Clean Up In Aisle 9

Who doesn't love Rock Band?  And Rock Band: World Tour is the newest addition to the Rock Band collection.  Released on October 28th, the new video games was being sold everywhere!  But one store, Circuit City, seemed to have things a little mixed up.  After reading Consumerist, I came across an interesting experience one customer had while trying to purchase the new game.  Instead of the game being priced at $189.99, the computer rang it up as $10,000.  Now that is a huge difference.  After having to wait for over an hour and talking to managers and multiple people in the Circuit City chain of commands, the customer found out he was being lied to and Circuit City was being dishonest in more ways than one.

In my mind, this is a great example of public relations.  The poor public relations person for Circuit City most likely had to smooth out the waters and discover what really happened.  

Has anyone ever had a terrible experience at a popular store, maybe not as drastic as this, but similar?

Time Flies ...

BAM! I was just hit with the realization that I am a junior. A year from now, I will be looking for jobs. This summer, I will have an internship. In a little over three months, I will be 21! I am an upperclassman. I just cannot fathom this. In a few weeks, I might be a grand big in DZ. Which is crazy! I remember when I was a freshman and talking to juniors, mainly in DZ. They seemed so scary and intimidating. Yet, they were poised and classy. I looked up to them so much. They really appeared so much older. And now, living on the first floor of the house with my pledge class, I really do not feel like a junior. I only have two years left at ONU until I face the real world.

As if it isn't bad enough realizing I will be graduating in less than two years and could be called 'gbig,' looking back, things have already changed so much on this campus. When I came as a freshman, the Phi Kap house was on fraternity circle. White Bear just got remodeled. The location of the new Inn was the home of scary apartments. Affinity was brand new. Brookhart was given a make-over. Sororities and fraternities weren't watched like hawks. Klondike was still cute and cuddly. Two years later, all of this is completely different. I can't even imagine coming back and seeing more drastic changes. When I talk to freshman now, they have no idea what the old Klondike looked like or that there used to be more than six fraternities.

I honestly just can't grasp that things have changed this much. And that I am growing up. I don't believe all of this is happening and that everything is moving so fast. People always said it would, but I didn't truly understand that until this year. I just want things to stay this way. As much as I wanna grow up and get into the real world, I want to stay in college forever!

Webinar

Last night, for Delta Zeta, I attended a webinar on recruitment. The program is called Recruitment Boot Camp and it is meant for both sororities and fraternities. When I walked in, I had no idea what was going on. In class, we have talked about webinars and video conferencing, but I haven't experienced them in a long time. The last time I remember a video conference was when I got to watch knee replacement surgery my senior year. And I'm not sure if watching someone cut open a patient's knee really counts as a conference.


Anyway, as soon as we walked in, the guy, David Stollman, was talking and asking questions while the advisors of panhel and IFC typed to him. Everyone else in the room looked genuinely confused. They had no idea why there was a God-like voice talking to them and where the voice was coming from. I turned to the 8 other members representing DZ and told them what this was. I felt extremely proud of myself, that I paid attention in my class and knew what was going on. The rest of the room remained in a state of confusion as the presentation started.



Now, at this webinar, since it's the only one I've been to, there were a number of cool things. First, David Stollman had a powerpoint that he was able to put up on our screen and change the slides from where he was. A chatroom type area was located on the lefthand side of the screen. Other schools that were viewing the same presentation were writing comments and asking questions. I was really excited to see how the whole webinar worked, like the complete social media geek I am.



Halfway through the presentation, David Stollman asked for questions. Here is where I got angry. First, I was upset with the two advisors that neither of them explained to everyone what exactly was going on. Not everyone knows what a webinar is and they were all really taken back by what was going on. It took the room quite a few minutes to be quiet and grasp what was happening. As if that isn't bad enough, some of the other schools were asking questions and typing them into the chat room. David would answer the questions right away. What upset me, was that both advisors were sitting in the back of the room and not asking for us to participate. The point of a webinar is to be able to have an active conversation with the person presenting even though they are not really there. At some points, David Stollman would ask for feedback on if we were following or if we could still hear him. He would ask for each school to type into the chat room if they were doing okay. Well our advisors were sitting in the back of the room and never typed back or participated. I was extremely maddened by this because I am in a social media class and I understand the whole concept, and it's aggrivating that other people are trying to use these new technologies but not in their respectable form.



Aside from my anger, I loved Recruitment Boot Camp. Everything David Stollman said was extremely helpful and beneficial. After leaving the session, I felt so motivated to do more in the chapter. I wanted to make a wish list last year but had no idea if it would be successful. After last night, I know it will be a success. I read "I Heart Recruitment" and that motivated me a little, but this webinar was eye opening.

Social Media Takes Over

After searching for some stuff on social media, I realized I didn't need to post about something new, because I learned so much at the PRSSA National Conference.

First, I know social media is the new thing. I have a class, I read blogs, I know what is going on. But after hearing professional after professional discuss how social media is impacting their career and public relations in general, I did not truly get the full affect.

First, in an international PR session, the woman discussed how international PR is now mainly geared through social media. How every campaign is seen world wide, so they always need to take into consideration, the content. They also need to adapt every aspect to every culture. I felt as though the whole hour long session was about social media, not international public relations.

Then, during the PRSA sessions, all of those speakers spent much of their time on social media. Bob Lutz, of General Motors, spoke about how he reads blogs and welcomes positive and negative comments. He even said there are people who are specifically hired to monitor that aspect of the company. Craig from Craig's List, obviously spoke about social media. Someone asked if he was going to vamp up his site, and he said no because social media is meant to be simple and to the point. Penelope Trunk touched on social media since she has a blog and such.

Honestly, the amount of speakers who talked about social media was insane. They all motivated me to get onto the bandwagon and really begin taking social media more seriously than before. I really need to begin almost budgeting my time so I can read and check on blogs, post my own, and even get more in-tune with whats going on.

Social media really is taking the reigns with PR and I can not wait to get on the bus!

Rock the "D"

Since Thursday afternoon, I have been at PRSSA National Conference in Detroit! And let me tell you, it has been nothing short of awesome! I have really learned so much. Everyone told me conference was the place to be. How you can network and meet people and get motivated. Sure, I thought it would be fun, but it has exceeded my expectations. This conference made me feel like I was growing up and on the right track. But instead of being scared and upset that I am going to be in the real world soon, I was excited. I saw, first hand, all of the opportunities PR will offer me when I graduate. I am more motivated than I have been in a long time.

The worst part of conference was my lack of time. Our group decided to go to every speaker and every session, to get the most out of the experience. And as awesome as it has been, we have had no free time to do homework or even post. I should probably work on that tomorrow!

Oh, and now, I can not wait for conference in New Orleans next year!

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is something remotely new in the social media world.  This type of marketing relies on others to spread the word about everything from products to contest to Web sites.  Personally, I think this is a great thing.  I know my friends all go on YouTube and find cool videos, then post about them on my Facebook, create a bulletin on MySpace, and recently, many of them Tweet about interesting articles or Web sites.  People sometimes share too much information over the Interne, but I think when looking from a pr perspective, this kind of information is interesting.  I like knowing what my friends are reading and sharing with them current events or something cool I found.  

In The New Influencers, Gillin discusses why viral marketing has a driving force behind it.  He first points out how the response to banner ads has declined.  Personally, I hate them.  I think ads on the sides of Web sites are annoying.  They are usually too flashy and overbearing that I get extremely annoyed.  Sometimes I think I'm lucky I'm not epileptic. 

Another point Gillin makes is about demographic shifts.  I feel that since our generation, the Millenials, are so into over-achieving and are slightly narcissistic , we want everyone to know what we are looking at and what we are doing.  We want the world to know that we are informed and educated on hot topics and all the trendy things.  

Gillin also makes a great point about the customer preference.  I really do trust my peers more than marketers.  Marketers obviously want you to buy their product so they make it as appealing as possible.  This summer I ordered new Nikes for working out.  Instead of going to the store and talking to the clerks, or going by which ad was the best or which shoe was promoted the most, I looked at comments posted by people who had bought the shoes.  Consumers told the truth.  They said if the shoe ran big or small, if the laces were too short, or if they were truly comfortable.  I based my decision on my peers rather than the marketers.  Gillin really hit this topic on the head (and not surprising since he has throughout his book).

Talking about all of this makes me want to be a more active consumer so other people have comments and first hand experience like I did instead of just the influence of print ads and commercials.

Stupid Colds

Every year, when the weather starts to change, I start to get sick. And not just like a week long thing. No, not that. I get a stuffy nose and my ears clog. My throat starts to hurt and I can't breath. My body aches all over and I get super cold. And this will last for probably a month. It's terrible. And, as of last night, I am sick. This year, I can't decide if I want to just let my body take care of itself, go to the health center (my mom is a firm supporter of just going, that they 'might' be able to help), or use something from over the counter. Brandon took that mucinex stuff and was better in days. I am thinking I will try that since conference starts this Thursday and I'm pretty sure my car doesn't really want to spend two hours with me sniffling and I don't think my room would like to sleep with sickness. I better get to the drug store today, I can't handle this today. With the research paper due tomorrow, a spanish presentation on Wednesday, firm stuff, and other classes, I can't exactly afford to feel like crap. If anyone knows anything else that will kick this other than mucinex, let me know! Please!