DePaul/Valparaiso Regional Activity

DePaul and Valparaiso Universities hosted a PRSSA regional activity in Chicago on Friday, February 20th. The regional activity consisted of a keynote speaker, three workshops, a job/internship fair specifically for PR, a panel of guest speakers and a social at Dave and Busters.

Five students from NIU's chapter traveled to Chicago for the day to attend. We actually, like the over-achievers we are, were the first to arrive at 8:15 am. Once everybody was there at 10 am, we went off to the large auditorium and Cheryl Procter-Rogers presented her keynote address.

Cheryl Procter-Rogers was the past president of PRSA and is a senior consultant at A Step Ahead Public Relations. She spoke to PRSSA members about building credibility, expanding out networks and finding a mentor (Three VERY important things for students to learn about).

Next we went into three different professional development workshops; resume building and critiquing, interviewing skills and building a portfolio. All three of the workshops were hosted by members of a PR firm or group, which was extremely beneficial to those who attended because we were able to receive insider tips on the correct ways of building a resume, interviewing skills and portfolio how-to's.

We were able to have about an hour and a half lunch break and then moved onto the PR job and internship fair. There were over 20 different companies represented at the fair including Edelman, Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., Golin Harris, Ketchum, The San Jose Group, Weber Shandwick, SET Magazine, etc.

Once the internship and job fair was finished, we able went upstairs to have dinner (with the best salad ever!) and then went back into the auditorium to listen to the "Taste of PR" Panel. The panel consisted of Dave Prichard at Corn Products International, Lauren Peterson with Principal (a PR and marketing company), Brooke Gabbert, Public Relations Manager at Six Flags Great America, Delores Robinson, Assistant Director of Public Relations at MPEA (where Scott Winterroth works), Jeff Borchardt with ADS Fundraising and Kelly Jo Golson with Advocate Health Care. They were able to give everyone insight and valuable tips for going into this job market after graduation.

Lastly, the social was at Dave and Buster's in Chicago and we were one of the only schools that showed up! It was a good opportunity however, because we were able to network with some of the younger professionals in the PR industry and the national committee for PRSSA.

The regional activity was well worth the money spent and long hours down in the city. We were able to network, network, network, gain some insider tips of resumes, interviewing and portfolios and also were able to communicate and hand in our resumes with PR firms downtown.

-Michele Westergaard