Chapter Meeting Minutes

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Monday, March 2 – Executive board shadow
Tuesday, March 3 –  Speaker, Amy Bishop, 
Thursday, March 5 – PRSA Dinner (Peoria)
Friday, March 6 – Tour (Zeno Group and Walker Sands)
Saturday, March 21 – Regional Conference
April 6-10 – COM Week
Thursday, April 9 – Career Institute 

AGENCY WRITING TEST

Writing Tests for Public Relations Newbies

Basics:

• All complement interview for a job
• All measure your writing skills-content, style, grammar, spelling, reasoning, organization, formatting, etc.
• All measure your public relations skills and thinking (cases and genres)
• All are timed to some extent
• All are open book for AP style (make sure you have yours!)
• All require detailed knowledge about the firm
• Some may restrict you from using the Internet
• Some may ask about current events/news and their effects on clients/the company
• May include analytics problems
• May be done by email or on site

General Topics

• Company/Organization (agency or non-agency)
          o History
          o Business (brands, markets, customers, industry[s], competitors)
          o News and current events (prominent; possibly connect with organization & its stakeholders)
          o Areas of company that interest you and why
• Research
          o Secondary sources that could be used and why (based on a scenario)
          o Methodologies that could be used and why (based on a scenario)
• Writing
          o Creative and concise language use in tune with purpose (persuasion, education, celebration, etc.)
          o Technical language use (editing, conciseness, reasoning, organization, vocabulary, tone, grammar, punctuation, AP           style, spelling, formatting, proofreading, etc.)
          o Content creation and content improvement are the foci
          o Correctness and effectiveness sought (includes use of PR discourse genres)
• Media savviness
          o Traditional media (organizations, key personnel, content areas, audiences targeted)
          o Digital media (organizations, key personnel, content areas, audiences targeted)
          o Trends across all media and implications on PR strategy and practice
          o Research sources for media and choosing best media for situations/purposes
          o Pitching stories to journalists working in any medium (e-mail, letter, or phone script)
• Problem-solving and decision-making
          o Scenario-based examples of realistic situations
          o Strategic planning (research, situation analysis, message design, objectives, execution, and evaluation)
          o Strong, sound answers and articulate defense sought
• Data analysis and presentation
          o Quantitative data in a scenario’s context
          o Identify and present salient patterns and explain their importance
• You
          o Experiences related to career and company that reveal who you are professionally
          o Interests that you have that reveal who you are personally
          o Self-definition/-description
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS

Cision

A benefit of being a member includes free access to Cision certification. Email the account if you would like access or for more information. You do not have to be a dues-paying member for access.

Executive Board Shadow

Are you interested in being an executive board member? Come see what happens at the executive board meeting at 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, March 2 in Fell 162. 

Get Involved Interviews

Executive board members will only be available before Chapter at 7:30 p.m. on March 3 and 17 for the COM 178 Get Involved project. Executive board members will not be available during other times unless special accommodations are made in advance. Alternate arrangements will not be made after March 1. 

COM Week 2015

COM Week 2015 is April 6–9 with 15 panels and six keynotes. This year’s theme is “Inspiring Innovation.” The Career Institute is from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, April 9 in the Brown Ballroom of the Bone Student Center. Please email the account if you are interested in volunteering for the Career Institute. 

Speaker

A Skype session will be held with Amy Bishop from DigitalRelevance next Chapter Tuesday, March 3. The session will focus on industry information, so bring your questions!

PRSA Dinner

The next PRSA dinner is at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 5 in Peoria. We will leave from the Bone Student Center at 5 p.m. The fee is $25 for dues-paying members, and the deadline to register is today. 

Tour

The next tour is Friday, March 6 in Chicago. We will tour Zeno Group and Walker Sands. There is a $10 deposit to secure your spot, which will be returned to you the morning of the tour to give to your driver for gas. Please also bring cash for parking and money for lunch. 

Regional Conference

The Loop Chicago: DIVERGENT is Saturday, March 21 in Chicago and hosted by Columbia College Chicago and Loyola University Chicago. The cost is $45 and the deadline to register is March 9. There are less than 100 tickets left. For more information, visit theloopchicago.com. Please email the account when you sign up.

Member of the Week

Congratulations to Cindy Kirchner for being member of the week for consistent attendance and writing for the relations committee.  

Duck Hunt Challenge

The School of Communication Academic Advisement Center is hosting a duck hunt. It began Monday, Feb. 16 and continues until this Friday, Feb.  27. Summer session ducks are hidden around Fell Hall and lead to prizes. They also share duck location hints on social media using #DucksoftheDay. Bring all ducks to the Advisement Center in Fell 450. 

Job/Internship Opportunities

The Miller Park Zoo has a new opening for a part-time volunteer coordinator. Applications are filled with the City of Bloomington. If you have any questions, email Hailey Lanier at h.lanier18@gmail.com.

The Normal CornBelters are looking for summer interns. Send resumes to Mike Rains at mrains@normalbaseball.com by Friday, March 27.

Special Olympics Illinois is also looking for summer interns. If you are interested, please contact Michele Evans at mevans@soill.org.