Last night, I had the opportunity to attend the Knoxville Twestival. This was an event sponsored by the Social Media Club in Knoxville along with other local organizations. The Knoxville Twestival was held to benefit the Salvation Army – which is a great charity to donate to. The event was held at the Knoxville Zoo, which is a wonderful place. It was one of the first attractions I went to when I first came to Tennessee with my Mom in 2007, just before I started in the doctoral program at the University of Tennessee.
What I really enjoyed at the Knoxville Twestival was that it was an opportunity to talk with fellow public relations and marketing professionals in Knoxville and around the state. There were people working for large organizations to owning their own internet business – and everyone was discussing the issue that are happening right now in social media. Plus, the event has been covered by the local media as well as some influential public relations practitioners – Laura Bower wrote an excellent post discussing how these organizations are really bringing Knoxville on the map in being cutting edge when it comes to social media.
I got a chance to talk with a few public relations and marketing professionals about what I am currently working on in my research and how I am incorporating social media into the classroom. They provided me with some great insights – first, they said that they are definitely looking for public relations and marketing students that not only know these social media sites, but are actively using them in their daily lives for their professional and personal lives. So, they were very happy to hear that social media is being incorporating in a positive way in the classroom, so I was pleased with that. 🙂
Plus, they said that the trend that they are currently seeing in the profession is a blend of disciplines – marketing, public relations, advertising, etc – are all coming together, and practitioners are more than ever expected to know each of these areas in business and be able to work with multiple audiences and mediums at the same time. This is a big point to bring up – we can not be specialists anymore- we have to actively learning and obtaining new skills to help us in the future.
Anyway, attending the Knoxville Twestival was a very rewarding and chic event – great networking opportunity and meeting new friends, great music, and a fun environment. Can’t wait to the next gathering and Twestival! 🙂 Congrats and thank you to the Social Media Club in Knoxville and the other sponsors that put this fabulous event together! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
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