By Jess Carnprobst
Monday’s Scripps PRSSA meeting marked the beginning of week 9! It’s hard to believe the semester’s more than halfway done, although the approaching warm weather is a plus. As per usual, we started the meeting with announcements:
- Scripps PRSSA received the Pacesetter Chapter Recognition Award for the month of February! We are one outstanding Chapter, and every member should be proud of this accomplishment.
- Don’t forget to register for the Regional Conference on April 12th at Ohio State University!
Elections are next week! All dues-paying members will want to be at this meeting, as they all get to vote for the future of PRSSA. In addition to the current nine executive board positions, there will now be a VP of Visual Communication. Anyone interested in this position should send a resume, cover letter and three-piece design portfolio by March 17..- The Charlotte networking trip is right around the corner! 18 people have registered, so there is still room for anyone interested in attending. The cost will be approximately $95-115 and will take place from March 28 to the 29. Members are welcome to stay for the rest of the weekend if they would like to tour the city.
- All seniors interested in attending the New Pros Day at The Pub at Polaris on March 27 should be sure sign up! The cost is $10. Contact Theresa Ianni at ti132409@ohio.edu if you have any further questions.
- Let’s all cheer on Cidnye Weimer as she heads to Charlotte, NC for the PRSSA National Assembly! We know she will represent our Chapter well.
- A big congrats to this week’s member spotlight – Giovanna Delgarbino. Everyone should be sure to congratulate her at @GiovannaLee, as this was a well-earned spotlight.
For our speaker, we welcomed Tony Telloni, the Managing Director at GolinHarris. Tony went to Ohio University and was very happy to be back with fellow Bobcats! After his undergraduate degree, he received a graduate degree at Emerson College in Boston. When it came time to find a job in New York City, the search turned out to be more difficult than he thought. He was turned down from positions he felt he was well qualified for and declined many positions that he thought were below him. He suspended his search and decided to have fun while working as a bartender. Eventually, he entered back into the public relations world and started working with technology PR at a small agency.
However, this bored him after a year, so he moved to Edelman for four years. Soon enough, he made the transition to Burson-Marsteller. At Burson-Marsteller he learned that although PR can teach a lot of things, it can’t teach how to manage people. This is a skill that needs to be learned in business school or by practiced execution.
With that advice, Tony Telloni made the transition to GolinHarris, the moment we were all waiting for! He enjoys working at GolinHarris and takes pride in the agency, which he sees as an agency for the future. The leaders of the agency decided that they didn’t want to keep the traditional agency hierarchy in place because they believed there was not enough fluidity, so they decided to take a unique approach in their G4 model, which structures their company into 4 communities: strategists, creatives, connectors and catalysts. Their office is now organized into these four communities, instead of organizing themselves by account. Since GolinHarris launched this new model, they have continuously been featured in the news and have numerous agencies modeling themselves after GolinHarris
GolinHarris also likes to think that they were some of the first to use real time marketing with their system, The Bridge. This is a 24-hour news-cycle with about eight television screens and eight to 12 computer screens. They are always watching for the “next big thing” that will give their client a campaign to be proud of.
Tony Telloni closed the meeting with questions and valuable advice. He believes that students need to focus on their writing skills, because if you’re a good writer, you’ll be able to get a job anywhere. Telloni then joked that all writing is not done in 140 characters. Writing takes thought and creativity. In addition, students should always be asking “why?” and prepare themselves to work more than just a typical 9-5 job.
Be sure to attend next week’s meeting, so you can vote for your 2014-2015 PRSSA executive board!