Carefully Crafted on September 29

A New Age of Mentoring

prstudchatTechnology is breaking down so many barriers, not the least of which is the gap between students and the business world. For example, last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with group of Central Michigan University public relations students. We talked about everything from internships and networking for that first job … to new skills today’s grads need to have and Twitter (of course!).

But, mentoring is a two-way process. (Think it’s only about teaching young professionals? David Spinks says think again.) And, thanks to social media, we have the opportunity to mentor — and be mentored by — smart people regardless of geographic constraints.

That’s one of the core principles behind the PR Student Chat, a monthly Twitter chat between PR students, pros and educators. And, I’m really excited to have the opportunity to be part of the PR Student Chat Challenge, along with some of my other favorite bloggers. The next chat is scheduled for October 21st at noon ET. From the contest announcement:

Whichever school has the greatest number of participants in the October 21st chat wins an in-depth conversation with public relations industry veteran Deirdre Breakenridge via Skype. The winning students will have an opportunity to pose questions and interact with one of PR’s leading professionals. Additionally, the winning school will have the opportunity to earn some publicity for their PR programs. Also, BurrellesLuce will be donating a $50 American Express Gift Certificate to the students and school in order to celebrate their PR Student Chat win!

Leading PR industry publications and blogs including Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog, examiner.com, the PRSSA blog, PR 2.0 Strategies, PRSarahevans, Journalistics, CommuniKayTrix, PRBreakfastClub, LAF, Proactive Report, Justincaseyouwerewondering, PRtini, Communications Conversations, and DougHaslam will be participating in the challenge.

I’m looking forward to participating in the next discussion and can’t wait to see which schools will be most represented. After speaking with the CMU students last week, I bet they’ll have a great showing. Wonder if my alma mater, the University of Toledo, will be there, too?

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