Networking for College Seniors

It has been a very productive week for week for Maria.

Saturday I went to a PRSSA conference, Innovation Through Leadership, and this evening I went to a COM networking event, which included a lesson on networking etiquette.

Free pens = 2
Sweet nametags = 2
Job offers (so far) = 0

HEY! It's only March.

Here were some of the takeaways from each event:

PR Advanced: Innovation Through Leadership

[From Mike Volpe, Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot]

• Leveraging inbound marketing tools changes tactics from interruption based to attraction based
• Create a large digital footprint so people can find you on a variety of platforms
• Measurement of PR is changing; it is easier to track the progress and success of campaigns
• The shift of focus from budget to creativity gives smaller clients a greater chance to be awarded accounts
  
• MARKET YOURSELF

[From Gary Sheffer, Executive Director of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs at General Electric]

• A good reputation is your license to do business
• Public relations must reset tactics and channels of communication to succeed
• News is now a river running past us instead of a train making stops; anyone can throw anything into the river
• Crisis communication and management are increasingly vital

• There are three ways to win in a post-crisis world

1. Social responsibility
2. Transparency and authenticity
3. Engaging communities personally and digitally
   

• The role of communicators

1. Help define a company, not just describe it
2. Develop channels for messaging AND networks
3. Shift perceptions
   

• Gary's Tips For Finding a Job

1. Start right now
2. Every experience is good
3. Do something. Show results.
4. Read the Economist. Then Gawker.
5. Careers are built, not made
   

• It is essential for PR professionals to be news junkies; you have to know what's going on in the world if you want to tell people how to present themselves in the world
• The most important thing you have is your integrity. Never compromise that. I mean never.

COM Networking at the Castle

[From Jodi Smith, founder of Mannersmith Consulting]

• Etiquette is culturally and situationally specific; since corporate cultural differences exist everywhere, there are etiquette guildelines, not rules.
• You have 5-7 seconds to make an impression on someone you're meeting for the first time
• People like to be right; If you make a bad impression, it takes about 14 positive encounters to change their perception.
• Networking, by definition, is strange and awkward. You are going to an event and engaging with a room full of strangers.
  
• Save elevator speeches for the elevator
• People like you better when they can talk to you.
• Asking about business opportunities before engaging in small talk is like asking a stranger to marry you without asking them on a date.
  
• Small talk leads to big talk.
• It is better to be over dressed than under dressed.
• Never go hungry
• Networking: You are a lion in the Serengeti. The others are wildabeast at the watering hole. Find the watering hole and attack.
  

In Conclusion:

The economy sucks. Almost no one is hiring.

BUT.

Market your inner lion, find the watering hole and make the kill! Market yourself. Go to networking events. Leave nothing but a bare carcass.

PETA: Brilliant or Desperate?

I'm going to lean toward desperate on this one.

Disclaimer: I am an unashamed and unrelenting meat eater. I have parts of four different animals in my fridge right now.

I'll give PETA a few points for identifying their audience fairly well, although I'm not sure that's very difficult considering the event. There will probably be several commercials with scantily clad women during the Super Bowl.

But is this commercial even effective? Will a couple naked girls licking pumpkins and broccoli convince people to put down their chicken wings and chili dogs and abstain from meat?

No.

These guys sum up some questions I had when I first saw the commercial: did they intend to create a commercial that would be rejected to stir up more controversy and attention? Is this really original?

(Conversation starts at about 1:18)


PETA Commercial Banned, Intentional? from Skip Wisconsin on Vimeo.

PETA appeals to the sex drive first by showing sexual acts and finally by claiming that vegetarians have better sex. What would have been effective is if they revealed which studies surmised this.

They probably didn't because it's not true.

A Slate article examines the claim more thoroughly with, you know, some actual facts.

Vegetarian diets tend to correlate with higher rates of zinc deficiency, which is closely associated with lower testosterone levels and depressed sex drives. Vegetarian women are also more likely to develop amenorrhea (loss of periods), a condition that's usually accompanied by low testosterone, vaginal dryness, and poor libido. Finally, the notion that overweight people are less sexually active isn't entirely accurate (for women, at least): A recent analysis published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that overweight women might, in fact, be slightly more active.

Bottom line: PETA's advertising tactics have always revolved around shock value. This is really nothing new. Maybe PETA should take a tip from Jamie Oliver.

Why Chris Brogan's advice on being yourself only applies to some.

Today in my New Media class we watched two videos about finding your voice in business that Chris Brogan posted on his blog a few days ago. I had seen them in my Blogreader but watching again in class made me realize that I do not completely agree with him.

It seems that Chris' only solution to finding your voice in business is to be yourself. I'm all for "being yourself" and I agree with his saying that he is just going to be himself because then it's easier to remember which "me" he's being.

He says that swearing is part of his personality and therefore he will swear when he feels it necessary. I can understand this. I've been known to get creative with expletives on occasion. But there's a time and a place for everything.

I do not think that tactically censoring myself is being a different me.

Chris' advice only applies to a certain kind of person. It applies to a person who has established themselves and has the power and ability to say what they want and rationalize their behavior after the fact. Chris Brogan has established himself. He has positioned himself as a guru, whether people agree with that title or not. He is a go-to guy. He can say what he wants and people can decide to listen or ignore.

I am an intern. I am working to position myself as a reliable and ideal hire in a few months when I graduate. Not only is it unprofessional to swear in front of my coworkers and superiors and then justify it by claiming to be acting as my true self but I would feel extremely uncomfortable swearing or behaving in certain ways at work.

Similarly, I would feel extremely uncomfortable swearing in the middle of a classroom, in the middle of dinner at a friend's house and while giving directions to an innocent old lady on the side of Comm Ave. You need to consider the implications of your behavior before acting out sporadically.

It is irresponsible and disrespectful to disregard your audience.

There's a time and a place for everything. Chris missed out on this point. Yes you need to be able to show your personality. Yes you must always stand up for yourself. No you should not feel entitled to behave however you want for the sake of being yourself. Chris forgot to mention that it is essential to identify your audience and act accordingly.

Tactically censoring yourself and basing behavior on audience doesn't mean you're not being you. There is not one you.

Sometimes it's a good idea to take advice like this with a grain of salt. Sure it would be nice to have free reign to say and do what you want but that's not realistic in most cases.

The MBTA Needs To Reassess Their Communication Strategy. Or Get One.

If the MBTA had a Twitter account, they probably wouldn't follow me. I ride the Green Line to Copley and home at least six times a week each way. Guaranteed I tweet at least one angry message per week. Here's a sampling:

Today Marissa gets to experience my hell that is the MBTA. Our fingers are numb and there is accident near by. 8:51 AM Dec 5th from txt

Why am I 15 minutes late with 15 minutes to walk? Because the MBTA sucks! Oh B line. Why do you mock me?! 4:36 PM Dec 3rd from txt

Welcome back from break. Every T driver hates Maria again. Mmm. 8:42 AM Dec 1st from txt

Today was my worst experience with the T, by far.

Two Ts and one bus passed without letting passengers board. Finally, a T arrived and made steady progress heading express to Kenmore. Looked like I'd be on time for work after all.

Between Kenmore and Hynes Convention Center, the T came to an abrupt halt throwing me into a strange man's armpit. Halfway through rolling our eyes and raising our arms in confusion, the front half of the T heard anxious screams asking if anyone was a doctor.

We all took out our headphones to hear what was going on. It was very confusing. The T was packed so we couldn't see what happened. All we could see was a crowd with their backs to us. Some woman kept screaming for a medic while another broke through the crowd and ran to alert the driver. The driver pushed her way to the injured person in the back. We were stuck for at least 10 minutes. People were screaming, "we need to get to the next stop right now." At Hynes, the injured person and some others scrambled away as the rest of us stood on our toes trying to see if the person was ok.

I still don't know what happened. I looked for information when I got home but found only one message board with passenger responses to my tweet.

This is ridiculous. The MBTA is the 5th largest mass transit system in the nation. The entire system transports about 1.1 million people per day. Considering many people rely on the MBTA as their sole means of transportation, there NEEDS to be a better system in place to provide constant information and updates.

So here's the deal. I'm going to make this easy for you, MBTA. Pay close attention.

Maria's Communication Tips to Ensure Happier MBTA Riders

1. Get a Twitter account. This is easy and effective. Someone already created a hashtag (allowing users to aggregate information on a certain topic) that goes as far back as 5 months ago. The current voice of the MBTA is angry. It is pissed off passengers cursing the T. It is people sharing stories about how the MBTA keeps messing up. Let's get an actual MBTA representative on Twitter to give some reliable information to riders, who can have updates sent their phones while they're waiting in the freezing cold wondering why no trains are coming.
2. Get a blog. Seriously. Either add an update page to the MBTA site or create a blog that will link to the site and provide constant, honest information. The current News and Events section is pathetic. It is not representative of the struggles facing the people out there riding the T every day. Some sites that I DID find include MBTASUX.com (a compilation of organized Twitter complaints), Train Stopping (written by a frustrated commuter rail passenger) and Switchback (provides commentary and criticism of the MBTA.) Again, the MBTA needs a voice. A realistic voice. People want to hear the news, even if it always bad. Right now, we never hear any realistic news from the source.
   
3. Monitor the internet. Does the MBTA even know about the blogs I mentioned? They were solely created to criticize and complain about the MBTA. This is not to mention bloggers who post or tweet about their experiences more sparingly. The MBTA should monitor Twitter and blogs to get a better idea of who their passengers are and what they want. Many people who blog and tweet about the MBTA have helpful suggestions that would make commutes easier. Many have questions that the MBTA should directly reply to.

Companies (like Comcast) have created blogs and Twitter accounts to respond to unhappy customers. Many companies have been extremely successful in doing so. The MBTA needs to get with the program. People are fed up. It's time for a change. At least get a Twitter, for blog's sake!

Until that happens, I will keep angrily tweeting in hopes of appearing on MBTASUX.com.