“Be the person everyone will want to work with.” -Linda Shipley Martin

Arrived at the airport around 6:30 a.m. to depart to Los Angeles. It was a very short flight. We picked up our rental cars and made our way over to Porter Novelli. Porter Novelli is owned by Omnicom and there are several other agencies in the office. It had a very cool layout, a basketball court and dogs around every corner. We had the chance to hear from Linda Shipley Martin (Partner and Managing Director), Joel Paramo (Assistant Account Executive), Marissa, CaCera, Danika and Shaili.

We started out with an ice breaker and were broken into teams. We each came up with a word to describe ourselves. Aaron said authentic. Brittany said outdoorsy. Danika said energetic and I said organized. We combined those words to come up with the word: Organic. We mentioned how it’s important to be organic when working with clients and how it helps them feel like we care.

Notes I took away from meeting with them –

• There is a place and a way for every body.
• Manage time and prioritize your to-do list.
• Always over communicate.
• Be present and work as a team.
• Always ask questions.
• Don’t be afraid to not be perfect all the time.
• Be clear about what you want and go for it.

We then had the opportunity to meet with Max Nelson from Method Communications. Notes I took away from meeting him –

• Find jobs by reaching out to your network.
• It’s OK to over communicate.
• What is your story you want to tell with the client?
• Know your goals and audience.

We had a few hours to kill, so we made our way to Santa Monica Pier. We took a ride on the ferris wheel and walked around taking pictures. Faith met up with us and we had dinner at Bubba Gump’s. She has always wanted to do public relations for the entertainment industry. I found it comforting to hear here say that she wasn’t able to do any internships on college. She mentioned that she had full time school and full time work, but that she still made time to do stuff through PRSSA. She worked for McCann in Salt Lake City but would continue to apply and submit her resume to Universal Music Group. It took her ten tries before she got a call back and then landed a job with them.

Faith took the time to answer my questions and was very down to earth. She took my business card and gave me advice on how to start researching Universal Music Group. I am going to start researching the company, compose a cover letter and send her that and my resume. She mentioned that she can submit that on so I could be interviewed for an internship.

My main concern would be the process of moving out to Los Angeles. She said that she stayed with a family friend. My goal for the remainder of the trip is to really reach out to the local students at the conference and get their advice moving out to Los Angeles. It’s been a long day, but I’m excited to see what more this trip has in store for us.

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Follow Next Generation PR at California State University of Fullerton for updates on the conference.

Click here for more information on UVU’s PRSSA chapter and follow them on Twitter.