by: Cecilia Bulmahn
As a student at SIU, there are many opportunities available right here in Carbondale, but
the opportunities don’t end there. At the end of February, my fellow Salukis and I traveled to
Chicago to attend the Public Relations Student Society of America Midwest District
Conference. This two-day event at DePaul University hosted 140 attendees including five
students and one staff member from SIU.
Amtrak Adventure
There were various travel options to consider getting to Chicago. Living in Carbondale has the perk of easy access to the train, making it convenient to travel to Chicago on a roughly six-hour ride that showcases scenery along the way through Illinois. Once we arrived in Chicago, everyone started to feel very hungry. It was 11pm when we arrived, so we weren’t very optimistic about food options and didn’t think any restaurants would even be open. Nevertheless, we figured it couldn’t hurt to look, and it turns out that being in a big city, many places are open late at night! After eating copious amounts of sushi, we settled in to sleep so that we could show up our best the next day.
Agencies and Alumni
Thursday started out with resume workshops from Chicago PR professionals. Despite the large number of attendees, professionals took the time to review each individual’s resume and provide valuable insight. After that, we left DePaul University and braved Chicago’s chilly winds to walk to the Zeno Group office and Edelman office. Some of their employees put together a presentation and a Q&A panel so that we could really get an idea of what it’s like to work at a PR agency.
Dinner that night was spent with SIU Alumnus, Andrew Krause. After graduating, Krause has led a very impressive career in PR and is now the president of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Chicago. He was able to provide insight into different areas of public relations and even included some stories from his time as a Saluki!
Friday included a mix of networking, site visits, and panels. SIU students split into groups to visit three organizations: the Chicago Cubs front office, Rudd Resources, and G&S Communications. As a life-long Cubs fan, I was ecstatic to get behind-the-scenes information on what it takes to run a professional sports team. That afternoon, all the attendees reconvened to end the conference at DePaul University and hear about various subjects including crisis communications, recruiting, and PR in non-profit organizations.
Dinner and Debrief
The end of the conference called for a much-needed dinner. Over dinner, we talked about everything we had experienced over the past two days. One student, Addison Bean, shared that she, “learned a lot of valuable tips and tricks to help get my name in front of hiring committees, and also how to make my name stand out.”
Opportunities like this can help prepare you for the workforce and a view of what your profession looks like outside of the classroom. Joining RSOs and getting involved on campus is key to being available when events like these pop up!
