Scripps PRSSA was more than pleased to welcome Hayden Clark from Indianapolis Colts to speak to the Chapter.
Hayden is in his third season with the NFL and his second with the Indianapolis Colts. Prior to joining the Colts, he served as a public relations intern with the Washington Redskins in 2017. Hayden first entered the NFL as a football operations training camp intern with Indianapolis in 2015. He graduated cum laude from Ohio University with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication. While at OU, he was in PRSSA and helped with the Copperheads and GoBus accounts for ImPRessions, which is now 1804 Communications and is originally from Indianapolis. Follow Hayden on Twitter @haydenclark81!
Here are some key highlights:
- Football PR has a lot to do with working with and getting to know the players and coaches
- “Sports PR is very routine.”
- Task lists vary by day of the week
- Some duties include contacting the media, writing player bios and game summaries, handling broadcasts, and creating talking points for press conferences
- Recording and transcribing conference calls is an ongoing duty
- Sports PR pros get to do fun things like nominating players for “player of the week”
- Because NFL teams travel for away games, sports PR professionals have to travel quite a bit – fun!
- “If we win the game, it’s chaos and a lot more fun.”
- After a win, you monitor the media and make sure certain players have talking time with them
- Game day workers record, transcribe and proof post game notes
- Digital media is expanding! Branch out and get some of this experience.
- If you can fit it into your class schedule, try taking some analytics courses. This is a HUGE advantage in sports PR.
- Try to make your supervisor’s job easier! Go above and beyond.
Sydney Davis is a senior studying strategic communication and the current VP of Public Relations for Scripps PRSSA. Follow her on Twitter @_sydneyadavis.