UNT PRSSA

Elections for next semester’s UNT PRSSA Executive Board are coming up on November 27. If you’re enthusiastic, motivated and full of great ideas for PRSSA, we might have a position just for you!

The positions available are Secretary and Public Relations Director. All officers are required to be official dues paying members and are required to attend weekly general meetings and exec team meetings. The time commitment required for an officer ranges from three to five hours a week and are a one year term. Members who plan to graduate in December are eligible to run.

• Take minutes of each meeting and present them each following meeting. Create a sign-in sheet for each meeting and event
• Generate, distribute and maintain a phone/e-mail list of all members
• Assist with the updating of the PRSSA bulletin board
• Create an agenda for each meeting
• Notify members news of internship/job openings
• Photograph and archive events and meetings
• Create and maintain an updated and accurate record of chapter minutes, photographs, and other information to record chapter’s history and accomplishments
• Write newsletters/blogs regarding the material discussed in chapter meetings and other PRSSA news

Director of Public Relations

• Promote meetings, lectures and workshops to UNT students and potential members
• Promote chapter events i.e. socials, mixers
• Work with Treasurer to promote fund raisers
• Work with other UNT organizations and academic departments to promote the chapter’s campus presence
• Maintain any web domain that represents UNT PRSSA

PRSSA members preparing to unplug for Thanksgiving

Have you ever had a conversation with someone that seems more interested in their phone than having a conversation with you? Have you ever thought that maybe that’s how your family feels when you come home for family holiday gatherings?

This Thanksgiving PRSSA members have taken the oath to participate in Thanksgiving Unplugged.

Thanksgiving Unplugged is bold campaign created by nationally renowned etiquette experts Diane Gottsman and Thomas P. Farley to challenge Americans to disconnect from their digital devices before sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.

Instead of fixing their gazes on LCD screens or popping in earbuds, families will commit to focusing on giving thanks, savoring a good meal and enjoying the company of their relatives and friends. Freed from the increasingly inescapable distraction of cell phones, laptops, tablets, hand-held games, music players, social media and the web, families will once again reconnect with the true spirit of the holiday.

Technology Tips for Upcoming Pros

As a bonus, Diane offers these 4 technology interview tips for the students at UNT:

- Put your cell phone down - You are much more marketable to a recruiter if you are not holding a cell phone or lap top in your hand when  you interview for a job.

- Turn your cell phone off - The sound of a vibrating cell phone is just as annoying as a ring tone. Turn your cell phone completely off to avoid the mistake of “thinking” you turned it when in fact you turned it “on” accidentally.

- Build relationships face to face - Cell phone calls and texts have a place in business but a face to face conversation is the most valuable form of communication when attempting to build a relationship with a potential employer.

- Don’t text a thank you note - After a job interview, a follow up email is appropriate but don’t assume an email or a text takes the place of a handwritten note.

Diane Gottsman, owner of The Protocol School of Texas  has been teaching dining etiquette at UNT for 8 years and shehas now joined with her colleague and co-founder of “Thanksgiving Unplugged”, Thomas P. Farley on challenging each of us to “unplug” our technology devices at the dinner table this Thanksgiving. We can all use a reminder!

This week at PRSSA Susan Barr and Ginger Porter visited the chapter from GolinHarris. GolinHarris is a global public relations agency which was started 56 years ago. Being an older agency, GolinHarris knew they had to change if they wanted to keep up with the present and future of PR.

That’s how they came up with the “g4 model.” The g4 model changes how GolinHarris operates as an agency. Instead of putting employees in a hierarchy pyramid with Managing Directors at the top and Account Coordinators at the bottom, they changed the organization so people could do what they were skilled in. This changed titles from ambiguous VPs and SVPs to Strategists, Creators, Connectors and Catalysts. Strategists are the researchers and ROI experts, Creators are the writers and concept inventors, Connectors are the traditional and social media experts and Catalysts are always thinking of the client like an account executive.

Ginger also handed out a quiz so PRSSA members could figure out where they fit in the g4 model. She gave great hints about using GolinHarris’s language when applying for an internship which would include the g4 model. In fact, for any job that you interview for, your interviewer will be impressed if you use that company’s language and culture.

This week at PRSSA we visited with a new faculty member of the Mayborn, Gwen Nisbett. Nisbett has a background in political PR and teaches PR/Advertising Ethics and PR Principles. She discussed the current presidential election with PRSSA students and faculty adviser, Samra Bufkins.

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