We have all heard about the growing pains and wishes that 2020 would end quickly. This has been a tough year for many people I know – and I completely understand.
It’s been a year full of challenges, obstacles, and events you would have never expected to see (I mean, murder hornets?!!). What 2020 has taught me is if you think you have seen it all – wait, anything can happen!
With that being said, I would have to say this year overall for me has been one of the most rewarding years for me both personally and professionally.
Here are some of the highlights and takeaways from this year:
Work still needs to be done, even in the most challenging of times: I would have to say I didn’t have a lot of free time on my hands this past year with school (shifting from offline to online), working on talks and presentations, and research projects. I also had one other project that took my full attention for most of the year, and that was my second book.
This year marked the release of my second solo book, Discovering Public Relations, to the world. I didn’t have a long break between finishing SMSC and DPR, but hey, that’s what coffee is for!
The adoption of DPR has been truly amazing! I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to many students and professors about the book, and what they think of it!
The lesson I got from this was simple: even with everything that is going on, work still needs to get done. These were deadlines that were set before COVID19 happened, and I knew if these were not met, the book would be delayed.
I continue to be inspired by my students. Being a professor is a very rewarding profession, and one of the best things about my job is working with students. This year – both semesters – my students showed up to class. In the midst of uncertainty and many challenges facing them in and out of the classroom – I am very proud of every student I had this year. They were dedicated, hard working, persistent in achieving their goals, and motivated to go beyond what was expected.
For example, my PR class worked with our biggest client EVER (Chipotle) and they successfully did a full client proposal all online, virtual, and remote. I have shared with the students how proud I was of their work, and how this will pay off in the long run.
2020 has brought back social to social media. I think this was a big part of a change I saw this past year on social media. We saw people come to various platforms to not only create new ideas and content to be shared, but we saw people come together to be part of a community and talk. Networking has never been higher on social media, and more communities – from Slack channels to Twitter chats to even Clubhouse rooms – have emerged as the way to go to meet colleagues, friends, and new connections in the industry.
Why is this happening? Well, everyone is working remote and all of the conferences have gone virtual, so this is a natural progression to bringing what you did in person online.
I will be bringing these insights into my classes for sure in 2021.
Mentorship is more important than ever before. I have always been a big believer of mentorship, but from what I have seen this year, more needs to be done. I have been active in trying to mentor my own students, but also others from other schools, programs and universities.
I have also taken time to help other professors for what they can do in their classes and work. I also have had a chance to help some doctoral students since our department at UofL doesn’t have a PhD program. All of these interactions have been really rewarding and there’s nothing like creating an impact on someone else’s life.
I would encourage you all to consider mentoring one, two, or more people this upcoming year. We are all in this together, and the more we can do for each other, the better our field is going to be.
Grateful in finding a new professional “family.” With everything happening this year, one of the things that stood out for me was finding some amazing professionals in the field who have become my new professional family.
I am not talking about PR professional organizations or those that have been established in my field.
I am talking about the great community of Marketing Twitter.
These are folks who are rockstars – the real people behind the accounts, brands, and teams many keynote speakers praise in their conference talks – and are some of the best people I know in the business.
I’ve been fortunate to get to know a lot of them this year, and many are friends of mine now. Have I met these people in person this year? No (but I will make sure to do so when it is safe!)- all of these conversations have been on Twitter and Zoom, like this session we had to celebrate two greats in our community for their shared birthday (happy birthday again, Julian and Adrian!!).
So, as we enjoy the holiday season, there’s always things to look forward to in 2021.
What is in store for the new year? Lots in fact! More of this will be detailed soon, and I will be excited to share this all with you.
In the meantime, I wish each and every one of you the very best and happiest of holidays.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Best Wishes,
