Category Archives: Networking

4 Tips for Planning Your Next Networking Happy Hour

By Allie Erenbaum, Board Member and Co-chair of the University Relations Committee for PRSA-NCC

Who do I talk to first? What questions should I ask? How can I hold a drink and a plate of food, and successfully shake someone’s hand?

If you’ve ever asked yourself one of the above questions, you are not alone. Although networking happy hours can be intimidating, they also present informal ways to grow your professional network. From learning about new areas of your profession to practicing your elevator pitch, attending a networking happy hour offers several benefits.

On August 14, PRSA-NCC hosted an August Summer Happy Hour. In addition to bringing together current chapter members, the event attracted recent graduates, young professionals, new members, and new arrivals to the Washington, D.C. area. The event ended up being one of the most successful networking happy hours in PRSA-NCC’s recent history, with 83 people attending.

Consider these tips when planning your organization’s next networking happy hour:

  • Bring stakeholders together early. For the August Summer Happy Hour, PRSA-NCC collaborated across committees (e.g., Membership, Marketing and Communications, University Relations, and New Professionals) to ensure far-reaching attendance. Each committee helped facilitate individual outreach to people in their network, which resulted in close to 100 registrations. Getting leadership buy-in and amplification of your networking happy hour will also help generate interest.
  • Consider the event’s timing. If one of your organization’s competitors or stakeholders is willing to share their events calendar, it may be useful to sync on efforts to ensure you can attract the widest group of people. If your organization produces events on a regular basis, make sure you are not competing with other initiatives on your own calendar.
  • Pricing and location can make or break interest. Professionals already go to several happy hours on their own time with their colleagues or clients. To make your organization’s networking happy hour accessible, keep your price point low and consider engaging, centrally-located venues in your area.
  • Remember your audience. Since the August Summer Happy Hour wanted to encourage individuals that may not be familiar with PRSA-NCC’s structure, PRSA-NCC made sure brochures and fact sheets were available for attendees. PRSA-NCC also encouraged chapter leadership and committee co-chairs to attend, ensuring that questions could be answered in real-time.

 About the Author

Allie Erenbaum is a one-year Board of Director and Co-chair of the University Relations Committee for PRSA-NCC. Through the University Relations Committee, Allie collaborates with leaders from universities across the Washington, D.C. area to connect students with industry professionals to create job, internship, mentoring, and networking opportunities. She is currently a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton specializing in strategic communications and public affairs. While working towards her degree in Public Relations and Strategic Communication at American University, Allie completed internships at Porter Novelli, APCO Worldwide, and Participant Media.

Learn, Grow and Connect with PRSA-NCC: 3 Reasons Joining Your Local Chapter Matters

By: Josh Gordon, PRSA-NCC’s Membership Co-Chair

Joining your local chapter, not just the national one, will help you maximize your PRSA membership for these three reasons.

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Five Reasons Why You Should Join a PRSA Committee

By Patty Nicastri, Co-chair of PRSA-NCC’s Professional Development Committee

I joined PRSA-NCC around five years ago. For my first two years, I was a very passive member. I would occasionally attend events and keep “PRSA member” as a phrase on my resume, but I found myself wanting more—to be more involved, to get more out of my membership, to learn more about the ever-changing field of PR. I decided the best way to do this was to join the professional development committee. It has significantly helped me with my professional development journey. As a committee co-chair, I want to share with you five reasons why you should join a committee and take your career to the next level.

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How the Tables Have Turned: Mentorship through PRSA-NCC

By Allie Erenbaum, Co-chair of PRSA-NCC’s University Relations Committee

Every young professional knows the value of strong and compassionate mentorship. When I was studying PR and marketing at American University, I made an effort to actively facilitate conversations with my peers, professors, and internship supervisors. From making decisions about what classes to register for to deciding what job applications to pursue, I appreciated being able to gain a wide variety of perspectives to make informed decisions about my career. I knew I didn’t want to lose momentum with building connections after graduation – that’s where PRSA-NCC came in.

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Welcome to Washington, What Do You Do?

How to Get the Most out of Informational Interviews

By Laura Gross, Principal and Founder of Scott Circle Communications

“What do you do?” From networking events to first dates, that is perhaps the question that begins many conversations here in Washington, D.C. More often than not the underlying question is actually “who do you know?” or “how can you help me?” Unfortunately, people seem to be more interested in leveraging themselves than establishing an authentic human connection. I have seen this over and over again in the infamous informational interview.

With an established career in PR in the same city for over two decades, I have plenty of experience to share which is why I suppose I’ve been frequently called to give advice. I’ve received requests from all sorts of people: recent grads who just moved to D.C. looking for a job, college students debating a career in PR, senior professionals deciding whether to go out on their own as a consultant and job seekers too – especially job seekers.

I know why people contact me and I genuinely want to be helpful (in fact I average one informational meeting each week). So, in the spirit of being helpful, here are some suggestions on how to truly get the most out of an informational interview and make the most of someone’s time.

What’s Your Goal?

The first question I always ask is: What can I help you with? If you asked for the meeting, you should have a good substantive answer. Do you want to learn about my career path? Do you want to know more about how to do PR in DC? Do you want feedback on your resume? Use this informational interview to do exactly that: interview me to gather information.

Be Presentable

If you are looking for career advice or networking for a job, prove that you belong in the workforce. It seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how often people come dressed casually and not prepared. You should arrive on time, if not a few minutes early. And dress professionally too – you don’t know what type of office you are showing up to. The more you can show that you have made an effort to present your best self, the more likely you are to leave the interview having left a good first impression.

Bring a Resume

Yes, you might have sent me an email with your resume when you requested a meeting, but I get hundreds of emails every day. Always bring a copy of your typo-free resume with you to show you are one step ahead. I often take notes on the resume, which then sits on my desk for a while. You will be top of mind if I see a relevant job posting that might come my way.

Come Prepared

With one Google search, you can find out almost anything about anyone. What is my firm all about? What is my background? You already know these answers, so how can I actually be helpful? A better question to ask me is what do I look for in a candidate? What is the interview process like at your firm? Do you mind looking at my resume and giving me feedback?

Write a Thank You Note or Email

I’m not looking for the next best seller – I just want a simple thank you email or handwritten note (bonus points for handwritten!).

Follow-up

Let me know what happened to you. Did you get a job? An internship? Decide not to pursue PR after all? Finding success in Washington and other cities often revolves around who you know. Future jobs and opportunities are all about connections, so it will only benefit you in the long run to keep in touch with someone you met. And maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll be the one paying it forward and I’ll be the one requesting an informational interview with you.

About the Author: Laura Gross (@lgross) is Principal and Founder of Scott Circle Communications (@scottcircle), a full service public relations firm based in Washington, D.C. with a mission to make the world a better place.

Celebration, Recognition…and a Little Dancing – PRSA-NCC’s Thoth Awards

By: Kelsey O’Planick, News Generation

The 49th Annual Thoth Awards Gala, PRSA-NCC’s premiere annual event, was a wonderful evening of networking, recognizing the strongest PR campaigns, and celebrating the Egyptian culture.

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The News Generation and American Psychological Association teams winning the Thoth Award in the Media Relations: Radio Campaign category.

Thoth, which is pronounced “tot,” is the ancient Egyptian god of communication. The Gala was held on Thursday, October 12, at the National Press Club. Some of the big winners include Hager Sharp, which won Best of Show, as well as Padilla, Coster Communications, Environics Communications, McCabe Message Partners, The Reis Group and Crosby Marketing Communications, just to name a few. A list of all of the winning entries can be found here.

The Gala kicked off with a traditional Egyptian dance from Mr. Mohamed Ali from Seven Egyptian Dance Troupe, included multiple videos of King Thoth (aka Danny Selnick) learning about PR in D.C., honored impressive campaigns, provided a wonderful meal, and inducted two Hall of Fame inductees, Carman Marsans and John Seng.

Guests also enjoyed a raffle, where they could enter to win items such as Apple Watches, Washington Redskins tickets, and an overnight stay in Alexandria, VA. Proceeds from the raffle benefitted the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, PRSA-NCC’s pro bono client.

Do you still have photos or stories to share about your experience at the Gala? Use the hashtag #Thoth2017.

Seven Ways to Form Meaningful Business Relationships

By Susan Matthews Apgood, News Generation

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Susan Apgood (middle) at the 2015 Thoth Awards

No matter your industry, the benefits of knowing how to form meaningful relationships with other professionals are exponential. And while maintaining relationships may be as simple as sending an email once in a while, forming those relationships is a whole other story. All meaningful business relationships have one key factor in common: mutual benefits. Being able to give is just as important as getting, and one cannot happen without the other. Each of these seven ways to form relationships rely heavily on mutual assistance:

 

  1. Find a Mentor and/or Mentee: Early in my career, I viewed asking for help as a sign of weakness. As a young business owner, I feared that not knowing how to do something would turn away potential clients and make employees nervous. It wasn’t until I found myself in a position where people came to me for assistance that I realized the true benefits of asking for help. The mentor-mentee relationship is a great way to build a strong business relationship early in your career, and even decades in. But the most important factor of a meaningful mentor-mentee relationship is mutual benefit. The relationship must go two ways. Don’t overlook how much your mentee can teach you, and don’t ask too much of your mentor. If the relationship becomes too much of a “take” on one side, it will not last.
  2. Consider Joining a Peer Group: Peer groups are an easy way to meet other professionals in different industries, that are in the same position as you, and faced with the same challenges. As a member of Vistage for seven years, I came to realize how much others can help you, and how much you can help them in return. Not only have I gained insightful advice from my peers, I’ve also seen first-hand how giving, but not getting in return, can limit business relationships. Like all networking groups, you get back what you give out. And don’t overlook the benefits of joining industry-specific groups, like PRSA. Getting to know peers within your industry in your community is invaluable. My experience with PRSA-NCC here in the D.C. area has allowed me to build some of the best personal and professional relationships I have.
  3. Understand Who You’re Working With: Everyone differs in how they like to be communicated with, and nothing is more beneficial than understanding what type of person you’re trying to form a relationship with. A simple way to read people is by evaluating their personality based on tests. Some people like quick and to–the-point communication, while others prefer more personal sentiments like starting an email with “Hope you had a nice weekend.” Knowing how people want to be communicated with, and showing them how you want to be communicated with in return makes a balanced, meaningful business relationship. For example, if the person I am working with is a “red,” I don’t have to go through the formalities when asking a question of them, but if they are a “green,” I definitely do.
  4. Help Others Get Valuable Experiences: In the business world, few things are more meaningful than helping others get valuable experiences. Connecting one meaningful business relationship with another that will provide mutual benefits for both will not only help out a peer, it will strengthen your relationships with both parties. Similarly, don’t be afraid to ask someone you know professionally to introduce you to other people. If you think a connection would be great to speak on a panel or serve on a board, speak up and ask them if they would like you to nominate them. Many people are too shy to nominate themselves, and if you do, they will not only be grateful to you, but so will the beneficiaries of their talents at the conference or on the board.
  5. Work with Clients with Similar Office Cultures and Thoughts: As a business owner for 20 years now, I’ve learned how I want to represent myself and my business, and how I don’t. Staying true to your office culture by working with clients that hold those same values is a great way to form relationships with both individuals and companies. Working with and trying to form relationships with those who have very different ways of conducting business may make it difficult to form meaningful relationships. It is important to know when a culture is not a fit, and potentially walking away from a client that is not a good match for you and your time.
  6. Be Persistent: Being persistent is important, but there is a huge caveat. Be persistent, but always have a reason. Emailing prospective clients to just ask for work can quickly read as too sales-y. But, when you have a reason such as “I was recently reading about your work” or “I loved your post on LinkedIn,” can make the difference between a read and unread email. One easy “reason” to connect clients is by sending out a newsletter, which involves minimal work on the receiver’s end, but can keep your business in the back of their mind. My goal is never to convince clients and potential clients to use broadcast services in general, because they can come to that conclusion on their own. But, if a client is in the market to buy products that we offer, we want them to choose us over a competitor. Building and maintaining a strong relationship before it comes to decision time is one way to do that.
  7. Know Your Industry: Being a master of your industry will allow you to fully understand how to give and receive in your business relationships, especially when they are with professionals outside of your industry. Even if that means working with competitors, being able to recognize a mutually beneficial opportunity comes from a deep understanding of your industry. This understanding will also help you identify ways that you can give in a professional relationship, thus making the relationship stronger. Let your hard work speak for itself.

The key to making it in the business world is to know how to interact with other professionals, and form mutually beneficial relationships with them. Having these meaningful professional relationships will allow you to advance your careers and find opportunities that may not have been presented to you otherwise. But always keep in mind, you will only get out of your relationships what you put in.

Stay tuned…