New PRSSAgency Clients

PRSSAgency has just acquired two new clients. We will be working with the BU Peace Concert, a coalition of student groups organizing a concert to promote peace and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The concert will take place in April at Metcalf Hall. We will also be working with the BU Spectrum Arts Festival being organized by the CFA student government. The event includes live public performances by several well-known CFA students and alumni, along with an opera performance, gallery showcase and gala fundraiser for VH1 Save the Music. Both clients would provide a great opportunity for anyone interested in entertainment and arts PR or event planning. If you are interested in working on these accounts or would like more information e-mail biana101@hotmail.com. Thanks!

PRSSAwesome Opportunities!

We got news of some great internship/scholarship/work opportunities- we encourage you to apply for anything and everything you can! As always, please e-mail buprssa@gmail.com with any questions. Hope to see you all tomorrow!

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PRSA/BOSTON ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 8th ANNUAL
SCHOLARSHIP GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS AND RESEARCHERS

BOSTON, Massachusetts–February 20, 2008–The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Boston chapter is accepting applications for its 2008-2009 Scholarship Grant Program, which provides financial support – on the basis of financial need and academic merit – to worthy college students or researchers in the communications field.

The amount of this year’s grant will be $2,000.

Undergraduate and graduate students attending a college or university in eastern Massachusetts are eligible, as are individuals conducting communications or public relations research. Additionally, the grant can be used by a student working in an unpaid internship at a nonprofit organization.

Grant applications are available now. Applicants can obtain a copy by contacting Boston chapter administrator Beth Bryant at 508/786-3013 or bbwrites@verizon.net.

The deadline for applications is April 15, 2008. The winner will be announced at a chapter meeting during the summer.

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Gain Work Experience With Porter Novelli

Porter Novelli is looking for a few good internationally minded college men and women at Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, for a 2 month marketing/street team gig with Porter Novelli and Mobivox, a very low cost International VoIP calling service.

They are looking to build a team of 12 interns, 3 from each school, to spread the word and do guerilla marketing on their campuses to get fellow students to sign up and test and try Mobivox. This is great marketing/PR experience for your resume! Prefer Internationally-focused students, sophomores or juniors, marketing or PR majors preferred. And again, those with person connections to other countries best as you will really want to use, and demo, the Mobivox solution.

Requirements would be work, around class time, for the entire months of March and April, likely no more than 20-30 hours total. “Reward” is resume building experience, work with Porter Novelli, and a 1 in 12 chance to win an iPhone – most effective street team member will win.

If interested, or you know someone who is, please contact Melissa Smolensky at Porter Novelli, Melissa.smolensky@porternovelli.com, 512-241-2232

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Gain Non-profit/Museum Work Experience

I have been contacted by the Shirley-Eustis House - a historic house museum in Roxbury, MA. They are having an event on June 5th. They are sponsoring a Colonial Heritage Day celebration for 3rd grade students. They would really like to get some press for this event! This would
entail drafting press releases and doing outreach to local publications and media. This is a great opportunity for someone interested in a Spring Internship. This is something that is very flexible and they are willing to provide a small stipend for your work.

Below is the contact information! Andrea happens to be my roommate's mom and is really nice! Email or call her at her office if you are interested and want more information. Let her know you are from PRSSA too!!

-Alex

Andrea Taaffe
Executive Director
Shirley Eustis House Association
33 Shirley Street
Roxbury, MA 02119
617-442-2275
617-442-2270 (fax)

360 Agency Tour: A Success!

Check out the fabulous 360 Agency Tour Group !!

It was great seeing former PRSSA president, Steph Shih, so happy at her job since graduating. She and her co-wrokers have a lot of exciting clients, including WowWee Robotics.

The fun product samples around the office and their team of young, enthused professionals creates a contagiously energetic vibe.

It was a great networking/learning experience and the perfect opportunity to pass on your resume!

Look out for details about the upcomming Weber Shandwick agency tour!

There is no meeting tonight, but we hope to see you wonderful people at the Meet and Greet!

IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT ABOUT DUES- EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID!!!
If you have paid, or plan on paying next week, you must e-mail your name, permanent address, and phone number to Alex (ajk913@bu.edu) by Wednesday at 5 p.m. Please make the subject of the e-mail "Spring 2008 Dues." Thanks!
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Sunday, February 24- E-Board Meet and Greet- grab some (free!) brunch at Dexter Park and get to know the e-board and your fellow PRSSA-ers! We'll also have some sample resumes and cover letters for you to look at. It's going to be a great time! (If you'd like to contribute to the brunch cause, you're more than welcome to make a donation of any delicious and tasty item. :) )

Be sure to RSVP to the E-vite we sent out! If you didn't get it, e-mail buprssa@gmail.com

Please call Heather's cell (201.694.5301) when you arrive at Dexter Park so she can buzz you in.

February 26- Emma Caroll, junior publicist at Allied- Emma's path to Allied was definitely a lesson in knowing what you want and working hard to get it!

March 4- COM Career Services will give us a great overview on how to use their services to our greatest benefit, and will give us some awesome tips on resumes, cover letters, and the like. This will be great so you can work on your professional materials over spring break!

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It's time to register for the best conference ever: PR Advanced: PRSSA Goes 2.0

Ok, so we may be biased about the "best" part...

Many members of PRSSA have been extremely busy this year, helping to plan our second annual regional conference with Simmons College. The conference will be at the Photonics Center, and will focus on digital and social media in the field of PR. It will be on March 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature a keynote speaker, two breakout sessions, an activity session, a career fair, AND free breakfast, lunch, and all the coffee you would possibly want!

We've got an impressive list of communication and PR pros coming to this event, so don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to network and learn! For more information, and to download the registration form, visit www.prssaboston.blogspot.com.

If you have any questions, or would like to help out, let us know!

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Are you a senior looking for a job?

SHIFT Communications, one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the nation, is hiring, and would love to get to know you! They mostly work in the technology and consumer fields, and have offices in San Francisco and Boston. If you are interested in applying at SHIFT, please respond to this e-mail so we can forward your resume and cover letter or get you in touch with the right people. If you have any questions, let us know!

All Around PRSSAmor.

General Annoucements:

February 12 (*LAST OPEN MEETING, SO PLEASE REMEMBER TO PAY YOUR DUES!*-): Ashley Cheng, account executive at Weber Shandwick, will speak to us about her experiences after college, and her work with OceanSpray, Liberty Mutual, and Verizon Wireless.

February 19: NO MEETING

February 26: Emma Caroll, Allied Marketing.

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Save Room For Dessert!
Cold Stone Fundraiser- February 13, 7-10 p.m.

Come out and support PRSSA while satisfying your sweet tooth!
Bring your friends, and be sure to save room for dessert!
The e-board will be mixing up your favorite flavors- that's right, you get to watch us make and serve you ice cream!

Who: Anyone and everyone!

What: Fundraiser at Cold Stone

Where: Landmark Center Cold Stone

When: Wednesday, February 13, from 7-10 p.m.

Why: So can keep the fun times rollin' with some cash!

How: Just bring yourself and as many people as you can between 7 and 10 p.m. A certain percentage of all profits made in those three hours will go straight to BUPRSSA! (And don't be ashamed if you go twice.)

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First Agency Tour: 360 Public Relations

When: Friday, February 15, 2008

Where: 140 Clarendon Street, Boston (Near Copley Plaza), 3-3:45 p.m.

Why: Get a closer look at one of the The Boston Business Journal's top 25 public relations agencies in Boston. Network with talented professionals, and make contacts for internship opportunities.

Dress: Dress casually, but not sloppy!

RSVP: Please email cbrennan@360publicrelations.com by Thursday, February 14th to secure a spot. Since this is a smaller agency, we will be limiting participation to 15.

*Becky Steinberg, our secretary, will be meeting those who RSVP'd in a certain location on Friday so everyone can go together. Keep an eye our for an e-mail!

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Boston Career Expo: February 13, 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

The Boston Globe and Boston.com/Monster are presenting the Boston Career Expo on Wednesday, February 13 from 11:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Dalton Street, Boston.

This career fair looks to be New England’s premier recruitment event. Fields such as Healthcare, and Technology and Engineering will have an ample showing with a variety of professional positions also available. Employers exhibiting at the Boston Career Expo looking for these qualified candidates include, Boch Enterprises, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Vanguard Medical Assoc., Primus Telecommunications, Inc., Acergy, Booz Allen Hamilton and many more. If you have any questions, please e-mail Deborah Halliday at dlhallid@bu.edu.

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Don't forget to vote for your favortie T-Shirt quote! Polls close February 13th!

Rock the Vote- tell us what our T-shirts should say!

In the spirit of the political season, here are our T-Shirt quote candidates...

A)"It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper." -Errol Flynn

B) "Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality." -Nikos Kazantzakis

C) "Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know." -Jim Rohn

D) "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers." -Daniel J Boorstin

E) "The formulation of a public relations strategy properly begins with listening, not talking." -Leonard Saffir

Our T-shirts will most likely simply say "PRSSA" or "PR" on the front, and have one of these quotes on the back. Very classy.

Polls close one week from now (February 13), so be sure to let us know what you think! Just leave a comment with your letter choice. (Don't worry, comments are anonymous.)

Also, if you have any T-shirt design ideas of your own, let us know ASAP!

Happy Voting!

NEEC T-Shirt Design Contest!

New England Eye Commonwealth, our corporate PRSSAgency client, is holding a T-shirt Design Contest! There are 5 T-shirt design categories that will be the center of NEEC’s new public relations campaign on and around BU's campus. Submit a design for any or all of the 5 categories through March 7. Be creative and have fun with the chance to have your design used on hundreds of shirts around campus. But also keep in mind the designs have to be clear and simple in order to screen onto a shirt. The winning designs will be showcased at an event held at the end of the semester and distributed throughout the year by NEEC, and there will be a total of $500 in cash prizes. Who said business shirts had to be boring??

The themes are:
- Color - eye color, contrast, shades, etc.
- Vision - what we use our eyes for, e.g. reading, playing sports, etc.
- Energy - liveliness, brightness, warmth
- Peace - images of unity
- Word play - expressions that make references to vision such as "That's eye opening," "Don't you see what I mean"

Make sure to include the NEEC logo in your design.

Please refer to the NEEC's website (www.NEECOMMONWEALTH.org) for information about the organization.

Submit all questions and designs to Becky (rtomikos@bu.edu).

Please feel free to tell your friends about this contest! Good Luck!!

Internships, Internships, and More Internships!

It's time to start thinking about summer internship applications. Check out these awesome opportunities and tips!

Ketchum New York's Summer Fellowship Program
Ketchum is one of the best worldwide public relations agencies. The program, formerly known as the New York Summer Internship Program, is a paid fellowship now open to undergraduate students currently in their junior and senior years. The program begins on June 2, 2008 and ends on August 8, 2008. Students must be available for the entire 10 weeks to be considered. Deadline is February 29, 2008. Please visit the Web site for more information.

University Directories
University Directories will be here on campus, Wednesday February 6 to hold an information session regarding their paid summer internship. The session will be held in COM room 215 from 4pm-6pm for those who are interested. Email urecruit@bu.edu with any questions.

Great Tips from Career Services:

This interesting article addresses some types of interview questions you might encounter out there, and explains why they might be asked. Remember that your interviewers are just people, and if not HR professionals, they too might be just trying to “break the ice.” I like what the writer says about a good interview being like a good conversation.

http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2008/02/03/be_ready_to_handle_interviews_that_venture_beyond_the_resume/?page=1


Here is a good, simple listing of illegal interview questions. Remember that it is not illegal for you to answer these questions if they are asked, but the interviewer should not be asking them. If you are asked one of these questions, is probably isn’t wise to point out to the interviewer that the questions is illegal; but you could pause, hoping the interviewer will catch his/her own error, or you could pause then say something like “is that relevant to the job I’m interviewing for?” The interviewer might have no idea that the question is illegal. You are under no obligation to answer an illegal question, so if the interviewer persists or you feel uncomfortable, make a quick assessment about how you feel about the company, the job, the job environment, etc. If you are highly uncomfortable, this might be one opportunity to let pass by.

http://www.stat.washington.edu/jobs/questions/


Also...

Commencement Speech Competition: $2,500 prize!
A $2,500 prize will be awarded by the New York Public Relations Firm Burson-Marsteller for the best five-minute undergraduate and best graduate Commencement speeches, to be delivered at COM Graduation ceremonies each year. If you have a cumulative minimum 3.1 GPA, you are eligible to be one of two Spring Student Commencement Speakers. Graduate and Undergraduate Students scheduled to graduate in December each year are eligible to compete for prizes awarded the following Spring. Due: 5 p.m., Friday, April 4.


Please e-mail buprssa@gmail.com for more information on any of these opportunities.

PRSSAgency in Action!

If you want to learn about agency culture and get more involved with PRSSA, come to our PRSSAgency meeting tomorrow at 5 p.m. in COM 106. Our clients run the gamut including corporate, non-profit, entertainment and event planning sectors. We will be discussing each account and brainstorming campaign ideas at the meeting. Join us tomorrow and learn how you can gain valuable experience.

Getting the Year Started!

Hey all!

Thanks to everyone who came to last Tuesday's meeting! We're so glad you came, and hope to see you at our next meeting. Speaking of which...

February 5, 2008: Overview of PRSSAgency
Our VP of PR, Biana Bakman, will review what PRSSAgency is, what clients we have, and most importantly, how you can get involved. There is no minimum level of PR experience required, and it's a great way to get some hands-on experience and boost your resumé! Come out and get involved!

February 12, 2008: Ashley Cheng, account executive at Weber Shandwick
Former BUPRSSA President and Daniel J. Edelman Award winner (and one of my personal role models!) Ashley Cheng will share her experiences working at Weber Shandwick on Ocean Spray, Liberty Mutual, and Verizon Wireless. She'll also give us some inside tips on how to be a stellar young PR professional, and how to get ahead in the work place after college. You won't want to miss it!

Other announcements:

PRSSA Dues:
If you are a new member or registered last spring, you need to pay your annual PRSSA dues.
Cost: $55
Make the check out to: PRSSA Boston
Write on "Memo" line: "Dues Spring 2008"
Hand in on separate piece of paper: Name, permanent address, graduation year, phone number, and e-mail.

Interested in joining PRSA when you're in the real world? Along with a significant discount because of your PRSSA membership, you will also get multiple benefits and services.

Hey, Seniors! This one's for you.
Spring Break in New York City

This spring break COM is hosting 12 public relations students on a tour of six major public relations firms and departments in New York City. The visits will take place on March 10th, 11th and 12th and are limited to 12 graduate and senior-year public relations majors. We will meet with top executives at several of the largest PR firms in the world (We’re hoping for Ketchum and Burson-Marsteller) as well as a mid-size firm, a boutique and two in-house departments (MTV and Showtime). HR representatives will be at the presentations so bring your resumes and your portfolio if you’d like.

There is no fee for the trip but students are responsible for arranging their own travel and lodging. COM will arrange and coordinate the visits and host a cocktail reception with COM public relations and advertising alums on Tuesday evening. (Advertising students and faculty will be touring major ad agencies and departments during the same three days.)

This is a great chance to visit and get to know some of the leading PR professionals in the world and to network with dozens of public relations alums working in the City.

Interested? Send us a one-page summary and/or a three-minute video explaining why COM would be crazy not to include you in the tour. Email your summary and/or video to Professor Quigley at squigley@bu.edu. The deadline is February 11th at 5:00 p.m.

Questions? Contact Professor Quigley.

Looking for a scholarship? Check out this awesome opportunity.

THE LAGRANT FOUNDATION (TLF) is now accepting applications for a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) in scholarships, which will be awarded in the 2008/2009 academic year. The scholarships are for ethnic minority students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in advertising, marketing or public relations.

In 2008, TLF will be celebrating its 10th year and awarding 36 scholarships. Scholarships will be awarded to 22 undergraduate students in the amount of $5,000, and 14 graduate students in the amount of $10,000.

For more information and to see if you qualify, click here.


Thanks for sticking throught this long post! I really hope to see you all on Tuesday! If you have any questions, e-mail buprssa@gmail.com. Have a great weekend!