This year’s PRSSA National Conference took place in Austin, TX from October 5-9. Temple’s Chapter of PRSSA sent nine representatives. Through the weekend, we had the opportunity to pick and choose from a dozen different sessions.
On Friday, the main event occurred in the evening and was a great way to meet and network with several different chapters around the country. PRSSA National consists of more than 300 chapters, and many were at the conference. The night was all about networking with all the other chapters.
Saturday's session started off with Katie Lowery as the Keynote speaker. Ms. Lowery leads the global public relations efforts for HomeAway. Lowery shared her public relations journey and talked about HomeAway receives global news coverage. I was very interested in Ms. Lowery’s session due to my interest in the international market. A key takeaway I got from Ms. Lowery was to discover your true colors and find your passion, it will help you succeed in your career.
The second session I attended on Saturday was by Temple Alumni, Jason Mollica. Mr. Mollica discussed the importance of branding yourself on social media. There are several different tools a person can utilize to analyze a brand and a personal social media account. These tools allow you to discover what is and is not effective. I have used these tools before for a company but I never considered using them for my own personal use. Mr. Mollica described the benefits of using social media tools to be better engaged with your followers.
On Sunday, several more sessions were open throughout the day. My favorite was attending the Officer Discussion Workshop held at the end of the day. I always enjoy attending sessions with other Chapter Leaders. I find it interesting to hear about what they do in their chapters. Each PRSSA chapter does things differently and it's interesting to hear about those differences. Speaking with these other Chapter Leaders gives me ideas I want to bring back and do with our chapter. These sessions are almost always too short and the conversations last longer than the session.
The highlight on Monday was the Capital Gala Dinner at night. This dinner was a conclusion to the amazing conference. It also served as a way to celebrate all the Chapter’s accomplishments. Our own chapter received the Star Chapter Award for the second year in a row! It is a great opportunity for our chapter to showcase our accomplishment and get recognized by PRSSA National.
PRSSA National Conference is a great conference put on each year by the National Conference Committee. PRSSA National does a great job in organizing and putting this conference together each year. Next year’s conference will be held in San Diego, CA, so if you're interested in attending start saving now! In the meantime get ready for our own Regional Conference to be held in March 2019!
This blog post was written by Chelsea Seidel, President