National Assembly 2014 (March 13-16)
Emily Doherty - VP of Social Media
Last weekend was the Public Relations Student Society of America's annual National Assembly. The Assembly took place in the beautiful southern city Charleston, South Carolina.
A delayed flight in Chicago left PRSSA members Luke Crawford, David Watta, Erica Brown and myself rushing to our layover flight which was in Newark, New Jersey. After running throughout the small New Jersey terminal, we watched our flight fly away right in front of us. Needless to say, we were not thrilled. We were missing the Day-of competition and the welcome dinner, but we were determined to make it to National Assembly! One more flight to the middle-of-nowhere South Carolina, a three hour drive in a rental car, and a twenty minute taxi ride, we had finally made it! At 11 pm.
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| Our rental car... |
I was excited to meet my new roommates and fellow PRSSA members from across the country. I walked in the room and they were so excited to meet me! I had the pleasure of rooming with Deanna Directo, Lexi Digby, and Cindy Deng. (We later realized we were roomed together by alphabetical order..) It was great having people to connect with right away and to mingle with during the sessions.
March 14th
The first day was filled with excitement. Seeing as this was my first National Assembly (and also my first national PRSSA event!) I was so eager to start learning about leadership at the opening session which was for Chapter Officers. I attended the session for current/future Presidents and VP's which was great and interactive. The other PRSSA students who attended this session sat together in groups as we talked about things that could be done to improve our chapters, to help recruit new members, and to create key talking points about PRSSA for our current members.
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| President/VP Session |
Next, we had leadership training sessions which included "Discovering the Leader in You," "Communicating Member Benefits," and "Leading with Integrity." I took notes on these sessions which I shared with my chapter at our 3/18 meeting.
A special session with Fred Cook followed. Cook, the CEO of GolinHarris International spoke to us at the Assembly and shared some of his entrepreneurial successes. As said via golinharris.com/about, "We’re changing…intentionally. Or said another way, we’ve PRevolved."
After the day came to a close, my roommate Lexi and I decided to explore downtown Charleston. We went out for some good old fashioned southern food at a local restaurant and walked down the pier and main street.
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| Nice escape from the Midwest weather |
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| Southern Cookin' |
March 15th
National Assembly Meeting: As the delegate, I had the right to vote for the new PRSSA National Committee. I was proud to be reppin' Valpo!
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| Representing Valpo with iced coffee, of course. |
Congrats to the new National Committee! :) Glad I had the pleasure of meeting most of you.
After the Assembly came to a close, it was time for the PRSSA members to celebrate their new committee. Again, my roommate and I went out exploring the town and ended up coming back to the hotel room and making even more new PR friends! It was a great time and I cannot wait to reconnect with the individuals I met at assembly at the 2014 National Conference in D.C!
March 16th-The Final Day
The last day of the Assembly was set with a keynote speaker and a farewell meeting. The keynote speaker, John Deveney of Deveney Communications. One key thing I took away from Deveney's keynote was, "Become hungry to objectively study, discuss your shortcomings, mistakes and failures," John Deveney.
After the morning sessions, it was time to pack up our things and check out of our hotel room. While the trip only lasted three days, the memories, the networking, and the bonds created with other PRSSA members will definitely last much longer than that. #prssalove
Written By: Emily Doherty, PRSSA Social Media Chair and National Delegate for Valparaiso University.
