PR Intern

Yesterday was a great day. In the morning, Dan gave me a short tutorial on how to use Adobe InDesign. I had been using Microsoft Publisher for most things before. In high school, I did the layout for the newspaper with Publisher for two years. I caught on very quickly to InDesign. I practiced setting up pages with text and photos whenever I had free time during the day. Now that I have a basic understanding of the program, JRN 302 should be a breeze (in JRN 302 you learn to use InDesign).

I completed my article about Pridgeon and submitted it to Dan. He read it over and said it was good and pointed out a few changes that I could make. He told me that he wasn’t going to tell me exactly what to put because he “didn’t want to take away my voice.” He said the article would be perfect if we were going to be printing it that day, but since it is for a publication he said we can perfect it even more. I thought this was great because I am able to learn to correct my own mistakes and perfect my own words. I know that I am a fairly good writer, but I want to become even better. I can already see that this internship is going to help me do that.

So I went back through the Pridgeon feature. I re-worked the lead and discussed it with Dan. The lead seemed to be the hardest part for me. Dan told me to imagine I was telling the story to my brother…how would I start it? I wouldn’t start by just bluntly telling the important details. I would first intrigue my audience to get them into the story. I re-worked the rest of the article and sent it back to Dan.

Dan sent two stories about a coach and asked me to edit them into one for the Viewpoint. It wasn’t a difficult task, although the fact that I know nothing about sports was a little intimidating. Luckily, the “complicated sports stuff” didn’t need editing. I sent it back to him and he said it was fine and he just moved a few little things around.

At the end of the day, Dan said that I would get more stories to write soon and other things to work on. I also will be starting work on CMU Welcomes You soon.

Lesson of the Day: Write like you’re telling a story to someone to their face. Intrigue them and draw them in.

Yesterday was my second day of my internship. In the morning, I refined my interview questions and did a little brainstorming for CMU Welcomes You. I also worked on what little bit of the article I could, using information from a press release.

I also used Facebook to find people that are minoring in event management. Using the directory, I called one girl that sounded like a good interview prospect and left a message.

I interviewed Paul around 1 p.m. I had over 20 questions prepared, but afterwards I felt like I still didn’t have enough. But, I started typing my information and I had plenty! I worked on writing the article for quite awhile and then I spent a lot of time proofreading it. I proofread it over and over until I could read through it without wanting to change something.

Later in the day, I finally spoke with the girl I had chosen to interview about event management. I had chosen her because, one, her Facebook account looked decent (I was surprised at how many students had no privacy settings and had undesirable things shown), and two, she was in Mt. Pleasant still. I was hoping to find someone in Mt. Pleasant because then the photographer could get a few shots of her if we needed them. While talking to her on the phone, I found out that she had decided not to sign the minor so she could graduate earlier.

So back on Facebook I went, looking for another event management student. I sent several emails to some and called the ones that had phone numbers available.

Finally, I found one that looked perfect. She called me this morning and she is a signed minor. So now, all I have to do is put her information and comment in my article and I am finished with that feature.

The feature is due Thursday, 9 a.m., but it will be in before that. Dan also said that next week he will give me a short tutorial in Adobe InDesign so I can play with it when I have time. I have experience with other design programs, so once I learn the tools of this program I should be good to go!

Lesson of the Day: Have a back-up plan. I thought one girl was perfect for the interview, so I didn’t line up others until near the end off the day when I found out she wasn’t a signed minor.

Yesterday was my first day of my first internship. I am working for CMU Public Relations and Marketing as a publications intern.

The first thing I had to do was review the publications I would be working on and writing for. At 9 a.m., I sat in on a staff meeting. After the meeting, I returned to my desk and continued reviewing the publications I would be working on. My main project for the summer will be CMU Welcomes You, a publication sent to incoming students. There are also other publications that I may be writing for such as the Professional and Viewpoint.

My supervisor, Dan, asked me to write down five goals of what I wanted to get out of the internship. He then wrote five goals of what he wanted to help me get out of the internship. We switched papers and amazingly we had very similar goals.

After lunch, I received my first assignment, a feature story about Paul Pridgeon, next year’s SGA President. I cannot give much more information than that right now. Although I want to blog about my experiences as an intern, I need to be careful about how much information I release.

I prepared my interview questions and tracked down his phone number. I called and left a message on his phone and I emailed him.

I spent much of the day just becoming familiar with the publications and brainstorming ideas for CMU Welcomes You. I also started the feature story, using what information I already had from press releases.

Paul called me this morning and we sat up the interview for Thursday between noon and 1 p.m. It might cut into my lunch hour, but I was planning on taking a lunch with me anyway.

My plan for Thursday is to interview Paul and begin writing the article. It needs to be about 400 words and is due the next Thursday at 9 a.m.

In the morning, if I am not given any other assignments, I will need to track down another contact for the article. I had contacted a fellow PRSSA member, but she had dropped the minor I was writing about. I asked if she could suggest anyone else for the article, so hopefully she will have returned my email. My back-up plan is to use Facebook to find another student with that minor.

Lesson of the Day: Setting goals can help keep you on track, but knowing the goals of your supervisor will help you better understand what you should be doing and whether or not the internship will be compatible.