Valley PR Blog

PRSA networking event was fun

By Linda VandeVrede on March 27th, 2008 In Professional Development

Thanks to Bill and Adam at Epicurean Wine for hosting the PRSA Networking event Thursday nite. There should have been a lot more people there, but maybe all the southside folks don’t want to trek north at rush hour.

I met some cool people, including Nicole DePue and Kari Mather from Olson Communications. Since they looked and dressed like twenty somethings (and that’s a compliment), I had to ask them what they thought about the generational differences in PR people these days. We talked about how clothing has changed, how the younger generation has a sense of entitlement, and Nicole pointed me to this Fortune magazine article about Generation Y on the agency website. Yeah, things have changed. But for the better, I think. If I were a company looking to hire an agency, I’d want bright, intelligent PR people like Nicole and Kari, who are really into social media. We agreed that we weren’t sure what the advantages were to Second Life, but that there was a lot to be said for MySpace and Facebook.

They commented on how older PR people (and I’m assuming, clients, too) still don’t get social media, and also how important traditional face-to-face tactics still can be. The old “deskside” media meetings are still valuable, Nicole said.

Anyone in PR who doesn’t understand social media probably shouldn’t be in PR. I mean, the whole point to being in PR is staying on top of things, no matter how nouveau or traditional your particular industry is. You have to be able to accommodate your audience in the communication medium they prefer. So when a contact of mine who is currently job hunting for a PR position in Phoenix asked me what “social media” is, I hate to be mean but I thought, wow – you shouldn’t be in PR unless and until you at least have a basic understanding of the current trends. You owe it to your clients, you owe it to yourself. Otherwise, step aside and let the twentysomethings take over.

Oh, there is something to be said for being older – you have a better recollection of history. I told them that I was born when Eisenhower was president, and got blank looks. At least when you’re older, you’re better at remembering dates because you’ve lived through them. Small comfort. Now if I could just get my AARP discounts a few years early….

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