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What can I do with public relations?
I love #event-management and #project-management. I also love all the #public-relations activities.
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Malisa’s Answer
Hi Sonia!
This is great news as you can tie these together very quickly and easily. Most people require a level of Project Management skills in order to be a successful Event Management consultant. You also need to do a good bit of Public Relations in being able to source your vendors and venues and advertise your business. I would suggest focusing on Project Management skills first as those will serve you in any career as well as in your personal life. Seek out public relations courses and event management courses after that. You'd be surprised at what is available on the internet for you.
Best of luck!
This is great news as you can tie these together very quickly and easily. Most people require a level of Project Management skills in order to be a successful Event Management consultant. You also need to do a good bit of Public Relations in being able to source your vendors and venues and advertise your business. I would suggest focusing on Project Management skills first as those will serve you in any career as well as in your personal life. Seek out public relations courses and event management courses after that. You'd be surprised at what is available on the internet for you.
Best of luck!
Michael Ambrozewicz
Director, Communications, AT&T Global Marketing Organization
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Michael’s Answer
Learning good project management skills is essential for almost any role today, because so much of your work is to coordinate with others and make sure things get done towards a bigger goal. There's even a certification that people can get from the Project Management Institute.
I see PR roles, Event Management roles and Project Manager roles as having much in common:
1. You have to identify what various audiences / stakeholders need
2. You have to identify what you / your organization is doing to meet that need
3. You develop ideas on how to meet that need and get approval from your organization's leadership or from your client to proceed.
4. You execute those ideas, working with many people to align their efforts to achieve your idea/goal. That goal can be an event, securing an interview for your reporter with a top-tier news outlet like The New York Times, or completing a project to implement a new system inside a company.
5. You have to identify and measure what success means for your organization / your client.
With Public Relations, specifically, you can help almost any organization connect with the audiences they need to connect with. A subset of PR is Media Relations (convincing reporters and bloggers and podcasters to interview your organization's spokespeople / tell the story you want to be told to the world), but there are many similar fields like Employee (Internal) Communications, Investor and Analyst Relations, even Social Media. A degree, internships in, and even volunteer experience in the PR realm will develop your planning skills, your writing and video production skills, your ability to use many different tools, and your skills at navigating organization / office politics -- all good things for almost any role.
Check out the Project Management Institute's student membership page and their certifications you can earn once you have more work experience https://www.pmi.org/membership/student
Learn more about public relations by visiting the Public Relations Student Society of America, and sign up for their student membership https://prssa.prsa.org/
I see PR roles, Event Management roles and Project Manager roles as having much in common:
1. You have to identify what various audiences / stakeholders need
2. You have to identify what you / your organization is doing to meet that need
3. You develop ideas on how to meet that need and get approval from your organization's leadership or from your client to proceed.
4. You execute those ideas, working with many people to align their efforts to achieve your idea/goal. That goal can be an event, securing an interview for your reporter with a top-tier news outlet like The New York Times, or completing a project to implement a new system inside a company.
5. You have to identify and measure what success means for your organization / your client.
With Public Relations, specifically, you can help almost any organization connect with the audiences they need to connect with. A subset of PR is Media Relations (convincing reporters and bloggers and podcasters to interview your organization's spokespeople / tell the story you want to be told to the world), but there are many similar fields like Employee (Internal) Communications, Investor and Analyst Relations, even Social Media. A degree, internships in, and even volunteer experience in the PR realm will develop your planning skills, your writing and video production skills, your ability to use many different tools, and your skills at navigating organization / office politics -- all good things for almost any role.
Michael recommends the following next steps:
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Gina’s Answer
I minored in public relations-- while broad, it gives you a good understanding of marketing in general. Not only marketing businesses, but marketing yourself in interviews or future roles. Plus, it's so transferable as you encounter different job scenarios down the road!
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Celia’s Answer
Hi Sonia,
These skills/fields go together very well! For event management, project management and PR will be needed. But PR can also be applied on its own with a career in PR and project management is going to help you grow in any field you decide to get into.
What I would recommend it to look into startups, because they let you do a lot of different things and just try it on your own - which is amazing to learn and advance your skills and career much faster. I’d see very well someone like you who likes event management, project management and PR work into a startup and be able to juggle all of them as needed by the company, without having a specific label or position to be “stuck” with.
If you're interested in startups you can have a look at nearby startups hubs and check out angel.com to see tons of startups and job and internship offers.
I hope that helps! :)
These skills/fields go together very well! For event management, project management and PR will be needed. But PR can also be applied on its own with a career in PR and project management is going to help you grow in any field you decide to get into.
What I would recommend it to look into startups, because they let you do a lot of different things and just try it on your own - which is amazing to learn and advance your skills and career much faster. I’d see very well someone like you who likes event management, project management and PR work into a startup and be able to juggle all of them as needed by the company, without having a specific label or position to be “stuck” with.
If you're interested in startups you can have a look at nearby startups hubs and check out angel.com to see tons of startups and job and internship offers.
I hope that helps! :)
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Saji’s Answer
Advertising account executive.
Advertising copywriter.
Event manager.
Marketing executive.
Media researcher.
Public affairs consultant.
Public relations officer.
Sales promotion account executive.
Advertising copywriter.
Event manager.
Marketing executive.
Media researcher.
Public affairs consultant.
Public relations officer.
Sales promotion account executive.
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David’s Answer
I can see that you have the passion and interest in these career and you can tie these together very quickly and easily. Most people requires some level of Project Management skills in order to be successful in Event Management career or Event Management consultant. Plus having some skill is good for Public Relations in terms of being able to find and use the sources from your vendors, venues, and advertise for your business. In the Marketing fields, everything is about building up, networking, have sources, and more. With the passion of doing Event, Project, and Public Relations Management, you can combining it all together which is good, what I would suggest is you starting with building your Project Management skills first as those will serve you in most career as well as in your personal life, and then gradually move on to Event and Public Relations Management to be your completion. Of course all being said, first is taking the courses and then doing some course work or internship then after completion and building up you can decide were you want to be and do. There is a lot of company are hiring so no need to worry about no job, but more worry of what company you want to work for.
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Alex’s Answer
I was a public relations major and now work in Corporate Responsibility. You can go in many directions with a PR/strategic communications degree. My recommendation would be to try a variety of fields during internships - experiences like event planning, non-profit, government, corporate, healthcare, entertainment. This way you can find out what you like and don't like. PR will also give you a ton of experience in project management, which is such a transferable skill!
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Chris’s Answer
Hi Sonia,
Are you trying to decide whether to go into Public Relations vs. project management - or is it that you both both areas and want to do both at once?
There are many aspects of project management that you will need in a PR role; that can be said of many other professions. You just would not be focusing solely on the aspects of managing time, cost, quality, resources, scope, and risk - the six constraints of project management.
My background is in marketing/technology writing and program/project management, so if you have more questions specific to these areas, I would be glad to assist.
Good luck!
Are you trying to decide whether to go into Public Relations vs. project management - or is it that you both both areas and want to do both at once?
There are many aspects of project management that you will need in a PR role; that can be said of many other professions. You just would not be focusing solely on the aspects of managing time, cost, quality, resources, scope, and risk - the six constraints of project management.
My background is in marketing/technology writing and program/project management, so if you have more questions specific to these areas, I would be glad to assist.
Good luck!
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