cal poly pr day final paper
TRANSCRIPT
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CAL POLY PR DAY: Final Paper
Kristy Gonzlez
Krista Scarbrough
Victoria Zabel
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Executive Summary
During the spring 2010 quarter our grouped worked with Richard Gearhart,
Doug Swanson, and Dan Eller to plan and execute Cal Polys First AnnualPR Day.
Planning PR Day involved a number of different tasks, such as creating a
timeline, brainstorming potential speakers, contacting and securing speakers,
gathering thank-you gifts for the speakers, arranging a luncheon,
designing and purchasing shirts and flyers, and securing the necessary rooms
for the presentations.
The day-of the event, May 20, involved much last-minute preparation, such
as setting up the booth, directing attendees and speakers to the session
locations, coordinating a luncheon, etc. Many came out to support PR and to
learn more about what the field can offer.
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Consultation & Situation Analysis:
Cal Polys first-ever PR Day was held on May 20, 2010, with
speakers from Public Relations and Agricultural Communications fields, and
provided invaluable information and networking opportunities for all
students. We worked in collaboration with the Director of the Brock Center
for Agricultural Communications Richard Gearhart, the Agricultural
Communicators of Tomorrow club (ACT), Public Relations Student Society
of America (PRSSA), and Central Coast PRspectives (CCPR). Our team
conducted an initial consultation with Gearhart on April 6, 2010, to discuss
plans for Cal Polys first-ever PR Day. We discussed the schedule of the
event, key themes to cover at the event, and possible speakers.
Figure 1 below shows the organization of the event in a block
schedule format to ensure a greater attendance and to allow students to
attend multiple speaker sessions. The event was scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2
p.m., with a mid-event luncheon from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Ag. Circle.
There were four sessions covering different topics including Social Media,
Day-in-the-Life of a Professional, Personal Brand, and Grad School.
Speakers were assigned to a session for two hours in one room. Each session
lasted one hour and was repeated the following hour. We felt the schedule
below efficiently outlined the format of the sessions, helping the to event run
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Have an absolute minimum of four professional speakers in Public
Relations and Agricultural Communications at the event.
Theory:
Our team followed the organization of the Adaptive Structuration
Theory, in which we create the group as we act within it. This theory is
formulated as the production and reproduction of the social systems
through members use of rules and resources in interaction (Desanctis, et
al., 1994). This theory derives from the idea that as an organization or group
develops and evolves so does its regulations.
This organizational climate allowed us to be flexible and adapt to
changes as needed, which is important because much of our body of
knowledge will be found to have flaws. Thats not bad news; thats good
news. When we find something that really doesnt work the way we knew
it did, well be on our way to finding out how it really does work (Newman,
1990).
Target Publics:
For PR Day our primary target publics were students in Public
Relations and Agricultural Communications because the event was tailored
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to their interests. We wanted the event to cover what students in Public
Relations and Agricultural Communications feel is important.
We also realized, however, that every student can benefit from attending PR
Day by gaining invaluable information from communication professionals
that they will be able to directly apply to their future careers. Therefore, our
secondary target public was all other students at Cal Poly. Communication
skills are critical in every aspect of life, especially in job market. According
to the Job Outlook 2010 survey conducted by the National Association of
Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers ranked communication skills
at the top of the skills they seek in potential employees (NACE, 2010).
Strategy, Tactics, and Tools:
Strategy
Our strategy was to provide students with the opportunity to further
develop their professional development skills by learning from and
networking with experienced communications professionals.
Tactics
A primary tactic was reaching out to students, faculty, and clubs with
a common vested interest in the communications field.
Tools
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Tools included social media, posters, email, news releases, and word-
of-mouth.
Methods of Evaluation:
We will gauge the success of PR Day both quantitatively and
qualitatively. We will first look at the number of people in attendance at
each session, as well as the number of professional speakers at the event.
This will not only help us determine what strategies were effective, but it
will also help us determine whether or not this event is something that
resonates with students at Cal Poly.
Qualitatively, we will examine the interest of students at the event (ex.
surveying students, observing how many students actively participated in the
sessions, determining which sessions were more popular than others, etc.).
With the same approach, we can review the interest and willingness of the
faculty, as well as the enthusiasm and reliability of the speakers, to
determine the likelihood of making PR Day an annual tradition.
Timeline We Followed:
Prior to PR Day
Advertisement for Ag Circle by April 5
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Attend ACT club meeting to recruit help and get ideas by April 14
Print 11 x 17 flyers and post in Journalism Department for Open House
by April 15
Attend PRSSA club meeting to recruit help and get ideas by April 20
Contact list of potential speakers by April 21
Secure speakers by April 30
Submit request for Sponsored Guest permits by May 13
Contact PRSSA Executive Board for funds by May 4
Secure rooms for the event by April 22
Secure lunch arrangements by May 3
Create flyer with specific dates, times, locations, themes, and speakers by
May 3
Email professors with communication classes on Thursday between
9a.m.-2p.m by May 6
Email all journalism students and faculty with event info by May 6
Email all departments with forwards with event info for faculty and
students by May 6
Pitch story idea to Mustang Daily by May 10
After PR Day
2-page article in Ag. Circle by Krista Scarbrough
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Press Release to Mustang Daily by May 21 (how to compose a press
release can be found on pages 129-139 of the Diggs-Brown text).
Compile all evaluations to measure the success of the event by May 24
Send Thank You cards to all speakers and other helpers by May 27
Budget
Prior to beginning a PR campaign you must spell out how you will
allocate staff time, budgets, computers, databases, in-house and contract
services, and volunteer or intern help (Bonk, 23).
Marketing Budget
All marketing expenses for PR Day were funded by PRSSA and/or
the Journalism Department.
Event Budget
The sessions for PR Day did not have an entry fee and were be open
to the public. Speakers were not paid or reimbursed for travel expenses, but
will be reimbursed for parking permit or granted Sponsored Guest parking
permits. The pizza luncheon held at Ag. Circle will also be free for
volunteers and those attending or speaking at the sessions. I Love PR T-
shirts were sold at the event. The prices were $7.00 for PRSSA or ACT
members and $10.00 for non-members. Volunteers received a
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complimentary T-shirt for their assistance.
Measuring Success
In the most basic sense, the number of attendants measured our
success at PR Day on May 20. As this number was lower than we had
hoped, we expanded our criteria to include other areas where success could
be measured as well. For instance, our success with booking guest speakers
was great, although we had a few glitches along the way (which were not by
fault of ours) such as people backing out at the last minute. Additionally, our
success with securing rooms and speaker donation items was successful as
well (we had enough rooms for each session, and enough goodies for each
speaker).
Another obvious way to measure the success of PR Day will be to
evaluate whether we garner any new PRSSA members as a result of the
information they received at the event. This will only be quantifiable at the
next membership drive in the fall, so we will be sure to keep our ears open
for news concerning that.
At PR Day, we also received several requests from student
organizations on campus to be clients for the 2010-2011 academic year. We
saved their contact information for CCPR to be in touch with them next
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year, since the fall quarter client list is now full.
After finishing the event we were able to dissect the whole process,
honing in on what worked and what would need to be improved upon for the
next PR Day. This gave us an opportunity to compile a list of ideas that will
hopefully be of assistance to future CCPR classes.
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References
Bonk, K. et al (2008). Strategic communications for nonprofits . San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Diggs-Brown, B. (2007). The PR styleguide: Formats for public relations
practice (2 ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Desanctis, G. and Poole, M.S. (1994). Capturing the Complexity in
Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory.
Organization Science. 5, 121-147.
Job Outlook 2010 Survey. National Association of Colleges and
Employers. Web.
Newman, Lloyd N. Predictive ability and professionalism. Public
Relations Journal 46.1 (1990): 8+. Expanded Academic ASAP.
Web. 13 Apr. 2010.