PR Day: A Trip worth Taking

Dozens of anxious wide-eyed students hang around to herd into the Barrett Ballroom at San Jose State University on Thursday afternoon.

They wait to board a cruise ship, to explore the land of public relations, anxiously waiting to meet the captain and crew.

Clean-cut men and women, wearing dress shoes, slacks, dress shirts and ties, some wearing vests, sweaters and cardigans, some with glasses to complete their ensemble.
The annual public relations day was to promptly start at 12 noon. Upon registration and lunch, the several dozen business attire clad students enter an experience with will never forget.

Their ticket, into the event, in hand, became a passport to their future.
Unknowing to all the students they were going to be whisked away into a foreign land, the land of public relations.

The students meet with the key note speaker, captain and tour guide, Brad Whitworth, a highly decorated senior communication manager for the strategic alliances group at Cisco in San Jose.

Whitworth, with over 30 years of experience, in high-tech, financial services and association management attempts to guide the students into an experience of public relations world, utilizing his own experiences.

He attempts to explain and show the students that when they are in the real world, how to say the right things to the right people at the right time using the right channels.

However the tour guide is no one man crew.

Whitworth was accompanied with a dozen of crew members, split into three groups, much like the different crews in a cruise ship.

The students went through two one-hour breakout seminars with people who have been successful in the field of public relations.

Their travel tip panelists consisted of representatives from the sports entertainment industry, special events and social networking.

Some of the representatives included, Erin Reilly, Community Relations Coordinator for the San Francisco Giants and Phil Simon, Director of Media Relations for the San Jose Saber Cats, for students interested in PR for sports entertainment.

Special events representatives included, Patty Herrera, Director of Multicultural affairs for the Oakland Raiders and Karen Jackson, Community Development Director of HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, for students interested in the special events aspect of PR.

And for the students who are into the more communicative part of PR, the social networking portion was held by, Mike Manuel of Voce Communications, Social Media Strategist and Vanessa Camones of the MIX agency.

There were only two sessions of the breakout seminars, so the students had to choose wisely.

The final stop for the PR cruise was to take the students into a real world situation, a job fair.

Where eager students brought their résumés and cover letters to representatives of prospective agencies the students may be working for.

Agencies such as the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), The Hoffman Agency and Big Sky PR, just to name a few.

For the students, the passengers of this whisked away traveling trip, was an afternoon filled with information, experiences and opportunities, to lead students to the right path, the path to better themselves and safeguard their future.







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SEVERAL DOZEN STUDENTS DRESSED IN BUSINESS ATTIRE ASSEMBLED IN THE BARRETT BALLROOM AT SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY.

PROMPTLY AT NOON ON THURSDAY THE ANNUAL PR DAY BEGAN.

THE THEME OF THE DAY WAS CALLED, A PASSPORT TO YOUR FUTURE.

LED BY, TOUR GUIDE AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER, BRAD WHITWORTH SENIOR COMMUNICATION MANAGER FOR THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCES GROUP AT CISCO IN SAN JOSE.

THROUGH TWO ONE HOUR BREAKOUT SEMINARS WITH PEOPLE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR FIELDS, STUDENTS WERE TAKEN ON A JOURNEY THOUGH THE MANY AVENUES THAT PUBLIC RELATIONS CAN TAKE THEM, SUCH AS EVENT PLANNING, SPECIAL EVENTS AND SOCIAL NETWORKING.

THE STUDENTS WERE THEN TAKEN INTO A REAL WORLD SCENARIO, A JOB FAIR, WHERE EAGER STUDENTS BROUGHT THEIR RÉSUMÉ’S AND COVER LETTERS TO REPRESENTATIVES OF AGENCIES, SUCH AS THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATORS, THE HOFFMAN AGENCY AND BIG SKY PR TO NAME A FEW.

FOR THE STUDENTS THIS WAS AN AFTERNOON FILLED WITH INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITY, TO BETTER THEM SELVES AND SAFEGUARD THEIR FUTURE.

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