Francesca, who is studying for a BA (Hons) in Public Relations at Bournemouth University, beat off competition from 29 fellow students from around the UK to win the award.

Every year the CIPR appoints student representatives who work with each regional committee and compete for the title of CIPR Student Representative of the Year. As part of the accolade, Francesca has won a cash prize.

Commenting on the award, Alex Skinner, Past Chair of the CIPR Wessex committee, said:

I can’t congratulate Francesca enough on this tremendous achievement. She’s worked hard this year within the university and attended the committee meetings and really made the most of the opportunities presented to her. I know she’ll go on and do the same during her subsequent career.

On receiving the award, Francesca said:

I was appointed student representative of the CIPR at Bournemouth University in September 2010 after being elected by my classmates. To prove I was Student of the Year I had a range of tasks to perform, including promoting student membership to course members and liaising with the Wessex CIPR group.

I also had to complete a full marketing campaign and an event campaign following briefs set by the CIPR as a major part of the criteria for Student Rep of the Year.

During my year I was also responsible, with another student, Jessica North, for organising a student event that provided me with the practical knowledge and skills required in events management.

That is how I would describe last month’s briefing day for student representatives.

Student rep: Alex Dobocan

Taking part in this, I had the honour of meeting not only gifted professionals but also enthusiastic, imaginative and dedicated students who will make a difference in the PR industry. Anyone who is interested enough to run for the position of student representative, who writes and implements projects, events and  sets up meetings,  is thought to be one step ahead of her colleagues.

The CIPR has developed a very good relationship with students and academic institutions. It is the only chartered body to actively involve students as a part of their agenda; student reps not only get free membership, but also a chair on the committee of their regional CIPR group.

Also, what would be the value of the role if there was not some competitiveness involved? Reps from different universities are now competing for the CIPR  student rep of the year award. With this sort of push, any young aspirant could make it to the top in just a few years.

It’s a win-win situation – the CIPR supports and encourages us, and we promote membership within our own institutions.

To come back to the meeting, things ran smoothly. Malcolm White guided us through the day and introduced some colleagues and committee members: Jessica Molloy, Julio Romo, Andrea Moseley, Elspeth Graham; David Clare and Oana Jinga from this magazine and Tara Cronin, last year’s winning student rep who won an internship at Bio Med Central.

We have all taken the first step and are now looking forward to collaborating with the CIPR and implementing successful recruitment campaigns in our universities.

From Russia with languages

Having obtained an MA in translation and an MA in PR from the Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University in Russia, I decided straight away that translation was not for me. I wanted to be the key player and neither interpreting nor translation allow one to fully engage their creativity and initiative to the full potential.

It took me more than three years to come to realise that I wanted to get involved with PR. So, having compared all London’s CIPR-accredited courses I chose London Met (LMU) as the one offering the best combination of subjects and studying hours. Being able to carry on working full-time was crucial for me to support myself and MA in Communications Management taught at LMU offered classes on weekday evenings allowing me to finish work in Barbican and go to their Jewry Street building in Aldgate in just half an hour.

Being elected CIPR student rep for LMU in October 2009 meant I had to organise an event to promote CIPR membership and equip me with some real-world industry experience. We had no strict guidelines as to the structure, theme or time of the event. Only the budget was clear: just £50.

Internship contest

I chose to conduct an internship contest allowing my fellow students to secure unpaid one-month internships with potential extension into a paid role long before they graduate. In my opinion, this format would allow three agencies to observe 15 MA and BA PR students working in groups and students would be able to choose an agency based on the way PROs sell them.

Teams responding to the assignment

According to the plan, PROs were to introduce their agencies, set out the internship terms and present their briefs. The students then were to split into three groups to tackle an assignment and the practitioners were to judge them on creativity, ability to work in a team, strategic thinking and other professional and individual qualities.  The awards ceremony was to take place at a champagne reception in a nearby restaurant.

Without any events management experience I knew straight away I’d need to write a plan and stick to it, accepting help from anyone in the field. To be honest, I did not even know where to start, so I started by booking a room at the university’s Moorgate Campus through corporate events officer Ann Willis who has proven to be an invaluable asset to my project team.

She arranged IT equipment, refreshments, LMU-labelled tablecloths and more importantly put me through to the key staff at the university who assisted with publishing the event details on the university website, assembling corporate LMU goodie bags etc.

Interest in the event

By direct approach I found and interviewed the agencies, viewed and set the layout for the contest room, approached and chose the graphic designer and the three photographers, the reception venue and had the pre-event press release published in Behind the Spin and Profile Extra.

This generated further interest in the event and I have since been approached by the publisher of Communicate magazine Andrew Thomas who offered a free annual subscription and a free admission to their next five conferences to one winner of the contest. The published poster triggered interest amongst students from other universities and I received more than 30 CVs from students from all over the country including 10 from my own group.

As I only had £50 budget for the event I contacted the selected restaurant to quote for a set menu and charged the missing difference as a registration fee to the students (£7 per person) which covered food and drinks.

Despite all sorts of obstacles and difficulties on the way, the contest has been a total success.

The judges were so impressed with the high calibre and quality of work of the students that the agencies (Lansons, PHA Media and Phoenix) offered more than just one internship each.

Communicate magazine extended their offer of free admission to their five next conferences to all the three super interns of the contest increasing the sponsorship amount to £7,500.

The university suggested I should organize this contest annually. I have even received a few job offers which was a bit overwhelming as I am still writing my dissertation and will not be able to look into it in more detail until September.

The event has won silver at London Met Student Achievement Awards 2009-2010. I have also translated the press release into Russian and sent it out to key Russian PR magazines and online publications and had it published in Communications Management, a feature article was published in Public Relations 26 and an interview in Marketolog and PR in Russia.

My letter and press release with photographs have been published on my university’s official website and in the local newspaper in my home town of Lysva in the Perm region where I used to work as a young correspondent when I was at school.

In the UK an interview has been published at vox-popPRcareers website and a number of bloggers and PR practitioners have made the news go viral on Twitter, Facebook , my blog and theirs.

Before the event I had a few people asking me what was in it for me if it was not even offering an internship for me and I kept saying that the experience meant much more than a work placement. But having finished the event, I can now admit that apart from the great experience of working with such widely recognized and highly valued institutions as CIPR and LMU, I have met and made use of high-flying PR practitioners and university staff and have been exposed to even more offers.

“Wanted: Super Intern” is the name of the event organized by Ekaterina Aleksandrova, CIPR Student representative for the London Metropolitan University, which will take place at the university’s Moorgate Campus on Monday 17 May 2010.

The event involves a competition amongst MA and BA PR students to win an internship in a leading PR consultancy. Three PR consultancies are on the judging panel: Lansons, PHA Media and Phoenix.

The competition will be judged by Sophie Lilley, Director, and Anna Schirmer, Account Director, at Lansons; Stuart Skinner, Senior Account Manager at PHA Media and Antony Poppleton, PR Director at Phoenix.

The judges will introduce their firms and internship terms and present their briefs for the students to tackle. They will score the students on creativity, teamwork, attention to detail, strategic thinking and other personal and professional qualities. Three winners will be selected for a one-month unpaid internship with a possibility of further extension subject to performance.

The results will be announced at the after-party held at the Wall Bar allowing students and PROs to network and interact in a less pressurised environment.

The students will receive feedback, gain a more in-depth understanding of the pitfalls and opportunities and build up their contacts within the industry, and PR practitioners will have unrestricted access to potential graduate starters for their firms.

“PHA Media is delighted to be involved in this great event; we are committed to identifying and nurturing the best young talent and look forward to inviting one candidate to experience life at our agency” said Stuart Skinner, senior manager Sports and Leisure PR, PHA Media.

Competition has become a theme for all aspects of the event. Major photography institutes, schools and departments have been invited to apply for the photographer’s position and submit their portfolios and ideas for the photo shoots. Chen Gao who has been selected for the role, is a freelance from Zibo, China, with a BA in Choreography.

The same procedure has been followed to find the best logo design for the event. A competition has been held and the best option has been chosen. Freelance graphic designer Nick Foster, who has been selected, has also supplied images for the posters.

The event has a budget of £120.

More details can be found here.

For further information please contact:
Ekaterina Aleksandrova
Email: superinternwanted@gmail.com
Phone: 07956177117

Delegate your tasks. You won’t be able to do everything.

Set up Google Alerts to track any online coverage. You will be surprised about how useful this can be.

After a 30 minute journey I arrived in Gloucester and quickly foraged for a coffee. I was due on BBC Radio Gloucester to have an interview with presenter Faye Hatcher about the #AddMe Social Media Conference taking place that evening. The conference was being set up as part of my role as CIPR Student Representative for the University of Gloucestershire.

As a CIPR Student Representative in Cheltenham I saw that I was already at a disadvantage. Cheltenham is known for its Gold Cup week in March. This is a time when the roads become gridlocked, the majority of locals move away and this means many venues are booked up. Yet March was going to have to be the date for the conference due to study obligations.

Trying to find a venue was a monumental task that caused many sleepless nights with a head full of doubt. Even the university’s halls were in use but a last minute opportunity eventually showed itself. The largest hall at Park Campus was free on Wednesday 10th March. At the time this left just a month to arrange the event.

Four weeks to sort out online promotions, press promotions, to get catering, find expert social media speakers, arrange affiliations and get tickets sold. It is also worth saying that as the University of Gloucestershire is a smaller university there is only one CIPR Student Rep. Just me. Not entirely sure how this is meant to work as the size of a class does not deter the size of the event. Despite all this frazzling head heat I had an idea. I knew what this conference was going to look like and that it would be special.

Before I arranged anything I spoke with lots of people gauging their interest in a social media conference. I soon found out that not only is Cheltenham a growing base for social media but this would be the first professional social media conference in the town. I spoke with the Dean of my Campus, this news soon reached other lecturers in the business school and there was interest. It became clear to me that no more time should be wasted.

The mixture of organising the conference and arranging publicity had been a task that I could never have prepared myself for in the classroom. Being thrown into the deep end is difficult at first but soon you learn to swim.

The contacts I have built up during the last month will be valuable and this has allowed me to become proactive in Cheltenham.

Publicising the event

Publicity included sending press releases to the local media but with this event I had a point to prove. A social media conference’s main source of publicity should be through the internet. Therefore it was critical for the conference to have a website. Any promotions using social media must refer back to the main source, a website of some kind.

As I am already active on the internet this task was simple. It took a couple of minutes to set up a sub domain but just over a week to have all the content sorted out on the website. Due to ease of use and flexibility I chose a WordPress package as the CMS. At the same time a Twitter profile was set up (@AddMeConf) which would be used to communicate up-to-date information quickly.

At the university there is such a large skill and talent base that I would one would have to be mad to ignore. One of my friends, Chris Brightwell, designed the graphics for the conference. This branded the event and helped with media exposure. My drinking buddy, Jonny Orme, organised filming at the event and will soon be editing the videos for YouTube.

People are inherently forgetful. It was necessary to repeat time, date and price information every few days and still many students asked me about the details. A Facebook event was set up to repeatedly message guests. The benefit of having sorted a PayPal system was that the money instantly hit my bank account. This made the financial side of the conference much less stressful as I could spend money that was already in my pocket.

Media  coverage

The #AddMe Conference got 18 different pieces of coverage. This included BBC Gloucestershire, Business Week, Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucestershire Media Group. In two months the website received a total of 800 unique hits and 1,784 visits. The Twitter profile got 176 followers with over 100 mentions of the #AddMe and #AddMeConf hashtag.

Keeping the success of this conference in mind here are my tips about events management and promotions.

Ten Things to remember about events management:

1. Work quickly to get a venue. Once you have the venue and date you can start selling.
2. Use your contacts or speak with people in order to get some.
3. If you don’t ask then you definitely won’t receive.
4. Always keep your audience in mind.
5. Remember to remind ticket buyers of the details.
6. You will get frazzled. Beat the pain barrier.
7. Don’t send a group email to buyers without hiding the email addresses.
8. Delegate your tasks. You won’t be able to do everything.
9. Health and safety forms are always a pain but always complete these in plenty of time.
10. Try to get as much for free as possible. The venue for #AddMe Conference was free of charge.

Ten Things to remember about publicity:

1. Always phone before sending the press release.
2. Write the press release specifically for the targeted publication.
3. Send personal invites.
4. Strike deals with affiliated companies to promote.
5. Journalists are busy but very helpful. Don’t be afraid to ask for contacts.
6. The best way to promote is by ‘word of mouth’. Get involved in the community (eg. I went to DigiTalks in Cheltenham to speak on stage).
7. Strike interest online. This will lead to blog posts and many tweets (The first ticket sale for the #AddMe Conference was through Twitter).
8. Set up Google Alerts to track any online coverage. You will be surprised about how useful this can be.
9. Never turn a promotion opportunity down. Even if you feel tired you must go out and raise interest.
10. You can never promote too much.

The event will consist of PR experts from the industry talking to the students and offering tips and advice, followed by them holding mock interviews, which will prove invaluable towards improving interview skills.

Professionals attending include Andy Green of Green Communications, Professor Anne Gregory of Leeds Metropolitan University and Director of Communications at Northern Ballet, Laraine Penson.

The event invites all levels of PR students, as strong interview skills are crucially important to all at this time, as they work hard to secure 12 month work placements, short-term placements and graduate positions.

Second year PR student Becky Knowles said: “as I am currently preparing for an interview with the Disney Channel for a year long internship, this is the perfect time to have an event like this – it is sure to be very helpful.”

The event has been organised by Leeds Met CIPR Student Representatives Megan Edwards and Sophia Dryden, with support from Public Relations Course Leader, Lucy Laville.

Sophia said: “the event is a great opportunity for students to network, as well as gain advice from the people who have the knowledge and expertise to help improve their skills.’

The event will take place between 6.30 and 8pm in room 414 and refreshments will be available.

Behind the Spin's editor addressing student reps

Here are the CIPR student representatives from the various approved public relations degree courses for the 2009-10 academic year, as announced by the CIPR.

Birmingham City University: Oana Jinga

Bournemouth University: Chris Hicks

Cardiff University: Pooja Jagpal and Julian Higuera

University of Central Lancashire: Lauren Pritchard and Antonia Murray

De Montfort University: Donna Airey

Edinburgh Napier University: Fiona McAuliffe and Trudy Cross

University of Gloucestershire: Michael White

Leeds Metropolitan University: Sophia Dryden and Megan Edwards

University of Lincoln: Catrina Laskey

London Metropolitan University: Ekaterina Alexsandrova

Manchester Metropolitan University: Tara Cronin

Queen Margaret University: Eva Kestner

Robert Gordon University: Diana Predosanu and Leona Minellas

Southampton Solent University: King Houndekpinkou

University of Stirling: Craig Fergusson

University of Sunderland: Lee Measor

Wolverhampton University: Rakhee Rathod

Bill Ranatunga, who graduates this year from the BA (Hons) Communication, Advertising and Public Relations course at Napier, is the student judged to have best represented the CIPR.

Each year approved PR courses select CIPR student representatives. 31 student reps competed for the title this year.

They were judged on how well they fulfilled the vital liaison role they played between their university, students, practitioners and the CIPR. They were also assessed on their ability to give a formal presentation and plan, organise and implement a professional event.

As well as completing all other aspects of the student rep role, Ranatunga hosted a networking evening that attracted around 60 students and 40 PR professionals. Students came from various institutions in Scotland and from as far away as Manchester to take part in the evening. The CIPR Scotland committee is now contemplating using it as an annual event to attract students in the region.

He also secured media coverage through a variety of channels such as The Journal, a 32-page, mini-Berliner format newspaper published on a fortnightly basis and distributed to all five of Edinburgh’s higher education institutions.

Ranatunga said: “I had a lot of fun doing the event and it attracted students that greatly appreciated hearing about how the CIPR could help them find a career in public relations.”

Carol Matthews, Chair of CIPR Scotland, said: “CIPR course reps are the future leaders of the public relations profession – so to come top of this distinguished group is a real achievement. By juggling the responsibilities of a course rep alongside their studies, these students demonstrate their ability to manage priorities in a professional manner and a commitment to their chosen career.”

“The industry and future employers are lucky to have them.”

In addition to the Award, the CIPR is giving Bill a complimentary ticket to the World PR Conference and Festival which it is hosting in London on 23/24 June, as well as an activities away day of his choosing.

The runners-up were Beth Moore from Cardiff University and Ariadna Bahmatova from London Metropolitan University.

If you are studying on a CIPR-approved degree course and are interested in becoming a CIPR Student Rep at the beginning of the next academic year speak to your course tutor and get them to arrange an election or arrange one yourself. Once elected inform Vicky King the CIPR’s Education and Student Liaison Officer either by email, victoriak@cipr.co.uk or by phone on 020 7766 3333. Student reps receive free CIPR membership while they are in the role. The CIPR will also be hosting the annual student rep day in the first term of the academic calendar at CIPR headquarters in London where newly elected reps will be briefed on the role.