Day 17: Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Park

The weather was beautiful for a trip around Edinburgh Castle today.

We had about a half hour guide with a pretty entertaining guide.


We went through the historical leadup to seeing the Scottish jewels and it was a cool explanation with lots of paintings and displays.





After leaving the castle and eating at the fancy Witchery restaurant, we walked down the Royal Mile.



Instead of heading back to the apartment for an afternoon nap, Stephen and I went down by the royal palace and then into the Holyrood Park.



We discovered a pond filled with swans, alongside seagulls and pigeons, down a small hill from a ruined chapel.



Slightly scared of giant birds,
The Purple Writer

Day 14: Food and Packing

Today was my last day in Berlin.

We didn't have any class activities today, so I was able to sleep in and relax all morning.

I eventually got up around 12 and a few of us went to the closest Burgermeister to enjoy delicious (and messy) burgers.

Back in the states, I rarely have to worry about having enough cash on me, so it's a little strange to find that several restaurants in Berlin don't accept credit cards, but I happened to scrap together exactly enough coins out of my purse to pay for a burger (excepting a euro debt I collected from my friend).

We walked by the East Side Gallery again today, and it seems like each time we walk by, something different seems to pop out of the murals and the various sections of the wall that are painted.

The afternoon was filled with laundry and packing. I have souvenirs tucked between my sweater and flannel shirt that I never needed to wear here, as well as the dress pants and shoes that I won't need on the next leg of my trip.

Dinner was sweet potato fries and a pitcher of beer in an interesting restaurant called "White Trash Fast Food." Their nachos sounded like the best option but the other members of our group who had been there earlier said they really weren't as good as expected. 

Ready to head to Scotland tomorrow,

The Purple Writer

Day 13: Federal Press Office and Farewell Dinner

Today started with a visit to the Bundesregierung.

Also known as the Federal Press and Information Office in English.

We learned about what this office is involved with, like media monitoring, content production, and the government spokesperson.

It was interesting to hear about how the office interacts with the government, parties, media and public.

For example, the German press corps forms a "bundespressekonferenz" organization, which invites the German press office and spokesperson to come share information with them.

A chairman who is part of the press is in charge of when the government spokesperson can choose to be done with a topic or not, so the government can't stonewall the press or decide when to stop sharing information.

We also learned a bit about how information is processed and important pieces are texted to the chancellor and other key people at all hours.

We had a two hour break before our next meeting, so two of us went to the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom).

The cathedral was impressive and large and very shiny. 

There were several small staircases to climb to get to the top of the dome, but the view was totally worth it.

I got some cool pictures of Berlin and the statues on top of the Berliner Dom. 

We then met with a member of Germany's Renewable Energies Agency.

We talked about what this agency does, including the creation of infographics, pamphlets, tour books, etc. to help educate people about renewable energy and dispell myths that may surround that topic. 

The agency recently moved to its current building, where they can walk down a hall to talk to lobbyists and groups who they collaborate with on a fairly consistent basis in their work. 

Today was wrapped up with a fancy, farewell dinner that marked the end of our official, study abroad events. 

Excited to be able to sleep in tomorrow,

The Purple Writer

Day 12: The Reichstag

Today, I bought expensive sandals, saw where the German Parliament meets, and went by an Islamic protest rally. 

It seems Birckenstocks are a big thing. I never really noticed or had any desire to wear them before, but multiple people in our group kept talking about how comfortable and long lasting they are.

So, I went with a friend by a Birckenstock store in Berlin and tried out some shoes.

I ended up buying a nice pair with a back strap that wraps around my ankle. They were a bit expensive, but much cheaper than they would be in the U.S., and seem to be pretty great quality.

After buying sandals, we went to the Mall of Berlin in Potsdamer Platz, which was pretty impressive. 

There are several very nice floors  with almost the entirety of the third floor being filled with food courts.

After exploring German stores, our study abroad group headed to the Reichstag.

This is a very cool building, although one of the coolest parts (the glass dome) was closed to the public because of a political dinner event.



The Reichstag was built in 1894 for the German government (the Imperial Diet), has been damaged, fought over, repaired, and more over a century.

The building topped with an iconic glass dome now houses the German Bundestag (national Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany).

After touring the Reichstag, we passed by an impressively large protest rally.

The area was filled with the atmosphere of a festival, with a stage, group singing and enthusiastic waving of flags.

It was interesting to see a protest happen in real life, instead of only hearing about or seeing photos from protests on social media. (Granted, I'm sure the majority of protests are different, depending on their location, consitutents, goals, etc.)


Going to sleep much later than planned,
The Purple Writer

Day 11: Freie Universität and Edelman PR

My study abroad group went to class today.

More specifically, we went to interact with the organizational communications department at the Freie University of Berlin. 

It was pretty cool to learn about the higher education system in Germany.

We also talked with a class of German PR students, what their experiences have been, what their goals are, etc.

After leaving the Freie University, we grabbed lunch and headed back to the Edelman - Ergo office.


We met with Thomas Fiege from the digital unit of this office and he talked about what he does and some of the cases he's been a part of.


I'm all about social media marketing, so it was interesting to hear from a professional, especially one who works in a country where social media is not as widespread and influential as it is in the United States.

Today concludes the rest of our trip's meetings with PR firms, although we still do have some pretty great visits coming up that I'm looking forward to.


Eating sushi in Berlin,
The Purple Writer

Day 10: Adlershof and Edelman PR

We went by the Silicone Valley of Germany today: Adlershof, City of Science, Technology and Media.

This "City of Science"  has a pretty cool history.

It began in 1912 as the German Experimental Institute for Aviation and did a lot of working on making planes better and faster for the first World War.

After the wall went up, it became the East German Academy of Science. Adlershof was then officially founded as the Adlershof Development Society in 1991 by the State of Berlin, which morphed into WISTA-Management GMBH in 1994.

Long story short, Adlershof is now a place for entrepreneurs and innovators to to settle in and focus on their research and development.

There's hundreds of companies and research institutes, alongside energy-conscious residential areas and 6 science institutes of the Humboldt-University of Berlin. 

It was a pretty cool place to check out. There's a lot of researcch and cool things happening, and while we couldn't actually see that happening, we could see the specialized buildings with energy-effecient architecture.

After our tour of Adlershof, we visited EdelmanErgo.

They talked to us a bit about Edelman, the merger with Ergo Kommunikation and a couple of their cases and the tactics they use when dealing with politics and publics.

Then two of our groups presented their research on wind energy.

It was pretty great that my group presented last Monday; we had less time to work on our situation analysis and powerpoint but the time crunch resulted in us actually being more prepared in the long run.

Listening to a German thunderstorm,

The Purple Writer

Day 9: Flea Markets

I explored several of Berlin's Sunday flea markets today. 

My professor can rock the flea market style

It seems that Berlin's flea market game is pretty strong.

I went to the neighborhood flea market at Boxhagener Platz and the traditional flea market on Strasse des 17. Juni. 

Both flea markets had a wide variety of items, from souvenir trinkets to furniture.

There was a surprising amount of china and silverware piled up alongside cameras and mounds of jewelry.

It was a pretty cool experience to look through all these items from another country, comparing them to flea markets in the U.S. and interacting with the sellers from various backgrounds and differing levels of English comprehension.

I didn't take my camera, so I would have more space in my bag for my souvenirs, so I don't have many pictures to share.

I would take pictures of my flea market finds but there may or may not be items intended as gifts for people who might read this blog, so pictures would be spoilers. 

One of the coolest metal signs I found

A couple of us wanted to check out the booths set out in the Alexanderplatz square, as it looked like a mix of a fair and a flea market. 

It ended up being a children's festival, with lots of kid-oriented booths and activities, alongside lots of food booths and a very entertaining child's performer dressed in a pirate's outfit.

Excited about today's purchases,

The Purple Writer

Day 7: Potsdam

Four of us traveled out to Potsdam today. 

Potsdam is the capital (and largest city) in the Brandenburg state. It was about a 45 minute train ride from the S bahn station by our hotel.

With several impressive parks and palaces holding UNESCO World Heritage status, I was looking forward to seeing some beautiful areas.

I was not disappointed.

Our first stop was Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church), which has been rebuilt several times through three centuries. 

It's impressive, copper dome is 77 meters  (which Google tells me is about 252 feet).

We also went by the Old Town Hall and walked by the Film Museum, which had impressive horse sculptures above its entrances.

We wanted to head to the Sounssuci Gardens, and ended up taking a very scenic, very long walk which didn't get us any close to the gardens but ended up giving us a great view of the city across water.

We eventually made it to the Sounssuci Gardens and Sanssuci Palace, which were both very impressive and reminded me of the extravagance of Versailles. 

We walked through a couple sections of the garden, including Neptune's Garden and the Great Fountain.

We went up to the Sanssuci Palace and were excited to see what the inside looked like, only to be informed that they were sold of out tickets for the day, so we had to content ourselves with examining the outside architecture. 

We walked by a windmill and another palace before deciding that we had walked enough for the day, so we headed back to Berlin, where we ended up going to a beer garden and a craft beer pub later that evening. 

(I ended up walking 9.69 miles yesterday, which is the new record for this trip so far).

I was surprised at some of the differences between Berlin and Potsdam. They're very close to each other and I heard they're considered a metropolitan area like Dallas and Fort Worth are back in Texas. 

Potsdam seemed much more laid back, though, and was filled with much more colorful buildings.

It was interesting that while essentially everyone in Berlin can speak some English, our lunch waiter in Potsdam didn't know any English. There were plenty of tour busses and guides, but even so, Potsdam must see a much smaller amount of Americans come through.


Heading off to tag photos on Facebook,
The Purple Writer

Day 6: Pergamon Museum

Today started off pretty well.

I woke up before my alarm, got ready for the day, wrote my blog post, ate breakfast, read yesterday's issue of The Skimm, and discovered that Twitter will now allow usernames to be included in tweets without taking up characters.

This may seem trivial and not particularly noteworthy to you, but I was pretty excited!

It can be very challenging to write a solid tweet when needing to include usernames that take up the space of multiple words/ideas, but I won't have to worry about that anymore when I return to my social media internship in July.

After finishing my cup of coffee, I headed off to the Pergamon museum with a group of professors and students.

 

The "Museum Island" area of Berlin is filled with beautiful buildings and statues. 

I've been pretty burned out on museums throughout my life, having spent way more time than desired in exhibits around the states and Europe. 

However, I was pretty optimistic about German museums.

I probably would have enjoyed seeing the reconstructed gates and architecture in the Pergamon Museum if we had gone through without a guide, as they are truly impressive structures, but our guide was extremely condescending and boring.

I know what color leaves and skin were probably colored in Greek times. I understand the difference between hunting scenes and peaceful scenes in a mosaic. I can read the signs which explain exhibits, process the information, and be satisfied in the knowledge learned, but our tour guide did not seem to think Americans capable of such intelligence.

I'm probably being overcritical right now, as I massage my throbbing feet.

Today's theme could probably be walking.

We walked (and stood too long) through the museum, walked through large stores, walked to a craft beer pub which didn't serve food, not to mention the walks to, through, and between public transportation. 

I assumed that if I stayed in a city longer than a few days and kept walking around, eventually my feet would stop hurting.

That was a misconception, at least so far.

But today was pretty enjoyable over all.

The long periods of walking were also spent talking with fellow students and enjoying the sights (and smells) of Berlin.

Also, this monstrosity of an ice cream dessert made my sore feet seem a bit more worth the 7 miles that I walked as I adventured throughout this large, German town.






Googling ways to help my feet stop hurting so badly,
The Purple Writer

Day 5: Berlin Wall Memorial

Today started with a tour of the Berlin Wall Memorial.

Our hotel is pretty close to the East Side Gallery, so I'd seen the graffitied sections of the wall there, but the atmosphere at the Berlin Wall Memorial was a bit more solemn.


A lot of deaths occured during the time of (and because of) the border that the wall represented.

It's hard to comprehend how drastically life would have changed for those Berliners who went to sleep on a Saturday and woke up to find themselves separated from family, friends, work, etc.


After our tour of the Berlin Wall Memorial, our group split up to go do different things throughout the city.

I tagged along with our professors and two of the grad students to go see sights and drink beer.

We went to the Brandenburger Gate, where we found a Starbucks and the U.S. Embassy.

We then walked through the really pleasant Tiergarten to the Berlin Victory Column. 

We would have tried going up to the top, but it cost money so we decided to take a bus over by Humbolt University, where we found a lots of stores, museums, an authentic pub, a book sale, an aquarium inside a hotel, entertaining posters, and more, before finding ourselves at a beer hall.

 

A friendly Berliner confirmed that I was right before the group decided they could trust the youngest member of the intoxicated party, but it turns out I can be trusted to decipher and guide people through foreign public transporation systems, even when the map spins a bit before my eyes. 

Hoping my feet are less sore tomorrow,

The Purple Writer

Day 4: Navos PR

We spent almost a full work day at Navos today, doing a crisis communication project. 

When we arrived, they briefed us on a case (a case study from America, not one of their projects, because they didn't have one ready for us to brainstorm).

We then split up into three groups and had about four hours to do a situation analysis, SWOT analysis and create a presentation for a client.

The case study we looked at was the Domino's Pizza food contamination videos which went viral on YouTube in 2009. 

(If you don't remember hearing about this crisis, check out this link.)


I've participated in situational and SWOT analyses before, but this was a pretty unique experience, working with students who were not all public relations majors and may not have ever done this kind of analysis and planning before.

My group wrapped up our analysis before lunch, so we came back with about an hour and a half to prepare a presentation.

We wanted to be more memorable than just talking about our plans in a powerpoint, so I pulled out my PR writing memories and we put together a media release and a media advisory (for our planned press conference) to accompany the presentation we created.

Navos interns also joined our groups, so we could have a German participant and get another perspective on the crisis and our analysis of it.

This was a really cool way of incorporating the study abroad aspect of our trip with this assignment, as we talked back and forth about how Americans and Germans view, remember, and expect a variety of things.

We presented our results to some of the Navos consultants who work with international and crisis communications.

Receiving feedback from these experts was great; they obviously have insight into the fields they're working in, while also adding coming at the same issue from entirely different cultural backgrounds from experts in the United States.

After our presentations, some of the Navos group took us to a rooftop, garden bar, where we hung out and talked more about our different experiences, lives, goals, interests, educational systems, etc.

I'm glad this trip includes several days of exploring Berlin and drinking in the culture and experiences, but I honestly would be more than happy to stay at Navos for a couple weeks to interact with these fascinating and friendly people who have a lot of insight into the field I'm entering soon.

Interacting with the people at Navos was a great experience.


Full from eating at the Burgermeister under Schleisisches Tor station.
The Purple Writer

Day 3: Presentation

Today was our first day at Navos - Public Dialogue Consultants.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this German, award-winning, PR firm, but everyone at Navos was great.

They were friendly and excited to talk about PR and international communication and what they do in their firm.

Before coming to Germany, I read a book about German people and customs, and it kept emphasizing their tendency to be direct, critical, very focused, deadline oriented, monotone speakers, who don't smile or use hand gestures. 

I think that portrayal was a bit dramatic. While I'm sure most of those aspects are often true of many Germans, the Navos consultants were all very friendly and relaxed, smiling and laughing along with us boisterous Americans.

The Navos group presented a few case studies and my group gave a presentation on U.S. immigration policy (and Donald Trump).

This study abroad class of undergraduate and graduate students were split into three different groups. Two of the groups will present on renewable energy to Edelman PR next week while my group presented today.

(Want to check out our slides? Click here)

Our presentation went pretty well, and now we can relax and really enjoy the rest of our two weeks here in Berlin, while the other groups will be preparing for their presentation for the next week. 

It was a little stressful to present on our first full day of the program, and we didn't get much sleep last night, but we did a great job and it's all finished now.

A Navos case study that really stood out to me was their work for Tennant and the use of "info-markets."

These info-markets were held in multiple towns to engage local residents involved in the planning of  a very large grid which would carry energy from the north shores of Germany down to Bavaria. 

We were told that large numbers of the German populace may agree with a project but will organize large protests to keep these projects out of their backyard. 

By asking for opinions and genuinely considering the advice received from local residents, who may actually have ideas that would work better in the long run, these info-markets help answer questions, calm fears, get people invested, and hopefully reduce the number of protest groups in the future. 

I thought this was a brilliant idea because it not only requires transparency and engagement from the company but it also considers the culture of the German people and addresses potential issues before they form or become crises. 

Alright, I'm going to sleep now to make up for two hours of sleep last night,
The Purple Writer

Day 2: acclimation and dinner

We slept in today. 

Technically, we were sleeping for 11 hours, although as a light/restless sleeper, I really slept in three increments of three hours.

I felt the effects of jet lag off and on through the day, but felt much better than day 1!


Today was a bit lazy for the first part. My three hostel-mates and I checked out at 11 and hung out until we could check back in with the full study abroad group at 3p.

I opened lightroom and played around with it a bit, developing a few of the photographs I took on day 1.

My new room is in the hotel section, so we have air conditioning, which is fantastic!

You really don't realize you need until it's 85-degrees Fahrenheit and you don't have any on the hostel side of the hotel.

We then met up with our CEPA tour guide for an orientation to the city and a two-hour walking tour of a couple sections of Berlin.

Everyone was tired with sore feet, so walking and standing for two hours while hearing information that varied in degree of interesting was a little painful, but we saw some pretty cool things.


We wrapped up the tour at the tallest building in Germany, where we had a scheduled, three-course meal in the rotating restaurant!

We headed back to our hotel, and my group met up to work on our presentation, which we are giving Monday morning instead of Tuesday morning, as we first thought.


This is a pretty short post, but tomorrow's should be filled with more information and will hopefully be written by a more rested Lydia.


Hoping to sleep through the club music that my room faces,
The Purple Writer 

Day 1: Travels

Hallo Berlin, ich bin Lydia aus Texas.

That's about all the German I know, besides the names of random foods/animals, thanks to my 2% fluency in Duolingo. 

After 24 hours of travel time, 3 flights, and a lot of walking, I have arrived at my destination: PLUS Berlin (hotel/hostel). 

I have another 4 hours before check-in time and I'm too exhausted to go explore the city on my own, so I decided to sit down and write this blog post.

I was extremely lucky/blessed through the entirety of my airport adventures this go around!

I non-reved this trip, meaning I didn't buy a ticket (hence the non-revenue name) because my dad is a captain for Delta and I can fly on Delta for free if there's empty space (at least until I graduate and am no longer a dependent). 

I've non-reved plenty of times when things don't go so well, and I've had to spend full days sitting in airports, hoping that just one or two more people won't show up so I can get a ticket. 

So, I was trying to not  be too optimistic; my dad and I made sure there were plenty of backup flights in case I didn't get on any of the first ones.

I got to the DFW airport at 6:15 for the 8:15 flight to Atlanta. Security felt pretty long for so early on a Friday morning, but I got to the gate at 6:45, in time to see people show up late for the 7:00 flight and transfer ahead of me on the standby list for the 8:15 flight.

It went from me being number 8 on the list of 7 open seats to being number 15 on a list of 3 open seats. But, amazingly, just enough people (both paying and non-reving) didn't show up, and I was the last person to walk on the airplane.

So then I got to Atlanta and had a 3.5 hour layover before the first flight headed to Amsterdam. I walked from Concourse B to Concourse F because I had plenty of time and knew from experience that my body doesn't like all the sitting still during international flights. 

I got to the gate, worked on a presentation, filled out a lengthy airport survey, and got awarded a business seat!

Now, if you don't fly very often, especially if you don't fly Delta, you may not realize how fantastic having a business seat is. 

The Delta business seats are basically pods of comfort to make you want to fly internationally all the time.

You get a personal tv with a plethora of shows/movies/music/games/etc., lots of elbow room, complimentary headphones and misc. travel items, delicious food and all the free alcohol you want, and a seat that can go completely flat. 

Completely. Flat. 

This is a miracle of engineering that makes a huge difference when you want to sleep on a 7+ hour flight.

Granted, I'm a very light sleeper, and airplanes are always noisy with some activity happening, and this flight happened to have long sections of pretty bad turbulence, but I still dozed off several times over a 4-5 hour period, without which I would be dead right now. 

Thank you, engineers who designed the business seat.

So, I left Atlanta around 3:00pm, flew for 8 hours, and arrived in Amsterdam at 6:00am. 

This is when things got interesting.

I leave my beautiful, Delta, business pod and head into the Amsterdam airport. 

I go to a help desk to check in for my KLM flight, only to find that my suitcase (which had to be checked in DFW because the plane was full) could not be transferred from the Delta baggage carousel to the KLM flight I was listed on. 

The helpful people who helped me said that I should just get on the flight because it was wide open, and then file a report in Berlin to ask that my suitcase be sent from Amsterdam to my hotel address in Berlin.

That didn't sound fun, but I'm a good non-revver and had all my essentials in my backpack, so I would only be missing my clothes for however long it would take for my suitcase to arrive. 

Thankfully, my dad was still awake (time zone difference meant it was the middle of the night for him) and told me I should definitely not leave my suitcase in Amsterdam.

With half an hour before my flight boarded, I went through the terminal to find the baggage claim with my suitcase, went through customs, ran through three terminals, went through security again (where they had to pat me down and search my bags, of course), ran across the terminal and arrived at the gate almost exactly when the plane was supposed to leave.

Miraculously, there was a delay, so the plane was about 15 minutes behind schedule and the gate agents took pity on my situation and let me get a seat and take both my backpack and my suitcase onto the plane (because the plane-checked luggage had already been put on).

Wind turbines are the first thing I notice while arriving in Germany for a course focusing on renewable energy management. Coincidence? 

So then I arrive in Berlin and follow a set of semi-thorough directions to get to PLUS Berlin. 

I buy a bus ticket, ride it for a while, get on a train, ride it for a while, carry my suitcase up a long flight of stairs because the station is under construction, and then find myself a block away from the hotel.

Do I realize how close I am and walk to the building "directly in front of you on the opposite side of the square?" 

Of course not; I'm much too tired to comprehend how clear the directions are. 

 I walk straight forward for like 9 blocks before I look at the map and realize I should have turned left. So then, I go left for two blocks and then left again for the 9 blocks again, and then left 1.5 blocks to the hotel. 

All of this walking happened on a day with great walking weather, but in heeled boots, black dress pants and a dark, long-sleeved shirt. I'm gross and tired when I show up, and all I want to do is take a shower and fall asleep for a few hours. 

This day has been filled with adventures and close calls and walking/running through airports and Berlin, but that's part of the study abroad experience, right?

Feeling pretty good but still looking forward to a shower,

The Purple Writer

Check out my other adventures!

Am I a good PR student?

I divide my class time and passion for learning between my English degree track and my public relations degree track. Sometimes I wonder how my progress compares to other students who can focus on a single degree track.

This was part of my thinking when I participated in the second annual PR Showdown this semester, and it turns out I'm a pretty good PR student.

"A team-based competition to find out who the fastest, smartest, most creative public relations students in the West are"

My team, Best PRactices, was randomly compiled of four individual participants. We had a PR minor, two sophomore PR students and a senior English/PR major. 

I was afraid we wouldn't do well at all, seeing as how the majority of our team hadn't taken any relevant classes yet, and while I'm great at writing and editing, I'm not as confident of my skills in strategic planning, crisis communication, graphic design, etc.

We were also facing hand-selected, five-person teams of  senior PR students who had worked together on multiple projects and were the cream of the crop.

However, we put in our best effort and ended up winning a challenge and earning 2nd place out of the full competition.

The competition was split into four challenges in one week and a final challenge the following week, so I'll split this post into five sections.

(Yes, this competition took place in February and it's taken me over two months to write about it.


To be fair, it took two months for us to receive our prize for the challenge we won, and it's hard to share a picture of a prize that hasn't been seen.)

Day 1: PR Strategy Challenge

For the first 24-hour challenge, we were told to develop a strategic PR communication plan for a sports organization. One of our members had taken a strategies class and I had taken an international sports class, but we were pretty out of our depth on this challenge.

We put together a plan to "raise awareness among the virtual USA Water Polo community about the emerging water polo program at virtual Texas Tech University." We didn't think it was that great, but we were the second highest scoring team in this challenge.

This wasn't a very exciting challenge for me, and probably not for you either, so that's all the detail I'll include.

Day 2: Writing Challenge

For the second daily challenge, we wrote a press release and a media pitch to promote the PR Showdown.

Now, I'm a pretty decent writer, and two of us had taken PR Writing, so this challenge was much more intuitive. We used the headline "A Week of Public Relations and Easy Mac," which we all agreed was pretty catchy.

We scored fourth place in this challenge, but if you want to check out our press release, check out this link.

Day 3: Creative Challenge

This third challenge involved creating a media product to raise awareness of a hypothetical new location of CapRock Cafe. 

One of our members had a knack for graphic design, but for some reason or other, she was unable to participate and create anything for us.

Our poster was created in Canva and really isn't that pretty, but at least we put something together, combining multiple different ideas, and found ourselves in fourth place again.

Day 4: Social Media Challenge

The final challenge of the week was to create a social media campaign proposal, as well as a content plan for two weeks, for the Museum of TTU.

Now, if you know me, you probably know that I'm currently working as a social media intern and want to pursue social media management as a career. I'm not necessarily the best or brilliant at social media, but I have a pretty decent understanding.

Two of us created graphics and wrote copy for two weeks of content, and we won this challenge by a decent amount of points. Want to check it out?

Final Challenge: Crisis Communication

The three top-scoring teams faced off in the final challenge by holding mock press conferences.

The client: Southwest Airlines. 

The crisis: A news story has been released, claiming that a security breach at Southwest Airlines has been ignored and confidential information (like credit card numbers) may have been accessed by unknown parties. 
The Challenge: Plan out a crisis response strategy and host a press conference to demonstrate our knowledge of crisis management, public relations, and strategic communication.

One of the pieces included in our media packet

For some reason, we didn't realize that we had access to multimedia, so we were the only team to not utilize a power point. We put in the time to build a website to accompany our crisis strategy and included a QR code on the packets of papers we passed out. 



I think that if we had shown the site on the big screen, we would have ensured that the judges understood we built an actual site, and that might have been the tipping point in our favor.

As it stands, the winning team was the team of officers from the TTUPR organization. They had also put in a lot of time, already understood how to work well with each other, and were all seniors, so it makes sense that they beat us out with their presentation. 

Also, the grand prize of going to a networking event in DFW was more necessary for them, as they were a few months away from needing jobs while half of my team still has two years of classes and plenty of networking opportunities ahead of them.

We got official certificates to acknowledge that we were almost winners

Did I wish my team of underdogs would have won the PR Showdown? Yes.

Was everyone surprised by how well we did? Yes.

Am I glad that I participated and gave up two weeks of my life for the competition? Absolutely.

We can't all be winners, but I definitely feel more validated in my PR degree, knowing that I led our team to an almost victory.


Heading off to test my social media prize,
The Purple Writer

What do I look like online?

First: Why am I online?

1. I want my social media accounts to show that I know what I am doing as a hopeful social media coordinator. 

2. I want to highlight that I have a healthy social life while balancing it with responsible studies and work.

3. I want to have engaging and relevant content posted on a semi-regular basis for my audience.

However, I have two main audiences that I am split between on social media.

-> Professional connections and potential employers

I want to appear well-rounded but mainly want to highlight my professional content and tone. For this audience, I don’t want to appear superfluous or easily distracted, so I try to put a lot of thought into what I post and how I want it to appear.

-> My friends

The majority of my friends don't care about public relations and I don’t want to bore them with unnecessary content. The things I create and share for this audience include fun posts about my life and showing how I interact with my friends in real life.

Second: What do I post?

I am active on several social media platforms.

My Twitter account is geared toward my professional connections and potential employers. 

On this platform, I almost never post anything about my life, instead posting semi-regularly with a professional tone about relevant content to my spheres of influence: social media, Texas Tech, digital marketing, public relations, etc.

My Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts are geared almost entirely toward my friends. 

The majority of posts on these platforms deal with my life and engage with my friends, having barely any content dealing with public relations on these platforms.

My Pinterest account and my blog are split between my two audiences. 

On Pinterest, about half the pins I choose relate to public relations, content development and social media while the other half of my pins relate to my fandoms and hobbies. My followers on Pinterest can easily opt out of seeing the boards they do not care to see, and will then be presented with a steady stream of content that interests them. 

At the same time, my blog alternates between posts for and relating to class and posts dealing with current movies, projects, recipes, etc. My blog leans more heavily toward engaging with my friends except when I am blogging for a class, in which case the opposite is true.

I am not active on Google+ or YouTube.
I mainly use those platforms to see other content and not to share my own content.

Third: How do I appear?

When I search my name in Google, Bing and Yahoo, I immediately appear. 

All of the posts and pictures on the front page of those searches, and the majority of the following two or three pages, are content that I have posted on the internet.

If someone searched for me, they would be able to easily find my social media accounts, and no compromising or embarrassing content, which I do not post to begin with.  

Although the image results from these searches quickly devolve into images that I have pinned or that aren’t related to me, the first few images are consistently my profile pictures.

Among other Google Alerts I have set up, I have alerts set for “lydia clinkscales” and “lydiaclink.” Although the only notifications I receive from these alerts are of content that I have recently shared, it is reassuring  to know that I would quickly find out if something else was posted about me.

My Klout score has consistently stayed in the 55 to 57 range throughout this semester.

Before this semester, my score was consistently in the 53 to 55 range during the summer. 

There was a clear improvement in engagement when my friends returned from summer break.

The majority of my engagement and influence takes place on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As this pie graph from Klout shows, over a third of my engagement takes place on Facebook. 

Instagram and Twitter are the second and third platforms that I am most influential on.

I have tiny slivers of influence on LinkedIn and Klout, and none on Google+ and YouTube, which makes sense as I am not active on those accounts.

My blog is not very popular, as I am still trying to solidify the main goal of my blog. I am currently building up the amount of content I have on the blog, and once I find my actual niche, I will increase my promotion.

Page views of my blog were at an all-time high in March 2015, with the inconsistency of my posting reflected in the inconsistency of page views.

While I tend to cross-post content across platforms well, there are not many calls to action. 

(Why is that important? Check out my blog about it).

Because most platforms have space for one website link, my accounts direct traffic toward my blog of my website.

My website hosts my blog and directs people out to my social media accounts, but if people do not take the extra step of looking at my website, they may need to use google search to find my other accounts.

Fourth: What should I focus on?

Here are six goals I want to focus on and how I plan on accomplishing them

1. Establish my blog as a credible source of information

-> Create a bank of content that I can work from to share content at consistent times

-> Narrow down the topics I cover on my blog, so the content itself will be more consistent

-> Interact with other bloggers with curated content and guest posts

2. Present a more consistent image of myself across platforms

-> Update information on all accounts at the same time

-> Blend the tones I use to interact with my two audiences, to present a consistent tone

-> Use more calls to action that connect my social media accounts

3. Engage both of my audiences more equally across social media platforms

-> Engage with content that is both fun and professional at the same time

-> Cross-post across all platforms when the format is applicable

 4. Be able to present my social media accounts as my resume when applying for a job

-> Consistently update my bio and about sections on all platforms

-> Curate my older content to remove broken links and incorrect information

5. Have a more influential voice on Twitter

-> Engage with brands on a consistent basis

-> Look for relevant conversations that I can engage with

6. Increase my engagement with followers

-> Post more interesting content across my social media accounts

-> Use calls to action in the majority of my posts to guide audience interaction

Off to check my social media accounts,
The Purple Writer