Monday, March 31, 2008

InternshipRatings.com at Boston University's PRSSA Event


This weekend was full of events for InternshipRatings.com! We attended "PR Advanced" PRSSA Goes 2.o," which was hosted by the Boston University and Simmons College Chapters of Public Relations Student Society of America. The conference was held at B.U. and included various representatives from local PR firms as well as students from B.U., Simmons and University of Rhode Island. Our favorite speaker at the conference was THE social media guru, David Meerman Scott. He is the successful author of best-selling book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. He believes in the use of social media (blogs, podcasts, social media releases, viral marketing and online media) to promote products and measure success rather than old methods like clip books and newspaper articles. The first time we heard David Meerman Scott speak was at Boston PodCamp in the fall. This time we learned some great new things about PR and the blogging world. Scott is a huge believer in the power of blogs and their large reach (his blog gets thousands of its daily). What we found most interesting is the fact that Scott's book sold more copies when it was featured on his blog as opposed to when the New York Times published an article about it!
At the end of the conference was a career fair with companies like Schneider Associates, Racepoint Group, 360 Public Relations, Fleishman Hillard, Weber Shandwick, Cone and yours truly InternshipRatings.com! Seniors and underclassmen socialized with these well respected firms about jobs and internships. (Surprisingly, the Public Relations industry is just starting to hire employees and interns.) We were excited to mix and mingle with students and learn about their internship experiences. Companies were even interested (and slightly scared) to discover their company reputation. Whether your last experience was fabulous or a waste of time,  don't forget to rate it so that other interns can make a more informed decision for this summer! 
We look forward to seeing you soon.

--Stephanie and Lauren