By Marley Vawter
On August 7, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and drove an hour and a half to meet 29 other Ball State students at an old McDonald’s in Northern Indianapolis to get our media and parking passes and begin our immersive learning project at the Indiana State Fair. I was anxious but eager and I remember forcing myself to get out of the car to talk to other students that looked that they were already best friends. Little did I know, most of them felt the same way I did. We would spend the next two weeks in a small trailer doing public relations, writing stories, creating graphics and taking photos.
We were immediately broken into groups based off our field. I was on the PR team with five other girls.
I learned a lot during these two weeks, but in this blog post I am going to share the top 5 things that I didn’t know before entering the fair.
Cold calling Cold calling terrified me before I started the fair, but I quickly learned that cold calling people is much more effective than sending multiple promotional emails. It also helps people put a voice to an email. Some people refer to a script but after the first couple it was much easier for me to be myself and tell them what we were all about. Next was the challenging part. I had to convince them to partner with us. I called mainly local newspapers, which were only interested in local stories. I also offered to send them samples and gave them our website link.
When Your Client Gets Mad – some things to remember when a client is upset Try not to look at it as who is right or wrong. Instead try to think about how to fix the problem as quickly as possible. If it truly wasn’t your fault, apologize that this happened and remain respectful and professional. Then talk about the solution that you have come up with. If it was your fault, admit your wrongdoing and talk about how to fix it immediately. Have someone reread your email before sending anything. It is always good to have someone with no bias that see things from both sides.
Social Media – it differs for everything you are representing Part of being on the PR team was taking control of the social media. It took the team a while to get a hang of it. Eventually, with guidance from our advisor, we figured out that tweeted in a playful tone such as using puns, got more attention than being serious. We updated our social media every 15 minutes and made sure every tweet fit into a certain category. I recommend making a schedule and making different categories for the material you want to advertise.
Communication is Key I’m sure you’ve heard this before but it is completely true. From talking to your colleagues to your clients, it makes everything easier. Anytime I was confused about anything, I simply asked someone. You might feel dumb asking a question at first but it actually makes people respect you. By asking questions, you are clarifying what needs to be done in order to accomplish your goals correctly. Even just talking to your colleagues to get them know them helps build relationships and makes everything a lot less awkward. I made a lot of friends at the fair and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been social.
Fair things You would think that after 2 weeks I would get tired of corndogs and lemon shakeups but that actually sounds pretty tasty right now. You can (and should) do pretty much anything with a media pass. If you flash your media pass and act like you know what you’re doing, others will think the same. Tractor pulls are painfully loud. I still don’t understand the enjoyment behind that one. There are so many things to see at a state fair like a giant cheese sculpture, a rodeo, concerts, dog show, acrobats and the list goes on. Farm animals are adorable. I milked a cow!
I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to work with such a fun group of people. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I was completely exhausted at the end of each day but it was worth it.
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