I had a great time in Austin for this past week for the PRSA Conference. PRSA, or otherwise known as the Public Relations Society of America, is one of the main conferences I have gone to over the years. I was able to present in two sessions – one was focused on outlining tools and certifications for educators to use in their classrooms during Super Saturday (which is our educator’s event at PRSA), and the other was dedicated to online reviews at the main conference.
It was fun to present with Alexander (who was a professor of mine while I was getting my bachelor’s degree at Florida) and Erin. We had the opportunity to talk about emerging area within social media that will impact the public relations field. I had the opportunity to talk about online reviews, which I worked on this book chapter with another great professor, Amanda Weed. We got a lot of great engagement and interaction amongst the attendees of our session. Thank you Alexander for organizing this session!
It was great to moderate a panel with Adrienne, Gina, and Beth – they shared some great ideas, tools, and resources with the audience. We had a packed session here, which was awesome to see on an early morning Saturday session. The Educator’s Academy sessions were all held on campus at UT Austin. The last time I was in Austin was back when I was a thrower at USC for the Texas Relays – 12 years ago! Things have certainly changed since then!
The one thing I did do during the session was make a pretty big announcement. For the past few years, I have been working with Bill Ward (aka @Dr4Ward) on a project that has finally made moves to happen for 2019.
Bill and I are very honored and excited to announce the new Cannes Lions Educator Summit, which will be held during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity next year in Cannes. I am beyond, BEYOND excited about it! It was also great to get feedback, reactions, and insights from everyone at the conference. Everyone was excited and wanted to learn more about this. Stay tuned! We will be sharing some more details soon about the event!
I was also really pleased so see so many professors who are part of the #SMprofs group I manage on Facebook and Twitter. It was fun to hear the stories of everyone and how they feel this community has helped them out tremendously with their teaching and classes. That was the overall goal I wanted to have for this group – to be able mentor and help others out is what we all need to be doing as educators in this space. We just celebrated our second year as a group (yay!) and I am really excited to see what the future holds.
Another fun and exciting thing that happened during my time in Texas was the fact I got a chance to speak to graduate students at Texas A&M in College Station.
I had never been to the campus, so I was very honored to receive the invitation from Dr. Tim Coombs (who is one of the BEST professors, researchers, and people in crisis) and Dr. Sherry Holladay (she is truly remarkable in her research and mentorship!) to come to campus while I was in Texas. I was able to share my insights on social strategy and pedagogy with the graduate students and how to incorporate social media in their teaching. I was beyond impressed with the professionalism, research ideas and initiatives, and commitment they showed during the talk. It was fun also to bring copies of my portfolio workbook for the graduate students (several asked me to sign them – which was super cool!). I was very impressed with the graduate students I met (FeiFei, Eli, and Rebecca) – they are going to make a big impact on our field!
Thank you Tim and Sherry for being such amazing hosts and for inviting me! I had a marvelous time in College Station with you all.
Overall, another PRSA conference has come and gone, but it’s events like this that really make it so crucial to meet up with colleagues. I had the chance to spend time with the great time at SAGE and talk to attendees about my new social media textbook. Conferences allow us to have face time and be able to meet to collaborate, brainstorm, and help each other.
Thank you PRSA and Austin for a great visit! Can’t wait for the conference next year!
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
