On November 6, myself and hundreds of other public relations students from all over the nation traveled to San Diego, CA for the 2009 PRSSA National Conference. For five days, we attended workshops, seminars, and socials that consisted of lots of networking with students and professionals. However, I quickly learned that most of the networking took place outside of the conference environment.

By attending social gatherings called Tweet-ups, students had the opportunity to speak with professionals in a social setting such as a pizzeria, bar, or night club. Attending the Tweetup hosted by Pitchengine.com and Sarah Evans at Bar Basic allowed me to socialize in a more relaxed environment.

Social media seemed to be the main focus of the conference. Piece of advice: TWEET EVERYTHING! Believe it or not, a lot of the student-to-professional interaction was conducted via Twitter. Utilizing social media to your advantage to network and enhance your education is a must of each student hoping to pursue a career in public relations in the near future.

I would be wrong if I didn’t give a shout-out to the brilliant PR students that I met a conference: (Click on their names to follow them on Twitter)

• Jasmine Brooks, University of Miami PRSSA President
• Kion Sanders, PRSSA National Vice President of Chapter Development
• Christa Keizer, California State Fullerton PRSSA Vice President

Although I wish I would have received a ROI, such as more information and tips from the workshops, or more one-on-one interaction with professionals, the experience was good overall. This year’s conference was very different than the 2008 PRSSA Conference held in Detroit, MI. This was a bittersweet experience due to the fact that this will be my last opportunity to attend a PRSSA conference as an undergraduate student. See you in Washington, DC in October 2010 for the PRSA conference!

Stay tuned, more notes and information from National Conference will be up on my site soon.

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