Public Relations Matters » public relations

Arrive, Survive and Thrive in Prof. Nixon’s Summer Classes

Barbara Nixon — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:23:35 +0000

An Open Note to All of Prof. Nixon’s Students at Georgia Southern University:

We’re almost off and running in our Summer Semester classes at GSU. This summer, I’m teaching three courses, and they are all taught online. The syllabi will be e-mailed to all my enrolled students, and I’m also posting links to them (on Scribd) here.

Introduction to Public Relations
Public Relations Writing
Making Connections: Facebook & Beyond (not yet available)

So that we can make the most of this semester, please (Please, PLEASE) take some time to read through the blog posts I’ve included here. I promise you, it will be well worth your time. (How often do professors let you get inside their heads, letting you know their tips for success and their pet peeves?)

Additionally, here are a few more tips:

When communicating with me via e-mail (or Facebook), always put your course number (such as PRCA 3330) in the subject line to help me immediately identify who you are and frame your questions or comments. Do your best to write in full sentences, paying attention to standard English grammar and spelling. Always sign your e-mails with your first and last name, as your GSU e-mail address will not make that readily apparent to me.
When submiting an assignment in GeorgiaVIEW, always put your last name as part of the file name, and also include your name in the document itself. Papers submitted without your last name as part of the file name cannot earn full credit.
If an assignment is due in GeorgiaVIEW, the only way to get full credit for the assignment is to submit it in GeorgiaVIEW. (E-mailing an assignment to me can be risky; I receive 250+ e-mails a day, and there’s a chance I will not even see it in my inbox.)
Follow me on Twitter, if you really want to get inside my head. (What’s Twitter?)

Let’s make this a great semester together!

(PS: If you’re one of my students reading this post, please leave a reply to this post so that I can know you have read it. If your reply doesn’t show up immediately, no worries — I may need to approve it before it appears, if you’ve never commented on my blog before.)

Portfolios for Public Relations Students

Barbara Nixon — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:00:45 +0000

[Updated from a post written in Fall 2009]

As part of our PRCA 3711/4711 Public Relations Practicum course at Georgia Southern University, students create and present portfolios of their work.

Kelli Matthews, an assistant professor of public relations at the University of Oregon, created a packet of information for her students to help them prepare their portfolios. With Kelli’s permission, I have tweaked it slightly (only removing the U of O specific information) and am sharing it here.

PR Portfolio Reviews Overview

Also, I asked PR professionals on LinkedIn for their advice about portfolios. Specifically, I asked:

Do you prefer a PR student’s portfolio to be digital or in a binder?
How many samples do you hope to see?
What tips would you offer a student who is showing you a portfolio in an interview (how should they show it to you)?

I was pleased to receive nearly 20 responses within a week’s time. Here’s what the professionals said.

After Fall Semester’s PR Practicum students had their Portfolio Reviews, I wrote a short post hitting the highlights (and lowlights) of their interviews. It’s worth a read.

Do you have additional suggestions for PR students who will be interviewing for entry-level positions? I’d love to hear from you!

4 Ways to Keep Current in Public Relations

Barbara Nixon — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:11:11 +0000

Let’s face it . . . whether you’re a PR student, practitioner or faculty member, we’re all busy. So how can you get (and stay) up to speed with the ever-changing world of public relations? Here’s a quick guide to how I stay current in public relations.

One: Listen to PR podcasts.

Some of my favorite podcasts are: For Immediate Release, Inside PR, The Creative Career, Trafcom News, Marketing Over Coffee, and Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. My favorite time to listen to podcasts is during my daily three-mile walks. I also listen to them when I drive, work out and clean the house. Some people prefer to listen to podcasts on their computers; my preference is listening to them on my Palm Pre or iPod.

Here’s a short video on how to subscribe to and download podcasts using iTunes. If you’re not an iTunes person, you may want to visit Podcast Alley, where you can find thousands more podcasts. You can listen to the podcasts directly from the website.

Two: Read PR blogs.

There are hundreds of blogs about public relations. I’ve bookmarked many of them in Delicious for you. You can subscribe to them using your favorite RSS reader (such as Google Reader), or just read them on the web. Some of the most helpful blogs I’ve discovered recently include The Comms Corner and Karen Russell’s Week’s Best, as they aggregate current posts of interest to PR practitioners.

Three: Follow PR practitioners on Twitter.

Are you a public relations student (or recent grad) just getting started using Twitter? Try following some (or all) of these people or organizations in my Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students. They all have something in common: they tweet useful or interesting information for people involved in public relations.

Four: Subscribe to daily or weekly PR e-mailed newsletters.

My favorite PR newsletter is one that comes into my inbox daily from Ragan Communications: the PR Daily newsfeed. When I want to read the latest on PR, this is the newsletter I turn to first. Another helpful newsletter comes from Chris Brogan; Chris provides different content in the newsletter than he does on his blog, so it’s definitely worth subscribing.

Your suggestions?

What additional resources would you recommend?

A Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students

Barbara Nixon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:29:53 +0000

Are you a public relations student (or recent grad) just getting started using Twitter? It’s usually best to test the waters a bit before you dive in. Try following some (or all) of these people or organizations in my Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students. They all have something in common: they tweet useful or interesting information for people involved in public relations. Read their tweets for a few days before you start tweeting yourself.

You may also want to read these two blog posts I’ve written about Twitter: Choosing Whom to Follow on Twitter: My Strategy and A Twitter Lexicon. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend Prof. Sam Bradley’s College Student’s Guide: Twitter 101.

Questions?

(PS: Suggestions for other good people for PR students to follow? Please let me know with a comment to this post.)

Does research really matter?

Barbara Nixon — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:22:17 +0000

This semester, I am teaching PR Research (PRCA 4330 at Georgia Southern University) for the first time. Here’s a short video from Phil Gomes from Edelman Digital on the importance of research in public relations. (NOTE: You must be a member of PROpenMic to view this video clip. Registration is easy and free.)

Find more videos like this on PROpenMic

PRCA 4330 Article Review

Barbara Nixon — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:42:01 +0000

For my PRCA 4330 Public Relations Research class:

Review an academic article on public relations that appears in a peer-reviewed journal. Your review is due by midnight on Tuesday, September 1. Recommended journals include (but aren’t limited to):

Journal of Public Relations Research (via EBSCOhost in GALILEO)
Public Relations Journal
Public Relations Quarterly (via EBSCOhost in GALILEO)
Public Relations Review (hard-copy only, at Zach Henderson Library)

Choose the article you will review by August 26 at class time, and reply with a comment to this blog post with your article choice. Use APA works cited style to tell me which article you will review.

Your 500-word minimum review could take the following form:

What did you learn from reading the article?
What surprised you in the article?
What do you want to know more about, now that you’ve read the article?

It is acceptable to use first person for this review. Be sure to cite your source–in text as well as in your reference section–in proper APA format. (Using Citation Machine might be helpful.) This assignment is worth 100 of your 1000 points in PRCA 4330.

Turn this assignment in using GeorgiaVIEW by midnight on Tuesday, September 1. No hard copy is needed.

UPDATE: On her PRConnections blog, Purdue University’s Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu shares her tips for how to read a research article. This is a MUST read. See the PPT version of her blog post here at Public Relations Matters, also.

Questions? You know where to find me . . .

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/1704875109/

Arrive, Survive and Thrive in Prof. Nixon’s Classes :: Fall 2009

Barbara Nixon — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:33:20 +0000

An Open Note to All of Prof. Nixon’s Students at Georgia Southern University:

We’re almost off and running in our Fall Semester classes at GSU. This semester, I’m teaching six (yes, six) courses. The syllabi will be have been e-mailed to all my enrolled students, and I’ll also post links to them (on Scribd) here.

Additionally, here are a few more tips:

When communicating with me via e-mail (or Facebook), always put your course number (such as PRCA 3339) in the subject line to help me immediately identify who you are and frame your questions or comments. Do your best to write in full sentences, paying attention to standard English grammar and spelling. Always sign your e-mails with your first and last name, as your GSU e-mail address will not make that readily apparent to me.
When submiting an assignment in GeorgiaVIEW, always put your last name as part of the file name, and also include your name in the document itself. Papers submitted without your last name as part of the file name cannot earn full credit.
If an assignment is due in GeorgiaVIEW, the only way to get full credit for the assignment is to submit it in GeorgiaVIEW. (E-mailing an assignment to me can be risky; I receive 250+ e-mails a day, and there’s a chance I will not see it in my inbox.)
Follow me on Twitter, if you really want to get inside my head. (What’s Twitter?)

Let’s make this a great semester together!

Public Relations During Times of Crisis

Barbara Nixon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:53:07 +0000

Public Relations During Times Of Crisis

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: crisis relations)

In-House PR Staff Working With PR Agency?

Barbara Nixon — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:27:33 +0000

What should a new public relations practitioner know about relationships between in-house PR people and PR agency people? Here’s a question I asked of Phil Gomes from Edelman Digital for the Ask Phil group in PR OpenMic. I’d welcome thoughts from others as well!

Find more videos like this on PROpenMic

Social Media for Up and Coming PR Practitioners

Barbara Nixon — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:43:52 +0000

The Georgia Southern University PRSSA invited me to give a presentation on social media this evening. And here’s a link to the websites, blogs, etc., that I’m discussing:

http://delicious.com/barbaranixon/GSU_PRSSA_links

Social Media For Up and Coming PR Practitioners

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social media)