Pod sweet pod

First days of school suck, especially if you don't know anyone in your class.

The first few days are always awkward; where do I sit? Who looks nice enough to talk to me? Did that person just give me a weird look? I knew I shouldn't have worn these psychedelic coloured pants.

I knew there would be some sort of group related work for this program, so I was nervous about starting over and making new friends. So, I figured I would just listen to Tim's lectures, do my work and go home.

However, to my surprise, I did connect with three particular ladies that make coming to school a little less annoying and a lot more fun.

I quickly realized that the three ladies, Sam, Sadie and Luisa, were in the same boat as me. None of us knew anyone or had any experience in the public relations field. Soon enough, small awkward "how are you today" moved to inside jokes about topics we had created throughout the first semester of school.

Embarking on a new experience like this program is both scary and exciting. Scary because I don't know what I'm really getting myself into, but exciting because I'm making real friends (and yes, learning valuable knowledge!) that I can see myself hanging out with long after we graduate. So, the moral of this story is that no matter how scared you may be about new things, always accept them with open arms. We cannot move forward in out lives if we don't take the first step. Try it for yourself, you will learn something new about yourself, and meet some cool people along the way!

 

Sadie, myself & Sam (at our weekly 4 hour design class!)

myself, Luisa, Sadie & Sam making our finest professional faces!

I gave the gift of communication this holiday season

This past week I was extremely honoured to participate in the IABC’s (International association of business communicators) annual Gift of Communication.

At first I wasn’t able to attend but with a shift change I was able to attend and I really felt like it was a great learning experience for me.

 

The IABC launched the gift of communication to help local non-profit organizations receive free assistance from IABC members and public relations students to help develop a communications plan. I had the pleasure of sitting with Ted and Sue from The Robert Land Community Association/ Eva Rothwell ResourceCentre as well as IABC member Jane from Xposure PR.

At the beginning we listened to Ted and Sue explain the challenges they faced by running the organization. Their top three were:

1. Volunteers: volunteers come and go; they needed to find a way to communicate better with their volunteers. This organization has only 2 full time members and 6 part time. They rely on volunteers to make their organization work.

2.  Financial Support: Ted explained a lot of support they receive is in-kind, and they needed to find a better way to fund raise and promote events they are doing to get more donations.

3. Update of their web site. So far, no one really updates their website. The site was donated by Mohawk College, so Ted does not know how to customize the site and update it as much as he would like to

Our findings:

The two hours we had together practically flew by! I was very nervous at the beginning but I was eased into it because Jane, Ted and Sue welcomed my own suggestions which made me feel like I was actually putting to use what I’ve been learning for the past three months.

Our big suggestions to Ted and Sue were to start getting more active with Facebook and Twitter. They did have a Facebook page, but there was not a lot of activity. Twitter is easy to get followers and can be implemented with Facebook with sites like Hoot Suite that contain all social media platforms in one location. We suggested asking questions on Facebook to generate discussion and get more people interested in what this community centre is actually doing for Hamilton.

Another problem we addressed was the volunteer issue. Ted needed a way to be able to contact volunteers instantly if he was short. We recommend the application Yammer where you can create a group, invite contacts and then send updates that everyone receives either to their computer of smartphones. Ted loved the idea and I believe will be implementing it ASAP. Another discovery we found was KoodooNation of micro volunteering that if someone posts a document that needs editing or a website that needs to be updates, someone from another part of the world can download it, work on it and upload it back to the site. This is a great idea, especially for non-profit organizations who do not have the time nor money to pay for this work.

 

All in all this was a really great experience. I’m glad I went and it has made me settle my decision to become an IABC member. The benefits are great, and hopefully one day I am the IABC member helping non-profit organizations and teaching students how to effectively design a communications plan.

-A

Top Five Bands I Would Recommend To Anyone

Whenever I meet someone new, I normally have a specific screening question that tells me if we will hit it off or not.

What kind of music do you listen to?

This simple question can keep me going for hours; I absolutely love music (no, I don’t play any instruments unless you count me singing by myself in my car). Going to live shows, buying vinyl and other band merch, relating to song content and lyrics...music is such an important aspect of my life. So it’s time for my recommendation list. This took me a while to figure out, and I’m sure I could do my top 50 bands, but I’ll leave that for another day. Here we go.

#1: Plants and Animals

Jazz inspired, post-classic rock trio from Montreal I’ve seen more times than I can remember (just saw them last Thursday at the Great Hall). Their lyrics cover love, loss, relationships and the good nights you will always remember. I could see this band every single night and never be disappointed; you can feel their passion for music and it makes me think that there is still hope for real, raw music in today’s superficial auto-tuned, unoriginal music industry. Here’s one of my favourite songs from the guys, Lightshow, from their newest album The End of That.

 

#2: Fleet Foxes

These indie folk band comes from Seattle Washington and I first listened to them on a long ride home from the cottage. This is the type of band you can put on while you’re cleaning or doing homework…and magically, everything will just feel right. I saw them last year at Massey Hall and almost cried (I’m becoming more aware that music has the ability to make me cry real easily…). The five members of this band make it seem like there are 15 people: most of the members play multiple instruments which really challenges the qualities of the folk genre. Last I heard these guys were on a “hiatus” (yes, you guessed it, I cried when I heard that) but I’m hoping with all my might that they will return with a fourth album soon. Here’s one of my favourites, Grown Ocean, from their album, Helplessness Blues.

 

#3: Bahamas

Toronto native, Afie Jurvanen, who goes by the stage name “Bahamas”, is another top contender in my favourite musicians. I saw Bahamas in Hamilton last year, and was hesitant to go at first. His music sounded really good, but there wasn’t that special something there that made me want to be first in line to get a ticket to. I went, against my initial concerns, and experienced a true musician in all his glory. It was just him with his guitar, two back-up singers and a drummer. The music is so minimalistic but he makes up for that with his personality. My favourite song of his, Caught me Thinking, from his newest album, Barchords.

 

#4: Every Time I Die (ETID)

A lot of people don’t get this one. I, of course, have my reasons. These guys know how to put on a show. I’ve seen them over six times and I am currently waiting for their annual Christmas show in buffalo next month. At first, I hated them. Scream-o music will always be noise to me until ETID came along. I actually listened to their lyrics, then I saw them and was obsessed. Have you ever been in an actual mosh pit where the next morning your entire body hurts? Yeah, chances are you were at an ETID show. The fans make this band exciting. It also doesn’t hurt to listen to these guys when you need to get some aggression out!  Here's Wanderlust from their album, New Junk Aesthetic.

 

#5: Animal Collective

Another band I hated at first but grew to appreciate them. I have never seen them, but I’ve heard (and watched) their shows. I respect the dedication these guys put into their work. Their music can only be described to me as art. When I listen to them I see colours, shapes, lines, movement. I hope one day to finally see them live, and I’ll make sure to let you guys know. Here's Blueish from their album, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Hopefully you've discovered someone new. Share yours!

Why did the shy girl pick PR?

So I’m over halfway through my first semester as a PR student, it’s weird to think that this time next year I could be potentially working in the field doing real client work, writing pieces that the media could rely on…scary, yet exciting.

Many people who know me are usually surprised when I tell them I’m in public relations. I was never the most talkative person in school, however, I think the first time I was really into the idea of public relations was in my first year social research class when we were learning about ethnography.

Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviours and perceptions that occur within groups and communities. The goal of an ethnography study is to provide rich, holistic insights into people’s view and actions. As an ethnographer, your main objective is to document the culture, the perspectives and practices, of people in a specific setting (Source).

This qualitative research method has been adopted from its roots in Anthropology to now being used in market research to analyze how a specific audience spends their time in their daily lives.  But how does this fit into public relations? Well, I feel this skill is necessary to understand your audience, which is a huge part of any solid RACE/Communication plan.  Being able to communicate a message to a specific audience will be achieved more greatly when you actually understand the audience you are dealing with.

So hopefully I don't come across as too much as a stalker, but I truly find people interesting in how they communicate and act with other groups of people. I challenge you to try to conduct your own: start with something small like how people interact on a bus, or waiting at the bank. You'll be surprised that after a while you start to see same patterns in how people act to one another. Of course the results cannot be generalized to replicate the attitudes of a large populationn, but it's still has beneficial results when looking at specified groups.

 

 

 This video explains how ethnography is used heavily in market research (and some drawbacks). Interesting points and really shows a new insight on how important perspective is.

 

Halloween Baking

Happy Halloween! Halloween is one of my favourite days of the year; scary movies, dressing up and, to me, baking!

My friend Ryan and I decided to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and decorate them in a scary theme. You can use any cookie or cupcake recipe you want. I choose oatmeal cookies because they are are a good base and you can add any Favourite ingredient you want: chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries, walnuts...so good!

I took the recipe off of here and added skor chocolate bits for a different flavour. The recipe makes about 6-8 dozen so we decide to personalize the decorating by giving each cookie to a specific friend.
Of course we made a huge mess (I dropped the hand blender on the floor and it took us about 10 minutes to pick it up because it turned on and was going crazy). But all in all they turned out great and we had a blast attempting to be pastry chefs in our decorating phase.

Baking is a great way for people to bond or even a great therapy to bake something yourself. I like the challenge of mastering new recipes or altering old traditional ones. I learned to bake through my Nonna, helping her bake Italian cookies (which she always seems to have a fresh batch when I'm over) and I learned to cook through my Dad (and nowadays the lovely Food Network). I try to find a new recipe every week and attempt to do it--yes sometimes they totally suck but now and again I'll find a recipe that I will continue using for a long time to come!
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Tip for chewy cookies: make sure when you cream together the butter and sugar that there are no lumps at all!

We packaged up some cookies to give to family and friends!

My pumpkins kinda look like carrots, but still fun to bake and delicious to eat!

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Amanda; I’m a 22 year-old public relations student at Mohawk College. I graduated from McMaster University last year with a degree in Communications and I’m extremely eager to start my very own blog!

A little bit about me to get things rolling here: I'm currently in my final (let's hope) year of school and I am so excited to start working in the field of public relations. My work experience stinks of a customer service junkie; I worked at a grocery store for 6 years, a summer of marketing for a window cleaning company, and am currently an office assistant at a hair salon and a field representative for a marketing firm called Infield marketing.Yes, I've had my share of horrible customers but the great customers make up for it.

This is my first attempt on “blogging” (minus my humorous attempts on Twitter) so bear with me here! My goal with this blogging assignment is to *attempt* to organize my thoughts about my education, family,friends, food, music and everything that makes me, me. This intro is just establishing what I wish to accomplish, I guess you could say my CommunicationsPlan…okay enough with my PR dialogue here.

I think the best way to introduce myself to the blogging world is through a good old mission statement. I would say we are all our ownorganizations—we are our own spokesperson for ourselves so why not have a mission statement? It would be helpful to read everyone’s own mission statement to be able to relate to new people. Sounds okay? I’m going to try to give it ago now.

My mission statement: To use my communication skills to connect with people—either people who share the same interests as me, or people who are just interested in learning something new. We are all walking spokespersons of our own brand and a blog is a great channel to get our personalities out into the virtual world.

So hopefully I can get my own brand across with this blog,and meet some interesting people along the way. Keep reading, I’ll post something tasty next J