Clue Into Your Craze

By Megan Grasty, General Manager

 
My passion for food, cooking, eating and baking has led me to discover a new version of cookbooks: blogs.

I’ve found that food blogs are an enhanced version of a cookbook; they have a never-ending index of recipes utilizing the most up-to-date trends in food.


New and interesting recipes aren’t the only things I look for when finding a new blog to follow, the wit of the writer is just as important to me.

My all-time favorite blog is Joy the Baker. She not only has delicious recipes, but she includes charm and humor into her edible storytelling.

 Some of my other favorites are: 

              

Reading these blogs might be my form of entertainment, but blogs should also be used as educational tools for industry trends.

As PR practitioners, it is imperative to stay up to date on the latest news and trends. Whether working in tech, lifestyle or entertainment, there are blogs to follow.

I used to think I wasn’t interested in the tech industry until I started following the blog Mashable through an app on my iPhone. Now I find myself curious about Google’s next move or explaining issues such as SOPA to my friends.

Some other useful tech blogs include

The lifestyle industry has always been an interest of mine as well, from food to travel to hospitality and more.

Some lifestyle blogs:

Basically blogs are a fast and fun way to keep informed, learn new facts and remain in touch with the latest craze.

Whether following your passion or following your industry, figure out what you love and immerse yourself in it.

It’s a Twin Thing

By Account Executive, Rebecca Edwards

No, I can’t read her mind.

No, I can’t finish her sentences.

No, I can’t tell you what she is doing at this very second.

But am I thankful for being a twin? Yes.

Asking good questions is important in life. In the public relations industry asking good questions to your client is the only way to fully understand their needs and wants. Questions are the key to communicating with anyone. If there is one thing I have learned from being a twin and a public relations major – always ask good questions!

Here are the top five most annoying questions to be asked when you are a twin:

1. Why can’t you be more like your twin?

Why would I want to be? I have had to compete my entire life with another person so obviously I want to stand out.

2. Which one is the evil twin?

You really think one would admit if they were the “evil” one? Evil is such a harsh word that is too broad to use here. Everyone has his or her rough patches in life, being difficult growing up doesn’t make you the “evil” one.

3. What’s it like to be a twin?

What’s it like being related to your best friend? Growing up under the same rooftop, talking everyday, that’s what it’s like. When people ask me this question I either say, “It’s cool” or “Do you have 4 hours to really hear what its like?” I think people expect to hear a few sentences describing everything, but that is not the case. Being a twin is something only twins understand. Jealous?

4. What is your twin thinking?

Can you tell me what I am thinking? Nope, didn’t think so. Just because we share the same birthday and happen to have similarities doesn’t mean we share a brain. It would be remarkable if I knew what she was thinking all the time, but it doesn’t work like that.

5. When is your sister’s birthday?

You’d be surprised; this question comes from people who know I only have one sister, my twin. When people ask me this question I look into their eyes and wait for them to figure it out.

There is more to being a twin than answering annoying questions. It has taught me the importance of asking intelligent questions in the public relations industry.

Twin sisters, Allie and Becky Edwards

How to Be a Crafty Claus

By Ashley Ricci Shaffer, Social Media Director

In light of the holiday season, many of us are frantically searching for the best deals for gifts. However, sometimes the best deals might not be the ones you find during sales in-store or online. Sometimes, the best deals and gifts come from thrift stores, eBay or even are homemade. According to the American Research Group, Inc., shoppers across the U.S. plan to spend 2 percent less this holiday season than they did last year, 37 percent of which will be purchased online. Interested in how holiday spending is broken down? Check out this infograph.

With the the rising popularity of Cyber Monday, as well as the array of websites you can buy gifts from, the possibilities for holiday shopping seem endless. But where does one begin with so many options?

I have adopted the following strategies for finding original gifts for my loved ones, all of which I recommend as you brave this holiday season.

Do Your Homework!


Sometimes gifts aren’t always things that can be used or worn on a regular basis. Sometimes the right gift is about nostalgia, finding that special something that no one else could think of.

Last year for Christmas I decided to get my dad something different. I remembered he read Batman comics as a kid, so I went down to the local comic book store and found two Batman comics from the year he was born and framed them. He was so excited to see something from his childhood he hung them up in his office.

Be Crafty and Creative

On a tight budget? You can still spread holiday cheer by making a gift.

For example, maybe you have a mirror with paint chipping on the frame. To spruce up the mirror and turn it into a gift for say, your grandparents, find photos of you and your siblings and cousins (all the grand kids) and shrink them down then super glue them to the frame of the mirror. If you don’t have a photo printer, Walgreens is a great resource and does reasonably cheap photo prints.

If you don’t think you’re crafty enough, even the simple act of baking and decorating cookies can brighten the receiver’s day, and, of course, fill their tummy with joy.

For more homemade gift ideas, check out these websites:

HTML (Hardest Times of My Life)

By Jennifer Schaupp, Art Director

I’m Jen, designer of the 2011 Chico State Department of Journalism and Public Relations annual newsletter – Journalism Times.

I have been designing websites for over a year, having taken both web design courses in the Communication Design Department at Chico State. After taking these courses, I thought I had a pretty strong grasp on the overall structure of a website. However I never would have guessed I had enough practice to build a 14-page website in only two months.

Tasked with creating Journalism Times by the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, our team needed to write, design, and publish the entire site before Thanksgiving.

The first step of the process was creating a basic structure for the site, which included:

  • header
  • container
  • navigation bar
  • the new logo I designed
  • any other requests from the client.

To speed the process, the structure was originally designed and laid out in Adobe InDesign.


After making changes based on our client’s feedback, we began to develop the layout for the rest of the pages.

The week after the majority of our structure changes, I spent around 25 hours HTML coding the five pages that had completed content.

The week following, more changes. Not easy changes either, the way people make them seem when they are making suggestions. “Just make three columns instead of two,” someone suggested at a weekly meeting. “Also, can we just have these just a little bigger.” Changes aren’t a bad thing, but when coding, changes that seem small can create a chain of new adjustments. Changing the size of one index can mean changing the size of images, which means adjusting headings, bylines, captions, story placement and more.

After coding everything and thinking I could see the finish line, other issues kept popping up such as missing captions/credits for images, link and page consistency, useless dead links and more. The list was too long for being so close to deadline. There were over 30 images on the site and at least twice as many links to be manually checked one by one to make sure they were working properly.

Enter the help of my awesome team. Without their help the site review would have never gotten done. Dividing up the pages, we each checked the site for missing links, leftover shortcuts and any other errors. They were amazing!

I feel that this project threw me into one of the most stressful and difficult design pieces I’ve ever been a part of. If I build another site in the future, I will remember that building a stronger layout from the start, taking more time as a team to decide the way things should be navigated and trusting people who aren’t designers, not because they can help me code, but because they are the audience will all benefit me in the end.

I was new at coding when I started this project. I had all the pieces I needed to make this website successful and beautiful, I just had to be pushed to get it done. I feel so accomplished — I actually did it!

Check out the fall 2011 issue of Journalism Times.

What is Public Relations?

Account Executive Paul Wilkie provides a glimpse of what students at Chico State believe Public Relations really is. An interesting arrangement of responses seems to lead to one cohesive definition.

Sustain Yourself: Go Green, Save Green

By Sarah Alvarez, Account Executive


I’ve been living a double life for the past two years.
 
In the classroom I have been taught to keep my scope vast. It is not enough to be looking at the public relations industry in one area, you have to be thinking on a national level. No matter how much extra time I have in my day, I never feel like I have read enough.

On the other hand, I have held various positions in AS Sustainability for the past two years. These positions have taught me to minimize consumption, think on a local level and that small change can create large-scale movements.  

Trying to live by these rules has created some conflict in my life, but I’ve found that keeping sustainability in mind can create a balance that can make life a little easier.

1.  Lose the junk. PR is not a nine to five job, you’re often working much longer hours, and it can be hard to find time to take a break for food. If you ditch the fast food for fresh, local fare you’re consuming fewer preservatives and will have more energy to get through your day and you’re also helping boost your local economy.  

2.  Power Down. When you’re constantly checking Facebook, Twitter and your blog for work, it is easy to get overwhelmed by your digital devices.  By unplugging your cell phone and laptop you’re giving yourself a much needed break and you could be saving money too.

3.  Trash can be treasure.  With technology being such a large portion of our lives, there is often tech trash in our homes and offices.  But think before you toss your CD collection or burned out lightbulbs.  Give your mind a break and get creative!

There is more to sustainability than just recycling and defending mother nature.  Often times, the sustainable choice can benefit you just as much as it benefits the planet.

San Francisco Site Visit

Senior Account Executive, Naubil Oropeza films students from the Department of Journalism and Public Relations on a visit with alumni at their workplace where they learned about the industry and gained insight on how to land a job after graduation.

Ditch your Emotional Briefcase

By Lillian Gray, Account Executive, Photographer

IQ Vs. EQ

Bill Gates has an IQ of 160. Hillary Clinton’s IQ is 140. Bill Clinton’s is 137. Based on the Intelligence Quotient, we believe that Gates is smarter than both of the Clintons individually. I’m not here to argue the validity of that statement, but IQ may not be the correct way to quantify intelligence.

The feeling of emotions is immeasurable. Without any way to quantify emotional depth, some consider this irrelevant when calculating intelligence.

During the ‘90s, Bill Clinton’s “shortcomings” in IQ were explained by his EQ (Emotional Quotient). Emotional intelligence, which is defined as the ability to identify, assess and control one’s own emotions, as well as others and groups, was deemed a quality worth possessing in a leadership role.



Emotional intelligence in the workplace

Being fascinated by the study of emotions has made me equally fascinated by people’s need to express their emotion publicly in the workplace.

What happens when you let your emotions take a toll on your working relationships or even your job? Have you ever considered your work environment to be hostile, perhaps toxic at times?

Your behavior in the office is important to your employers and coworkers. It affects your relationships and your ability to be effective. Our emotions have a huge role in our performance. Remember that you control your actions and reactions to situations you enter.



Abstaining from emotional outbursts

Showing emotion through body language or facial expressions is a natural way we express how we feel. And although our feelings need to be expressed, it may not be appropriate to show extreme emotion in certain work situations.

The following tips from “How to Gain Control of Your Emotions,” an article on www.wikihow.com, can increase your emotional intelligence and, in turn, may create a better working environment for all.

How to gain control of your emotions

1. Know your emotions.

2. Recognize that emotions don’t just appear mysteriously out of nowhere.
3. Notice what was going through your mind when the emotion appeared.
4. Write down the evidence which supports the thought that produced the emotion or against that thought.
5. Ask yourself, “What is another way to look at the situation that is more rational and more balanced than the way I was looking at it before?”

6. Consider your options. No matter what the emotion, there are always at least two alternatives, and you can probably think of more:
          Don’t react. Do nothing.
          Do the opposite of what you would normally do.
7. Make a choice. Here are some good reasons to act upon:
  • Principles
  • Logic

Inspiration Kick-starters



By Jennifer Hoffman, Editorial Assistant

I have always been a daydreamer, a lover of the imagination.
As a little kid, I would write funny stories starring my best friends or invent new board games. Sometimes I’d spend the afternoon designing my dream home – complete with indoor swimming pools and secret passageways, of course.

When it came time to pick my future career path, the possibilities for creative thinking are what attracted me to public relations:

  • Problem-solving and strategizing to produce results that leave a client grinning 
  • Considering new outlooks and angles to help me better see the world’s endlessly entertaining points of view 
  • Exploring new methods and techniques to keep ideas fresh and the mind nimble

Recently, in my Internet escapades, I’ve come across a few new websites that instantly inspired me. They sent me either clamoring for my box of craft supplies or running to my notebook, eager for the sweet indulgence of a fine-tipped pen and a fresh page of paper.

Deviant Art is a social-networking community for creative types of every kind with galleries galore. Amazing art, photos, prose and crafts abound, enough to make you awe-inspired and ill with envy, all at the same time. Fancy a vampire killing kit? They have that. How about an animation about animation? Well they have that, too.

Offbeat Home is a place for those of us who like taking a walk on the unordinary side to trigger alternative modes of thinking. All sorts of glee-inducing inspiration can be found. If you want to learn more about “governmentsponsored zombie preparedness literature,”or how to make “unbedside tables for book storage,” you will be pleasantly rewarded.

So often I’ve found that inspiration is contagious. The next time you feel a creativity block, take a moment to stop and smell the painted roses.