On November 15, the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) hosted their annual networking event at Hard Rock Café in downtown Ottawa. The event, titled “PR in the Pub”, was far more than your average job-hunt. It gave university students the unique opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation with established professionals in the public relations field. Though I was covering the event as a journalist, I chose to participate in the events as an attendee and get the full experience.
The event was fashioned in a speed dating style with three 20-minute sessions of networking and a 15-minute “wild card” session at the table of your choice.
After signing up for your three choices of the professionals available, you got to sit down one-on-one with the representatives from the companies you signed up for and chat away.
Some of the companies present were:
- Acart Communications Incorporated
- Canadian Nurses Association Village
- Canada Council for the Arts, Government of Canada
- LilyBelle Communications
- Live 88.5 FM
- The United Way
- The House of Commons
- TELUS
- The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
- eMediat Events & Marketing
For the first three sessions, I chose to sit down with MediaMiser, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and Live 88.5 FM. MediaMiser’s Sophie Jodouin and Lisa Griffin were very helpful and outlined in great detail how their company worked to compile all the social media attention a client received and the process of analysing that information so it would be helpful to any given client. Véronique Milot, a communications officer from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada talked about her diverse career background and also the importance of social media in today’s world.
“Social media is a relatively new area of the public relations industry, but the global reach you have using these various channels available now –Twitter, Facebook etc.- is amazing,” said Milot.
The third table I went to and stayed at for my 15 minute “wild card” was LIVE 88.5 FM where I spoke with Blair Amyotte and Carleton alumna Nicole Slipetz. This dynamic duo, with an obvious passion for their job, told me in no uncertain terms: you have to work to get where you need to be.
“When you tell your story of how you got where you are in summary it seems like ‘right place, right time’ kind of luck, but in reality, everybody works hard to get where they are,” said Amyotte. “The difference between you and the next person is the effort you put in.”
The three-hour event was a hit with attendees, myself included. I can personally say I found this event very beneficial, even for those not looking to get into PR.
“It’s very helpful. I’m graduating soon and these kinds of events give us the opportunity to sit with actual professionals and pick their brains a bit,” said University of Ottawa student Juliana Gomez.
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