By: Natalie Batten
Spring Conference is just around the corner. As a CMU student and young professional, here are three reasons you should attend:
1. Networking opportunities
Spring conference brings together current students, alumni and other PR professionals making it a great place to create connections. Professionals attend the conference because they are passionate about learning and helping others to learn. As students, people with this mindset are great resources. Attending the conference will give you the opportunity to network with these professionals, and listening to their presentations will also be helpful later on if you apply for a position at their company.
2. Learn things that aren’t covered in classes
Although we learn a lot of amazing things in our classes, there are always areas of public relations we don’t get to learn about. Attending spring conference is a great way to fill that gap as it provides a unique opportunity to learn about specialized areas of PR. This year’s speakers will be discussing community events, non-profit grant writing & communication, storytelling, social media analytics and media relations in crisis. These topics are relevant to our future as PR professionals, so it will be helpful to get more in-depth knowledge about them.
3. Learn more about the role PR plays in the “real-world”
As students, most of our work is to prepare us for the professional world. As important as our classes and the skills they teach us are, sometimes it still feels like there is a big gap between sitting in class and being out in the ‘real’ world. Spring conference gives students a glimpse into the world of working professionals. It allows us to see how we can apply the skills we spend so long learning. It’s motivating to see how the work we do in classes can pay off in the real world.
CMU PRSSA’s spring conference, “The Anatomy of PR”, is on Friday, March 20 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. in Powers Hall. Register here.