Santa Clara University is a small community which many consider a bubble from the outside world. I was able to call it home for four years and enjoyed every minute of it. Since graduating in June 2010, I have only been back a handful of times for alumni events or to see campus renovations. It’s still odd to go back, especially when none of my friends are there. In my return visits, everything looks the same, but is somehow different. As a student, I could never see myself as a real person in the workforce. It just seemed so adult and in the future. While I knew graduation was inevitable, my main goal was to complete my assignments to the best of my ability and also have some fun in the process. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that I would be a guest speaker in one of my old classes, at least not until I attended a couple of reunions!
When my boss, Barb Hagin, asked me to go with her to Santa Clara to speak to Professor Buford Barr’s public relations class, I was very excited and also a little paranoid. When you do something for so long - like being a student - it’s weird to have the tables turn where everyone is listening to what you have to say, instead of the other way around. Would they take me seriously? Would they care? Could I give good insight into my job and offer advice that they could use? These were all questions swirling in my head before presenting.
On presentation day, my job was to share tips the students could use at their first job, discuss the top 10 things I like about tech PR and Breakaway, and also help to answer any questions they had. Once Barb completed her discussion of what Breakaway Communications does and how the PR industry has evolved, I was up.
Here was my “Top 10 Things I Like about Tech PR” list:
Overall, being back at Santa Clara as an alumnus and speaker was a success. Although it made me feel pretty old, it also made me happy that I could provide the students with something they could hopefully use when entering the job market that I was so uneasy about entering not too long ago.
Note from Barb Hagin: Joey did a fabulous job providing insight, sharing anecdotes about “real-world” PR, and engaging the class. He also received props from Professor Barr for his terrific performance. As Joey noted, this particular class was very engaged, with most students asking questions throughout the session and several coming to talk with us after class was dismissed. I’ve had the honor of speaking to Professor Barr’s SCU classes for over a decade, and was very impressed by the energy and enthusiasm. We’ll be on the lookout for strong talent in the Class of 2012!
A Shel of My Former Self
Ars Technica
All Things Digital
Bad Pitch Blog
Breakaway Blog
GigaOm
Influential Marketing Blog
Louis Gray
Mashable
PRNewser
Pro PR Tips
ReadWriteWeb
Scobleizer
Silicon Valley Watcher
Strategic Public Relations
TechCrunch
VentureBeat
Webware
Wi-Fi Networking News
ZDNet’s Social Business
