Barkley Tour in Kansas City

In a previous post, I discussed some things I learned at Kansas City's PRSSA Day that Doug and I attended earlier this month. I also wanted to share about another element of our great day: our agency tour at Barkley.

Each school was offered the opportunity to tour a public relations agency in Kansas City. Doug and I went with some other schools to tour Barkley, an integrated advertising agency in KC.

As soon as I walked into the doors, I felt a creative rush of energy. I felt as if Sterling-Cooper, from the television show Man Men, was just transformed before my eyes and brought into the 21st century.

All of the office was open and clean with random bursts of color throughout the floor. The space encouraged collaborative work and a spirit of creativity with its nearly 250 employees. The entire office was themed around the Barkley rocket, with planet named meeting rooms, and a real rocket ride on the third floor. I loved seeing the inspirational quotes all the walls throughout the office with the theme: "ADD GOOD. SHAKE WELL."

One of the major benefits of agency public relations was clear after this tour: freedom. With the constant strife to impress clients, creativity and fresh ideas are prized. Working within an organization can sometimes put restrictions on your creativity because of tradition and organizational culture. That is not the case of an agency's culture. An organization comes to an agency because what they are doing is not working or because they need a new perspective.

If you are a creative person who loves to collaborate, an atmosphere like at Barkley would suit you well. Doug and I both made some connections to a couple Barkley employees if you are ever interested in learning more about the agency world. You can also check out Barkley's website, Twitter and Facebook page.

Bethany Parry—Vice President: Bethany is a senior at Missouri State University studying Public Relations and Spanish. As Vice President, she promotes professional development, manages communications, and supports the president in anyway needed. You can contact her at Bethany08@live.missouristate.edu or follow her on Twitter at @bparry08.

Job Shadowing 2012

Missouri State’s Chapter of PRSSA presents Job Shadowing 2012. This is your chance to experience what a day looks like in the world of a PR or communications professional.

The deadline to sign-up is December 8 at midnight. To sign-up, email your name, year in school, and dream mentor, organization or sector of PR to prssa.mostate@gmail.com.

Over Christmas break, PRSSA will contact different professionals and match you up with your ideal mentor. At our Jan. 31 meeting, we will announce your mental match and provide contact information. (If you are interested in shadowing someone in St. Louis or Kansas City, it is a possible option, so indicate it in your email.)

During the month of February, you and your mentor can decide when you want to meet up. Each participant will be required to turn in a picture, video or blog post about their Job Shadowing experience by Feb. 29 at midnight. The author of the best entry will get a $25 gift certificate to a TBA clothing store to build their professional wardrobe. Here is an example of a good blog post by Bethany Parry who shadowed Andrea Harp last year.

At the beginning of March, we will have a party with everyone who participated and the professionals we shadowed and announce the winner of the contest, or the “Top PR Sleuth.” All of quality entries will be published on our social media sites.

Don't forget to sign-up by Dec. 8!

Getting the Scoop on Internships

We have just moved to ONCE a month meetings instead of bi-weekly meetings, and our ONLY November Chapter meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 5:00 p.m. in Craig 330. It is free for members and $3 for nonmembers, so invite your friends!

Let us give you "The Scoop on Internships", literally. Ice cream will be provided by Dairy Queen to accompany our night full of internship discussion. There will be four student panelists (Megan Haeffle, Sara McClendon, Susan Venker and Kim Perry) ready to share their experiences in Springfield non profit and corporate internships and in internships from more urban areas like New York. 

Each student will get a folder filled with:

• Current internship opportunities in Springfield, Kansas City and more.
• A guide on landing the right internship
• Information about getting credit for in the department for your internship
• Tips from a conference call with Laura Berger, The Intern Queen
• A recipe to making the blueberry yogurt pictured here thanks to OneOrdinaryDay 

Bring your questions and your sweet tooth!

More Information on Student Panelists:

• Kim Perry, senior PR/Media student, interned at Le Metier de Beaute in New York City at their Public Relations/Communications Intern.
• Megan Haeffle, senior PR student, worked as the Grassroots Marketing Coordinator for Hollywood Theater College Station in downtown Springfield this past summer.
• Sara McClendon has been interning in the Development Department at Ozarks Food Harvest in Springfield since last spring and will be continuing to work there after graduation. They are currently looking for a new Public Relations Intern, and it is paid!
• Susan Venker will be talking about her experience as a non paid intern in the Media Relations department at St. John's hospital and her partially paid internship with the Pard Board in Springfield.

Bethany Parry will be mediating the panel, so if you want to send any questions for the panelists in advance, send them to Bethany08@live.missouristate.edu.

The 2 Best Ways to Prepare for a Career in PR

This past weekend, Doug and I had the privilege of attending the Kansas City PRSSA Day presented by the greater Kansas City area Chapter of PRSA. Throughout the day, there were two common themes--not social media and not internships.

Every panel, every speaker and every professional advised students to do two simple things:

Image from Stock.xng

No matter what new shiny technology comes our way, the basis of the public relations profession is writing. Take every chance you can to hone in your writing skills. Allow your work to be torn to shreds and listen humbly to your professors and mentors as they give advice. Practice all types of writing because the best way to improve your writing is to write--all the time.

This is one benefit to blogging. It gives you a outline to write and present your writing to an audience online to be critiqued and praised. Writing every day is a good habit to get into. If you are not a good writer, make a plan on how to become a better one.

Image from Stock.xng

Another way to improve your writing is to read everything you can get your hands on: classical literature, the newspaper, modern novels, books about the industry, etc. It does not matter what you read as long as you get away from the computer screen for a little while. Reading is a way to learn from other authors, broaden your vocabulary and develop a writing style. The best writers are better readers.

Reading also helps inform you about the world around you. A lot of public relations involves interacting with people, which means small talk is key. Jersey Shore may not always be the best conversation to have in the limo with a client your parent's age. If you are up to date on the news and have a general sense of classic literature, you have a wealth of sophisticated topics to choose from.

One book to put on your reading list from the Kansas City conference is "Brains on Fire". One of the co-authors, Spike Jones, spoke at PRSSA Day. Check out my blog to read a summary of his presentation.

Obviously, there is much more to public relations than reading and writing; however, it is a great place to start. 

Bethany Parry—Vice President: Bethany is a senior at Missouri State University studying Public Relations and Spanish. As Vice President, she promotes professional development, manages communications, and supports the president in anyway needed. You can contact her at Bethany08@live.missouristate.edu or follow her on Twitter at@bparry08.