This past month, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the PRSSA National Assembly in Miami, Florida. I was selected to represent our chapter and vote for the 2018-2019 National Committee. Through this experience I met amazing PRSSA members from all over the country and learned about the many things PRSSA has to offer that I wasn’t even aware of! When I first mentioned my interest of attending the assembly, I had no clue what I would even be doing there. I thought that multiple people from the chapter would attend and that it was something Purdue PRSSA did every year. I hoped that I would be among familiar faces who would guide me once we got there. That was not the case at all. In fact, this was the first time Purdue had attended the National Assembly, so I had no one to talk to about what to expect. Going by myself made me nervous, but not knowing what was going on when I got there made it even worse. I was given a room assignment, a packet of applications for all of the national committee candidates, and a tentative schedule. I had to figure the rest out from there. My roommate did not show up until well after all of the welcome events were over, so I knew absolutely no one there. This is when networking really came into play. I had to talk to tons of people I had never met before and that really made me nervous. I was one of the first ones at the welcome reception so I asked a group of people if I could sit with them. This group turned out to be the current national committee, so they knew each other very well. I was the odd man out. After that first encounter, I realized they were the only group of people there that knew each other well, and everyone else was in my same boat. They were the only ones from their school and had never really met other people in different chapters. Once my roommate arrived, I felt more at ease talking to new people. It was easier to approach a group with someone you know rather than by yourself. I didn’t really know Marley well, I had just met her, but we were in the same room which gave us an automatic reason to connect. Marley is the current President for the Western Kentucky University chapter. Because of her, I attended panels for Presidents and Vice Presidents. I am not on our executive board, so there wasn’t really a panel for me. It turns out the majority of delegates are Presidents or Vice Presidents of their chapters. I felt really out of place, but thankfully Marley encouraged me to attend her panel. I networked with Presidents and VPs who gave great feedback about recruitment and retention, different events, and fundraising. It was amazing to hear about all of the things that they do to keep their chapters growing. The first day was full of leadership workshops and panels. The second day was the day we voted for the new national committee. Students interested in running for a national committee position attended assembly as non-delegates. As a delegate, I listened to everyone’s speeches and heard about what they wanted to do in the position and how they were the best candidate. Delegates were able to ask questions to the candidates after the speeches. It made for a long day, but it was really cool to see how each person wanted to better the organization and hear all of their ideas. I did not know about half of the resources available to members that really can positively influence your professional career. I am so thankful for this opportunity and highly recommend that anyone remotely interested in becoming an executive member or wanting leadership experience to attend next spring. It’s a great way to network and to get more involved in PRSSA!
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AuthorsBrenda Barerra Archives
May 2018
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