April 30th PRSA Lecture and Networking Opportunity in Peoria

RSVP today!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Peoria, Illinois
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) - Central Illinois Chapter

Southwest Airlines: Nuts About Online Communication
A blogger once wrote that Southwest Airlines was riding the blogosphere "like a wild horse." Ask all on the Southwest Communication Team, and they’ll agree that it has been a wild ride. For more than three years, Southwest Airlines has navigated the uncharted territory of Social Media – first, with its award-winning corporate blog, Nuts About Southwest, later with tools such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Along the way, Southwest has experienced both highs and lows, but its leadership members keep saddling up for more. From virtual riots to an industry crisis, Southwest has learned how to leverage today’s social media tools to successfully support Company initiatives. Through real-life case studies from the past three years, Southwest will show you how its staff members have effectively made, managed, and maintained successful online communities and share every lesson they’ve learned along the way.

Paula Berg is the Manager of Emerging Media for Southwest Airlines, the nation’s leading low-fare air carrier and the largest domestic airline in terms of customers carried. Over the last two years, Paula has managed and developed the Company’s corporate blog, “Nuts About Southwest.” Since its launch in April 2006, “Nuts” has experienced tremendous success – building a community for its loyal customer base, serving as a virtual focus group, and influencing several business decisions. In 2007, “Nuts” was named Best Blog by PR News and has been recognized in major publications ranging from Wired Magazine to The Wall Street Journal. In addition to managing the Company blog, Paula leads Southwest’s online communication and social media efforts. Prior to her work in social media, Paula was a spokesperson for the airline with emphasis on strategic communication, media relations, and reputation management. Paula also supervised on-location production for three seasons of Airline!, Southwest’s reality series for the A&E Television Network, which filmed Southwest’s daily operations in four cities. After brief stints selling beer on Phish tour and working for the Colorado and United States Senates, Paula woke up and smelled the jet fuel and began her career at Southwest Airlines in 2001. Paula is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder where she earned a bachelor's degree in communication and a minor in political science.

When: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 6 p.m.
Where: Embassy Suites East Peoria Hotel & Conference Center, 100 Conference Center Drive East Peoria, IL 61611, 309-694-0200 Office
Dinner selection: Taste of Italy Buffet includes: CAESAR SALAD, CHEF'S CHOICE OF VEGETABLE IN SEASON, BOWTIE PASTA or LINGUINE, MARINARA--PESTO--and PARMESAN CREAM SAUCES, MEATBALLS, GARLIC BREADSTICKS, SHREDDED PARMESAN CHEESE, COOKIES, TEA---COFFEE---WATER.

Social hour: 6:00 p.m.
Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Meeting: 8:00 p.m. Over by 9 p.m.

PR Club will pay for any member interested in attending!!!!

RSVP: Katie Davis katie_davis@sci.edu on or before April 23, 2009.


We plan to carpool but directions are posted here!!

Merge onto I-55 N. (20.9 mi)
Keep LEFT to take I-155 N via EXIT 127 toward PEORIA/HARTSBURG. (32.0 mi)
Merge onto I-74 W via the exit on the LEFT toward PEORIA. (6.1 mi)
Take the US-150 W/IL-116/NORTH MAIN ST exit, EXIT 95. (0.2 mi)
Turn LEFT onto US-150/IL-116/N MAIN ST. (0.3 mi)
Turn RIGHT onto W CAMP ST. (1.2 mi)
End at 100 Conference Center Dr East Peoria, IL 61611

Business after hours

We will be attending a Springfield Chamber of Commerce networking event next Thursday, April 2nd at 5:00p.m. It will be a great opportunity to meet local business people and make potential job connections. You must be 21 to attend this event. Please let Amie (stxdream@gmail.com) or Katie (katie_davis@sci.edu) know if you are interested and they will get you signed up!!!!

Any volunteers????

PR Club was recently informed of a great volunteer opportunity! Amy Heape is working at the Chrysalis Independence Foundation and they are having a fundraiser in May. We have yet to receive all the details but we know that there is a need for at least two volunteers at this event. We will update you with dates, times, and related information as we get it but please feel free to respond to this post if you think you might be interested.

SOAR Update

Amie and Katie attended the quarterly PRSA meeting in Bloomington on March 5th. They presented the information we have collected so far for the SOAR campaign to the PRSA board. The board was impressed with our preliminary research and is interested in our creating an exectutive summary/RACE outline to further develop our ideas. We will be working on this over the next few weeks and present the final draft to the board at the April 30th meeting in Peoria. We want your input and your help so please let us know if you'd like to get on board!!!!

Summer Intership Opportunity

There are a number of internship opportunities available this summer in Chicago for the Chicago 2016 Olymic campaign. Follow the link to find out more!!!!

Update-Campaign News

The PR Club has taken on a project for the Central Illinois Chapter of PRSA. They will be working in conjunction with State Farm to deliver PR awards to collegiate individuals and groups who submit their work for recognition. The SCIBU PR Club will be heading this campaign and creating the awards for PRSA. The award theme was voted on at our last meeting.
The "PR SOAR AWARD" is the working title of the award campaign with SOAR being an acronym for Student Opportunity for Achievment and Recognition. We plan to use shooting stars as the theme for the logo and any other printed material. We have commissioned Travis Harmony (a PR Club and Art Club member) to help us design the logo.

Here are the catagories and specifications we have come up with thus far:

1)Web/Electronic design and layout
Social media
Blogs
Websites

2)Multimedia
Pod casts
Vcasts
Commercials (audio/video)
PSA’s

3)Print media design and layout
Logos
Brochures
Fliers
Newsletters
Other printed publications

4)Overall Campaign
PR campaigns (Individual and Group)
Advertising campaigns (Individual and Group)
IMC campaigns (Individual and Group)

5)Research
Research papers (Individual and Group)
Theses (Individual and Group)

*Judges reserve the right to award honorary mentions in any category in addition to the award winner

If no entry is deserving of the award no award will be given in that category

Professional Development

We came up with another professional development idea at this weeks meeting. We hope to have an evening meet and greet session with SCI students and industry professionals in early April. We are looking to Liz to help us find a few business people that would be willing to come network with our club and any other interested SCIBU students. More info on this soon...

YOUR 2009 PR CLUB BOARD!!!!

PR Club members voted in the Board of Directors at last weeks meeting.
President: Katie Davis
Vice President: Amie Suter
Treasurer: Laikyn Cheffy
Secretary: Gina Collebrusco
Communications Chair: Katie Davis
Historian: Amie Suter
Membership Development Chair: Laikyn Cheffy
Professional Development Chair: Gina Collebrusco

Congratulations to all new board members!!! We are looking forward to a very successful first year!

Would Mondays work better?

We haven't had the kind of member involvement we would have liked at the last few PR Club meetings. We are willing to change the day of the week that we meet on if that works better for our members. We were contemplating Mondays at 5:15... Please feel free to e-mail Katie regarding this issue or with any other thoughts or suggestions. katie_davis@sci.edu

PR Club is now on Facebook!

PR Club hopes to reach out to as many students as possible and continue with membership development throughout this semester so we have incorporated social media into out plans. We are now on Facebook so if you'd like to belong to the group find us at SCBU PR Club. MAKE PR CLUB YOUR FRIEND!!

Jill Watkins to speak at 1st Professional Development Seminar

At our last meeting we decided to have an SCI graduate come and speak to the group about public relations and it's impact on society. Jill Watkins is the Public Relations and Communications Director at Illini Hospital. She got the job prior to graduating last spring and is very excited to come share her real world experience with us. We plan to have her speak on March 4th at 5:00 in Angela 104.

First potential PR Club Project: Student Awards Campaign for Central Illinois Sponsored by Central Illinois PRSA

The SCIBU PR Club has been invited to create a series of individual or group awards for PR Clubs and organizations throughout central Illinois

· Possible categories for awards include: web based design, print media design, and advertising/campaign development
· Our PR Club would be in charge of formulating the campaign for PRSA. This would include doing research to discover what central Illinois colleges and universities have PR programs, clubs, and organizations, developing all materials for the campaign including award name, logo, list of contacts, letters to schools and brochures.
· This would be a long term project for the PR club; this semester we would do the initial research, create the name and the logo for the award, establish important due dates, and send letters of intent and brochures to central Illinois colleges. Next semester we would send another wave of brochures, and the award applications. We would also be responsible for designing the awards.

We would like to open the logo design and award name to all SCI students. Art students may be interested in designing the logo. We hope that this may also increase interest and knowledge of PR Club around campus. If you know of anyone who might be interested in designing a logo for the award campaign please let us know!!!

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln

Katie, Amie and Gina will be volunteering Thursday at the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration. They will be helping sign in and news media and directing them and other visitors where to go. President Obama will also be attending the celebration! We'll post more on this topic soon.

EXCITING!!!! Potential campaign for our first PR Club project!

The Central Illinois Chapter of PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) has commissioned the SCIBU PR Club to help them with an award campaign for central Illinois PR Clubs and student organizations. This is a very exciting opportunity for SCIBU PR Club which we will talk about in more detail at our next meeting (this Wednesday 2/04/09) We will also vote whether or not to take on this project at the meeting.

PRSA lecture and dinner in Bloomington

The spring Central Illinois PRSA meeting and lecture is approaching!

When: Thursday, March 5, 2009
Where: Central Station Café, 220 E Front St., Downtown Bloomington
Lecure site phone: (309) 828-2323
http://www.centralstation.cc/
Dinner selection:
Italian Buffet includes: 4 meat/4 cheese lasagna, Chicken Parmesan, Chef's Choice of Fresh Veggies, 2 Salads, Garlic toast, Brownie, Tea/Coffee/Water.
Bar will be available.
Agenda:
Social hour: 6:00 p.m.
Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Meeting: 8:00 p.m.
Cost to attend (dinner included):
Non-members $30
Members $25
Students $22


Follow this link to learn more about the event and speaker: http://centralillinoisprsa.blogspot.com/2009/01/social-media-and-effect-on.html

If you are interested in attending the lecture, please E-mail your reservation to SCIBUPRClub@gmail.com. PR Club might be able to help cover the cost and we can work out a car pool if we get enough people to sign up!

Help promote PR Club!!!!

Over the last two weeks Katie Davis and Amie Suter have spent time speaking to English and Communications classes on campus. And it paid off!!! At the end of fall semester PR Club only had 10 members, but after the classroom presentations the number of potentially interested students has grown to almost 40! PLEASE HELP PR CLUB GROW FURTHER! Ask your other professors for five minutes of class time to discuss PR Club with your fellow classmates!!!!

Volunteer opportunity...Check this out!!!

The Media Relations Director of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration needs volunteers for the week long festivities leading up to Lincoln's birthday. Jobs vary but could include passing out fliers/surveys, getting e-mail information or even giving tours! Help is needed from February 8th to February 12. THIS WOULD LOOK AWESOME ON YOUR RESUME!!! Please e-mail PR Club at SCIBUPRClub@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering!

OFFICIAL MEETING DAYS AND TIME

PR Club plans to meet EVERY Wednesday at 5:15 in Angela Room 104. Meetings will last 30-45 minutes and occasionally food will be provided. The next PR Club meeting is Wednesday February 4th. If you miss a meeting minutes will be e-mailed to you and the most current information will be available on this blog.
If you have a conflict with this meeting day/time please post a comment to this blog or e-mail PR Club (SCIBUPRClub@gmail.com) and we will be happy to try to accommodate you.

What do members want to get out of PR Club????

At our last meeting, the group agreed that one of the most useful benefits of PR Club is the portfolio/resume building that we can do by working with and for local businesses and organizations. It was stressed that because we are a new organization ourselves, we may want to limit our PR outreach to local small businesses

• we don't want to take on too much in the beginning while we are still figuring things out
• they are ultimately the one's who are short staffed or lack funds and need the most help

Professional Development Ideas

PR Club plans to bring speakers to campus (or other location) to discuss Public Relations related topics. Some ideas for speakers thus far:

1. Local NPO's-discuss their identity issues and what is hard about successful PR practice in the non-for-profit industry
2. Jill Watkins-SCI graduate who is now Director of Public Relations and Marketing at Illini Hospital
3. National Public Relations Speaker, Mary Byers, from Chatham IL

Please post comment to this post or e-mail PR Club (SCUBUPRClub@gmail.com) if you have any other ideas for speakers

Elections for PR Club Board

The group decided that all positions on the PR Club board should be open for nomination, meaning that any member can nominate any other member (or themself) for any Board position. The PR Club Board positions available for nomination are as follows:
President-Executive Director of PR Club
Vice President-Help President with Club business and keep track of budget
Secretary-keep minutes at meetings and records of all important information
Communications Chair-handle all print related business within the club and with club contracts
Membership Development Chair-keep track of members, meeting attendance and recruit new members
Professional Development Chair-in charge of event planning for club and contracts
Historian- Take pictures at all events and keep detailed records of PR Club activities for blog and newsletter

Anyone interested in nominating a member for the PR Club Board can e-mail their nomination to our PR Club e-mail at SCIBUPRClub@gmail.com

We plan to vote in the PR Club Board at our next meeting Wednesday February 4, 2009!!!!

First meeting of SCIBU PR Club

Welcome to PR Club!!!!

In attendance at the first meeting (held January 28, 2009 5:15 p.m., Angela Hall room 104) were the following:

Katie Davis
Amie Suter
Gina Collebrusco
Jeff Hall
Michael Pulliam
Becky VanDyke
Laikyn Cheffy