2012 PRSSA National Conference Day Two: Making Connections and Joining the Wolf Pack

Editor’s Note: This is a post by guest blogger Chelsea Moreau, co-director of PRestige. To contact Chelsea, email her or find her on Twitter @chlcwade.

We are all falling love with San Francisco so quickly, and we still haven’t gotten a chance to really explore.

Our day started with an inspirational speech by Google senior developer advocate, Timothy Jordan. The keynote speaker addressed the best practices for engagement among groups of people. Apparently, “57% of people talk more online than in ‘real life.’” Therefore, we must reevaluate how we interact online because people are two-thirds more likely to post within circles than a public post.

Most of us became inspired to create or become more active on Google Plus. At first use, this layered social networking site may seem complicated and/or overwhelming. Like all social networks, Google Plus gives practitioners and businesses the ability to create a following and to directly communicate with a brand’s constituents. The features on Google Plus help create audience segmentation and feedback through the two-way communication. Google Plushas taken social media to a new level of interconnectivity and continues to expand the social search.

The overall take away from Jordan’s speech was to tell a story and make connections. This will make a company’s or your personal brand more relevant and reliable.

Then came a very entertaining school roll call time. One of PRSSA at LSU’s very own, Erin Kenna, wrote us a fantastic chant to the tune of LSU’s fight song so we could represent our organization (the video will be posted soon!). However, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, stole the crowd with an altered version of the wolfpack speech from the movie The Hangover. Imagine something along the lines of, “We are all just a bunch of wolves running around San Fran searching for coffees and hashtags.” Standing-ovation worthy hilarious.  Such a good time. It’s fun to see each chapter and the creativity they have to bring.

We broke for lunch and continued to make connections with PRSSA and PRSAmembers through twitter and in real life. Attending seminars on integrated marketing communications, breaking into sports and fashion industries helped us join networks of people with similar interests.

We networked with PRSA members at the Diversity Mixer. Our favorite PRSA member, Brandi Boatner, gave a big shout out to our chapter for all our diversity efforts. While we make connections, we must remember that diversity goes beyond general demographics, such as race and religion. Diversity means difference. What makes you different is also what sets you apart from the rest. As pre-professionals, we must hone in on our individuality to help us land that job. To learn more about PRSSA at LSU‘s diversity initiatives this year, contact the head of the diversity committee, Tran Tran.

After making connections in the officer discussions, Hailey and I are so inspired to rebrand PRestige. We hope all members of our firm will be apart of this process. Also, we definitely need and want to make connections with our local PRSAchapter.

Our final connection of the day was with Jimmy the limo driver. I think it’s safe to say that he is our new best friend. He picked us to drive us to Fisherman’s Wharf. On the ride over, he made some phone calls and HOOKED US UP! We got 50% off this great Mexican restaurant called Mango’s. It was a great dinner with most our group and Dr. Moore.

Please keep checking our blog for conference updates. We are so inspired by the things we are learning about PR. We hope to put all the knowledge into practices when we get home.