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Cardinal Communications
Feb. 1st, 2008
01:07 pm - Sorry I haven't written in so long
My life has been so crazy and busy lately. Since I last wrote in the blog, several people left CC. They graduated or decided to study abroad. We also got some new clients. We needed people to take the place of the people who left and find people for our new teams. CC hired several new people. I am eager to get to know all of the new people. We had a general meeting on Sunday where everyone new was introduced. It made me realize that I'm not the new girl anymore. It's nice to not be the new person anymore. Also, Pritch gave a little speech at the general meeting. He congratulated us all for being in CC. He also pointed out that CC is the organization that will get you the great internship or get you the job above entry level. It's true. CC is a great organization where I have not only made friends, but it will pay off in the future. I'm applying for internships right now and it has made me realize how much I have learned in CC. I have learned about internships and also about my career field. I feel prepared for an internship.
Now I will give you a little update of our team. We held some more focus groups and did some more research on other universities. Now, we created survey questions and we are working on getting them on the Internet. After that we will analyze the surveys. We are also working on goals and objectives for the Alcohol Awareness campaign. Once we do that we will hand it over to the Production team so they can make flyers and such. We will also write a newsletter for the campaign. Then, we will get a new client. When people in CC went to the National Convention this year they had a chance to talk to other colleges. Most colleges don't have very good student-run PR firms. Our team is going to make a workshop to help those other schools.
Well I hope you enjoyed my update! I will be writing more often from now on!
-Chanel
Nov. 12th, 2007
02:10 pm - focus group and surveys
Our focus group was great! We got so much feedback from students and they reinforced several of the ideas we had from the beginning. I took notes during the focus group and Kim compiled them for us. Now, we are working on making a survey to reinforce our findings from the focus group. Each of us came up with 10 survey questions and Kim will pick the ones we are going to use. We are also working on our main goals. This week each of us had to come up with three relationship, reputation, and tasks goals. We compiled them and came up with some very solid goals. I think our client will be very happy with our goals. A lot is going to change next semester. Kim is going to London so we need a new SAM. I am definitely going to miss Kim, she is amazing. I am anxious to see who will be our new SAM. I think anyone in our group would make a great SAM. Next week we are meeting at Kim's house for our meeting. We're having a pitch-in dinner for our meeting. I am excited to get to know everyone in my group better. They are all really nice and funny. This week at our general CC meeting I got an award for being the most dedicated member of my group for the month. I was so surprised and honored! It was nice for all of CC to come together and talk. Our president is going to Australia next semester, so all of CC will be going through a big change. Also, a couple of weeks ago Kim sent us a message about a sports internship on campus. On Thursday I met with a woman and she gave me the internship. I will be working with two other girls who are also in CC. One of them is my mentor from PRSSA and is in my CC group. I am so excited! I have learned so much in CC this year. I have probably learned more in CC than in my classes. Everyone there is so helpful and they are great teachers! Have a nice day!
-Chanel
Nov. 1st, 2007
12:55 pm - sorry it has been so long
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have been insanely busy. Since I posted last National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week took place. My group made a news release for the week and we pitched it to the media. I pitched the news release to Ball Bearings and the Daily News. It was a great learning experience for me. Kim gave us a sheet on how to write a news release and I know it will come in handy. She also taught us how to pitch to the media. I am in my first semester and I am already learning extremely valuable tools for my major. I am getting great experience. The other night I went out with my PRSSA mentor to Baskin Robin's and had a great time. She is so nice and gave me great advice. All of the older PR majors are hard to live up to. They do everything and they are amazing. I just don't know where to begin. My mentor helped me with that. Also, today I was in the Cardinal Comm office and I was talking to some of the older girls about my resume and internships. They gave me some great advice. It is advice that I would never have known without them. I learned about cover letters and things you should and shouldn't do in an interview. They were so nice and really helped me out with my questions. Everyone in Cardinal Comm and PRSSA are so nice and they have all helped me out with my questions. They are glad to help me. Also, it is nice to see people around campus and say hey to them. I have made a lot of friends in CC and it's so nice to have somebody say hey to me around campus. They have made me feel right at home and have taught me so many things. Everyone else knows what they are doing and I don't. Sometimes I feel dumb when I ask questions. However, they are so nice about answering my questions. It makes me glad that I asked. Tonight my group is holding a focus group in AJ 336. My team combined efforts to make the questions. There will be free pizza so you should come! I am excited because tonight is my first focus group. It will be a great learning experience for me! Hope to see you there!
-Chanel
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excitedOct. 4th, 2007
12:16 pm - last week's meeting
Last week we met in CC as usual. Several people had a lot of interesting research. One of the girls found a website where you can enter information about your alcohol consumption and they tell you all of the things you could have bought with that money. We also looked at all of the posters from the Alcohol Awareness Campaign. Many of the posters have text that is way too small. What do you think of the posters? As I have said before we are going to have a focus group to test out our research. I have been doing research on other colleges and their programs. I am also working on focus group questions. We have another meeting tonight. Sorry this entry was so short. I hope you enjoyed it!
-Chanel
Sep. 27th, 2007
11:06 am - my second week in Cardinal Comm
This week before my usual meeting with my group all of CC went to listen to a speaker. The woman talked to us about branding. She is in charge of the branding at Ball State. It is incredible how much thought is put into the advertisements and the symbols connected to Ball State. The branding team makes sure that the ads are always consistent. They even have several rules on how to use the Ball State logo. It can't be too small and it recommended to use it on white. They also have one certain red and other colors which complement it. It made me realize that when I go into Public Relations I definitely have to pay attention to detail. Then, I had my meeting with my team. We talked about National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week which is in October. We are going to survey people who have just listened to a speaker on how affective our alcohol awareness program is. Then, we are going to have a focus group. A focus group is a group of people that we gather and ask them questions about the university's alcohol awareness campaign. Their answers will help us with our research. For the next meeting we need to think about our goals for this year and questions for the surveys and focus groups. If you can think of some good questions, just leave me a comment. On Tuesday we had a speaker come into PRSSA. He was from India. He was fascinating. He talked about the difference between India and the U.S. He said that our country is getting more global and we should learn about other cultures. I completely agree with him. Not only will knowing about the world help me in PR, but it will help me in life. I think everyone should be aware of what is out there in the world. After the speaker we had a mentors and proteges cookout at Sarah's house. The older girls are mentors to the younger girls. I think that is a great idea. As a freshman I have so many questions about PR and just school in general. I think it will really help me and I will make new friends. The food was delicious and we all chatted and had a great time. Thank you Sarah for sharing your house with us! Tonight, I have another meeting with my team. I will update you on all of the details as usual.
Thanks,
Chanel
happySep. 14th, 2007
12:11 pm - the interview process and my first week in CC
One of the reasons I chose to go to Ball State was because of their awesome Public Relations department. People told me that not only were they ranked in the nation, but they had a PR firm on campus for their students. Once I heard that and other things I knew Ball State was the school for me. At Orientation I met an orientation leader who was in CC and she raved about it. She told me that not many freshman get into the program, but I should definitely give it a try. Once I got to Ball State I went to the activity fair in Worthen Arena and the Super Party in the Journalism Department and I went to the CC booth and the PRSSA booth. The people working the booths wee extremely helpful and they gave me valuable information about both of the organizations. Then, in my Journalism 101 class a representative from CC came in and gave everyone who was interested applications. The application was pretty intimidating. I had to answer essay questions. I finally answered all my questions and decided to turn in my application. Then, a couple days later I got a call saying that CC was interested in my application and they wanted to interview me. I was so nervous about my interview. Everyone told me I would do fine, but interviews are just nerve wracking in general. I dressed up for my interview and went into the CC office. My interviewers were very nice and they asked me questions. I showed them my journalism portfolio and answered my questions truthfully. I was completely myself. Then, a couple of days later I got a phone call saying that I was accepted into CC. I was so excited, I called everyone I knew. My mom and grandparents were so proud of me! Next, I had a training meeting. In the training meeting they just told us more about CC and what we will be doing this year. We then broke up into our groups. Each group has one client and a Senior Account Manager. My SAM is so nice. All of the SAM's were very welcoming and I could tell they knew what they were doing. I look up to all of the SAM's. I know they work hard and I admire them for all of the time they donate to CC. Once in our group we discovered that my group's client this year will be the Alcohol Awareness campaign. I am excited about this project because we will get to see the result on our campus. Other groups have clients in Indiana and some have national clients. We have some great clients this year! First semester we do research and next semester we will put our plans in action. We have to spend 3 hours a week in CC. This week I met several new people during my office hours. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming.I have only made a few friends at Ball State and I have already made friends in CC. It is refreshing to make friends who are interested in the same things you are. We had our first team meeting this Thursday. We all talked and go to know each other and then we did some great brainstorming! I can't tell you all the details, but you will just have to stay tuned to find out. We had fun and worked. Then, at 9 on Thursday I went with PRSSA to hang up flyers for the opening of Bob Evans. We are doing PR work for Bob Evans. Everyone should come to the opening of Bob Evans at 4 am on Monday morning. You could win Bob Evans gift certificates and other free items. I hope to see you there! It has been great telling you all of the details of CC. Thank you for taking the time to read everything, I know it was kind of long. Most of my posts won't be this long. This one is long because it's my first one.
Thanks,
Chanel