FutureCamp: From a 2C's perspective!

First and foremost, thanks and congratulations to Zack and Jenna for doing a wonderful job. Futurecamp showed how insanely close everyone's become after only a couple of months. Public relations has proven to be just what we were told from the beginning, "work hard-play hard environment", but of course 2C isn't perfect (yes I know, hard to imagine) so we "work hard and play even HARDER" instead!!!!!!
We were asked to sit in our areas of choice, non-profit, corporate, social media, media relations, agency etc. After only four months it was interesting to see that people were starting to find their niches.

We began to plan a party 5 years from now, and I think that if we were truly sick of eachother then we would have settled for the PR.O.M. We discussed how we could make this happen, how would we keep in contact and inform eachother of what's really out there! Let's face it guys, it's a crazy world out there (most of us already had the honours of being introduced, right?)

There were concepts that Michael had introduced to us that we could now use to stay connected. Michael showed us the various outlets available and during classes we learned and practiced as much as we could. So now, we can use social media to stay connected, for example twitter: #YnotW...if you dont't know what that is well I guess you're outside of the loop, but as an emerging PR professional I will gladly explain. It is WHY NOT WEDNESDAY, a day that we have dedicated to true socializing! It is a night where as friends we all go out and just have fun!

First semester was amazing, I find myself very fortunate to have met some really great people that I can actually call my friends :) (don't start crying)
I hope that next semester we can focus on eachother and in augmenting these relationships because truly we made it this far because of eachother.

So.... with one more semester to go I say we join forces with 1C, polish up our gloves, fix our caps, pull up our socks and play some SOFTBALLLL!!!!!!!!! Oh yes, of course...and dedicate ALL other waking hours (as usual) to PR.

Hot Topic: Sound and PR

Johnny and Sam are both on twitter: Johnny is listening to noisy traffic outside his window and Sam is listening to Saade in the basement, do you think the sounds they hear can affect their comments?

Answer is yes. Sound effects along with music are vitally effective tools at the disposal of various social network mediums. For example the radio, internet, television, etc. Using these effectively, they can intentionally trigger alerts, moods or provide certain information for the listener.

This may not be so hot but it is relevant and something that should be looked into further. With all the social media around us at our disposal we need to be careful with how we come across to various audiences. A PR professional needs to be aware of this, during crisis management the atmosphere needs to be be considered as it may hinder the audience's perception of the issue at hand.

Sound can evoke in a person such a strong opinion that they may feel compelled to call in and voice it. Therefore, sharing their opinion with other listeners who at that point, while listening, are part of the same network.


“Radio for example only uses sound to communicate. This is one of the media’s greatest strengths. Using sounds alone can create more effective pictures than most visual mediums. Listening to the radio, the listener creates their own pictures. These pictures are much stronger than most visuals because they are self-generated; they are the listener’s unique images.” -Link for further reading





Julian Treasure is the chairman of The Sound Agency, a consultancy group that helps clients like Honda and Nokia better their sounds to support their brand. On his blog , Julian recommends an online presentation called The Power Of Sound, created by Bob McCurdy at Clear Channel Radio Sales.

If facebook for example had sound effects for every cow that was found, every zombie that was killed, or applause for every person who was now in a relationship... facebook would drive me just a bit more insane than it already does.
So when you're driving home at five listening to hammer or whoever and it's bumper to bumper... think about why they don't play Ludacris: "Get out the Way!!"

My WoRdLe

http://bit.ly/aQipKi