Originally posted at Dusti-PR pubs
In Chapter 7, Aarron Walter ends his book by discussing risks and rewards. Overall, I think this chapter concludes the book with the interesting topic of taking risks and sometimes gaining rewards in your job. After reading this chapter, I learned that this book truly taught me alot about public relations, that I had never realized before. For example, I learned about a few new types of social media tools. Additionally, I learned how although audience, content, and design are all different from each other, they are connected in a few ways.
I did not really disagree with anything in this chapter because I think it’s important to take risks to receive rewards in your job and throughout life. Taking risks teaches you the skills about going with your gut and opinion on what you think is right. I enjoyed the wrap up of this chapter and the conclusion of the book. I like how Walter reviews what he has talked about throughout the book and leaves us with this thought that designing with our personal style is essential. Overall, this was an interesting book and I think it should be used in years to come in PR Pubs classes.
Originally posted at Megan Young - Gaylord Student
I never thought I would get to this point, honestly.
This semester has not been easy, and this class has been the thorn in my side… But not necessarily in a bad way.
Publications has been a lot of work. I had to learn my way around a Mac. I had to learn multiple new programs. I had to learn how to create a website almost from scratch. I had to blog my progress to the world, which in itself was not necessarily difficult as much as it was weird. I just kind of took a comfort in knowing that the reach of my blog was probably not many people. Overall, however, I will take away a lot from this class, and it goes past all the bits and pieces we learned about design. I learned that it all starts with an idea. If you foster that idea, that idea will grow. At first that idea is not going to grow into what you had in mind, but, like many aspects of life, if you keep trying and persevere, some level of success will be achieved.
I do not know about the future of my blog past this class. I definitely want to play with my website more and see what else I can do with it. I still have a lot to learn, but the format of the class made learning really easy, to be honest. When you have a professor constantly there to answer all of your simple questions, it is comforting (especially to know that he started where I was at one point too). Knowing all of these things gives me hope in general! More classes should have this structure – independent work with a helpful guide close behind. Sometimes you have to learn with trial and error, and that is a lot of what I did.
If the circumstances of my semester were different, I think I would have gotten a lot more out of the class. However, I did learn an immense amount, and I do plan on continuing this type of work well after the final grades come out.
Originally posted at CK1
I like to say I danced before I walked. That’s what my family tells me, anyway. Whether or not that is true, I guess I’ll never know, but I remember every dance class I have ever taken. I remember every accomplishment, every milestone, every new technique I finally mastered. Being on stage and performing is like something from a dream. The hush that comes over a crowd before the music starts, the way your heart beats in the first few seconds of a routine, how a dance seems to go on forever but end in a blink at the same time… Everything about dance is everything to me.
The first time I won an award for my choreography I was elated. I thought for sure it was a fluke. My short legs never lent me to have perfect technique, but I went out on a limb and did a contemporary solo for competition anyway. Most people get help from their coaches, but I went at this all on my own. I designed my costume, did my hair and makeup, and choreographed it from beginning to end all by myself. Solos happened on Friday, and group routines happened on Saturday, so it was the middle of the day Saturday during competition craziness when the finalists lists were put up. I was only a Junior then, and when our coach announced someone from our team had made the cut, I did not even fathom that it was me. To this day hearing my name come out of her mouth feels like something from a distant dream. When I lined up at the end of the day, awaiting my award (if any, at this point I was only a finalist), none of it seemed real. That day I got second runner up from all of the solos preformed by all of the dancers from all of the high schools around Kansas.
I still thought it was a fluke going into competition the next year, my Senior year. I had choreographed a jazz routine and a hip hop routine for our team that year, so my solo was barely on my mind. I think I made up half of it the day of competition. I had let myself down… But I did not let the team down; both of the routines I choreographed won awards specifically for choreography. That was the day I realized none of it was a fluke. I was a dancer, and I had something to say.
The day I had to stop dancing because my body gave up on me was the worst day of my life. I had dedicated 13 years to dance, and it was over in just a flash. I still reminisce about old routines, look up clips on YouTube from the “glory days,” and flashback when I see old competition pictures. I have new aspirations and dreams now, but dance will forever be the one thing that shaped my life. I learned hard work, dedication, determination, and, above all, that anything worth doing is worth the blood, sweat, and tears you put into it.
Originally posted at CK1
In Chapter 6 on Forgiveness, Aarron Walter discusses the idea that in the public relations world, something might go wrong. For example, the story of the Flickr incident and how although the company looked like they were going down forever and would never be able to make it out of the slump, they’re still around today. In the past, I did a project on Flickr so I knew about the entire company. However, after researching their history, I did not realize that there was a storage failure in 2006. This was interesting to me and I’m surprised I didn’t know about this when researching it for my project.
One thing I don’t agree with in this chapter is how although Flickr reinvented itself, this made up for the storage failure. I think the reinvention definitely helped Flickr expand, but I don’t think this necessary made them a better form of social media. Sadly, Flickr is still not a very large part of social media, compared to its competitors like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. However, I do think Flickr is on the rise to becoming a more popular form of social media to use. I enjoyed this chapter because I liked reading the example about Flickr and how he connected this to forgiveness. Additionally, this chapter was short so it was easy to read.
Originally posted at Megan Young - Gaylord Student
…well kind of…I still have to do my extra credit blog posts tonight!!
Overall, I am kind of sad to be leaving this class. I feel like I have learned so many valuable skills, yet there is still so much I do not know. The time that I have spent in this class I have learned so many practical skills for not only PR practitioners, but also just people in general. Learning how to use what I consider some of the most intimidating software was challenging yet fun for me. Although I got extremely frustrated at times I can reflect and see that 1. I did learn something and 2. Hard work really does pay off.
I actually thought I was going to hate this class in the beginning. I knew I was not a creative person and that I struggled with Photoshop and Indesign. The first day, as well as the first actual assignment, was definitely a little intimidating to me. Once I got into the swing of things; however, I was no longer intimidated by the amount of creativity I was given – I was looking forward to it.
I think the hardest part of the class for me was our workdays in he computer lab. For some reason, I can never focus or be productive in those settings. It happened to me in Writing for the Mass Media as well. My brain just does not function in those types of settings. I usually spent the class time drawing out my ideas or looking up ideas/ information on the Internet that way I did not waste an hour of my day. This actually ended up paying off in the end because when I would actually sit down to work I already knew kind of what I wanted to do and I cut my production time in half.
Although I do not wish every course I had were in the same setting of a computer lab, I do wish they were all hands on like this one was. I have discovered I learn best when I am learning practical skills and when I can practice them and try them out. I think I learn and retain the most in this kind of setting because I do not spend my time cramming for tests I will forget the information on. I am learning how to actually do something.
Another aspect of the class I really enjoyed was our blogs. I have been saying for a year now that I am going to start blogging. Now that I can’t make excuses I can finally do something I have wanted to do for ages. I have not decided what I am going to turn my blog into subject wise, but I do plan to continue using it.
Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about this class. I feel like I learned everything I was suppose to, which is nice. I also believe I will be able to use this knowledge for years to come no matter what my profession.
Originally posted at OU Public Relations Publications
Recently, I was selected as the new chair for Campus Activities Council Sooner Scandals 2015. For those of you who don’t know Sooner Scandals, or Scandals for short, is one of the oldest most beloved traditions on campus. Scandals is a production where six acts perform 12 minute Broadway style musicals to a theme selected by the chair and executive committee. The acts compete for awards and bragging rights for the rest of the year. This past yeas Scandals theme was “And so it was said.” This theme required acts to base their stories off of famous quotes or words of wisdom.
Before you can understand why I am so excited about my new position, I should probably explain my history with Scandals. Sooner Scandals was the first event I was a part of when I came to OU. I fell in love from the moment I joined the executive committee my freshman year. I have been on Scandals exec for the past 3 years. My first year, I was on the sponsorship team so I raised money for the event. My sophomore year, I was a technical director and was responsible for the technical part of backstage during the shows. This year I was a Vice Chair where I served as the Assistant to the Chair. Being a member of exec that first year is what gave me the confidence to apply for other positions on campus and take on more leadership roles. You see, my “college experience” started with Scandals and I am so glad it is going to end with it.
As the new Scandals chair, I have already started working on next years production. My Vice Chair applications closed today, and I will pick four of the applicants to become Vice Chairs before school is out. I have also set up exit interviews with show directors. We are making a lot of changes this year with Scandals so I wanted to get the director’s opinions on what they liked and did not like about Scandals this year. So far the meetings have been extremely productive. I have also had meetings with the Student Life Advisors and other event chairs. I am also supposed to be studying for finals…but that is way less fun then planning Scandals!
This summer I will make my budget for the year, reserve classrooms, plan out the executive committee, begin think of themes, and much more with my Vice Chairs. Once we get back to school in the fall, it will be time to select our executive committee members and begin the process that is Sooner Scandals!!
If you want to follow my journey, you can keep up with everything Scandals related on this site on my blog.
In honor of Scandals 2014, I have also added a picture of my best friend and I at this years show. He performed in his fraternities show 1789.
Originally posted at OU Public Relations Publications
For the final project for this course, our professor asked us to turn our blog into a five page portfolio site that includes a home page and four secondary pages. The pages had to include an about me section, a personal portfolio, our blogs, and a contact page. We were also required to design the logo for our site.
I really enjoyed the first part of this assignment. I loved creating the logo, and it actually came easy to me this time! Then, when it came time to fill the website with content, that was actually pretty simple too. We had free reign to create our website as we wanted, so knowing what I wanted on the front page, figuring out my “About Me” and putting together my portfolio came pretty easily… Then the real trouble started.
I found the actual formatting of the website, the web design part, to be extremely difficult. Even as I am writing this post I am still sorting out the kinks. The “Simplicity” theme seems pretty straightforward at first glance, but there are a lot of components that go into it. Understanding what each typography setting means, exploring fonts and sizes and colors, and discovering how to add background images has, to put it as a cliche, all been Greek to me! I have all the ideas in my head, but putting them down on webpage has proven to be a challenge. The more I work at it, the more things seem to click, but I still have a long way to go before I fully understand Word Press and all of its components – if I ever -fully- understand it, that is.
On a scale of 1-5, I would say this project has been a 4.5. Definitely the most challenging thus far. A worthy opponent for a semester of new things!
Originally posted at CK1
For this blog post our instructor asked us to make up an assignment for the class. We had total creative freedom. The assignment I created is below. Let me know what you think!
Assignment 5: A Night to Remember
Due Thursday May 1, 2014
Scope:
Create a “special event’s” print and web publications. The event can be a wedding, a shower, a banquet, a gala, etc. The list of items for the event includes: invitations (both print and electronic), a program for the night of, a graphic to change social media profile pictures, a Twitter account for the event ran by you with an official hashtag and 5 Tweets posted on the account (2 leading up to the event, 2 at the event, and 1 after it is over), and a premade email to all guest reminding them of the event.
Blog Post:
Students will also write a 250 word reflection blog post for the assignment.
Did you struggle with any section of this assignment? What did you like? Dislike? What did you learn from this assignment?
Hints:
Grading:
100 total points: You will be graded per publication (20 points each)
Rating: 3
Originally posted at OU Public Relations Publications
Chapter 6
This chapter was a good lesson in crisis communication. I was really impressed with the example of Flckrs problem and the contest they ran. I’m sure whatever intern or whoever came up with that idea got a big fat raise. Running a constest got people thinking about how to win rather than how mad they were the site was down.
The idea of emotional design is pretty abstract to me. I always feel that I struggle to be creative. I can make you something very technical and I can do it well but new ideas or out of the box thinking is not my strong point. They make a very good point though that this can buy you some leeway.
One portion that really impressed me in this chapter is when they talked about designing for human emotion but that human emotion is not perfect and that eventually something bad will happen. How you respond to that is what makes the difference, just like in real life. Flickr did a great job because they were able to ease bad emotions and they already had built up a lot of trust with their design and how much people liked it.
This is another example of how design can be just as important as content. Even in a crisis situation, a good design can buy you more leeway.
Chapter 7
The idea of starting small really appeals to me. Designing for emotion doesn’t always seem to fit. For the athletic department I feel like it would be very difficult to convince someone to do something like the Easter Egg hunt on our site. They are always concerned with traditional and professionalism. At the same time, they always tell us that recruits look at the site and they we need to be mindful of that. Finding a way to appeal to that audiences emotions would have a great impact on the university.
I wonder if I could convince someone to take a chance on something similar to the examples in this book. The book seems to conclude that while it may be risky (although not very) the benefits could be huge. As an intern My opinion doesn’t matter but if they tried it I bet it would lead to a job.
I thought the book was pretty good overall. It gave me a better sense of how to design for humans and how to get the best response from an audience. I def want to use some of the principle I’ve learned whenever I start my career. So many athletic department websites are the same boring stuff. There is so much room for improvement, particularly when these sites say that they are aimed at high school recruits. That younger demographic would love emotional design.
Originally posted at Wes Moody