What's New?

The American Advertising Federation of Baton Rouge is preparing for its annual “Marketing Madness” auction, and they need your help.

Auction items of all types are needed:

• air time
• production
• print ad space
• professional services (graphic design, photography, copywriting, printing, etc.)
• dinners
• movie tickets
• merchandise
• hosted parties
• gift cards
• artwork
• whatever you can think of (be creative)!

Look in those promo closets for last year’s client Christmas gift certificates that expire December 31 or throw in some CDs, posters, anything that can be sold to help raise money for the American Advertising Federation-Baton Rouge Scholarship & General Fund. Plus, you and/or your business will be promoted live and in print to over 60 media buyers, in-house agencies, and business owners! For ideas, view last year’s bid book at http://issuu.com/aafbr/docs/mediaauction_bidbook2009. 
 
If you are able to help, please e-mail Mandy Porta by September 10.

LSU Continuing Education will be offering two courses in social media on July 21 and 22, 2010. Full descriptions of the courses' learning objectives, relevant audiences and how to register can be found at the links below. For additional information about these programs, please contact LSU Continuing Education Program Coordinator Lisa Graves.

NEW! This one-day course serves to present methods to leverage new social media opportunities in an exciting new business climate. The course provides exposure to new popular media for business (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and practical steps for implementing successful social media strategies.

As a participant you will explore:

• Social media and how it is being used for business
• The most popular social media sites for business: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slideshare, Flickr, Jigsaw, Wordpress
• Choosing the best social media sites for your business
• Discovering the "voice of the customer"
• Practical applications and techniques for branding yourself and your business
• Creating content for new media
• Measuring results from your social media effort

This course is ideal for anyone seeking to learn more about using social media for business, personal branding, and non-profit work.

The information is relevant for small business owners; executives; educators; marketing professionals; artists; sales representatives; public relations, communications, management and human resources professionals.

Social Media for Web Developers/Graphic Designers—July 22

This one-day course serves to present social media fundamentals, and tools and techniques for web developers and graphic designers. The course provides exposure to new popular media for business (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and practical steps for implmenting successful Social Media sites and applications.

As a participant you will explore:

• Social media and how it is being used for business
• The most popular social media sites for business and entry points for web developers: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slideshare, Flickr, Jigsaw, Wordpress
• Practical applications and techniques for branding yourself and your business
• Graphics for a social world
• Social media platform architecture and development tools
• Introduction to social media application development and website integration

This course is ideal for anyone seeking to learn more about using social media for business, personal branding, and non-profit work from a Web development or graphic design perspective, and anyone who needs to understand what Web developers and graphic designers can do specific to social media that benefits the interacting and collaboration of a variety of departments.

The information is relevant for Web designers and developers; graphic designers; programmers and application developers; artists; educators; public relations, marketing, communications, sales and human resources professionals; small business owners; executives; and managers.

PRAL will hold a professional development workshop on presentation skills and proofreading at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 22. Business leaders who want to boost their image and organizations wanting to gain more credibility in the marketplace turn the guest speaker, Mandi Stanley.

In 2009, Stanley was a featured presenter at the Southern Public Relations Federation Conference in Mississippi. She is the first Mississippian to earn the Certification of Speaking Profession (CSP) designation from the National Speakers Association. In addition, Stanley wrote and developed the methodology, training workbooks, leaders’ guide and visual aids for the AMA/Padgett Thompson one-day seminar “How to Be a Better Proofreader.”

The workshop will be held at the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators, 5550 Florida Blvd., in Baton Rouge. The schedule is as follows: 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast/Welcome Remarks 9 a.m. HAIR-ON-FIRE! Presentation Skills Noon Lunch (provided) 1 p.m. PROOF IT! How to Be a Better Proofreader 2:30 p.m. Closing Remarks

HAIR-ON-FIRE! Presentation Skills
Gain credibility every time you open your mouth! This is what you must, MUST know before your next presentation. During this highly interactive session, you’ll learn how to think—and speak—on your feet. You will master non-verbal know-how while delivering a complete presentation in an engaging manner. Practice proven openings, strong closings, and “hooks.” Boost your rapport through the “Three-Minute First Impression,” and know how to expertly handle difficult questions and situations.

PROOF IT! How to Be a Better Proofreader
Learn how to edit and proofread with accuracy! Stanley illustrates the “Newspaper Proof” method for flawless documents, and discusses how to work under tight deadlines and in a distracting office environment.

The cost is $30 early bird, $35 after that for students; $60, $65 for PRAL members; and $75, $80 for non-members/public. RSVP online at www.pralbr.org. Breakfast and lunch are included.

Want your company’s or organization’s job opening to reach 65 million top professionals across LinkedIn? PRAL–BR’s LinkedIn group page now offers the ability for members to post career opportunities on its job board.

The job board offers a number of features not available on the www.pralbr.org site, such as the following:

• Recent Activity
• Recent Jobs
• Most Comments
• My Jobs
• My Comments
• My Followed Jobs

To access the job board, you must first have an active LinkedIn account and request to join the Public Relations Association of Louisiana group page. One of the group’s administrators will grant access permission. To post available p.r./communications-related positions on the group page, click on the “Jobs” tab and click the “Post a Job” link. Simply input the title of the available position and additional details. Before submitting the posting, a checkbox gives the user the option of following the job and receiving comments and e-mail notifications of any activity related to the post.

LSU Continuing Education, in partnership with Louisiana Technology Council (LTC), will host a social media seminar Wednesday, May 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m at the LSU Faculty Club.

“Social Media: Practical Perspectives for Business” will provide an overview of social media for business, practical ways to think about social media from a management perspective and how to apply principals of social media to current marketing strategies. The seminar will answer common questions like, “What is social media?”, “How do I know if my company needs a social media presence?”, and “What do I need to do to prepare to implement a social media strategy?”

Victor Canada, social media strategist and instructor of the seminar, brings more than 25 years of business management experience. Canada has consulted with the U.S. military, federal and state agencies, and multiple Fortune 500 companies in matters related to business and information technology. “Conversations are already taking place in the social media sphere about your industry and possibly your company,” Canada said. “Businesses benefit from knowing how their customer base is using social media. Getting engaged in those conversations creates opportunities to develop brand loyalty.”

For more information about the seminar or to register visit www.outreach.lsu.edu/ltc or contact Kristy Anthony at 225-578-3313 or kanthony@outreach.lsu.edu.

LSU Continuing Education acts as a leading university provider of educational outreach and engagement to help people achieve their goals and improve their quality of life, their organizations and their communities. Visit www.outreach.lsu.edu for more information.

The Louisiana State Univeristy Bateman Team recently received honorable mention in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) annual Bateman Case Study Competition, held in Washington, D.C., for their campaign, repreCENSUS.

The LSU Bateman Team consists of five public relations students in the Manship School of Mass Communication selected by faculty to represent LSU in the national PRSSA-sponsored competition. Team members include Jennie Armstrong, Bridget Cloud, Erica Fisher, Chelsey Laborde, and Lauren St. Pierre.

The competition entailed creating and implementing a campaign during the month of February and evaluating its success in March. This year, the U.S. Census Bureau was selected as the client. LSU was one of sixty-eight colleges and universities that competed this year. Another Louisiana team, representing Loyola University in New Orleans, was a finalist.

The LSU team will present its campaign on Friday, April 30, 2010, at 9 a.m. in the D. Jensen Holliday Forum located in the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication journalism building. All are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be provided.

About the Competition

A national case study competition was established by PRSA in 1973 to allow members of the Public Relations Society of America an opportunity to exercise the analytical skills and mature judgment required for public relations problem-solving.

The name of the annual competition was changed in 1983 to honor the late J. Carroll Bateman, APR. Mr. Bateman was a past president of both the Public Relations Society of America (1967) and the International Public Relations Association (1980). After a distinguished career as president of the Insurance Information Institute, he became professor of public relations at the University of Tennessee and faculty advisor of its PRSSA chapter. A charter Friend of PRSSA, Mr. Bateman was instrumental in founding PRSSA during his PRSA presidency.

PRAL's professional development workshop previously scheduled for Tuesday, March 23, 2010, has been cancelled due to the presenter, Mandi Stanley, requiring unplanned surgery and subsequent recovery.

The workshop will be rescheduled, hopefully for June. The date, time, and place will be announced as soon as details have been confirmed.