I love this post. It is so pertinent to my PR life right now. I am returning to NYC for spring break this year (lived there over the summer and had the time of my life) and can’t wait to show my sorority sister all of my favorite shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, my father thinks my love affair with the Big Apple has gone too far and finds it annoying that I am going for spring break AGAIN – did I mention I went for spring break last year, too? Three trips, one lasting for three months, in under a year seems a bit excessive to him.
Last spring break I went on 11 interviews in four days to find a summer internship. I received nine offers (sorry, just had to throw that in there – always a little self-esteem booster). This year, I have already made plans to go to lunch with my former employers, but this is not supposed to be a working spring break – it is my senior year and before I start working for the next 50 years of my life, I would enjoy a week do whatever my heart desires.
So, my father suggested that I do informational interviews with companies that I may be interested in working for come graduation. One problem – I don’t believe in informational interviews – they know what I’m really there for, I want a JOB – I can find anything I want to know about a company through it’s Web site or even a Google search. Why waste someone’s time pretending to be finding out about their company when I have ulterior motives?
It is very comforting to know that the president of a PR company feels the same way I do. And right after adding this post to my blog, I am going to send a direct link to my father :)!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Event Planning - not for the faint of heart
This past weekend I hosted over 300 parents for my sorority's annual Family Weekend.
My sorority likes to go above and beyond so we have 3 events over the weekend - totaling more than $20,000. Pretty big potatoes for a small college sorority.
I was elected to the Family Weekend Chair position last November. I had to run against other sisters and created an entire proposal for the weekend. Not your average sorority, huh? We get very passionate about our events.
I was grateful to win because planning events is hopefully going to be a part of my future career so this was invaluable experience.
After months of planning it was finally time. Last year, we had an event at a bar on Friday where underage students had to use fake IDs to get in - in front of their parents (not good for future reference!), ran out of food at the huge Saturday night bonanza event and had generally annoyed parents at the closing brunch on Sunday.
This year, I was determined to blow everyone away because I did not want MY event planning skills to get trashed for an entire year like my poor friend who planned last year's events.
Thankfully, everything went better than I could have even imagined. I was hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. We had trivia on Friday and at first I thought it was going to be a disaster because it began at 8 and only half of the people who RSVP'd and paid were there. People eventually began trickling in and a good time was had by all.
Saturday was amazing - casino, dinner and dancing. Everyone was just grateful to not run out of food again this year!! Unfortunately, my one issue of the weekend happened at this event. Let's just say one of the rudest families I have ever met in my life made their presence known. They showed up an hour late and then demanded a table of ten to themselves. Of course by that point all of the tables are mostly full with only one or two seats at each table available because it was a first come/ first served event. The mother proceeded to say (loud enough for me to hear) - "poor planning, this is horrible." It was tough but I managed to please them - I had another table pulled in and we squeezed in place settings. If that is the worst thing that happens in a weekend full of possible disasters - woo hoo!
Sunday brunch was a breeze, and so ended the weekend that I had been working on solo for months on end. Bringing me to my lesson learned:
Lesson learned - let other people help you! I was nervous to have a committee because it's hard to trust other people to do it the way you want it done. But, you cant do everything alone and even though it is your name that can be damaged if someone else messes up, you just have to work with what you've got.
I thought this post was funny - just a little side note about the little things that can make your event less than amazing!
My sorority likes to go above and beyond so we have 3 events over the weekend - totaling more than $20,000. Pretty big potatoes for a small college sorority.
I was elected to the Family Weekend Chair position last November. I had to run against other sisters and created an entire proposal for the weekend. Not your average sorority, huh? We get very passionate about our events.
I was grateful to win because planning events is hopefully going to be a part of my future career so this was invaluable experience.
After months of planning it was finally time. Last year, we had an event at a bar on Friday where underage students had to use fake IDs to get in - in front of their parents (not good for future reference!), ran out of food at the huge Saturday night bonanza event and had generally annoyed parents at the closing brunch on Sunday.
This year, I was determined to blow everyone away because I did not want MY event planning skills to get trashed for an entire year like my poor friend who planned last year's events.
Thankfully, everything went better than I could have even imagined. I was hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. We had trivia on Friday and at first I thought it was going to be a disaster because it began at 8 and only half of the people who RSVP'd and paid were there. People eventually began trickling in and a good time was had by all.
Saturday was amazing - casino, dinner and dancing. Everyone was just grateful to not run out of food again this year!! Unfortunately, my one issue of the weekend happened at this event. Let's just say one of the rudest families I have ever met in my life made their presence known. They showed up an hour late and then demanded a table of ten to themselves. Of course by that point all of the tables are mostly full with only one or two seats at each table available because it was a first come/ first served event. The mother proceeded to say (loud enough for me to hear) - "poor planning, this is horrible." It was tough but I managed to please them - I had another table pulled in and we squeezed in place settings. If that is the worst thing that happens in a weekend full of possible disasters - woo hoo!
Sunday brunch was a breeze, and so ended the weekend that I had been working on solo for months on end. Bringing me to my lesson learned:
Lesson learned - let other people help you! I was nervous to have a committee because it's hard to trust other people to do it the way you want it done. But, you cant do everything alone and even though it is your name that can be damaged if someone else messes up, you just have to work with what you've got.
I thought this post was funny - just a little side note about the little things that can make your event less than amazing!
Monday, February 5, 2007
Bad move Weil - everyone loves Theron
Something I found today that caught my eye is this commentary on Charlize Theron and celebrity endorsements.
Theron is the spokesperson for Raymond Weil watches and is now being sued because she was seen in public wearing a different company’s watch. How crazy is our society that someone has to wear only one kind of watch or drink only one kind of soda (Britney Spears better stay away from the Coke or Pepsi will have a fit). I understand that she signed a contract and should be smart enough not to test the rules. (And even as I am writing this I am becoming more in tune with the Weil team and how paying a celebrity millions and not getting what you wanted would be frustrating.) Yet, suing her for wearing a different watch one day is just absurd.
Speaking in PR terms, I think it was a bad move on the part of Weil. Nobody is going to notice that Theron is not wearing a Weil watch. We really don’t care that much – we would rather see who she is kissing at lunch, or even what she is eating (we are that obsessed with celebrity). By suing Charlize Theron, Weil is making the company look foolish and anal retentive – this never looks good to the public. Weil is drawing attention to something that would have gone unnoticed. And while all publicity is supposedly good publicity, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t think Theron is intriguing, so to sue her simply for wearing a different watch only makes people side with her and against Weil.
Theron is the spokesperson for Raymond Weil watches and is now being sued because she was seen in public wearing a different company’s watch. How crazy is our society that someone has to wear only one kind of watch or drink only one kind of soda (Britney Spears better stay away from the Coke or Pepsi will have a fit). I understand that she signed a contract and should be smart enough not to test the rules. (And even as I am writing this I am becoming more in tune with the Weil team and how paying a celebrity millions and not getting what you wanted would be frustrating.) Yet, suing her for wearing a different watch one day is just absurd.
Speaking in PR terms, I think it was a bad move on the part of Weil. Nobody is going to notice that Theron is not wearing a Weil watch. We really don’t care that much – we would rather see who she is kissing at lunch, or even what she is eating (we are that obsessed with celebrity). By suing Charlize Theron, Weil is making the company look foolish and anal retentive – this never looks good to the public. Weil is drawing attention to something that would have gone unnoticed. And while all publicity is supposedly good publicity, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t think Theron is intriguing, so to sue her simply for wearing a different watch only makes people side with her and against Weil.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)