It took place in Washington, D.C. from October 10-14 at the Omni Shoreham hotel.
Chapters from all over the United States were there, plus a few from international countries.
Myself and another girl, Kat, were the only two representatives from the Bloomsburg University chapter. We spent 4 hours in a car driving to D.C. Thursday night and kicked off our weekend of fun.
So you are probably wondering exactly what PRSSANC is. Every fall there is a national conference hosted in a major city in the US for PRSSA members to attend. During this time they meet other students, PR professionals, attend workshops and seminars that are focused on their particular interests in the public relations field.
If you are interested in looking at this years program, including session titles and speaker information click here.
Let me break down the conference by day for you.
Friday:
We knew the agency tours were early Friday morning but we weren't quite sure how it was going to work so we decided to go down to the lobby early; and good thing we did! On the elevator ride down we talked to a girl who asked us which agency we were assigned to and our faces had to have resembled sheer confusion and worry. WE NEVER GOT ASSIGNED ONE! In a panic, we found someone in charge and explained to them that we had signed up for a tour, yet never received an email. They told us there was an issue with the online sign up and that there was a limited number of spots per agency and it never removed the option to sign up for a tour.
Disappointed was an understatement. But come on, we are PR majors and we make things happen! Two of the girls on the national conference committee went out of there way to get us on a tour. In fact, we got to go to the agency we wanted, Edelman.
We got in our group, hopped on the metro and were on our way!! This agency tour was by far one of the highlights of the trip for me. I learned so much from everyone who spoke to us. I even got to sit down one-on-one with an Edelman employee and ask her questions and advice. It was amazing and so worth all the confusion from the morning.
When we returned from that we were STARVING! We quickly registered and found some food at an adorable Irish joint called Murphy's. It was delish!
Chapter development sessions were up next. These are student-run session designed to offer suggestions and tips on how to improve your chapter and make the most out of the experience. We attended "How I Met My Mentor and "The Big Event" Planning 101. Then, "Creating You Network: Branching Out Beyond the Meeting" and "It's More Than Just a Meeting: Powerful PRogramming and How to Plan It". We learned a lot from those student groups to take back to our chapter at Bloomsburg University.
Later that evening we attended the social event. We walked the red carpet and got out picture taken in front of a PRSSA backdrop. We felt pretty awesome, not gonna lie. We ended up meeting a group of girls and their advisor from Elon University in North Carolina. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with them and going to sessions together. We all got close and I still am in contact with them! We danced and had a blast with all the students attending conference. That is one thing I love about being a PR major, everyone is lively and outgoing and not afraid to have fun!
The first day of conference came to an end faster than we wanted, but we were excited to see what the rest of the weekend had to offer. With our new friends by our side we danced the night away at the social and chatted about our schools, PR programs and experiences.
Check out this slideshow of conference. Check back for the breakdown of Saturday's events!
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