Discovering Meebo

I did not do much work today. I typed up the list of hardware/building trade publications that I sent the press release to yesterday for a client company distribution. After that, I looked up pricing for mobile staging and audio system rentals for a fashion show event we are putting together for a client. Surprisingly many of these companies did not have pricing online, but I emailed them and now I am just waiting for responses. If I don't hear anything by tomorrow, I'll start calling them. Then we had an internal agency meeting to talk about the event because it is actually a fictitious event right now due to the fact we are pitching this idea against another public relations firm. I kind of hope we get the client because I would feel lame if we put together an event with all this outside companies and then have to tell them it is not happening. Embarrassing it would be. Then I looked up fashion trends for the rest of the day to get any idea of what the fall 2009 fashions will be for the show.

While roaming the web for fashion, I discovered a useful tool called Meebo. Apparently many already know about it, but I did not. You can log into all your chat accounts and use them all at once. So now I can be logged into Facebook chat, Myspace chat, Yahoo, Windows Live, Google chat, and AIM. It's pretty cool. Now I will never be bored at work... okay maybe that's a stretch, but at least I can talk to people.

Having a Case of the Mondays

I had a very pleasant 3 day weekend. I got to enjoy Summerfest and some relaxation time.

When I got in the office today, I updated the weekly status report and printed it for a weekly agency meeting. This meeting I got nothing assigned to me! I swear, I think I do less and less each week. Whenever I ask to do something, they just say look up a contact number or build a media list. Will I ever get to write a press release or anything? I fear I will not and when I leave this internship, I will have learned nothing other than the fact that public relations is not my cup of tea.

I had to call hostway.com because my company email address stopped working this morning. After I got that under control I copied an article from a magazine that our client was published in and I also finished an ad value report for another client. The ad value report was a bit rough seeing that our agency does not have access to any databases, so I had no pricing for advertising or any data really. We didn't even have the actual articles, so I have no idea what the column inches were! Wow this agency is so efficient...

I looked up media contacts in the Arizona area that cover education and sent them to the associate in the office. Then I finished the hardware/building media list and sent out a press release that the associate wrote up. Then it was time to head home. I was nodding off all day and was getting grumpy. Good thing today went fast and the boss and her associate were out most of the day.

Every body is crabby

The two other people in the office are busy with this crisis management issue and are extremely snippy today. As soon as I opened my Google alerts this morning, there were five articles with our client in it. Crazy! My idea was to keep my head down and hope no one yells at (not that they would because they pretty much ignore my existence). I'm actually not really sure why they hired an intern because I do not really do anything. In regards to not doing anything, my boss asked me today what I was working on and I said "well, just media lists." She was like, "okay." Seriously... I was hoping she would realize I'm not really doing anything and give me a job to do. I guess not.

I compiled a Chicago calendar media contact list for the better part of the day. I called one client and got their exact address for my boss. I'm guessing she's mailing something to them. I also called AT&T to get our fax line fixed because we could receive faxes, but not send them. Got that accomplished. Then I sent out a new appointment release for client 8 to healthcare, security and Indianapolis publications. In total it was over 50 separate emails. However, ten of them were undeliverable.

Man I wish I had a paying job...

Another Busy Day of Miniscule Tasks

First thing in the morning we had a meeting with the Starlight Foundation district manager. We are coming up with an event for a client during back-to-school that could be conducted annually and bring in repeat patrons. The foundation is really interesting. They raise money to provide programs to help terminally ill children and their families inside and outside of the hospital. Unfortunately, in Chicago they have no national stars for promotional purposes, but their Los Angeles office has Jamie Lee Curtis and Corbin Bleu. We are going to try and get Corbin Bleu. That would be great for our target audience and since High School Musical is such a hit right now, it will draw a massive amount of people. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works out and the client will be pleased.

Then I had to look up real estate reporters/editors in the Chicagoland area due to a crisis with one of our clients. Crain’s Chicago Business published an article about our client that did not make them look to good and now we are in charge of crisis management (Sadly the only thing in public relations other than event planning that I like and I don’t really get to be involved. I just get to look up contact information). Literally while I was doing this we had a conference phone call with client 6. We discussed vertical market opportunities and the press releases we have already created. They seemed to like everything. The conversation was only fifteen minutes long (short in reference to other meetings). I was suppose to take notes, but there wasn’t any real new input from the client, so I didn’t right anything down…
Afterwards I wrote up the notes from the Starlight meeting and distributed to the others in the office. Finally we got the headshot for the second new appointment release. I sent the release out with the headshot to all the trade and Chicago publications I was directed to.

My boss told me to look up the date of when back-to-school shopping officially starts. I had trouble finding a specific date and most stores do not have back-to-school on their websites yet. I finally found two articles that said that back-to-school shopping officially begins late July. Once my boss got that information, she asked me to look up this paid press release service. I bulleted some information about the service they provide to companies and emailed it to her. She sent a nasty reply saying that she could of found that information herself (why did she ask) and said answer these two questions (apparently the questions she wanted answered all along and I should have been able to read her mind to get her the answers she wanted originally). The aggravating part was the questions were answered in the bullets I sent previously, which was less than one-page of information. You know what I did, I pulled the answers straight from my information sheet, copied and pasted so she could tell it was in the information I already sent to her. I think my frustration with being the information retriever only has boiled over and I decided to be a bit sassy. Probably not professional, but my boss and her associate tend to use an extremely rude, cheerleader attitude a lot. At this point, in other words, I don’t care.

The last thing I did today was compile the real estate contact information into a nice chart and saved it in our shared files. I also started to compile the Europe security trade publication media contact sheet. Let’s just say it is difficult since we don’t have access to an international media database and Google isn’t very helpful, but I’m doing my best.

Just plugging away

Monday, June 22
For the first hour and twenty minutes of the morning, we had our weekly internal staff meeting. We went over each client. Out of the five page weekly report, I got two things assigned to me. After the meeting, I sent out a new appointment release for client 6 to Indianapolis and Chicago business publications. I was suppose to send out another new appointment release, but I'm still waiting on the headshot that I need to send with it. When sending out the one new appointment news release, I realized that the emails for all the publications were all over the place in the shared files. So I created a basic reference sheet for quick use when you sending out mass releases and then another more detailed list for individual contact. I also made a specific folder in the company's shared files just for media contact information. Hopefully that makes things easier.

For the rest of the day I worked on putting an advertising value report together for client 8 and looked up skateboard shops that would possibly partner with our new client (client 9).

Tuesday, June 23
Still could not send out the other new appointment release because our client still hasn't sent us the headshot. Instead, I worked more on the advertising value report. The problem is we don't have all the clippings. I don't know the column inches for all the articles and have no references on how much advertising cost for any of the mediums we had articles/broadcasts placed in.

Then I did some searching online for European/UK security trade publications. I found two... basic search engines just don't do the trick when your looking internationally. Afterwards, I started printing off documents to update my client folders, but I think I was annoying the associate, so I put that on hold for another day. Now I'm blogging and counting down until I leave.

Short Day, Long Weekend

We were suppose to have a meeting with a magazine advertising director this morning, but he cancelled due to unexpected meetings. I took a Twitter 101 webinar on Cision for about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was interesting. I found out the pound sign (#) is placed before events that are taking place currently so that you can distinguish an event from a brand. I also learned about Mr Tweet that recommends people to follow on Twitter that are relative to your profile and what you tweet about. Also, there are desktop programs that can organize you tweets into multiple lists. This makes it easier to look through large quantities of followings. You can make a news list, sports list, advertising list, etc. of just those topics instead of looking at all the people your following in one list. The desktop programs seem very handy.

After the webinar, I just surfed the net finding contact information of local Chicago radio stations that would possibly report about local events. My boss let me leave early today because her and her associate had a meeting to attend to at 3 p.m. Apparently the associate is taking off tomorrow for a mini-vacation over the weekend and my boss is in-and-out of meetings all day tomorrow; so I have work off for tomorrow. This is okay with me. To be honest, I'm kind of getting sick of sitting at a computer using Cision to look up contact information of media and putting it into a spreadsheet all day, every day.

I am going to speak with my boss on Monday morning about trying more things within public relations for learning purposes, since I feel that I have not done much other than create media lists. We'll see how that goes. I just need to ask her in a professional manner.

Tired of Doing Nothing

Yesterday, 6/16/2009
I started the day looking up contact information of cheerleading teams in Anaheim and Los Angeles, California. Then I emailed all the contact information I found to my boss's associate. That is really all I do. I look up contact information for my boss's associate and email them to her. I'm their professional yellow page surfer.

Then the boss's associate gave me a plain list of publication titles and told me to make it look pretty. I just put the list into a template provided in Microsoft Publisher. My boss and her associate loved it. It literally took me two seconds to do. After that, I created a media list of national education publications. I had to cut the list down from 495 magazines to 50. Then I read over the associate's positioning release and fact sheet for client 3. It did not make that much sense because it was covering financial plans I did not completely understand. The good thing is I caught a few spelling errors and a paragraph that was actually written for another client accidently shoved into the positioning release.

The final thing I did for the day was take a webinar on Cision about understanding social media. Unfortunately, the information given was just review of things I already knew. They explained the difference between microblogging, blogging and social networking websites.

Today, 6/17/2009
As soon as I walked into the office, the associate told me to start researching the Starlight Foundation before a meeting with them. At 10:00 AM, we had a telephone conference with the midwest Starlight Foundation about the possibilities of doing a charity event with Starlight and one of our clients. The meeting went well and the lady seemed very interested in doing a charity event with us. Afterwards, I wrote up the notes from the meeting for the associate and my boss.

My boss asked me to define digg, StumbleUp, del.ico.us, Facebook, and Twitter. So that is what I did in like 10 minutes and emailed her back. My boss then told me to look up other options for a charity event, so I looked up the Salvation Army and Goodwill. Also, I had to take over the cheerleading/dance team search in Anaheim and Los Angeles, California. I called and emailed the LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Anaheim Ducks, and UCLA. I have not gotten an email responses and when I called I got all voicemails. Hopefully I hear something tomorrow from the teams.

The last thing of the day was a conference call with client 3 about their positioning release and fact sheet. It was a quick meeting. No more the 20 minutes, which I like a lot better then the usual two hour meetings that drag on.

The routine starts again tomorrow.

Here 9 to 4, have only done 2 hours of work

I went on Cision to find contact information for four separate Canadian publications for client 7. Then we had the beginning of the week agency meeting. The meeting was conducted over the phone because my boss was out of the office doing an activity with her daughter. Unfortunately, the speaker phone option on the office phones do not work very well and my boss had difficulty hearing me and my boss' associate. The meeting only last 45 minutes. Afterwards, I took two media clip reports and combined them into a chronological chart for a client. Our client is planning a presentation and needed all their publication placements. The last thing I did today that related to work was look up editors' emails for client 6. Since noon, I've been sitting here twiddling my thumbs. I feel like a bum. It seems like they give me tasks that only take 15 minutes and expect me to do that one task all day... Hopefully they give me a job to do tomorrow that is more challenging then looking up contact information.

TGIF

Yesterday, 6/11/2009
I meet with two marketing executives from a hardware corporation that sells pool safety hardware, security locks, decorative hardware and basic hardware. The meeting lasted 3 hours long, but we discussed their background information about their company and the new products/services they are releasing. Now we are armed with a lot of information we can use for positioning releases and press releases. My boss bought all these bagels, fruit cups and muffins from Corner Bakery for the guys we were meeting with. The executives took nothing; not even for the road. I ended up eating a muffin and a bagel that I surely did not need.

After the meeting I created a contact list of crime news reporters in Orlando, Florida. Then I created another media contact list for Arlington Heights, which after research, turns out to only have one newspaper in the area. My final task of the day was to email all the interviewees that we are not accepting into the internship program. I felt like I was writing dear John letters. That was pretty much my day.

Today, 6/12/2009
I wrote up the notes I took from the meeting yesterday with the marketing executives. Then I created a media contact list of television shows and radio shows that would be a possible opportunity for a local client.

The rest of today I researched commercial real estate trends to get a better understanding one of our client's industry. We are suppose to be working on a positioning release, a fact sheet and bios for this client, but they are very vague. We are trying to give them something new, but we need information to work with and their not giving us anything.

It seems like I'm getting more involved with meetings, but I wish they would let me write up a fact sheet or do something that would actually be used for a clients publicity. Right now I feel like I have not done much. I have been at this internship for four weeks now. I hope they soon let me get more involved then I am right now.

Meetings

Yesterday, 6/09/2009
I built three media lists and then transferred them into a spreadsheet. The media lists were: Arizona business and finance publications, health care publications, and Chicago retail publications. Then I did some research on commercial tenant representation because we are trying to send out a positioning release about our client, but they are not giving us any new information. Their website, as along with their competitors, is very vague in the description of what they do. Every time we re-work the positioning release they say they do not like it because it is not very detailed, yet they will not give us any new information to put in the release. Ugh!!!! This is a challenge.

I meet with an advertising rep for a magazine called Security Products. We discussed possible advertisements and articles that could be placed in their up-coming issues. I had a nice debate with the rep about whether he thinks newspapers will completely die out or not. We also discussed advertising online. It was intriguing. But stupid me did not give him my business card, which would have been the smart thing to do. Oh well.

The meeting ran late and I was 30 minutes late meeting my friend downtown for dinner....

Today, 6/10/2009
This morning I wrote up the meeting notes from yesterday afternoon. I then e-mailed them to my boss and her associate. Apparently my boss was telling her associate yesterday that she was impressed with how professional I was with the advertising rep and how I interacted well with him. Kudos for me!

Then I booked a flight for my boss. She is going to a conference for one of our clients in Baltimore. After that, I research tenant representation some more and put together a research findings sheet. I didn't find much new information, but hopefully it will help. Following that, I made a list of publications for Arizona, Chicago business, and finance publications that will go in a document for a client.

And now, I'm blogging and watching the time melt away slowly. Sometimes being an intern is a bit boring.

Rough Start

This morning I come into the office to be welcomed by an e-mail that says do not answer the phone for these three specific phone numbers. Well one of the caller id names my boss gave me was incorrect and I ended up answering one of calls that we were suppose to let go to voicemail. I guess it was a personal issue my boss was avoiding because the guy swore at me. I just hung the phone and then he called about 6 times in row. Apparently he was not giving up and then, he showed up at the office. I never saw him, but the associate in the office was worried about my boss and hoping she was not hurt. I'm guessing this was a personal issue with a guy that may be abusive. It was a weird way to start the morning with an emotional distressed person pursuing your boss. I felt bad for my boss because it is probably embarrassing dealing with something of that caliber in front of your employees.

Then I had to call around Aneheim, CA to find professional cheerleaders and dancers for a client. Unfortunately, in the process of doing so, I came across a lot of pornography. This was not enjoyable. All the people we called were extremely expensive, and we are hoping the few modeling agency and cheerleading teams we are waiting on, are more reasonable.

For the rest the day I just built media contact lists for two separate clients. The lists I was building were retail publications, business and finance publications, and healthcare publications.

Our beginning of the week meeting was kind of scattered throughout the day because my boss was dealing with a lot. Not only did she have to deal with that creep this morning, but she also had a meeting with a client, had to replace her Blackberry, and do second interviews with possible interns. The bad thing was my boss was running about 30 to 45 minutes behind on the interviews. She is so scattered all the time and especially today; it probably did not come off well to the people applying. It also seems to drive her associate crazy because the associate is very organized and a bit of a control freak.

At least today was entertaining.... Wonder how tomorrow will be.

Busy Busy Busy

Wednesday, 6/03/2009
Worked on a pitch for a prospective client. I probably re-did and edited the PowerPoint for the presentation a million times. It's crazy to think I was in the office from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM and all I worked on was a PowerPoint. Well, I went to the bank, CVS, and Starbucks for my boss, but that is really it.

Thursday, 6/04/2009
I got to come into work 2 hours later than usual. It was nice to get extra sleep. As soon as I walked in the office we had a conference call from client 6. We talked about an event we are planning for them and about vertical markets that we could reach about their products and services. Apparently the pitch went well, or so my boss thinks. The embedded video worked on the PowerPoint, which makes me happy because it was tricky to place in the presentation. Unfortunately, the people we pitched to did not have an audio system. My boss was creative though. While the video was playing of our television clips, she spoke about how she pitched them, how they got the story run, and how often they get certain segments. Keeping our fingers crossed to get this client. Then after that, for client 7, I created a vertical marketing kit binder. I already had the information to put in the binder because it was provided by the client. All I did was buy a binder/separators from Walgreens, label, 3-hole punch, and assemble. That was my day, though it doesn't seem like a lot, but it kept me busy the whole day.

Friday, 6/05/2009
Today, I got into the office at the regular time. Both of the internship interviewees cancelled their meetings, so that freed up the morning. I put together a Chicago fashion magazine contact media list and after revision from the boss's associate, I'm now adding more contacts. My boss is going to take me and her associate out for lunch for the long hours we pulled for the pitch. I love free meals!

A PR Agency that is Computer Inept

Yesterday I was busy. We had our beginning of the week meeting to get up-to-date on all our clients. I had to do some office work, which included doing some organization and putting things away. I rescheduled intern interviews since my boss is extremely busy with her pitch that is on Thursday. I started a list of all the computer issues the office is having, but to be realistic, she needs computers from this century. These computers are dinosaurs that do not even have a DVD player. Computers only last so many years and these have to be almost 10 years old. I found information and started a membership order form for the Great North Michigan Avenue Association for my boss. That could be a strategic move for the firm because it will help with knowing other businesses in the area. Then, I had to e-mail the Chicago Trib Magazine because they made a misprint about our client. They put that there would be a wine tasting at one of our clients properties and that was an event that happened last year around this time, but was not happening or was scheduled for this year. Apparently our client was getting a lot of complaints from patrons. I guess the Chicago Trib got their information from a company that collects all the event listings in the area. Hopefully the Chicago Trib writes an apology in their next issue.

Today I worked on the PowerPoint for the pitch. My boss and the assistant do not have much knowledge of computers. They told me just to pick a basic layout and type in what they wanted to say. I did that, but it looks so generic and I do not think it will get the client. I'm going to re-do it and make it look unique and let the boss decide which one she wants to use. My boss does not even have PowerPoint on her computer, so I do not really think she understands that using a basic layout for pitch is like just saying "I don't really care about this account." Now if this was just a meeting with a client we already have, a basic layout probably would be fine. But we a pitching to a client that has another PR firm pitching for it as well. This needs to look good. So I'll do the PowerPoint tonight and show it to her tomorrow. I guess we will see.

Also, we had a conference call with a current client today. To explain the computer ineptness of the PR firm I work at in greater detail. There was a file of the June updates and I was suppose to take notes, but I went into the company shared files and there was just so many scatterness going on. There were like six different update folders and none of them had the June 2009 update file. How can you run a firm with absolutely no organization? How does anything get done? I do not understand how you can be a PR firm in year 2009 and have no technical skills. Apparently they get buy...