Global Agency Looking for an Intern!

Edelman's Orlando office is looking for another intern to work on M/W/F. This is an unpaid internship, but a priceless opportunity to work for a global PR firm in their smallest office. You'll get real responsibility and learn how to work in a fast-paced agency environment. I work full time for Edelman, and absolutely love it!

Laura Guitar, the senior vice president of Edelman Orlando, will be presenting at the Quotes meeting on Tues, 9/29 from 6-7 p.m. at HEC 110, so if you want to get a vibe for the environment, talk to her at the meeting. Post resumes online at www.edelman.com. And I can promise you, we do read every resume that gets posted online.

DETAILS:

Edelman's Orlando office is seeking students who can thrive in an entrepreneurial and high-energy environment. Your range of skills will grow with your interests and ability.
The Trainee is responsible for assisting with implementing and monitoring projects within a specific set of accounts under the direction of the supervisor. The Trainee works closely with and supports the needs of the account teams.

A Trainee must be able to work effectively with a variety of account service staff within a specific set of accounts. S/he must have good organizational skills and the ability to adapt to new conditions, assignments and deadlines. S/he must have solid knowledge of MS Office Suite and superior verbal and written communication skills. The Trainee is generally someone in school working towards a bachelor's degree and is looking for entry-level experience in public relations. S/he must demonstrate the ability to become a strong writer. Familiarity with the public relations discipline through past coursework or other internships is desirable.

To tell you a little about our internship/trainee program:

• we have 1 trainee at any given time
• the duration of the internship is a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 6 months
• due to the fact that college credit is given, these internships are unpaid
• some of our interns work a full-time schedule (Mon. - Fri., 8:30 - 5:30)
• our entry-level positions are typically filled by our current or former intern pool; therefore, an internship at Edelman is a great way to get your foot in the door!

Requirements
The Trainee is generally someone who is currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program and is looking for entry-level experience in public relations. Although prior public relations work and academic training is not required, experience in a related field - marketing, communications, journalism, politics - is strongly desired. Successful candidates will display a passionate desire to learn, a fine attention to detail, the ability to work well under pressure and tight deadlines, and must live the Edelman values (quality, integrity, respect, entrepreneurial spirit, mutual benefit).

About Edelman
Edelman is the world’s leading independent public relations firm, with more than 3,100 employees in 51 offices worldwide. Edelman was named PRWeek’s “2008 Large Agency of the Year,” Holmes Report’s “2007 Global Agency of the Year,” and was listed as a top-10 firm in Advertising Age’s “2007 Agency A-List,” the first and only PR firm to receive this recognition. In 2007, CEO Richard Edelman was honored as “Agency Executive of the Year” by Advertising Age and “Most Powerful PR Executive” by PRWeek. For more information, visit www.edelman.com.

How to Apply:
Apply online at www.edelman.com.

First Meeting Recap - Fall 2009

What a great first meeting! We missed those of you who couldn't make it, so this blog entry is for you :)

We started right at 6 p.m., and I opened up with the shortest PowerPoint presentation that has ever graced UCF's projector screens. First, we introduced the new board members:

• Michelle Khouri, President
• Lauri Gagnon, Vice President
• Masha Murakhovsky, Director of Public Relations
• Julie Primrose, Communication Assistant
• Roxanna Malidelis, Co-Director of Special Events
• Denise Galang, Co-Director of Special Events
• Nichole Millikan, Special Events Assistant
• Armando Diaz, Treasurer
• Tracy Culbreath, Secretary

After introducing the board members, we thought it was important to speak to the benefits of being a Quotes member:

• FPRA membership is included in the cost of membership for Quotes
• Whether you go to member meetings or volunteer at Quotes or FPRA events, you will have the opportunity to network with some of the top PR professionals in Florida.
• At Quotes meetings, our main goal is to practice PR, not just to learn about it.
• You will get a chance to meet fellow students with like interests. Most of my own friends I met in Quotes!
• Quotes has partnerships with the Nicholson School of Communication (NSOC) and Ad Club. This enables us to have joint events and support school-wide. For instance, Ad Club is having a resume workshop on Nov. 5 (corrected from Nov. 4), which we are encouraging members to go to.
• Develop your career and leadership skills at Quotes by joining the board or by networking with professionals at events.
• Internship opportunities are one of the biggest benefits of being a Quotes member. Chances are, more than one person you know has gotten an internship or two through Quotes. I have gotten all three of my internships (and therefore, my full-time job) because of Quotes.
• Member meetings teach you about PR and what it means to be a PR professional. Whether it be a panel of professionals, a behind-the-scenes pass, or a holiday party, Quotes meetings keep it interesting and informative!
  

When the presentation was over, it was time for Star Paper! Star Paper is a Quotes tradition, and involves a piece of plain white paper and a group's creativity. Groups are given ten minutes to figure out what they want their sheet of paper to be...it can be absolutely ANYTHING. Then, they have to make a commercial and pitch it to the audience. Congratulations to team four, who won for their commercial for the Invisible Canoe!

That's just about everything from our first meeting. Some FAQs are below:

When are board elections and how can I run for the board?
Board elections for Fall 2009 are taking place at the next Quotes meeting, on Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6-7 p.m. at HEC 110. We will be looking for the next President-Elect and Director of Advertising.

To run for a position on the board, submit a brief paragraph about yourself to ucfquotes@gmail.com before 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28. You will be given two minutes to speak during the front end of the meeting -- we recommend preparing something, so that you cover all of the points you want to make.

How much is membership, and when do I have to pay it?
Membership is $35 if you are a new member. If you were a member last year, renewal is $25. Membership renewal takes place every Fall, no matter when you paid for membership, so we suggest becoming a member in the Fall in order to take advantage of the full year of membership.

When are member meetings?
Every other Tuesday. The next three meetings are: 9/29, 10/13, and 10/27.

We hope to see you at our next meeting!

xoxo,
Michelle

Dillin Keynote Address: Disney’s Approach to Corporate Responsibility

By Armando Diaz, Quotes treasurer

Walt Disney World has become a staple in not only the American culture, but internationally as well. The Disney name and brand is perhaps one of the most recognized names and logos world-wide. With world-class adventure theme parks, first class hotels/resorts, and thousands of employees, remaining an important role in the local community and effectively running all aspects of Disney become major tasks of its corporate leaders.

Eugene Campbell, vice president of community relations and minority business for thee Walt Disney World Resort, discussed the many intricate ways in which Disney strives for high employee relations and community involvement. Effectively managing 60,000 employees can bring many challenges. In order to deal with these challenges, Disney requires that all newly hired employees attend Disney University. Disney University ensures that all employees learn the core values that Walt Disney himself developed in the early stages of development. While corporate leaders work hard to instill the initial work ethics Walt Disney established, they also strive to meet all of the needs of their employees by offering free programs and incentives. Campbell and the Disney Corporation try to set the golden standard in employee affairs and relations.

Campbell also spoke about the major role Disney plays in the Central Florida community and all throughout the State of Florida. Corporate officials become responsible for staying involved in all community relations. Within the Central Florida community, this can be seen by numerous scholarship funds given to local foundations, such as the Boys & Girls Club of Orlando. Statewide, Disney Resorts play a large role in turtle conservation. Many of their coastline resorts near the Vero Beach area have programs set up in order to facilitate the turtle population. The corporate offices designed rides and informational sessions in order to discuss the dangers turtles face. Whether on an international level or even in their own back yard, Walt Disney World Resorts strives to remain a world-class brand by promoting extensive employee relations and community involvement. Corporate responsibility and involvement heightens with the continued growth and success of Walt Disney World Corporations.

Breakout 2C: Nuts and Bolts of Social Media

By Lauri Gagnon, Quotes vice president

As the associate PR director of Kidd Public Relations in Tallahassee, Fla., Kelly Robertson, APR, delivered a very informative presentation on the basics of social media. These online tools were a reoccurring theme throughout the conference and Robertson was very knowledgeable and experienced on the topic. Reviewing the basics such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging, may seem simple and obvious for college students but it is clearly making huge waves in the PR community. These days anyone can become a reporter with a microblogging or Facebook update by endorsing a product, service or company. Having knowledge of these sites can greatly improve a possible job candidate's edge, so Robertson encouraged everyone to become familiar with these tools.

As an emerging technology, PR professionals are still trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of analyzing its impact. Tools such as Google Analytics and Insight for Facebook aid in unraveling the mystery of finding its place in the field. Despite the rising popularity of sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it is important to remember that they may die out in the future. The ideas behind social media will continue to evolve, so I wouldn't marry my Twitter account yet.

Breakout 1A: Social Media and Press Releases

By Dana Bakich and Jennifer Garvin, Quotes members

Our first morning breakout session began by entering a room filled with PR professionals. Laura Sturaitis, Senior Vice President of Media Services and Product Strategy from Business Wire spoke on social media and press releases. She focused her presentation on communicating effectively and how to tighten up your message to the public. Laura stressed the “3 E’s” which are

1. Enhancing the release with formatting links and clever tag lines.
2. Expanding your posting, delivery and reach through a push and pull format.
3. Evaluate and measure your results- always look for ways to improve!

She also touched upon creating authority with Google. To ensure efficiency, index your captions and reinforce keywords related to your topic. Next, Laura moved onto search engine optimization. (You can use this to your advantage guys!) Blog it! Tweet it! Interestingly enough, the average “Googler” uses more than three words for their search. With that in mind, it is vital to identify keywords, link appropriately, podcast as much as possible and use social networks as a communication tool. Visuals and multimedia are the new key to successful releases and retaining the publics attention.

General Session A: It’s Not Web 2.0. It’s Not Web 3.0. It’s Simply Life.

By Michelle Khouri, Quotes President

Peter Shankman, founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), presented the first session titled, “It’s Not Web 2.0. It’s Not Web 3.0. It’s Simply Life.” Shankman is a lively, passionate man whose life centers around social technologies. His presentation offered three main pieces of advice:

Transparency. As students, we come across the issue of transparency on a daily basis. From something as simple as “Why did I get this grade?” to a more weighted issue like “How will budget cuts affect my education?” we all just want to know what’s going on. Shankman jokes (more like a half-truth) that social media lets you screw up with a larger audience in a shorter amount of time. When you make a mistake, as a student, professional, or just on a personal basis, be transparent. Let people know. As Shankman puts it, “If people see you learning from your mistakes, they’re much more likely to forgive you.”

Relevance. “The media is NOT dying. It’s fracturing,” says Shankman. “The Grand Canyon was created by rocks fracturing. And some people say it’s kind of cool to see.” Making your news relevant is key in a time when “news outlets” can be anything from The Wall Street Journal to www.wsj.com to Twitter.com/WSJ. The big question is, “How do I make my news relevant?” It’s all about listening, says Shankman. In a “me, me, me” society, PR professionals need to take a “you, you, you” approach. “The second you start doing it for someone else is the second you get remembered, not recalled.”

Brevity. “LEARN TO WRITE. Social media requires us to write well. When you have less time to do it, you have to do it better.” Shankman emphasizes that in a time when media outlets are strapped for journalists, your audience has an average 3.7-second attention span and people only have a tolerance for 140 characters, being lengthy just isn’t a luxury. Being a good writer is more than just writing a good press release. It’s the ability to convey the message concisely -- in 3.7 second if you have to.

Breakout 5A: The AMMMO Approach to Strategic Communications

By Alexia Penna, Quotes member

In this session, Jack Levine focuses on the AMMMO approach. Through knowing your audiences, messages, how to utilize the right messengers, and methods, you will reach your desired outcomes. You are the voice behind your company, products, and ideas. In order to get those “decision makers” to buy into your products and ideas you need to “build a bridge” between the two.

It all starts with your audience. You can’t afford to reach the general public. You will be way more effective if you target your audience. When it comes to donating money, you are better off targeting those over the age of 50 who have the means and are more willing to donate. In other words, college students should not be your target audience to try and get donations for your company.

Another important step to getting your desired outcome is your message. You have to make your message relatable to your audience as well as impactful. Different generations can watch the same commercial and if you are not the targeted audience, you will not understand what the message is saying

When it comes to getting your message across, you are more than likely to be heard if it is coming from the right messenger. If you’re a non-profit company, trying to get people to donate, you can't speak to the subject you are representing. It‘s just not that effective. Taking classes on a particular subject and receiving a degree in that subject doesn’t necessarily make you an expert. You should utilize those who are actually experiencing the situation. For example, you should let a foster child tell his or her story if you want credibility. Let them share the hard times as well as those who have positively impacted them. If the social worker speaks on his or her behalf, they will lack credibility.

The way you express your message should depend on the situation. Of course, face to face interaction is better than a phone call. Utilize all the media that you have available as well as the social networks to distribute your messages effectively.

Your outcome should be positively related to how well you execute each of the letters in AMMMO. Non-profit is all about doing the right thing towards the community. But if you are doing the right thing and not communicating it to the public, you are not maximizing your full potential as an organization.

Breakout 3C: One Size Does NOT Fit All: Cultural Influences in CSR Decision-Making

By Michelle Khouri, Quotes president

In her presentation, Leticia Solaun, CH2M HILL international PR liaison, touched upon the cultural aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). According to Archie B. Carroll ("the father of CSR," according to Solaun), CSR is "the social responsibility of business that encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time." Solaun's presentation makes the point that CSR is not a blanket strategy that should be to all clients, countries, and people. For instance, Solaun gave the example of the Hispanic culture. Solaun is Cuban and has focused her doctoral thesis on Hispanic culture with regards to CSR. "It's the Cuban paranoia," she says. Hispanics will almost never donate actual money to organizations, but will rather spend time and energy to donate physical items to help advance the given cause.

I bare witness to this on a personal level. My mother, a native of Colombia, has never donated money (to my knowledge) to a charity. However, she spent many years collecting old clothes and toys from our neighbors, family, and friends and would ship them (instead of her own luggage) to Colombia. We would personally distribute the items to orphanages around Bogota. In my mother's case, she grew up in a time when the Colombian government was struggling and corrupt. She is not trusting of large entities, and, like most Hispanics, wants to see where exactly her help is going and how it is being used.

The most important part of "glocalizing" a CSR program is making sure you understand the client's perspective of themselves, their culture, their business, their beliefs. Culture is a huge part of each society and it, many times, dictates how business within that society operate, what their customs are, and how they perceive community service and giving.

General Session C: Green Marketing Communications

By Jennifer Garvin, Quotes member

Wendy Cobrda and Amy Hebard, co-founders of EarthSense, LLC, illustrate the environmental, behavioral, social and public attitudes of the GREEN phenomena. They start off with the Eras of Green which are:

1. Do no harm (environmentally)
2. Doing well by doing green
3. Using green as a strategy

Essentially, most consumers believe manufacturers are not taking enough responsibility for their harmful effects on the environment. According to data research by EarthSense, consumers choose not to participate in the green movement because they find it to be inconvenient and not accessible enough for their lives and daily occurrences. With that said, the goal is to fill the gap between consumer skepticism and confusion while enhancing a positive attitude and motivating actual behavior.

Wendy and Amy touched upon the 7 Sins of Greenwashing

• Hidden trade offs (94%)
• No proof (43%)
• Vagueness (57%)Worshipping false labels (39%)
• Irrelevance (11%)
• Lesser of 2 evils (4%)Fibbing (0%)

These are the 7 sins and the percentage of products committing each sin. Scary.

Earthsense conducted a "biz indicator" which analyzed the "the corporate reality of consumer perceptions." The top ranked companies were:

1. Amazon
2. Apple
3. Benjamin Moore
4. Burt's Bees
5. Discovery

Influencing these decisions are current trends, celebrities, social media, and general "buzz."

But more importantly, what does "Green" really mean? These factors determine a product's true green-ness:

• What the product is made of (Compostable)
• How the product is made (Production)
• How the product is packaged (Packaging)
• Where the product comes from (Distribution)
• The environmental impact on the product (Consumption)
• How the product is disposed (Disposal)

Being aware of these factors can greatly influence our understanding of the green movement and can hopefully make Americans wise consumers for many years to come. To learn more about EarthSense and the research they conduct, visit www.earthsense.com.

General Session D: Re-branding the Tampa Bay Rays: New Name, New Logo, and New Attitude

"Batter up!" In this session, Tampa Bay Ray's VP of Marketing and Community Relations Tom Hoof began his lecture reflecting on the nostalgic experience of recreating the Rays' image and turning a broken brand into a championship team and company.

In 2006, the Rays went through an "Under Construction" campaign. They researched their previous name, " Tampa Bay Devil Rays" and realized a strong negative assocation between their name, "Devil Rays" and how fans spoke of them. When the fans spoke highly of the team they would exclaim, "Go Rays!" or "The Rays were great when... ." This led to the name change, "Tampa Bay Rays" and the new sunburst logo (a ray of light). To properly announce and educate the public on this new change they held a concert with Kevin Costner and his band; which inspired the "Summer Concert Series." They flooded the crowd and media with the new logo and name. To help the public engage the new brand a "Street Team" of college students was created, who were able to interact with children, as well as talk ball with season ticket holders.

The Rays campaign also featured (and currently features) promotion through different mediums, including:

• TV, print, and radio
• Outdoor
• New media
• Social networking
• Experiential marketing

In addition to being active within the community, the players themselves dedicate time to the community on a personal level. Upon signing with the Rays, each player must agree to a contract requiring them to donate a part of their salary back to the community. They are also given the opportunity to use their donations towards their own pet project. Overall, the campaign Hoof and his team designed was very successful. (The winning season helped!) Ticket sales increased 40 percent from their media campaign and the morale of the fans grew tremendously in the past few years.

As students with a passion in the sports marketing and community relations industry we greatly enjoyed this session. For more information on the Tampa Bay Rays visit www.raysbaseball.com.