Guest Speakers

In my public relations class this past week we have had two guest speakers come in and talk to us about their jobs in the field of PR.  The first person that came in was Melissa Bohl.  Melissa is an alumni of the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and graduated in 2006.  It is always awesome to hear from someone who took the same classes as I am and hear where they are in their careers now.  Melissa now works for GE Health-care.  Her main points that she wanted to get across to the class were about the ways to use social media to communicate within a company.  It was cool to learn about all the different ways that companies can keep in contact with just other coworkers using social media for only their own employees.  To keep up with Melissa here is a link to her twitter MelB679The second speaker that came to class was Cory Zimmerman.  He is the owner of a company called Z2, to learn more about it check out the website z2marketing also here is the link to the company blog Z2 blog.  The way Cory presented to the class through pictures was a very cool experience.  I felt like he really connected well with the class and brought to life what he does at his job.  It was very easy to see how passionate Cory is about what he does.  Both Melissa and Cory were great presenters that gave the class different insights to the field of public relations and ways that we can use what we are doing now in the class room out in the real world after graduation.

Katie Felten

On Tuesday March 1^st, 2011 the social media expert Katie Felten came into my public relations tactics 2 class to talk to us about how to use LinkedIn to its full potential.   She took us through, in detail, all the parts of making a LinkedIn profile.  I am fairly new to LinkedIn so all of the information she was giving to the class was really helping me.  I learned new ways to connect with people.  Such as if I have a mutual friend with someone that I would like to connect with I can ask our mutual friend to send messages along with me to sort of give the new person the “I know this person, you may want to connect with them” sign.  

The part of Katie’s presentation that I found the most helpful was when she explained what the three most important things to have on a LinkedIn profile are.  The first of those three things is a picture.  The picture should be a professional looking headshot.  That same picture should be one that is associated with all of your other social media sites.  The second important thing that Katie talked about was a title bar.  The title bar is located right next to your picture.  The title bar is like a mini-bio about what you.  It should explain what your future goals are and what you want to achieve.  The third important thing is to join groups to make great connections.

Katie Felten is an asset to the public relations field because she helps people become more aware of social media.  She explains how people can use social media to further their career, or to even get a jump start on their future careers.  If you are a follower of hers on twitter (@KatieFelten) you will see that posts a lot of tweets to help people network.  Katies LinkedIn profile ishttp://www.linkedin.com/in/katiefelten. She is also the owner of the company MKElive. 

BMA Milwaukee

I am not a fan of the uncertain.  Thinking about the future is a scary thing for me because you never know what will happen.  However, at the same time I understand how boring and uneventful life would be if people knew everything that was going to happen to them and when it would happen.  Last night I went to a BMA (Business Marketing Association) event in Milwaukee.  I was very nervous because the whole event was based on my future.  I knew that it was going to be an event that I would learn a lot from, so I knew that going through with it was necessary.  I was surprised to find out that I really enjoyed the event, after I got over my initial fears of course.  My favorite part of the night was the social media presentation given by @haleylandsman, @Apiwarun and @stratocasting.  Hearing stories about how they used social media sites to get jobs and put themselves out there was very inspiring.  I also got tons of great feedback from the professionals that I had interviews with and from the professionals that looked at my resume. The professionals made me feel very comfortable and were extremely nice.  They also pointed out flaws that I have and provided me with easy ways to fix them.  I walked out of the event feeling very positive and confident in myself and what I want for my future.  I still am not ready to face my future out "in the real world" head on but that is what my next year of college is here for.  Events like the one that BMA put on are great ways to prepare myself for what is out there and for the surprises that the world has in store for me.

To learn more about BMA and what they are all about you can visit there website and twitter page.
http://www.bma-milwaukee.org/
@BMA_Milwaukee

The PR Student

My name is Kate Hanley.  I am a junior at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.  I am planning on graduating in December 2012 with a degree in public relations and advertising.  When I graduate I want to move to a big city.   I would love to work in downtown Los Angeles because I love warm weather.  I have lived in the midwest my entire life and have never been a fan of the snow and cold weather.  If I couldn’t work out there I would love to work downtown Chicago.  I grew out in the suburbs of Chicago and I adore the city.  I would love to do public relations for a sports team.  I have always been involved in sports in some way in my life.  I would prefer to do work with either a soccer or a hockey team.   I love all sorts of sports but those two are by far my favorite.  Along with a career in public relations I want to incorporate advertising.  I really appreciate the artistic aspect of advertising.  I enjoy working with advertisements because it’s a fun way to get creative.  I feel as though I can let my mind wander to come up with ideas.  I can not wait to graduate and be able to start out my career in public relations and advertising.