“Be passionate. Be relentless. Be different.” Those were just some of the many lessons students learned at PRGrandSlam, attended by 10 members of the Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at Eastern Kentucky University.
The EKU students, led by Chapter President Adam Sparks, were ready to gain what the conference, held at the University of Cincinnati, had to offer.
“This conference was different from most conferences I have attended,” said Sparks, senior from Mount Sterling, Kentucky. “The focus wasn’t just on the public relations industry as a whole; it was more on the topics we as professionals need to know in order to become grand-slams in our industry.”
As the title of the conference suggests, many of the themes and topics were centered around sports PR. However, attendees were able to learn about various topics, including social media, Adobe Creative Suite, health PR, and branding, among others.
“My favorite thing about the conference was hearing from a wide variety of public relations professionals,” said Andrew Moorhead, senior from Falmouth, Kentucky. “The topics discussed by the speakers ranged from strategic public relations to medical public relations, and each one included information that was of great value to students looking to go into the field.”
Attendees were given the opportunity to hear from PR professionals at the Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, and then received free access to the Reds Hall of Fame.
“Going into this, I was expecting to hear more from real-world PR professionals and gain some knowledge about what to expect when landing my first job,” said Katie Wallace, senior from Frankfort, Kentucky. “The biggest thing that I took from the conference was that you are always working on your personal brand with everything you do.”
The Public Relations Student Society of America (www.prssa.org) is the foremost organization for students interested in public relations and communications. Founded in 1968 by its parent organization, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), PRSSA includes more than 11,000 student members and advisers, and is active at more than 340 colleges and universities.