Social media | The PR Life

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” – Abraham Lincoln

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I know it’s been awhile since my last career/PR post but fear not – I’ve still been working my tail off meeting like-minded professionals, communicating on behalf of my organization and always looking forward for bigger and greater opportunities. I’ve been working for the City of Vancouver, but more specifically the Vancouver Park Board, for about 16 months now at varying capacities from internal communications, media relations, event planning, strategic organizational planning, social media engagement, and of course, relationship building just to name a few. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with seasoned professionals under stringent and strategic direction, and also been given the opportunity to literally jump in and been given the freedom (errr freedom sounds better than no choice?) to sink or swim. It’s been challenging – not only from a work basis, but on a personal basis to take the situations I’ve encountered and turned them from negatives to opportunities.

I’ve messed up, saved my butt and have professionally grown from my experiences. I’ve also seen great successes and been able to develop meaningful relationships with coworkers, partners and external professional partners all while learning a lot; about myself, about the great potential of individuals within the City of Vancouver and the capacity of greatness that is possible from the building of community. On top of all this paid work (hey, we all need to make money to live right?) I’ve been doing a lot of personal relationship building in the community. Through my use of twitter, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing individuals who live and breathe their passions and have been able to make huge strides in creating opportunity. These leaders have seen success not because of who they know and financial backers – but because they have been successful in developing relationships and becoming experts that others look to for direction. Whichever way you look at it, there are opportunities all around us and it’s up to professionals like us to make those connections and tell their stories.

Even though I’ve been very fortunate to move to a new city and land a great opportunity, I cannot say it was easy. It took a lot of work and a lot of putting myself out there to create the connections which have gotten me to where I am currently (I’m talking literally, emotionally and professionally) – but throughout all the coffee dates, emails, twitter conversation, blog comments and walking up to random strangers and sticking my right hand out with a big warm smile and saying “Hi, I’m Amanda.” It’s funny how a little confidence and an open and inviting demeanor can make a world of a difference. It’s not about how much you know, or who you know – it’s about applying what you do know and being present. Listen and be mindful of what’s happening in front of you and that will take you far.

** I don’t want the point of this post to get washed over with positive sentiments inspiring you to “follow your dreams, set big goals and go after what you want,” as all of those I truly believe and promote regularly – but not to encourage dreamers to keep dreaming but I hope that with my experiences others will see that big things are possible when you take action and create direction for your own life.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to my family, growing up in the east coast and my education to credit them for my unfailing genuine and authentic nature. With all that I do, I do it with passion, openness and authenticity. the person you see through this blog, on twitter and in person are the same identical Amanda. I feel that as our mediums of communication change from a more formal written, one-directional conversation to a continuous two-way engaging model searing at our finger tips and ear drums in no more than 5 mediums at a time… you don’t have time to look for ways to come up with false stories. I barely have time to drink enough water a day – when would a person find the time or energy to be anything but genuine? These aspects are a huge part of my character and when it comes down to it, I believe they are a huge part of why I make a good (working on great!) communicator, story teller and soon to be thought leader (give me some time for this one, ok?).

And without further ado, I am happy and excited to announce that I’ve accepted an offer from Peak Communicators to be a new Senior Account Executive to their growing team!

Who/what is Peak? Peak Communicators is the largest independent full-service PR agency in Western Canada with a specialty in media relations, communication strategy, media training and digital media.

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Coming to Vancouver I told myself time and time again that I was not going to settle for a job, but I was going to seek out a job that I felt I could be passionate about. I don’t just want a job, I want the job and I want to grow a career. I researched, met with and connected with countless professionals across varying PR positions/focuses and cut it down to a few specific organizations in which I truly felt I would be able to do ~~good~~ great work for – because I felt the organization’s values and mandates where similar to my personal ones. To me, that is what a career is about – so after one didn’t work out – I kept on trucking and chose to take a great opportunity that has allowed me to grow professionally more in 16 months than most do in years.

But, in the back of my mind I always thought that while this is teaching me a lot about myself – I still feel like there’s a better, bigger place for me. Through my unfailing connecting and connection making to build personal relationships within the communication industry in Vancouver, I was approached by Peak to find out if there might be an opportunity for me to expand my experiences and be apart of an exciting time of growth with Peak – and I’ve graciously accepted!

In a few short weeks I will be starting with Peak Communicators and although excited, I’m also nervous (what great opportunity doesn’t cause any person to be slightly nervous?) – I’m ready to work hard and do what I do best – get results!

Peak: here I come!

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. -Saint Francis of Assisi

Incase you don’t know – this week is Social Media Week!

From September 19-23 social media summits are taking place all over the world. From Berlin – to Moscow – to Chicago – to Milan – to Beirut – to Vancouver, conferences have been organized and facilitated by social media experts, gurus and professionals. When I heard about #SMW, I knew I had to attend sessions that would provide insight into my sector and be a good opportunity for professional development.

The two I attended were: Government 2.0 / Open Government Summit and Mobile and App Summit.

The first was Gov 2.0 early this morning and I honestly have to say it was absolutely phenomenal. It was well-organized, the speakers were well thought out to provide a diversity of perspectives and not only that, it’s a topic I’m very, very interested in. I met a new friend @Astra_PT, engaged with some great speakers and fellow attendees via twitter: @davedotca, @tantwy, @naomiyamamoto, @jonmccomb980, @jenn_wint, @jenn_wint, @ThePej, @KristineCarrick, @sengsuriya.

The points I found the most interesting from the summit were how politicians and government divisions are not only adapting their communications plans to integrate social media… they are engaging with their public and seeing pretty decent response rates. Also, I very much enjoyed hearing about past experiences of how the public’s input via social media was collected and integrated into policies accordingly. It will be interesting to see where this new acceptance and use of social media platforms will sit when it comes to policy making – and all I know is that I want to be apart of it. This was only the tip of the iceberg for me, I can’t wait to dive in and get my hands dirty with political/governmental public engagement!

The second was the Mobile App summit. Although I thought this might even be more engaging and informative than the first conference I attended, it proved to not live up to its expectations. I’m not sure if I read the description incorrect, or if most people who are interested in how to engage the public on mobile devises are purely marketers… but the panel seemed to be slightly biased. Their own agendas and mandates that related directly to their companies… was the vehicle in which they provided responses to the questions, and although useful – not exactly what I was hoping to get out of it.

All in all, I’m so very glad I had the opportunity to take part in this incredible summit. I wish I would have been able to attend more than 2, but duty calls! I can’t wait for the next SMW coming up in February 2011! If you want to take part – you better have a twitter handle and start engaging and developing professional relationships online!

Did you attend any summit’s this week? If so which ones and what did you think about them?