My name is Kathryn Boland, a public relations student currently attending Algonquin College. I am a 2007 graduate of Carleton University, where I received a B.A. in Mass Communication.
This weekend, Kelly Rusk and I ventured up to Toronto for the third annual Podcamp Toronto. Overall, it was a blastly blast. Even though I am not a podcaster currently, I am still a podcast listener and potential podcaster (if I get over my fear of it.)
If you are unfamiliar with the “camp” concept, it is 100% free, volunteer, sponsor-supported “unconference” where many of the presenters are attendees of the various sessions. I believe the camp concept started with Barcamp and has now spread for multiple other interests even Cupcakecamp.
I think it is very important for students to take advantage of events like this either attending or volunteering.
Why?
It is a free way to take advantage of our amazing Canadian talent and learn from these individuals.
All attendees of these events are very open to meeting new people and learning from each other (meaning – they aren’t scary).
Lastly, you are the only one not benefiting from not attending.
So what did I learn? What value did I get?
I got to see a presentation from Chris Brogan, a speaker, blogger, president of New Marketing Labs, whose humourous casual presentation was straight-forward and honest about how to use social media for yourself, your company or your client.
I got to meet handfuls of podcasters and bloggers who I have now become even more jealous of their talent and expertise that I am thinking about what I could bring or what I could share. Some of these people were, Dave Fleet, Sean Power, Eden Spodek,Jay Moonah, David Jones and Amber Naslund.
I met many other students who shared similar interests and professional drive as me. We got to know each other either at the podcamplunch or podcamp after party.
All and all I had an amazing time at podcamp toronto. Thank you for all you that make that possible, you have inspired me to continue pursuing my personal goals!
As a member of the CPRS Ottawa Board of Directors and a PR Student, I am continuously encouraging more student events and student involvement on the Ottawa chapter.
However, there is not a large amount of students getting value out of our local professional associations with two universities and one college . There are hundreds of students who are expecting to seek employment in the next few years but are not becoming apart of the few professional associations within our city.
I can see what CPRS has offered to me as a student, such as:
Personal Contacts – I have become good friends with many of my fellow board members and chapter members that I have became friends with since joining. I know if I have work questions or industry questions I can go to them for help, which is really big benefit for junior PR professional.
Informative PD Sessions: I know, I am in school most of the time, why do I need to go to another lecture, but PD sessions are cutting edge. As educational as my program as been it can take years to change school curriculum, where PD sessions are up-to-date reflections on whats going on now.
Leadership Opportunities – I have volunteered both as a board member and leading event aspects such as the volunteers for the February Conference of 2008 and the marketing for the CPRS Ottawa PuRe Elements Awards.
Networking Opportunities – events organized at least twice a year that allow me to stay connected with the personal contacts I have made.
Future APR – once I have reached five year s in the industry I am hoping t o receive accreditation as a professional public relations practitioner.
I get value out of these opportunities, but what would you like to see out of a professional association as a student?
How I Met Your Mother, one of my favourite television shows right now, is very good at using the web to promote the show and encourage word-of-mouth dialogue. From Marshall and Lily sell their shit-to-the Robyn Sparkles – the Canadian teen idol’s music video, “Lets go to the Mall.” This Monday’s episode gave us another viral treat with Barney Stinson’s video resume that helps him get a job to do nothing.
Stress…. that evil little word that effects almost everyone on a daily basis. When I was younger just starting university I didn’t get as stressed as I can get now. Things were easier then. I worried about my social calendar far more than one should of. Now-a-days I am lucky to go out once a week and I don’t have priorities like a family or animal to keep me in.
Ever since I came to the realization that I need to “grow up,” get a full-time job and begin to repay my student debt things started to get stressful. Making the transition from a student to a young professional is very very difficult. You need time and money to project a professional image of yourself, but you are barely affording your rent and might be pulling all-nighters to finish assignments.
How can you handle stress?
1. Take risks - Successful people do not become successful without taking the risk. Yes, there is a possibility that you will not get the job or you will not like the position, but if you didn’t at least try I may regret it later. If you have an opportunity take it.
2. Give yourself me time – You can work all hours in the day, but do not overwork yourself. Make sure you do something for you once a week or even once a day. Read a girly novel such as Emily Griffin’s Love the one your With or see a movie with your friends.
3. Be a forward thinker – Always think about what you are working towards and how much that goal means to you. Do not dwell in the past, keep moving forward, or else you will continue to indulge in negative behaviour.
4. Keep positive – If you ask yourself depressing questions, you will get depressing answers. Rather than what if and why me, ask what can I do and how can I move forward.
5. Find an activity that calms you – For some it is going for a walk, cranking up your favourite song, practice yoga, or light a candle. Whatever it is, do it consistency. Give yourself a break to avoid a breakdown.
These are just some of the things I do on a daily basis to avoid stress, but we are all human and it can get the best of us sometimes. To keep myself focused I purchased this book,“The Bounce Back book: How to thrive in the face of adversity, setbacks and losses” by Karen Salmonsohn. I keep it on my bookshelf and whenever I have had a truly bad day and none of my little tricks are working, I read this book and it helps me realign my thinking. It has 75 tips to help you bounce back and usually by number 5 I start feeling better.
Students now owe the federal government a record $13 billion in loans, not including loans owed to provincial governments or personal and credit-card debt ,says the Canadian Federation of Students.
I try not to speak about my very rapidly growing student debt after six years of post-secondary education because there is not much I can do about it until I start work full-time. Even still, it is going to take me years to repay.
Right now my current debt:
OSAP – $25,000 ( i think, it could be more)
TD Student Line – $18,000
My debt isn’t as bad as many other students with the same education because of the summers I spent working midnights on the General Motors Truck Line and working up-to three jobs at time. But as I tell many people, I am different that most people. I am very Rory Gilmore. I was going to school and I wanted to be successful ever since I was little. Many of my friends from home didn’t attend post-secondary because of the lack of funds or waited many years before going back.
I don’t know how or what governments and schools can do to combat this overwhelming debt students are dealing with, but all I can say from a student perspective is that money has been a stress that has taken my attention away from my education way too many times.
Also, some of my colleagues were on A-channel discussing student debt this Wednesday, check out the broadcast here. If only I stayed a little bit longer.
Throughout all of my education-high school, university and college- I have only had a few outstanding professors that have inspired me. Mr. Paul Attallah was one of those few.
Teaching me Introduction to Mass Communications and a fourth-year seminar on Semiotics, Attallah could captivate me while discussing the history of mass media or theorizing about its effect.
“He was my absolute favourite, ” says Mass Communications gradate Rosalee Gunraj. “I never had to study for his class – he was that enthralling.
I have written to before about my love for Carleton University and the Mass Communications program and Attallah was one of the reasons. Dr. Attallah joined the School’s Communication Program in 1987 and he served as the head of the School’s Mass Communication Program from 1991-2005.
He is the true definition of an amazing public speaker and it saddens me to write to you about his passing on Jan 9. 2009.
“Paul remained the amazing teacher he was to the last, astonishing his friends with his insights and reflections until the very end, ” says Michael Dorland, his colleague and friend of 16 years. “ His death leaves many saddened friends who were privileged to have known and worked with him.”
With this, thank you Mr. Attallah for your inspiration throughout my time at Carleton it truly meant a lot.
This past week, Bob Ledrew, Cait Lafleche and I spoke at an IABC Senior Communicator’s dinner to discuss youth and social media. Many issues arose during our discussions, but one in particular has stuck with me. With our current media landscape, people are always under surveillance from pictures at a party to a comment on a Myspace page and all of it being documented. I understand this now as I begin my journey as a public relations practitioner on how important my activities can be for my own personal brand and the company I work for in the future.
However, I still have a hard time with this because I grew up using different types of social media and it shaped part of my identity especially when I was young girl confused and unsure of my future. I remember using ICQ when I was in high school and pretending to be the other Katie Boland, the actress from Zack Files, because at that time I wanted to be an actress and I didn’t understand what I was doing could be wrong. Or the personal entries I wrote in my livejournal for over six years and how it kept me close with my best friends despite being in different cities.
All these things are true and they shaped the person I am today, and I have a hard time if an employer would judge me on my behaviour when I was nineteen and the person I loved broke my heart. I have grown a lot in the last few years, and I know that how you handle things can be a true reflection of who you are, but I think judging people solely on things that may have happened a few years ago is not fair, especially for someone my age. When you are young, a lot changes in a year.
Many people have their opinions about this, what do you think? What is fair game for employers to judge recruits on?
Today LinkedIn announced the use of applications on the social networking tool for business practitioners allowing them to further engage their growing audience. Right now there is only nine applications, but remember how fast facebook applications grew, it shouldn’t be long before new applications pop up.
The nine applications are:
- Amazon Book Lists – share your book lists with your colleagues
- SlideShare Presentations/Google Presentations – share presentations from trade shows and conferences
- Blog Link/WordPress – connect your blog to your LinkedIn profile
- Huddle Workspaces - Collaboration and sharing tools to share with your connections
- Box. net files - manages files through your LinkedIn profile
- TripIt - see where your LinkedIn network is traveling
- Company Buzz Application that collates all twitter feeds on your company name into the LinkedIn application
The Canadian Public Relations Society Ottawa/Gatineau chapter has created a new awards program to recognize outstanding achievements in public relations. I have been volunteering with CPRS for over the last year and most recently for this very program and it should amazing.
There will be four awards will be presented:
Fire: Communicator of the Year (nominated award)
Earth: Internal Communications
Water: Innovator
Air: External Communications
The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at Arc the Hotel.
If you are interested, register to attend the awards online.
After the evening, we will be releasing a social media press release from CNW announcing the winners and showcasing images from the evening. Be sure to check it out.
Being a university graduate who is now in her final year at college, I get asked a lot why I decided to go to college after university. It could have been a combination of many things; like not wanting to work full time, or wanting to explore my future goals in greater detail, but primarily I wanted to be practically skilled in public relations.
It was during my last year at Carleton, my classmates and I were trying to get our fellow students more involved. Our teacher, Josh Greenberg brought some speakers into our class to talk about public relations and going to college after university. The speakers included Capital PR blogger and Thornley Fallis professional, Keelan Green and Algonquin’s College former program PR coordinator Peter Larock. Keelan scared me, and made me realize I have a lot more to learn and it was very unlikely for an employer to teach me these skills.
So, I went to college.
Going to university was not a waste, as some people assume since I wasn’t prepare to enter a job after school. A lot of my classmates got jobs after school, some upgraded like me, and some went on to Masters Degrees.
Some of the most important skills I learned at Carleton’s Mass Comm program that have not been replicated in my college environment include:
Media Analysis: I can conduct both qualitative and quantitative media analyses, a skill that has yet to be taught at college. Saving and scoring media content is a common task for entry level practitioners and is used as a tool to investigate how a brand or company is being perceived in the media. Throughout my program at Carleton I produced more than three media reports and this is a skill I value very much from my university education.
Communication Theory: Understanding how and why people use the media can be an important skill for public relations practitioners. Before implementing any strategy or presenting a plan to a client or a vice-president, it can better sell your idea if you include research or theory to back up your plans.
All and all university provided me with a solid foundation to enter into college and I believe it was a beneficial experience for me to enter into the public relations field. College touches on these skills, but it cannot go into as much detail as university does. I would recommend the program at Carleton to anyone starting out as a foundation to public relations and communications.
