This weekend, a group of COM students confused countless Engineering students by appearing at Photonics on a random Saturday. This invasion was, however, not without good cause. This weekend, Boston University’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (BUPRSSA) hosted its 9th Annual Regional Conference, bringing together PR students from a handful of colleges in the Northeast of the United States.
For those of you who don’t know, BUPRSSA is a pre-professional society for students interested in public relations. When I came to BU, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to major in, so I joined BUPRSSA to learn more about the field of public relations. The chapter meets in COM each week, almost always with a PR professional who speaks to the chapter about their involvement in the field.
Saturday’s conference, PR Advanced: Breaking Barriers, brought speakers from a conglomerate of speakers from companies such as Facebook, Jack Morton Worldwide, John Hancock, and major PR firms Fleishman-Hillard and Schneider Associates. The program also included keynote speaker Graham Kahr from Digital Royalty. The conference was meant to emphasize the changing role of PR professionals in our modern world.
A major point of emphasis during the conference was media. I was able to listen to a presentation by two representatives from Jack Morton Worldwide who discussed the power of viral content in modern public relations. I was then lucky enough to attend a panel that included three journalists, who were asked to discuss their relationship with PR professionals. As a journalism and PR student, this panel was especially interesting to me. The relationship between PR professionals and journalists can be complicated, and this panel allowed students to get a better idea of how they should interact with journalists in their careers.
The program of the conference closed with a career fair. The fair had representatives representing some of the different areas of public relations. Students were able to network with potential employers and to inquire about internships. It was a great opportunity for everyone involved.
When I came to BU, I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to study. Joining PRSSA helped me to learn more about PR and to help me make a decision. Especially after this amazing conference, I am so excited to make public relations a part of my academic career at Boston University. And for anyone considering public relations, joining BUPRSSA would be one of the absolute best choices you could make. Even if you don’t decide to join the BU chapter (which you can do at anytime!), look out when registration comes around for next year’s conference. It was truly remarkable experience, and totally worth the process of planning it!
