Wow, I can’t believe it’s over! This course has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset and develop better public relations skills. I was given numerous opportunities to brainstorm ideas for the Strategic Communications (STRAT COMM) Department at Old Dominion University. One of our professors being the executive director of STRAT COMM was a great resource for my classmates and I to conduct public relations work for the school. In this course I was able to exercise public relations skills through writing press releases.
My class and I were able to conduct marketing research for the Barry Art Museum’s membership drive to sustain funding. I was also able to better my multimedia skills through developing content for the universities’ social media platforms and collaborate with my peers on how to get students involved on-campus by engaging with them on social media.
Many of my public relations skills stemmed from serving on the e-board of Old Dominion’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) organization. In my entrepreneurship and public relations class, one of my professors also serves as the advisor for ODU’s PRSSA organization. He suggested e-board members take this class and made sure to mention it was not going to be easy. In fact, he emphatically expressed how difficult the course would be. Our former PRSSA Vice President also prompted us on how difficult this class was. Upon attending, I thought I prepared my mind for this course; I was in for a rude awakening.
I enjoyed the flexibility of our curriculum. We were given tasks and objectives, but if a time sensitive project arose, we jumped on it! This allowed me to gain a better understanding of what it means to think on your feet in the PR industry.
A major project my peers and I were assigned was brainstorming ideas and developing content for the Barry Art Museum. The Barry Art museum was gifted by both Carolyn & Richard Barry – prominent figures in the Hampton Roads community – who wanted to provide an environment that played an integral role in Old Dominion’s education, research, and contribute to community outreach missions. President Broderick strongly suggested our class help with outreach efforts for the museum. My group wrote a press release, providing the research we accumulated on the museum, as well as information we found interesting. I was honored to be one of the first people to contribute to the museum’s membership drive, especially considering how this not-for-profit foundation was built to enhance our education.
I was able to better my multi-media skills by developing content for the universities’ social media pages. This tied into my professors informing my class on the evolution of technology and how technological advances have shifted the way people communicate with others. Specifically, they told us a story of a journalist that would write long pages of detailed articles in newspapers. Now, information is accessible to us with the click of a button, thus altering our attention span. They mentioned how long detailed articles, although well written, wouldn’t stand a chance today.
We also discussed the Strategic Communication department changing the length of their videos when executing promotions on ODU’s website and social media pages. My professors used the example of YouTube videos. When watching YouTube, there’s usually an advertisement that shows before a video that gives people the option to ‘skip ad.’ Myself and everyone in the class agreed that we always skip ads on YouTube. Typically, if a video is longer than five minutes, I won’t even click on it. STRAT COMM recognized that most people do this so they started posting two to three minute long videos, then one minute long, and now 30 second videos.
More people will be prompted to watch a 30 second video versus a one to two-minute-long video. Learning how to make connections and finding ways for people to stay engaged in content by telling a story really helped me develop a social media game called #WhereAmIWednesday. This guessing game allowed me to create posts of different locations on campus to generate a discussion with ODU’s Facebook followers on where the image was located. I learned that creating a discussion, staying up to date with trends, and being aware of demographics when sending out newsletters, press releases, and marketing on social media are key when operating in the field of public relations.
The work our class did was difficult and often challenging. On many occasions I became overwhelmed with balancing this course with my other courses – working in a group also had its challenges – yet it was a great experience! It challenged my thinking by allowing me to develop creative communication strategies. It challenged my time management skills by having to meet tight deadlines. I also learned the importance of maintaining open lines of communication with team members by coordinating our schedules and choosing the best times to meet for the assigned projects. I believe these skills helped me develop a wholesome work ethic, even more so, it helped me develop employer-valued skills before graduating college.