Chardae Sanders, Staff Writer
This past Friday, students from across the University System of Georgia attended the yearly Public Relation Society of America (PRSA) for Georgia’s Real World Conference. This conference provided a platform for students to network, receive résumé critiques and an opportunity to engage with fellow collegians who have similar interests. Although it was hosted by PRSA, this networking event was also open to non-members and students who do not major in communication.
Held at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North, the Real World Conference attendees were greeted by the PRSA of Georgia chapter president, Stephen M. Brown. Brown spoke on the fundamentals of a career path, the structure of a personal brand plan and various tips on how to achieve success within your field.
After the opening session, students were dismissed into various breakout sessions that were created to focus on various topics that related heavily to attendees’ preference of interest. The first sessions included topics such as “Finding Your Niche,” which touched on the dynamics of government, healthcare and technology. Another session, titled “Secrets from Inside the HR Department,” discussed information on how to win over the HR department when applying for an entry-level position.
Session two was comprised of breakout sessions, which included topics of social media and finding the balance of PR in Integrated Marketing. Each discussion focused on the growth of diversity within communication and that communicating through the use of just one channel is completely over. The idea of integrated traditional means of communication with creative marketing programs is the new wave.
The third and final breakout sessions included topics that really got the students engaged. Remember the infamous Arby’s tweet during the 2014 Grammy Awards about – recording artist Pharrell Williams that rocked the social media world? Well, Jason Rollins from the Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc., led a session that discussed how Arby’s capitalized on the twitter moment called, “A Chart-Topping Social Media Campaign: How Arby’s Achieved Happy Engagement during the Grammy’s.” Students who attended this session received replicas of the Arby’s style hats.
Another highly anticipated session dealt with the digital aspects of public relations. This session, titled “Mastering Media Relations in a Digital PR World,” expressed that though media relations is the foundation of public relations, it has changed due to the evolution of communication tools and tactics.
The highlight of the afternoon was the moving motivational speech from the president of Cinnabon, Inc., Kat Cole. Cole’s story of inspiration is not your traditional one. Her career started while working as a hostess for Hooters restaurants at 17 years old. From there, she traveled globally with Hooters to help open up new franchises. While doing this, she unfortunately had to drop out of college, where she in turn advanced to various management roles and leadership positions at the tender age of 26. Cole not only became a vice president and member of the executive team for Hooters; she also became one of the youngest executives in the hospitality industry to do so.
Serving as president for the market leader amongst cinnamon roll bakeries, Cinnabon Inc., Cole has also appeared on CBS’s hit television show, Undercover Boss. Cole left students with a few quotes to live by, such as “stay as close to the action as you can” and “stories matter and how we humanize it is what PR is all about”.
The conference ended with résumé critiques from PR professionals, in addition to a career fair with companies including Edelman PR, GCI Health, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) and Ogilvy Public Relations.
Owl country was represented well at the conference with students from KSU, in addition to Dr. Kristen Heflin, who serves as a committee member and faculty advisor for KSU’s PRSSA chapter.
