Student to professional: Working world 101

“We face the future fortified with the lessons we have learned from the past. It is today that we must create the world of the future.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

2011 was a big year for me. And, it happened fast, without much time to think about the changes as they happened. I wrote a thesis. Graduated. Started an internship. Earned a full-time position. All of a sudden, I wasn’t a “student” any more.

However, in my six months as an Account Coordinator at CAWOOD, I’ve had more “learning moments” and new experiences than in one term of school. After my last post, I had intended to write more extensively about what I was learning, but I didn’t get around to it in a timely manner and now it’s hard to summarize.

My fortune from P.F. Chang's on my last working day of 2011. Cheers to 2012 and another year of growth!

So, below are my condensed reflections (yes, this is the condensed version) about what I’m learning. If I had to summarize, in one sentence, my advice to any student making a similar transition, it would be the following:

Arrive at work every day eager to put into practice what you learned in school and be open to continued learning as you gain real-world experience.*

Here are some of my musings about the transition to the professional world:

1. Hello, 9-to-5! Get ready for routine. I’m still working on this.

2. Find a way to be excited and curious about what you’re working on. If you don’t feel a personal investment in the work you’re doing, it won’t be fun and probably won’t produce great results.

3. Every day is a new opportunity. Not every day will earn five-stars. Sometimes challenges are presented or something doesn’t go as planned. Remember that tomorrow holds the opportunity for improvement because of what happened today.

4. Be a sponge. Soak up teachings from every thing you do, including conversations with co-workers and newspaper articles you read. Ask questions and investigate to learn more than what meets the eye.

5. A job done well in the workplace feels much different than earning an A in school. There’s an added pressure working for a client but this makes success more rewarding. Work is theory (and logic) in action – fun!

6. Be young, be you. At 22.9 years old, I can’t pretend to be the same age as most of the people I’m working with. At times, I feel like I am, but I also feel the gap of experience between us. But that’s OK. I have my eagerness and energy to offer and they have their experience to share. It’s an interesting balance to maintain; maturity is required, but youthfulness is necessary for authenticity’s sake.

7. Try not to focus on what you can’t control. Put your energy toward what’s in your power to do. In the same regard, focus on your strengths and find ways to put them to work because they will showcase your abilities best. This learning comes from StrengthsFinder, a program that I learned about in a marketing class at UO, but it’s a theory that CAWOOD also implements.

8. Find other young professionals because you may feel alone in your new lifestyle and out-of-place at first. It helped me to attend networking events, check out professional organizations in the area and get involved with a service club.

9. Take walks/do push-ups/stretches/crunches/yoga periodically throughout the work day to get blood flowing to your brain after sitting for extended periods of time.

10. Get a cute coffee/tea cup.

Off to bed I go for another adventure in the office awaits tomorrow! :] Comments, emails or tweets welcome if you have something to add from your own experiences or if you have any questions!

*If you graduate from the UO’s journalism school and find a job in the field, you WILL use things you learned in the classroom. The J-School rules. #GoDucks

Say “I Do” to Public Speaking

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge smile following their marriage at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

In spirit of the Royal Wedding, let’s talk about delivering meaningful words in front of large audiences. Let us vow, “I take you, Public Speaking, from this day forward, to love and to honor, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” These words may scare people because apparently Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking,  is greater than fear of death. I recently presented to Kelli Matthew’s Intro to PR class of 150 students, and afterward, I was asked for advice on how to calm nerves when speaking to a large audience. Here are a few techniques “I Do” to help stay poised and deliver the message effectively:

1.  You have to be familiar with the content you are going to deliver, which means take the time beforehand to prepare and practice what you’ll be saying. Also, arrive early (but not too early!) so you aren’t frantic before it’s your time to go on.

2.  Practice, Practice, Practice. Take every opportunity you can to speak in front of groups. Even if that’s just your family or friends.  Monitor how you speak one-on-one with people. Practice making eye contact and speaking clearly. This will help you when speaking to a large crowd.

3.  Even if you aren’t confident, “Fake it ’til you make it.” I can’t remember who told me this, but someone else deserves the credit. If you appear confident, the audience will respond positively which should make you calm down and actually feel more confident.

4.  Remember that you’re human and everyone you’re speaking to are humans as well (unless you’re flying to the moon to speak to aliens, in which case, I can’t help you!). We all make mistakes and forgive, so relax. You want to be there to share information and the audience wants to hear it – they’re on your side!

5.  S-L-O-W down — and accept the fact that pausing is OK. Instead of using filler words like “um,” “like,” and “uh” (yuck!), pause, collect your thoughts or that word you’re looking for and then move on.

Side note on reducing filler words: I’ve learned there are three phases to ridding your speech of filler words.* 1) Filler word oblivion: you have no idea that you use them. 2) Filler word recognition: you realize (usually after you say them) that you use them. 3) Filler word replacement: you stop yourself before you say them and pause instead. What phase are you at? Have a friend remind you every time you say one and soon you’ll be at phase three!

*Dr. Tiffany Gallicano taught me the phases of filler word reduction. If you choose the PR sequence, I highly recommend taking her J452 class because she instructs a public speaking activity in class each week.

6.  Breathe. Deliver oxygen to your brain.

7.  When you aren’t the one presenting, be a good audience member – engage and observe. A good audience helps the speaker relax, and think how you would feel if you were up front! Pay attention when you’re in the audience to observe what the speaker does well and model your own speaking after that.

8.  Smile and have fun! It’s not everyday that you have a captive audience for what you have to say. Live it up!

I hope these suggestions help you say “I Do” to public speaking. Remember, it’s a life-long commitment and you’ll get better with time. For additional advice, here are 10 tips from Toastmasters, an international organization that offers public speaking guidance. University of Oregon has a Toastmasters club that meets weekly. I’ve never been, but I encourage you to check it out.

The crowd of 1 million stands in front of Buckingham Palace to watch a kiss between Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, during the Royal Wedding. (AP Photo/APTN)

Prince William speaks to his bride Kate as she holds her father's hand at the altar. (Getty Images)

Wedding day jitters heightened by billions of gawking viewers — can you imagine? Prince William and Kate stay cool and collected even on their big day — what PR pros!

Girls Rule, Boys Drool: What Makes Women More Prone to PR Than Men?

Sitting in a classroom of Allen Hall – the beloved building that houses journalists and PR professionals in training on the University of Oregon campus – I realized that all but one of my public relations professors are women and four of my sixteen classmates are men. Why so imbalanced? Are men unwelcome in the PR world?

Apparently, the 75-percent-female majority in UO public relations classrooms is an example of women dominating the industry. According to Dr. Brenda J. Wrigley, associate professor and public relations department chair at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, 85 percent of public relations practitioners are women. Similarly, out of the 21,000 public relations and communications professionals in Public Relations Society of America and its affiliated student branch (PRSSA), 73 percent are women.

Women in professional industries fight head-to-head with men for management positions and equal pay. Photo from awesomedc.com

Despite this predominantly female influence, 80 percent of top management in the industry are men, and women still tend to earn less than men. Wrigley notes that when a profession becomes feminized, salaries tend to decrease along with a diminished status of the profession; she includes nursing as another example of this phenomenon. Due to recent changes in the economy, however, the wage gap is the smallest it’s ever been. The gap is closing because men are losing jobs in industries like manufacturing and construction and taking relatively low-paying jobs, while women maintain their positions in government and health care and also move into high-paying professional jobs  such as accountants, lawyers and physicians.

For me and my twentysomethings female friends, recent news shows that the wage gap is even smaller. In 2009,  for full-time wage and salary workers, the weekly earnings of women ages 20-24 were 92.9 percent that of men’s in the same age group, and the earnings of the 25-34 age group differed by 88.7 percent. The report attributes the shrinking gap to increasing numbers of women with college diplomas and less tolerance of pay discrimination than previous generations.

“Why do you think 70 percent of the profession is women?” Mark Ragan, CEO of Lawrence Ragan Communications, asks three leading ladies of the industry. I’ve summarized the characteristics that they believe draw women naturally to PR, and you can also watch their interview below.

1. Multitasking: Gemme Craven, senior vice president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, responds that the female species is particularly good at multitasking, and PR requires this skill to switch from task to task.
2. Educational background: Alayna Francis, vice president of communications at Swiss Re (Americas Division) agrees that multitasking is an important element, but educational background also plays a role in shaping PR as a female-dominated industry. She explains that generally women are still encouraged to be in the softer sciences like English, social studies and history, as opposed to math and science, and this reverberates to career choices that require similar mindsets.
3. Detail-oriented and organized: Silvia Davi, vice president of corporate communications for NASDAQ, adds that studies suggest women tend to be more detail-oriented or organized by nature. Given the fast pace of a PR professional’s time, the ability to plan ahead strategically, multitask and not forget details are important factors for success in the PR field.

I want to ensure my male readers that these statistics and opinions do not imply that men cannot be successful in the PR industry. Note the title of the post is “What makes women more prone to PR than men” not better at it. Plus, the “natural” traits that supposedly make women adept PR practitioners can neither be generalized for all womankind nor can they be amiss in all men. The young gentlemen in my public relations courses at UO are intelligent, well-spoken and organized. Take James Watkins, for example, whose blog is actually titled “Prone to PR.” (To give credit where it is well-deserved, thank you, James, for inspiring the title of this post!)

I welcome any additional opinions and reactions – from both women and men – about gender in the PR industry.

Cultivating Love for Nonprofit Fundraising

On February 14, 2011,  the average American adult spent $116.21 on Valentine’s Day merchandise, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2011 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. The total estimation predicted for holiday spending was $15.7 billion. I’m not trying to anger Cupid, but imagine if that money was donated to charity instead of spent on the indulgences of lovers around the country.

Fundraising is the core of nonprofit work. It could be argued that programming is the priority, but without funding, programs are dead in the water. So which comes first: visions that require funding or a donation to fund a visionary program? Sounds like the age-old contemplation about the chicken or the egg.  Both situations occur in the nonprofit world, so what really matters is that money comes into the organization at some point, any point, continuously at all points.

This chart from Giving USA displays a breakdown of where funding for nonprofits comes from. As you can see, most donations are from individuals. In an analysis of this breakdown by Cramer & Associates, bequests are defined as gifts from “nonliving individuals” and half of all foundations are individual or family-based. Therefore, combining these categories shows that 89.5% of contributions are from individuals. WOW. It’s true: Lots of little donations add up, and individual contribution slices make almost a whole $303.75 billion pie.

I interpret this data to mean that nonprofits should focus fundraising campaigns on the individual – with a personal, human approach. This means making emotional connections, pulling heartstrings, telling stories, relating potential donors to the situation, and helping them identify with the cause.

Many nonprofits capitalized on Valentine’s Day by asking donors to give love (in monetary form). Reframing the day as “Generosity Day,” inspired by Sasha Dichter’s Generosity Experiment, nonprofit organizations like Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy asked people to spend their money on “gifts that keep giving” instead of a bouquet of roses that die in one week.

Beth Kanter’s blog highlights individuals’ and organizations’ use of social media and creative twists on Valentine’s Day to romance their publics, raise awareness and appreciation, or encourage charitable giving. This technique was used in a nonprofit dear to  my heart, the American Cancer Society. I am involved in my university’s Relay For Life, and a fellow committee member posted this as her Facebook status yesterday with a link to ACS’s charitable contribution page:

“An estimated $18.6 Billion will be spent on this Valentine’s Day. Single? Donate what you would’ve spent on a date to The American Cancer Society.
A $5 Valentine card could provide an hour of toll-free access to the National Cancer Information Center. 1.800.227.2345
A $15 box of chocolates is equal to 50 test tubes needed by scientists….
A $100 bouquet of roses could provide a wig for a patient to boost morale.”

Not only are the statistics eye-opening, but the wording also caught my attention and made me feel connected to the cause. A comment also said, “Save the life of someone’s significant other!” I thought, “Yes, I’m single, so I should contribute to this cause and help save someone from cancer, instead of indulging in chocolate.”

Messages such as these inform the public, create awareness of an organization and its cause, establish a personal connection, and deliver both the call to action as well as how to act. A+ for message effectiveness (unlike the bra color or symbolic drink statuses plaguing Facebook with empty messages that I blogged about in my previous post).

Next time I think about buying myself a bouquet of flowers, maybe I’ll consider what societal good I could contribute my $10 to instead. What cause would you donate $10 to instead of buying yourself a few lattes?

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons by Shimelle Laine

Bras, Purses and Drinks: Statuses Without Substance are Miscommunicated Messages

Photo from sickfacebook.com

Facebook users utilize their status updates in numerous ways – to share their current state of being or location, announce news, ask questions or opinions, advertise, or display a meaningful song lyric or inspirational quote. Sometimes status content becomes a meme– a small piece of content that spreads voluntarily around the internet.

My friend recently posted “Tequila!” as her Facebook status on a Tuesday night. She is one of the last of my friends that I imagine would write a status update involving alcohol, especially on a school night. The only rational reason I considered she posted this word was that she was watching Pee-wee Herman dance to “Tequila.”

So I commented on her status, “WHAT? Tequila on a Tuesday?!” She immediately responded, “LOL – I’ll message you.”

In her message, she explained that this update is for breast cancer awareness. Women are supposed to post the alcohol that represents their relationship status (an explanatory list accompanied the message and can be found in a prTini post here). Tequila means single. I laughed –  not at my friend, just at the concept.

OK, this little “game” was obviously causing surprise and wonder. But what message was it sending about breast cancer? Not a very detailed or conclusive one. This meme follows after last year’s “What color is your bra?” and “I like it…” trends that had the same intention: to get women talking about breast cancer.

In some ways, these memes worked. According to a Washington Post blog, Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Facebook fan count increased from 135 to 700 within two hours during the bra craze. The Facebook group “Bra Color as My Status” now has 2,650 people who “like” it. On the other hand, there is another group called “RED, GREEN, PINK, BLACK, B*TCH, I Don’t Care About Your Bra Color!” which has 3,395 fans. Although the creators of the latter group admit that at first they were unaware the movement was about breast cancer (and that they fully respect the cause) they still keep the page for laughs.

Without a concrete reason for the attention-grabbing phrases, a credible source (the original source of these memes is still unknown for certainty), and a call to action (besides “make men wonder what we’re up to and try to get on the news”), these memes fall on deaf ears. Effective message delivery for activism has to cause momentum and provide material for the respondents to run with it, as opposed to standing in a polka-dot bra with a martini in hand waiting for someone to ask what they are causing awareness for besides themselves. In the least, the message should contain a link to an activism website or a cancer foundation for more information and donation opportunities.

Whaling says, “PR partially involves inciting meaningful action by incorporating the right mix of tools and tactics to deliver the right message to the right audience.” If these memes were intended to send messages about breast cancer awareness and supporting survivors, they have gone awry. People are well-aware of breast cancer. Pink has become a symbol of the disease – a sign of honor and hope for those who fight it. Breast cancer is no longer taboo to say; in fact, more and more paraphernalia (if you will) play with the sexuality of it (“I love boobies” bracelets and “Real men make time for the girls” t-shirts). I don’t see anything wrong with these messages, including the bra color, unless they are disconnected from the cause, which the drink status seems to be. What does a symbolic alcohol for your relationship status have to do with breast cancer?

Sure, it’s fun, makes you smile, and hey – people are talking about it – but is it really affecting progress towards preventing breast cancer or supporting those who have it? Effective health communication should influence people’s thoughts or behavior in a positive way to cause change. Can this even be considered health communication? Or is it just a fun gimmick? I’d love to know what you think.

Communicating Nutrition: More Than Just a “leafy logo”

In a recent post in The Buzz Bin, Emily Valentine addressed the role of marketing in health communication. Valentine attended the Child Nutrition Industry Conference, sponsored by the School Nutrition Association, where she networked with professionals responsible for school food production and standards. Aside from the hot topics of debate about what food should be served in school cafeterias, conference attendees came to the consensus that nutrition education was paramount for improving the health of American children.

A panel of school nutrition directors said that branded food products play a role in nutrition education because they help students and parents recognize which products are smart choices. According to the panelists, “The average American might not take the time to read nutrition labels before making a food purchase, but a strong brand icon (like Kashi’s green emblem or Whole Foods’ leafy logo) can instantly communicate all the information consumers need (and want) to know.”

 

Lunch line options are colorful. What message does Goldfish brand send?

The role of branding in communicating healthy choices is valid; however, nutrition education cannot start there. Children and their caregivers have to understand what those symbols represent and that they are beneficial before they will choose them. This is where public relations comes into play: Education usually provides new information that influences the way learners think or behave (sounds like PR to me!). Health communication, as an avenue of public relations, involves informing a public about a health risk and suggests a recommended response to avert the risk.

The following are a list of concepts pertaining to health risk messages that I derived from Witte, Meyer and Martell’s book “Effective Health Risk Messages: A Step-by-Step Guide.” I give examples in italics of components from the extended parallel processing model  based on the child nutrition topic.

1. Problem recognition: The public may or may not be aware of a risk. It will not accept a health message unless it is aware there is a problem or need for change.

Poor health results from eating non-nutritious food.

2. Perceived susceptibility: The public believes it is at risk of the health threat.

My child is at risk of poor health because he or she eats non-nutritious food.

3. Perceived severity: The public believes the risk is significant.

Malnutrition could lead to diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

4. Fear: The emotional reaction comprised of psychological and physiological dimensions that may be caused when a potential threat is perceived. Fear instigates protection motivation or defensive motivation to avert risk.

I’m afraid that my child is at risk of these health issues, or

I do not want my child to be susceptible to these health risks.

5. Efficacy: The effectiveness, feasibility and ease of a recommended response to the threat.

• Response efficacy – belief that the recommended response is effective in preventing the health risk.

Choosing to eat more nutritious food will decrease my child’s risk of poor health.

• Self-efficacy – a person’s belief that he or she can perform the recommended response.

I can help my child make healthy food choices.

Students appraise their fruit and veggie options at a cafeteria salad bar.

Healthy-looking logos are like a cake topper for nutrition education; they are not effective message communicators without the layers of public relations efforts beneath – such as government action like Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, nutrition lessons in the classroom, doctors informing parents about their children’s nutrition, and gardening experiences at home, school or in the community. Government protocol, school staff members, parents and other role models must work together to educate children about proper nutrition; once they know the importance of “5 A Day” then food marketing will signify and confirm healthy choices.

 

Fruits & Veggies More Matter new logo from Produce for Better Health Foundation, partner with CDC.