The final countdown

At this point in the semester, many students begin their countdown to the end of the semester, and the excitement that it holds.  The end of the semester entails the end of March Madness, the football Spring Game, Greek Week, Oval Beach, and beat the clock at the O'Patio.

Thousands of students can be seen enjoying all of these spring festivities, and relaxing while avoiding studying for their impending finals.  Even Gordon Gee can be spotted hanging out on Oval Beach, relaxing and mingling with students.  The temptations of fun and relaxation plague all Ohio State students who struggle to focus on their classes and stick it out until the end of the semester.  

                         Football Game Day!                        Summertime Fun

   

All of these elements add up to the final countdown of the semester, as freshmen, sophomores and juniors count toward their summer jobs and internships, and graduating seniors look anxiously toward starting their new jobs and lives outside of college, while some seniors will be returning in the fall for a victory lap having not graduated on time.  

Also during this exciting time is Go Buckeye Day, many honors and scholars visit days, and tons of prospective student tours.  Prospective students and their families on tours during this time see Ohio State students enjoying their life on campus and having fun, which looks great for Ohio State.  

Taking high school seniors and their parents on a stroll through the Oval on a beautiful day seeing students enjoying themselves makes Ohio State look like the perfect university, and is an excellent public relations tactic for Ohio State to utilize.  Seeing students genuinely having fun in a real environment has sold hundreds of people on coming to Ohio State to spend the best for years of their lives.  

What is your favorite part of spring time?  Do you give in to the temptation of Oval Beach?

Let the games begin!

This upcoming week at Ohio State is Greek Week, also known as one of the best, most fun weeks of the year in the Greek Community.  Greek Week is an excellent chance for sororities and fraternities to get together and mingle.  For the week on campus, Greek life seems to take over, and be much more apparent that usual.

Greek Week spirit!

Greek Week serves several purposes, to meet other men and women in different fraternities and sororities, to participate in philanthropy competitions and to have fun!  When thinking of Greek Week, most in Greek life think of Theme Gatherings, known as TGs.  While drinking in your best Anything But Clothes outfit is a blast, there is more to look forward to.

I happen to love the Variety Show, where sororities and fraternities choreograph and perform dances, and people get very competitive.  I participated in my sorority's dance team last year and had a great time.  Unfortunately, I did not have time to do it this year, but will definitely go to watch instead.  It is amazing to see the talent that others in the Greek community have, and see everyone come together.

My sorority's dance team performance last year

The Greek community also hosts guest speakers and does several philanthropy challenges, promoting Greek life well on campus.  There is also an event called the Greek Games, where the pairings of sororities and fraternities compete against each other to determine the winner, and the best overall pairing.  These competitions range from relay races to dodge-ball to a pie eating contest.

Everyone who participates has their own view of Greek Week, some girls view it as a change to make out with boys dressed at G.I. Joe or in togas all week, while others like myself view it as a chance to put Greek life in the spotlight in a positive way.  I think Greek Week is an excellent way for Greek life at Ohio State to very publicly enhance its image, and to communicate to the Ohio State community.

Are you in Greek life? What is your favorite part of Greek Week?

Live from Ohio State...it's Phi Trotters!!

I attend many on-campus events, from sporting events to diversity lectures to my sorority's events.  On Saturday, my sorority hosted our annual philanthropy basketball tournament, and I decided to live-tweet the event.  I did not want to spam my twitter followers and be annoying, so I only tweeted about the event three times.

The proceeds from the basketball tournament benefited Sharsheret, an organization for Jewish women with breast cancer.  The girls in the sorority do not play, we organize the event and host it, coaching teams, running the brackets and keeping score.  The event takes place at the Recreation and Physical Activity Center.

In my three years attending the tournament I have coached teams, which is really fun.  Basically, as a coach, you hang out with a team for the day, cheering them on and making sure they know when who and where they are playing.  Many other sororities and fraternities in the Greek community support us, and make the event really fun.  We rent out a large gym in the RPAC and blast music, having a good time while supporting a great cause.

This year, I coached my boyfriend's team, him and his roommates are all members of a fraternity on campus, and play every year.   My team referred to themselves as the "Study House," which others in their fraternity call them.  Their tradition is to wear neon shirts and blue shooting sleeves, which some of them wore on their legs, but I am not sure why.  Also, this year one of the members of the "Study House" did not want to play, but he dressed up as a team manager, and helped coach his roommates.  Coaching with me were two freshmen girls in my sorority who had older brothers on the team.

The Study House and coaches

Although they lost their first game, we continued on to the losers bracket, and played a team of men also in their fraternity.  The "Study House" won this game, dominating against their opponents.  However, in their next game, their opponents from another fraternity crushed them in a game with a final score of 16-2.  But, I was a proud girlfriend, my boyfriend being the leading (and only) scorer of his team in that game.

Many other girls from my sorority were tweeting about the event the day of it, and also tweeted about it before, to publicize it and encourage others to participate.  My sorority also has national and local twitter accounts, and I mentioned my local chapter in my tweets.  The picture included in one of my tweets is the team picture seen above.  I received some response tweets and also some of my followers "favorited" my tweets.

Tweeting about an event is a great way to publicize it, as it is short and to the point, and a hashtag (#) can be easily followed to create a trend.

Have you ever live tweeted an event?  What event did you tweet about? Why?

#TwitterChatter

Part of one of the communications classes I am currently taking is to participate in a Twitter chat, something I have never done before.  We could pick any Twitter chat to participate in, so I selected one focused on Pinterest, called #pinchat.

I was very intrigued to see what would take place during the chat, as I have never participated in one.  Also, this week's topic of #pinchat was linking one's Pinterest and blog, and incorporating them.  This topic appealed to me, as I am new to blogging and have a Pinterest, and it would be cool to link the two.

The first ten or so minutes of the Twitter chat was spent with people introducing themselves if they were new to the weekly Twitter chat, and being welcomed by regulars.  Then, the guest tweeter, @theblogmaven, introduced herself, and the regular moderator, @Tribe2point0, began the discussion.

Being new to Twitter chats in general, and especially having never participated in this one, I was unsure of the correct Twitter chat etiquette.  So, I asked a question to @theblogmaven and @Tribe2point0.  Unfortunately, my question was ignored.  #Awkward.

Also, I did not receive a personal welcome shout-out tweet like other newcomers had received.  #EvenMoreAwkward.

So, I chose to fit in with what I observed of the Twitter chat, and simply retweet some of @theblogmaven's words of wisdom that she shared with us, and in the end tweet again about how I found her blog.

The tips that she shared were useful, and I plan to start incorporating some of them in the near future, yet I am discouraged from participating in another Twitter chat, particularly this one.

If any of you wish to follow me on Twitter, my handle is @motherjenna, and no, I am not actually a mom.

Have you ever participated in a Twitter chat? If so, what was your experience?  What kinds of Twitter chats do you recommend?

Word of Mouf

The way one presents themselves in everyday life, and not just in a specified professional setting, can determine the success or failure of one's professional life.  If one is careless in how they treat others--is rude, careless or ignorant, it can severely injure his or her reputation.

People remember what you say, especially those nasty things you wish you had not said.  Also, everyone, of all ages, gossips.  Some might say they do not engage in gossip but let's be real, everyone does a little bit.

For the past four summers I have worked as a counselor at an overnight camp, and had such a great experience doing so.  I loved my campers and I have made lifelong friends from around the world.  However, working 24 hours a day seven days a week for eight weeks surrounded by the same group of 150 staff can create some tension and drama.

In such an enclosed environment, rumors and gossip spread like wildfire, and a person's reputation at camp can be destroyed in minutes.  Working at a summer camp may not seem like a professional environment  but it is still a job and at times one must be professional and not goofy.

At a normal day job, everyone goes home at the end of the day, gets a break from each other  and can lead their own separate lives.  At an overnight camp, the staff live, breathe, eat, sleep and poop together.  There is no break.

If one person messes up, gets in trouble with their supervisor or makes a bad choice at night after the campers are in bed, everyone knows.  By the time the director would make an official announcement to all staff about a situation, everyone would already know who did what and what happened as a result.

This past summer, my co-counselor and I had some fun with the word-of-mouth concept, that everyone remembers what you say.  We made a big poster in our cabin labeled "Word of Mouf," for our campers to write funny things others had said, a mural of their summer.  Our 15-year-old campers loved this, and wrote down all their inside jokes and funny moments.

For our campers it was a fun way to remember jokes and hilarious, silly or crazy things they or other campers or staff had said.  However, as we get older, we remember more and more, particularly those things that should not have been said.

Especially in such a relaxed environment like an overnight camp, it can be easy to let your guard slip and not act professional.. But seeing as everyone remembers everything, and when it comes to connections and the "real world" outside of camp, the same reputations carry over, which can be beneficial or detrimental.

In public relations or communications, a word of mouth reference can be someones strongest advocate, or their worst nightmare.  Always treating others well and trying to put your best foot forward can give someone an excellent word of mouth reference.  Connections and who you know are essential parts of networking, especially in public relations and communications.

Oh em gee, did you hear about....

This past week, all sorority women in one of the councils at Ohio State had an incentive to study in Thompson Library.  All sorority women who wore their letters while studying in Thompson and were spotted by representatives from the council got a prize! Sounds like a fun treat, right?

While it may be true that the women got a fun treat of candy or a gift card for studying, this is also a sly public relations tactic.  Having sorority women wear their letters while studying in Thompson will give those sororities, and Greek life as a whole, an image boost.  It makes the women and organizations appear super studious.

All parties involved benefit from this tactic; the women study and therefore do well in their classes, while getting prizes, and Greek life is seen having an academic focus.  The sororities and Greek life can get free PR in a very positive way.

Most women who participated in this did not think twice, they just thought of it as getting prizes for wearing their letters.  If one thinks more in depth about this, the tactic can have positive and negative results.

The best case scenario is that the sorority women wear their letters, study quietly at the library, and make Greek life look great.  Everyone wins in this instance, sororities are well represented, and the women also study to do well in their classes.

However, there is another possible scenario.  Many sorority women like to go to the library together and sit together.  Sitting with friends at the library can be difficult, when you get bored the temptation to talk or gossip is sitting right in front of you in the form of some of your best friends.

While it is very important to tell your friends who did what and who made a fool of themselves at the date party the previous night, perhaps that talk is best left for a less public arena.  The hot gossip of who is mad at whom cause she ruined her dress or what new girl was seen flirting with the guy you are talking to can wait.  Others around you really do not care if your little made out with her date or not, they just want to study.

In this instance, wearing letters to the library may backfire, the women may be seen by others in a negative light, and give their sorority and Greek life as a whole a bad reputation.

Seeing as this PR tactic by the sororities could have gone either really well or really badly, I am interested to hear how it went.  I am a member of a sorority on campus, and I have been a part of and seen this scenario from all sides, the good and the bad, so I am curious to see how the women represented themselves.

Unpaid slave...I mean Intern

As the vice president of the Jewish Business Students Association, my email is listed as a student leader and is public information.  I receive a variety of emails through this, ranging from weekly student organization updates to emails from outside companies looking for interns or campus representatives.  I took the risk and applied and got one of these internships.

Having an on-campus representative is a great public relations tool for companies whose products appeal to and are used by college students.  These job offers that I have received to pass on to my organization typically are looking for an intern or on-campus representative.  I think it is great that companies are marketing straight to college students to offer jobs and get them interested.  But what's the catch?

Being an intern or on-campus representative can go a variety of ways.  One way is you may be a real part of the company, make money, and get valuable experience.  The other is being the company's paid (or often times unpaid) slave labor, doing all the annoying, unnecessary work that the real employees do not want to do.

I have experienced this myself.  I was a Greek intern for an online food guide website for Ohio State students, which I was told meant my specialty was to market the website to the Greek community, and get the website incorporated into Greek culture.  I was thrilled!

But then, I was asked to draw website logos all over campus in chalk, go door-to-door up and down numerous off-campus streets to place door hangers on all houses and apartments, stand on the Oval and pass out fliers during the involvement fair (instead of representing the club which I am vice president of), and spam my Twitter followers and Facebook friends with deals and offers.  And to do all of this without getting paid.

This was all right before and during the first week of classes.  There was no mention of appealing to the Greek community, and when asked, my supervisor weakly attempted to dodge around the question--telling me in his avoidance that I was not a "Greek intern," I was simply an unpaid slave.

I took that as the sign that this job was not for me, so I quit.  I was the first from the intern group to quit, and as of today, all of the interns from the original group have quit.

Public relations on college campuses centers around having students engage other students, and utilizing their connections.  However, while utilizing this popular public relations tactic, companies need to ensure they are considering the needs of their student employees, and to not falsely advertise to them.

I am much happier now in my paid internship, being the Strategic Issues Management Intern for OSU Media Relations.  I work 10 hours a week, my boss and everyone who I interact with treat me like an equal, and I am gaining actual experience that I can use in the future.

Internships can be great, like the one I have now, or they can make you lose all respect for a company, like my previous one.