I must say, my public relation’s class has been very lucky this year. We have had a large handful of speakers and events to attend; and last week we got to add 2 more speakers to that list! The first speaker was a 2006 UW-Whitewater graduate, Melissa Bohl. Melissa currently works at GE Medical and thoroughly explained her role at the company, along with Assure Point which is her group in the company. Her presentation was mainly on internal and external vehicles that GE uses to communicate with their customers and employees. For example, some internal vehicles are @service magazine, GE connect (similar to blogs), Yammar (resembles Facebook), Support Central (Internal Departments websites like intranets), Homepage article, Health Care Systems newsletter, and more. Some external communications include Next Level, which is an asset management website with blogging, videos, and online tools. GE also uses YouTube channel, and LinkedIn.
Our second speaker was Cory Zimmerman of Z2 Marketing. Cory’s presentation explained a lot of his life achievements and obstacles he has overcome. Cory explained that he was raised in poverty and was born deaf. However, through all the obstacles he kept his ambition and knew what he wanted and created his own amazing company. He stated that his company is the only company in the Midwest of its kind that is full service. Since they own everything that they need it is cheaper to do projects; which explains why the company doubled In the past year even with this struggling economy. Cory explained his company and his passions through a PowerPoint of eye-catching pictures and videos (especially the one with the men with their shirts off!) Cory also explained that his strong love for the Milwaukee Wave soccer team; which I had season tickets for growing up! He also mentioned that he worked for Hanson Dodge, which is a company I was looking into for an internship. Cory made a point that I really liked, he explained that no one knows the process of your work, they just see the final product; and there are always going to be challenges but you just have to make it through and finish the task.
I learned so much from both of these presentations. Both explained the importance of social media and getting your name out there. Cory said something that really stuck with me, he said that your first PR job is selling yourself and you are your own client. This goes along with Melissa’s strong point of completing your LinkedIn profile to get your name out there for companies to find you for jobs and internships. I think that even though both of the jobs seem to be in very different fields, they both embrace the ideas of strong communication with clients and employees, writing skills, strong work ethic, and a passion for your job.
I agree we really have had a lot of great speakers come to class this semester and you were right about Cory's point when he explained that no one knows the process of your work, they just see the final product; and there are always going to be challenges but you just have to make it through and finish the task. I liked that a lot too.
ReplyDeleteLike we spoke about after class, I definitely could tell that Z2 Marketing would be a business that you would definitely fit in at. From all the photography to the message that goes along with that company, it has "Heather" written all over it! I would have to say that we are pretty lucky to listen to all these PR professionals.
ReplyDeleteI was not able to hear either of these speakers but they both sound great. I agree with you that our PR Tactics II class has been so lucky. I really enjoy hearing the speakers and so not one job or speaker has been a like.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I thought it was very interesting to hear that Melissa was able to find so much success with a company like GE at such a young age. Its very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that Cory's presentation was very inspirational as well. Since hearing him speak i now follow both him and Z2 Marketing on Twitter!