Who I Met at Work Today

We oversee a variety of programs and meetings in the Library Communication/Public Programming Office. One benefit that comes with this work is the opportunity to meet some interesting (and often well-connected) people. Here are some examples of people my staff and I have met the past few years:

The Big Wigs
Each fall we host an author for our annual fundraising dinner. In 2008, we featured T. Boone Pickens. My staff escorted Mr. Pickens throughout the day and also spent some time visiting with Jay Rosser, Mr. Pickens' publicist. In past years, the Cobb Speaker Series has brought in Frank Deford, S.E. Hinton and Kurt Vonnegut, just to name a few. See the complete list here: http://www.library.okstate.edu/friends/cobb/previous.htm.

Politicians

Our events and meetings also provide the occasional opportunity to meet politicians. The Mayor and other city officials, OSU Regents, State Senators and Representatives are just some of the VIPs you might meet at a Library function.

Local Celebrities

I define a "local celebrity" as someone you could easily see at the grocery store, but you still get kind of excited when it happens: the University President and First Lady, OSU coaches and athletes, even Pistol Pete. Every so often, our programming and outreach efforts bring us in contact these folks.

Professionals in the Industry

Last, but certainly not least, we have several chances each semester to meet and network with other PR professionals. My staff has met local pros like Gary Shutt (OSU Communications), Sam Sims (Jones PR), Dustin Pyeatt (Oklahoma Blood Institute), Becky Endicott (OSU Foundation), and even a few industry biggies like Ed Schipul and Peter Shankman.


Wow, kind of makes you want to apply for my internship, huh?

Four Reasons You Want to be my Intern

Today, I listed an opening for my fall 2009 Communications Internship. We sent the typical announcements—PRSA Job Line, email to Brooks Garner’s listserve, listing on the Library’s job site—but, I’m kind of excited to see what kind of increased interest we can get by utilizing some social media promotions as well.

This year, I’m also using Twitter (my account, the Library’s account, creative use of hashtags, and hopefully some retweets from PRSSA_OSU and some past interns), Facebook (status updates, notes, shared links, and again hopefully a little love from PRSSA and some Bonnie-pire members), and here on my very own zero-traffic blog.

If you are looking for an internship in PR, this is why you want to work for me.

1. I get that you are a student first.
The great thing about all the student positions at the Library is that we understand that job 1 is being a student, everything else is secondary. You are at OSU to get a degree and we are here to help, not hinder.

2. My internship is built for learning.
The point of an internship is to learn, that’s why it’s eligible for course credit. The library’s communications internship is designed to teach you the fundamentals of PR and allow you to experience first-hand how a PR office operates. I’ve had more than one intern tell me they learn the most by just being in the office, seeing the kind of issues that arise on a daily basis and how we handle them. You’ll also be able to take advantage of the professional development we participate in as an office. I offer to host my interns at one PRSA-OKC meeting a semester, we have monthly meetings where we share new research, and we regularly subscribe to webinars and teleseminars.

3. The internship is customizable.
In the communications internship you will spend the majority of your time (50-80%) writing for a variety of media: press release, web, newsletters, ad copy, blurbs, Twitter, and more. The remaining time is spent developing skills you are most interested in learning. My interns have given media interviews, talked to donors, developed web pages, pitched stories, written promotion plans, laid out publications. The point is, you, in part, will decide what you’ll be learning.

4. I place students I want to mentor.
I take a personal interest in my interns, and I want to see them succeed. I do this in a variety of ways. In the first week of your internship, we’ll debrief your interview. I’ll tell you candidly what you did well and what you could do better. I want you to know what interview skills to keep and what you’ll need to brush up on before the next. Throughout the semester we’ll discuss career goals and steps you can take to put you on that career path. At the conclusion of your contract, I’ll help you build a resume that will accurately highlight the skills you’ve learned and build a portfolio of the pieces you created. You’ll leave the internship with a CD or zip drive of all your work and copies of all your clippings from the internship.

If you're ready to apply, follow the "internship" link at http://www.library.okstate.edu/personnel/index.htm and follow the instructions.

How to Not Land a Job

I just returned home from the joint TPRA/PRSA-SW District conference. I was there to network, learn about trends in my industry and hopefully meet some great new folks.

There were tons of students in attendance this year, as well. It's a pretty safe bet they were all hoping to do some power networking and maybe even land a job. That's why I (and everyone who was with me) was shocked at some of the outrageous behavior we saw.

There are plenty of list on what to do, but this conference was more fodder for what not to do.

1. Let your lack of grooming show us just how excited you are to be here.

Day one was a sea of bed head and I swear I saw some mutton chops in the mix. What better way to show future employers what they can expect out of you every morning once you hit the real world. Nothing shows confidence like giving the finger to basic personal hygiene.

2. Express yourself with visible tattoos.

Also sighted were wrist tattoos peeking out of shirt sleeve and ankle/foot tattoos on ladies in skirts. Sure 80% of your body is easily covered in professional wear, but why limited yourself? Way to make a statement about how appearances shouldn't matter. Everyone is looking for employees with such strong conviction to their values.

3. Get Sloppy Drunk
Here is one actual picture from the conference! Valerie and I hit the networking party on Friday night. It was billed as the "must attend event." We tried with little luck to locate someone, anyone, who could carry on a conversation without slurring their words. While we were looking we came across this bunch wallowing on the bathroom floor, playing with candles? As I snapped the shot, one turned around and screeched "That goes nowhere!" Wrong-o, it was already on its way to Twitpic. That automatically makes them all social media experts, right?

PRSA-OKC Responds to Smear on the Profession

On Feb. 10, USA Today published a book review which casts the public relations profession in a most unflattering light. PRSA chapters across the country are responding to this attack on the profession. PRSA-OKC has submitted the following letter to the editor.

Thank you to Derinda Lowe, PRSA-OKC President, and Katherine Leidy, PRSA-OKC Advocacy Officer, for actively supporting PRSA's goal of advancing the profession and the professional. Well done, ladies.

Letter to the Editor

February 12, 2009
To the Editor:

As the public relations profession continues to take hits in the media, we feel it necessary to respond to comments made in a Feb. 10 USA Today book review regarding the profession. In his review of the book PR: A Persuasive Industry: Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media by Trevor Morris and Simon Goldsworthy, Seth Brown presents the view that "PR is amoral, difficult to define, and difficult to measure." We'd like to share a local, insider's take on that notion.

As members of the Oklahoma City chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, we're part of a group of 157 metro area PR professionals who abide by a code of ethics that includes specific provisions for advancing the free flow of accurate and truthful information, and for disclosing all information necessary to foster informed decision making in a democratic society. These are professionals that serve an important role in fostering mutually beneficial relationships between the public and non-profit organizations, associations, government agencies, academic institutions and businesses. A majority of our members received a formal college education in public relations, communication and journalism, and 25 percent have taken the extra step to become accredited in public relations.

To the layperson, PR is often viewed as simply "publicity." Writing and disseminating information to the media and acting as a liaison between an organization and the media is but one small part of a PR professional's work. While it is the work that is most visible to the people who write about PR in the media and the people who read it, PR professionals and the organizations that hire them know that there is much more to it.

In our democratic, free society, PR helps people reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions through two-way communication and building relationships. It helps organizations understand the attitudes and values of different audiences in order to further the achievement of their goals. The PR professional serves as a counselor to management and acts as a mediator to help translate an organization's goals into reasonable, publicly acceptable policies and actions, and to mitigate risks.

Public relations involves a wide array of tactics and strategies, however its impact is easy to measure with both attitudinal and behavioral metrics, as well as financial measures, such as return-on-investment. PR's impact can be quantified in terms of sales, market share, brand awareness, stock price, reputation and trust, customer satisfaction, fundraising, employee morale and retention, event participation, Web site traffic, and regulatory changes.

We encourage those who want to learn more about the PR profession to visit the Oklahoma City PRSA chapter's website at www.prsaokc.com and join us at one of our monthly luncheon meetings.

Derinda Lowe, APR, President
Katherine Leidy, ABC, APR, Advocacy Officer
Public Relations Society of America, Oklahoma City Chapter

My Notes from "Marketing Yourself" with OSU PRSSA

Last week I met with the OSU chapter of PRSSA for a discussion on how to market yourself. My colleague and good buddy, Becky Endicott joined me. These are a couple of the questions they asked.

How do you introduce yourself in networking and non-networking settings?
My answer, both sarcastic and serious, is I walk up, stick my hand out and say "Hi I'm Bonnie Ann Cain." What they were really getting at here, is how do you frame yourself. I think it's always best to frame yourself in a way that shows how you are similar to the person you are meeting. We like people who are like us, so try to find some common ground. Do you work in similar industries? Did you go to the same school? Are you members of the same organization?

How do you maintain relationships?
Social media really can make it easier to maintain relationships. The key is to use social media to actually make actual contacts, not just maintain a database of email addresses. There is a difference between friending someone and really using a network to interact with them.

What type of presence is best online? Strictly professional or personal and professional?
Unless you are willing to be completely and 100% diligent about not allowing any of your personal life online, there is no way to separate the two. There will always be a blend of the professional and the personal online persona. You just have to make sure both reflect well on you. Social media works best when you are a real person; it's OK (good, even) to be yourself. Just remember that anything you post online is posted in a public forum. You are not behind closed doors, whispering to your best friend. You are on stage with a megaphone.

Do you look at a job candidate's online presence?
Yes, I do. Not only do I look at candidates, I'll look up just about anyone I'll be interacting with. In our office, we regularly search new employees from other offices, reporters, editors, and people who comment about our organization in an open forum. And don't think just because your profiles are set to private that we can't get to stuff. Common friends are a great way to sneak looks at things someone didn't think strangers could see. I would advise everyone to do a thorough online search of themselves. You need to be aware of and actively manage your online reputation.

At the last minute Becky and I learned that our third panelist was out sick. So I tossed this out to Twitter: "We lost a panelist, so @ me your best self-marketing tip. Twitter just became our fill in panelist" Here's what Twitter had to say:

@ThirtySixthSpan: @BonnieAnn Passion is the most flexible of personal brands. No matter what you are doing, you can always draw from it.
@lisafrein: @BonnieAnn be genuine and know what you bring to the table that no one else can.
@vtrammell: @bonnieann we should have tape recorded my answers and i could have filled in!

6 Provisions of the PR Code of Ethics

A mathematician, an accountant & a PR officer applied for the same job. The interviewer called in the mathematician & asked, “What does two plus two equal?” The mathematician replied, “Four.” The interviewer asked, “Four, exactly?” The mathematician looked at the interviewer incredulously & said, “Yes, of course: four, exactly.” Then the interviewer called in the accountant & asked the same question. The accountant said, "On average, four - give or take 10%; but on average, four." Then the interviewer called in the PR officer & again posed the same question. The PR officer got up, locked the door, closed the shade, sat down next to the interviewer & whispered, "Well, what do you want it to equal?"

Ok, if this is still your idea of PR, shame on you, scroll down and read my intro to the PR Code of Ethics. The second half of the code is made up of 6 provisions. Here's the official version and the Bonnie translation.

Provision 1: Competition
PRSA says: Healthy & fair competition among professionals preserves an ethical climate while fostering a robust business environment.
Bonnie says: Play nicely with others.

Provision 2: Conflict of Interest
PRSA says: Avoiding real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest builds the trust of clients, employers & the publics.
Bonnie says: If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...

Provision 3: Disclosure of Information
PRSA says: Open communication fosters informed decision making in a democratic society.
Bonnie says: No lying by omission.

Provision 4: Enhancing the Profession
PRSA says: PR professionals work constantly to strengthen the public's trust in the profession.
Bonnie says: If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.

Provision 5: Free Flow of Information
PRSA says: Protecting & advancing the free flow of accurate & truthful information is essential to serving the public interest & contributing to informed decision making in a democratic society.
Bonnie says: Your actions should do nothing to bias or alter the flow of open communications.

Provision 6: Safe Guarding Confidences
PRSA says: Client trust requires appropriate protection of confidential & private information.
Bonnie says: Know how and when to keep a secret

6 Core Values of PR

September may be PR Ethics month, but it's really too important of a topic to save discussion to one month a year. As an accredited public relations professional, I feel obligated to not only help my fellow PR practitioners embrace the PRSA Code of Ethics, but also to talk to people outside the practice about our code and what it means.

First off, yes we have a code of ethics! If you are working in PR and don't realize this key fact then get yourself to a PRSA meeting now. If you're not in PR and think we are all a bunch of hack Karl Rove wannabes, stop buying into the stereotype. It's not true. Like any profession (lawyers, mechanics, politicians, etc.) most of us work hard to do the right things. It just a few high-profile jerks who make us all look bad (which in itself is a violation of the code).

So here's a quick run down of the first half of the PRSA code of ethics, and the lay-person translation I created to help me keep it all straight.

Value 1: Honesty
PRSA says: We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy & truth in advancing the interests of those we represent & in communicating with the public.
Bonnie says: Don’t lie. Don’t lie to your client, don’t lie to your colleagues, don’t lie to the media. Just don’t, ever. Period.

Value 2: Independence
PRSA says: We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.
Bonnie says: Don’t be a lapdog. You are hired to be a counselor, an adviser. You are not hired to blindly go along with what your client wants you to do.

Value 3: Loyalty
PRSA says: We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.
Bonnie says: Don't screw over your client. The best interests of your client are always a top priority. They are putting a lot of trust in you, and your commitment (of lack of) to them can have huge impacts.

Value 4: Expertise
PRSA says: We acquire & responsibly use specialized knowledge & experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research & education. We build mutual understanding, credibility & relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.
Bonnie says: Remain credible. You do this by applying the things you’ve learn, like the four-step process, by being able to articulate why we do research and evaluation, by continuing your professional development and by maintaining good relationships.

Value 5: Advocacy
PRSA says: We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts & viewpoints to aid informed public debate.
Bonnie says: The public is always your client. My favorite definition of public relations is “building mutual understanding between a client and their publics.” At its core PR is a public service.

Value 6: Fairness
PRSA says: We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media & the general public. We respect all opinions & support the right of free expression.
Bonnie says: Don’t be an asshole.

Next time, I'll look at the second half of the code: the 6 provisions.