A well deserved rest.

It’s the last week of November and the countdown is on until the holidays begin.  It feels like just yesterday, I was walking into the Public Relations classroom at Loyalist College in Belleville.  This week is going to be busy as the class is working on the last few assignments due before the break.  The donor cards for our In-Design class were due today.  I had a lot of fun working on that assignment, and getting those creative juices flowing.  This is the final week for our blogs, before we get ready to start working on our portfolio’s that are due in the next few weeks.

Wednesday is an exciting day for the class.  We are presenting different case studies to the class about different crisis’ that have happened to well known brands around the world. Our group is doing the Martha Stewart incident and how her brand image was influenced in positive and negative ways throughout the crisis.  It is an honour to work with Michael and Erica on this presentation, you two rock! 🙂

I found an interesting article concerning a very well known celebrity couple.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $150,000 to promote adoption in the United States.  It makes for and interesting read, and also relates strongly to how important it is to give something back to worth while causes.  You can find it here.

I must admit that it has been a remarkable first semester in Public Relations.  I’m happy I came to the program and the memories will not be forgotten. Thanks everyone! You’re amazing. 🙂  For those of you reading my blog, I just want to say one last thing….til we meet again.

Mock Disaster

Hello there everyone reading my blog…both of you.  It’s been a very outstanding and informative week  for the Public Relations students at Loyalist College.  We all went to Kingston to celebrate National Philanthropy Day on Wednesday.  I had a blast! Meeting new people from around the community and learning more about the fundamentals of fundrasing.  Everyone displayed professionalism and made a positive lasting impression, that won’t soon be forgotten.  Students had specific jobs during the event to help make everything run smoothly and efficiently.

I was given the task of speaker’s assistant, which entails working with the presenter before-hand and giving them guidance when asked.  I would also thank the speaker when they had finished their presentation.  The lunch and awards ceremony was a great way to meet new people and expand our network with those around us.  I had a lot of fun, and I will never forget the ride there and back.  Truly an adventure on its own. 🙂  Thanks Stallion!

The class is also busy working away on our case study analysis due this coming week.  It will be interesting to see what other students have chosen for their topic.  I decided to do mine on the Kathie Lee Gifford clothing scandal.  It was very neat to learn both sides of an issue, and how the public relations team works together to solve these crisis’.  I had a lot of fun working on the Media Kit assignment for our Design class.  Now I am getting my mind and body prepared for the Mock Disaster Conference being held this week.

Here is an interesting article about the new Blackberry playbook.

Take care everyone! Until next time…

National Day of Philanthropy

Another week has passed in the busy classroom of Public Relations at Loyalist College.  There were many important lessons and classes this week.  Wednesday was a very interesting day, as we presented our brand analysis assignment in pairs.  A special thanks to Kasey for her hard work and dedictaion on this assignment. 🙂 Those decadent chocolate chip cookies were delicious!  It was great to see the different topics that the other students chose for their presentation.

The class was blessed with a very special guest speaker on Thursday.  He taught the class about something known as “True Colours” and the different personality types associated with each.  I learned that my personality has a strong balance of blue and orange, which resembles both harmony and adventurous behaviour.  Gold represents traditional style thinking that pertains more to the act of responsibility and following rules. Green resembles people that value knowledge and new ideas.  It was great to see everyone in the class having fun learning about their personality types.  I enjoyed it, and I think the class did too.

The article for this week discusses how General Motors has increased their number of jobs in Canada. I thought it was neat to learn how the company is improving their employment success rate at the assembly plant in Oshawa.

National Philanthropy Day is being held in Kingston this week.  It will be an amazing event  and I am already excited to learn more from the guest speakers that will be in attendance. Hope to see you there!

United Way Truckload Sale.

It has been an amazing week for the students of  Public Relations at Loyalist College.  Section 2 managed to raise a whopping, $8,000 during the second half of the United Way Truckload Sale last Thursday.  Along with Section 1 the class managed to raise over $15,000 in total.  Simply astonishing everyone. 🙂 Working together as a team has paid off.  It was great to end the week with a social gathering at the Bull and Boar.  I had a great time getting to know the rest of my classmates on a more personable level outside of school.  This week has been a busy week for many people in Section 2.  Our brand analysis report is due tomorrow, and I had the priviledge of doing the assignment on President’s Choice, a  private label brand of a very well known Canadian supermarket.  It was interesting to learn more about the companies history, as well as what helps make a brand successful.

This week we learned more about speech writing and what makes an effective speech .  We watched clips of famous speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama.  There  are many key factors that make a speech memorable.  Writing for the ear is a good way when creating a speech.  Keeping everything short and simple with words that people understand will help make you connect with the audience.  If you can inspire or motivate a large group of people, then you have accomplished your goal. Writing like you talk is a good way to sound genuine, and not to sound as though you are  reading the script.

This article explains that Michael Ignatieff is suffering from an enthusiasm gap with voters. Read more here.

Next week we have Kingston’s Annual day of Philanthropy.  It will be a great experience for everyone and I am looking forward to meeting new people at this event.  Our follow-up report for the United Way Truckload Sale is also due this Thursday.  Take care everybody. Until Next time…

November is already here?

Hey there everyone! I just cannot believe that it is almost November.  It feels like yesterday I was walking into Public Relations at Loyalist College and meeting this amazing group of people.   This month is going to be very busy, and the Holiday season will soon be knocking at our door.  The second section is making final preparations for the United Way Truckload Sale, that is being held on Thursday, November the 4th 2010. I am excited to experience this event and hope that the sale is a great success.  🙂

Our Corporate Profile is due this week, and I am very happy with the business I chose for it, since I had the pleasure to work as an employee at that store.  It was a great honour to do my assignment on my local Home Hardware in Colborne.  It’s neat how working on the assignment brought back a lot of funny memories I had when I was working there in the past.  We also have the National Day of Philanthropy in Kingston fastly approaching as well.  It will be a fantastic day and a great experience for everyone.

This is an interesting article I found in the National Post about Conrad Black.

Reading week flew by and now I am rested and ready to tackle some more Public Relations at Loyalist College.  I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! 🙂

Trick or Treat!

Hey There! It has been a very busy week in the Public Relations classroom at Loyalist College.  There were two major events held during the week, the Media Mash Up and the first half of the United Way Fundraiser Truckload Sale.  I personally had a great time at the Media Mash-Up.  It was great to meet some new people and see the talent perform live in front of us.  The Plinko machine, sadly, was not my friend that evening. 😦 It was great to see the class come together as a team and make the event a success.  Although I wasn’t a part of the section that was involved with the Truckload Sale, I did learn that they sold out almost everything they had.  Congratulations everyone! 🙂

There were a lot of great lessons this week in class. We learned more about what components make an effective media kit and how they are used within a company.  The class was given a lecture on what makes an effective logo, and how to make on stand out.  Wednesday was an exciting day for everyone.  The class presented their executive bio in the form of a 3 minute mock introduction.  It had been a while since I  made a speech in front of people so I was a little worried at first, but at the end everyone walked away proud of what they had said.

This weeks article is about Tiger Wood’s alleged mistress’ throwing an anniversary party together.  Read more here.

Another week has come and gone. It’s hard to believe how fast time goes by when you’re having fun.  The study break is now upon us, and Halloween is quickly approaching.  The month of November looks as busy as the last and I am already itching with anticipation.  Trick or Treat everybody! 🙂

After the Thanksgiving feast!

It’s good to be back in Public Relations after the busy holiday.  This week was a fairly busy week for the students of Loyalist PR.  I spent a good portion of the week working on my Executive Bio.  I had alot of fun with this assignment.  It was a great way to connect with some professionals in the PR industry and start to build our network in search for our future career.  It was an honour to have the priviledge to conduct an online interview with Katie Dudley, of Harvey McKinnon Associates.  Thanks Katie.

We also had some great lessons this week in class on several topics; How to properly thank a Donor, a Case Study on Lululemon, How to write an effective news release.  I didn’t know very much about any of this material so it was very neat and exciting to learn more about it.  We watched an interesting video of Jamie’s Kitchen and learned more about the Five Lessons on Leadership.  I learned a great deal of knowledge on how working together as a team, leading the way, and how believing in eachother and giving guidance are all key lessons on effective leadership.

Here is an interesting article about Canadian singer Michael Buble getting married in the coming months.

The study week is almost here and it’s hard to believe that November is almost upon us.  This next month looks as busy and exciting as the last with the Truckload Fundrasier and National Philanthropy Day fastly approaching.  The annual Media Mash -up is this week and I am looking forward to having a great time and meeting some new people.  Until next time! 😉

Public Relations Trip

This was a very interesting and exciting week for the students of Public Relations at Loyalist College.  We were given the amazing opportunity to visit Toronto on Wednesday, and expand our knowledge of the Public Relations industry.  We visited several terrific places such as, The Steam Whistle Brewery, RBC and a live show taping of The George Stroumboulopoulos program.  I personally had a blast and was able to learn more about the PR industry.  Best of all, I got to meet some new people in our class that I might not have known very well before.

I just want to say thank you to fellow classmate Wayne.  His actions were truly inspirational and helped remind me of how putting your foot out there, can definitely help grant rewards.  If it wasn’t for him chasing after Peter Mansbridge at mach speed, we would not have had the opportunity to meet him.  I still can’t believe George let me sit in his comfy red chair, not to mention being compared to a rock star. 😀

There were some very important lessons this week in class.  We were taught  about different types of writing, and how we can incorporate feature style into our own writing.  I learned more about the fundamentals of Re-Branding and why companies choose to go through with this.  They only do this when the brand itself has changed or the brand has such a poor reputation that it requires a change.  This was a lead into more discussion about political branding and the history of the Turtles brand image.

October is a busy month in Public Relations and I am already looking forward to learning more and seeing what happens next.  Happy Thanksgiving!



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