Delaney Hibbits
Arts and Entertainment Editor
ESU’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter is hosting its first district conference. The event, Bloomfest: Grow Into Your Potential, is a two-day in-person event being hosted on April 19 and 20. It will be held in Beers Lecture Hall.
PRSSA Vice President Patrick Harvey says, “The preparation for the district conference consists of inviting alumni to the event, organizing the schedule, advertising/promoting the conference, food/beverage ordering, decorations, and making reservations. We are expecting by the time the conference is over, students will have multiple connections with professionals whom they can reach out to. They will have a clearer understanding of the professional world and gain valuable knowledge on what to do now to set themselves up better for the future.”
In the past, ESU’s PRSSA chapter hosted its first Alumni Conference titled Path to the Peak. Fourteen alumni returned to share their experiences in different fields including public relations and marketing communication.
Within a year, PRSSA went from preparing and hosting its own conference to putting together a Mid-Atlantic district event.
Bloomfest will have different panels with speakers and alumni who are currently working in numerous fields. Some topics that will be discussed include social media and AI, crisis management, diversity and news media relations.
A few notable speakers are Alissa Poster, Amanda Forgione and Elizabeth Reeves. Poster is the senior vice president of branding and influencer marketing at Awestruck. Forgione acts as the head of marketing and communications at Beeler.Tech. Finally, Reeves is the public relations coordinator at Strong Mountain Media.
Along with the different panels and speakers, PRSSA will also host a speed networking event on Friday at 5 p.m. More than twenty alumni will be available to network with students and other participants hoping to expand their career opportunities.
Harvey explains, “The Speed Dating Networking Event is the highlight of the conference. Providing this chance for students to connect with professionals in the field is going to be a great experience for everyone to get involved and potentially take the next step. During the speed networking event, students will be able to have one-on-one time with professionals. They would be able to bring their resumes, business cards, and portfolios to really pitch themselves to professionals and put themselves out there. This is a rare opportunity for students to be able to connect with professionals and ask them any questions they may have. The event will be a great help to students in finding the right direction to go.”
Following this gathering, participants are invited to attend the conference reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Alongside President Long and the provost, Monroe County legislators Tarah Probst, Maureen E. Madden and Pa. Senator Rosemary M. Brown will also be in attendance.
On Saturday, Bloomfest begins with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. The Leadership Summit starts at 9 a.m. which acts as a way of updating alumni and participants before the rest of the conference.
The panels on Saturday include celebrity and fashion PR, diversity, news media relations and recent alumni presentations. The conference concludes with a closing lunch that includes awards.
Francesca Palmeri, former president of PRSSA, will be returning to speak at the recent alumni panel. She is the most recent graduate who also has experience within PRSSA at ESU. Since graduating, Palmeri has become known as a financial professional at Levine Professional Group.
For attendance, ESU PRSSA members may enter free of charge but ESU students will be charged fifteen dollars. High school students in Monroe County Public Schools will be charged ten dollars. For other PRSSA chapters, entrance is twenty dollars while faculty and general registration costs twenty-five dollars.
Chapter President Xzy-Naye Campbell, Vice President Patrick Harvey, Dr. Mullan and other organization members have been working for months to make this conference a success. To register for this event, participants can go on ESU’s website and search for PRSSA 2024 Mid-Atlantic Conference or click here!
