The Charm of Public Relations

It was a fantastic week since the weather turned mild after the giant snow storm. I was focusing on the campaign for Syracuse student veteran organization to increase awareness and improve relationship between student veterans and non-veteran students. It is originally for Bateman competition and my PR class, but I realize I have learned a lot from the process. At the beginning, it is important to research carefully and get to know about the client, listen to their voices and examine attitudes and perceptions among the public. We finished the preparation last semester. This semester, we need to launch a milestone and come up with some influential events related to student veterans on Campus. Since I am in charge with media relations and social media, I need to build and manage relationships with clients and bravely talk to people and pitch my ideas. I am not confident of this task because I do not know how to pitch my ideas without making others feel uncomfortable. However, I believe if I make friends with my target audience from the bottom of my heart, they will be moved and also willing to listen to me. ​Moreover, I am not a talkative person in front of strangers, but I want to challenge myself for further internships or jobs. The first step was to get contact information from student veterans who were willing to share their veteran experiences in a video we planned to film. Last Wednesday, I walked in the building where the career fair was hold for student veterans and tried to ask several people if they could show up in the video. I was embarrassed at first because all the people were talking with each other. I told myself that once I start talking, I would not find it difficult. Also, I should not be afraid of rejections because there was nothing embarrassing if someone did not want to be in the video. I should not worry about failure before the start. At last, I received contact information from three helpful and kind student veterans. All of them were patient to listen to me and would like to help me make the video. When I stepped out of the building, I was proud of myself and have a feeling of personal accomplishment. I expected more practice in the future. Also, after I talking with student veterans, I tended to be eager to help them involve into the campus lives from the perspective of their friends. I think this is charm of public relations.