Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

Thanks to The Media School’s vast alumni network, IU’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter is able to offer a variety of events every semester with former IU students and their referrals.

In this spirit of providing members with real-world perspectives and platforms to build their professional networks, we hosted our annual spring Chicago agency tour. As a result of the pandemic, the tour, which traditionally takes place in-person, was moved to a virtual format. There were initial concerns about the quality of experience that could be achieved over a screen; however, we were excited about the convenience of meeting with multiple firms, back-to-back, from the comfort of our own homes. With a list of IU graduates in hand, I got to emailing. 

After months of correspondence, I found four Chicago-based PR agencies who generously offered their time to meet with us: All Points Public Relations (whose president Jamie Izaks is an IU alumnus), Golin, Burson Cohn & Wolfe (aka  BCW) and FleishmanHillard. With availabilities confirmed, the tour was set for noon to 4 p.m. Feb. 26. Each agency was allocated one hour, wherein their speakers could allocate approximately 45 minutes to introduce themselves, discuss the work they do and talk about internship opportunities, before spending the last 15 minutes leading a Q&A. For everyone’s convenience, the event took place in the same Zoom meeting, with the agencies going back-to-back. 

Due to expressed interest from other chapters and our desire to open up the event to other prospective PR professionals, we invited Ball State’s PRSSA chapter. When our chapter organized the Chicago agency tours in years prior, members had to pay a few hundred dollars for the hotel and transportation costs, meaning our already limited availabilities were not accessible to everyone. This year, the free cost and easy means to attend the event led to our highest-ever turnout, with 20 to 30 participants attending each session.

These are the types of events IU PRSSA boasts on hosting for its members. Attendees not only learned about the variety of jobs in the PR industry, but they also learned tips about applying for jobs, discovered internship opportunities with each agency and connected with each PR professional on LinkedIn to network further. The pandemic may have changed how networking is done, but our organization will always adapt to help prepare students for the PR world.