started this blog on January 16, 2010 and while that is just a year ago, it is amazing to look back and see how different I am, personally and professionally. When we all were required to start a blog, none of us (my awesome Mean in Green team) had truly used social networking for PR purposes. Since then we all utilize Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. to accomplish PR.

For a reflection, I think a timeline of PR growth should be created on this blog...

Spring Semester 2010
Jan- Guest Speaker at Flagler College
Feb- Pitch auction themes
Feb- Read The Tipping Point and got inspiration for what PR is all about
March- Create Resume, figure out the art of cover letters
March- Search/Apply for internships
March- Watch firsthand the media's response to the Roethlisberger incident in Milly
March- First independent promotional night (mean in green bball game)
April- Countless hours creating by hand EVERY little perfect detail for our huge Athletic Auction
April- ATHLETIC AUCTION, the pinnacle event of any GCSU PR student's career
Summer 2010- INTERNSHIP @ The Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce
Fall 2010- whew, words/timelines cannot capture everything that went on during this last semester of college
Fall 2010- Senior Seminar- this class was split into two sections. The practical must know info for the real world, and then a research section. SO much is learned in these sections that are essential to learn before graduation
Fall 2010- Created professional portfolio and website
Dec- Final research paper presentations and portfolio presentations
Dec- GRADUATION!!!!!!!!!!! Finished.
Jan 2011- THE JOB SEARCH- I am in the midst of interviews and figuring out the next step in life.... whew what a true learning experience this time of adjustment this is!

Overall, I am so proud to say I am a GCSU Alum!!!!! GCSU and more importantly the mass communication department at Ga College is in my biased opinion one of the top schools/departments to attend to be able to bud into the PR professional that I always aspired to be. I could not have done it without our amazing professor/mentor- Dr. Ginger Carter Miller and my wonderful Mean in Green team. All of you guys have all my love and support forever!!

Evaluation of Mean in Green

Planning my own basketball theme night was a huge learning experience. I thought it would be simple and that the hardest part was coming up with a cute theme for the night and everything else would just fall into place. Well that wasn't the case...

1) My event was “It’s All About Prevention” with Bobcat Athletics on Jan. 29. I helped ATSO, the Athletic Training Student Organization, plan their emphasis night. I worked with Kirk Armstrong to plan this night. ATSO had a Tape Off (ankle taping competition) and a Knock Out basketball competition during the halftimes along with a raffle to win two date night packages.
Itinerary for the night:
Women's Game
First Half- Media Timeout- student reading PSA
Halftime- Tape-off competition
Second Media Timeout- announce who won the 1st drawing
Men's Game
First Half Media Timeout- student read PSA
Halftime - Knock Out competition
Second Half Media Timeout- announce the date night drawing

2) I would say that the night was a success. All the details for the night went off without a hitch. The whole evening was smooth, the events during the halftimes were great, and ATSO made a good amount of money with their raffle. The attendance for the Women's game was pretty good and the Mens game was PACKED! My clients, Kirk Armstrong and GCSU Athletics, were completely satisfied with the night and that's all that matters to me.

3) The best learning moment from my event was dealing with a difficult client. I never thought that I would be met with such resistance. It was hard to not take it personally. I'm glad I had to go through all those hoops with him in this type of setting instead of experiencing it on a tougher level in the professional world.

4) The one thing I wish I could do over would be dealing with my client. I hate that someone views me in a weird way for no reason. Maybe if I had met in person first instead of an email then everything would have been spelled out and not confusing to begin with.

5) I'd grade my event an A. My first reaction was to write a B based on the internal communication and struggles that happened but then I realized that those elements don't matter to the overall success of the night. They help me grow as a professional but in regards to the basketball night, it really doesn't matter. I'd say an A because everything went as smooth as possible.

6) I think consistency is the most important thing in order to keep "Mean in Green" alive. We need to keep the core elements the same every single time and keep reminding people of them. I think the most important parts of a Mean in Green event is the logo, the name, and wearing green. We need to emphasis wearing green in all descriptions of a Mean in Green event in order for people to pick up on the fact that GCSU Athletics wants fans in green at games! It's the easiest and most effective way to unify us as GCSU Athletic Fans!