Monday

It's really amazing to me that this conference is almost finished! I've had so much fun and learned so much these past few days and I'll be sad to see it all over with tomorrow when I fly back home.

This morning was the Career Development Exhibition where employers from all over the country came and set up tables to get an opportunity to meet students. Representatives from several places including agencies like Burson-Marsteller, Edelman and Fleishman-Hillard were there, as well as some rather unexpected places like the CW Network and T-Mobile. I found it really interesting to get to speak to some of the representatives about their jobs and got a really good idea of what options there are out in the professional world for a PR person.

This afternoon I attended the last professional development session of the conference.
Resumes, Portfolios and Social Media
This was hosted by the very famous Walter Bateman (for whom the annual Bateman competition is named) and he spoke about what employers look for in a resume, especially as social media has changed the landscape of the profession. He recommended tailoring your resume to fit each job you apply for, and using social media to get your name out there (for example, I have a Facebook and LinkedIn profile that I use to supplement my resume).

This evening was our farewell "Academy of PRSSA Awards Ceremony" (think the Academy Awards, complete with a red carpet and paparazzi) where outstanding chapters and scholarship winners were honored. My roommate for the conference, the chapter president at the University of North Florida, received an award as one of the outstanding chapter presidents.

I've had such an awesome time here and it's really been both educational and practical. I've gotten to meet so many new people and I can't wait to return home to share all of this with my chapter.