Professional Development Event: A Great Success

On November 13^th I had the opportunity to attend a professional development event. This affair was held at the beautiful Hudson Business Lounge in Milwaukee. Major sponsors for the event include Big Shoes Network, PRSA, and the Hudson Business Lounge.

When we arrived at the venue, I was surprised at how many people showed up for the occasion. It was a great turnout; with over 80 students and 45 professionals. The event kicked off with a short informative presentation by Jeff Carrigan, the founder of Big Shoes Network. After that, students paired off with professionals to conduct a mock interview.

 The first professional I met was Allison Kubacki. Ms. Kubacki currently works for a digital agency called Lightburn, where they specialize in web design, development, and search engine optimization. After our short mock interview, Allison offered advice for future interviews. She also shared with me her facinating story of how she got to where she is today.

The next professional I met was Alyssa Hintzen. We conducted the mock interview and she provided feedback along the way, telling me how I did at answering each specific question. Alyssa was especially helpful at helping me understand the agency world as she began her career at an agency called Trefoil Group. I found her advice to be both insightful and practical.

The third and final professional I met with was Mr. Juan Paz. In the third breakout session, student switched roles with professionals and conducted an informational interview. It was nice to have the chance to ask questions that we normally wouldn’t ask in a traditional interview. Juan told me about his career path and emphasized the importance of following your passion. Juan currently works at Kohl’s in their corporate office. He deals with sports marketing, ad planning, credit marketing, and Tax Free/Tax Relief Programs. Juan was clearly very passionate about his career and that passion shined through as he was telling me about his job.
Overall, this event was extremely helpful. I learned valuable tips from successful professionals. I look forward to graduation so that I can apply what I learned into my own life as I move forward and start my career.  After this event, I feel much more comfortable in an interview setting. I am so thankful that the professors for the PR program really go the extra mile to help students prepare for the future by hosting events like this. Go UWW!

Guest Speaker Steve Staedler

On October 14^th, Steve Staedler, an account executive at LePoidevin Marketing shared his knowledge with my PR Tactics II class. Mr. Staedler taught us about business-to-business public relations, a program called Cision, and his current PR strategy for one of his biggest clients, SnapOn.

           

Mr. Staedler spent a significant amount of time talking to the class about Cision, a service many PR and marketing professionals use while on the job. This web-based software provides users with a number of valuable services. Media monitoring, media list building, press release distribution, and media analysis are a few of the services this program has to offer. Steve mentioned a company called Vocus, a major competitor for Cision. Their software has boasts similar features that are helpful to professionals in the field.  

Following our discussion about Cision, Mr. Staedler separated the class into a few groups to examine a case study. Each group was instructed to devise a 3-year campaign aimed at raising awareness for SnapOn’s Technical Education Program. After students brainstormed a few strategies and tactics, and incorporated those plans into a realistic timeline, Steve shared with the class steps his company had already taken to kick off this campaign. In order to position SnapOn as a leader in the tool industry, Staedler wrote a whitepaper on behalf of his client. This whitepaper was ultimately published in a magazine called Wind Tech and landed a photo on the cover page which can be seen below. 

Overall, Mr. Staedler was a terrific guest speaker. The content of his presentation was extremely helpful to my fellow students and I. Learning about the software that is available from companies such as Cision and Vocus may come in handy as we begin our careers after graduation. I especially enjoyed the case study because it was a hand’s on way for students to test our skills and compare our ideas with what Steve and his company actually did in the same scenario. I can't wait to see who our next guest speaker will be! 

Amy Paul: Preparing now for the future

Last week, in my PR Tactics II class we had the pleasure of listening to a guest speaker. Amy Paul, a recent UW Whitewater graduate shared with the class her tips and tricks to get ahead in the PR world.

Amy has gained a lot of experience in the field after graduating from UWW in May of 2011. Amy began her PR career as a PR assistant in the Milwaukee County Executive Office. Amy mentioned she found out about the opening from professor Anne Knabe. 


Following that, Amy took a position as a PR assistant at small firm called Bottom Line Marketing. Amy currently works for a company called Ascedia working as an interactive account coordinator.

Among many other useful recommendations, Amy emphasized about the importance of internships. This is something I have heard time and time again from professors and academic advisors so it was nice to know that a recent graduate agrees. I have an internship with the Madison Children’s Museum I know from personal experience that it has taught me a lot about the event-planning sector of public relations. I hope to gain experience through an internship at a PR firm in the spring to help me decide the specific area of PR I want to pursue a full time position in.

Hearing from Amy Paul reminded me of another Amy I know. A few years ago a friend of mine introduced me to another recent graduate of UWW’s public relations program, Amy Celinski. We met just after I finished my two-year degree at MATC. I was having a little trouble deciding on a major and college to finish my degree. Amy had nothing but positive things to say about the school and professors. I remember her telling me that professors really do their best to help prepare you for that first job in PR. Now that I am in my final year of school, (woot woot!) I am thrilled with my decision to attend UWW and I am excited to see what the future holds! 

The PR Student

Christen Gullickson: The PR Student

Let me first start by sharing a bit about myself; I am currently a senior at UW Whitewater (woot woot!). I am studying communications with an emphasis on public relations and a minor is in marketing. I'm taking fifteen credits this fall in order to lighten the load for my spring semester to ensure I have plenty of time to search for jobs or internships. After attending the first week of classes, one class in particular, PR Tactics II, sounded especially interesting. As I am nearing the end of my college career, I am realizing the importance of taking classes will help me succeed in the future. After hearing a rundown of the syllabus and the course schedule, I was pleasantly surprised. It seems there is much to be gained from this course, both from a personal and professional standpoint. 


One of the assignments we will be working on this semester involves attending a professional networking event. Last year I attended PR Pro Day with the UWW PRSSA chapter. This was by far one of the most valuable experiences in my college career because it gave me insight into the world of PR. We heard from professionals from various areas of the PR industry which really helped me narrow down what I want to do after graduation. 


This brings me to my future goals; as I can imagine many people my age still don't know exactly what they want to do when they "grow up," I feel proud of the fact that I have narrowed it down into a few select areas. After hearing from the PR professionals, working at an agency sounds appealing to me. I am also interested in event planning for a future occupation. One of the great things about getting a communications degree is that it is flexible. I'm confident that choosing the PR program was a great fit for me and the skills that I am learning in school will help me succeed in all of my feature endeavors.

Here's to hoping for a great fall semester!!