Traveling With Lola

The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is the biggest organization for students interested in communications. 2019 was the last gathering of these students and industry professionals for networking and professional development, in an increasingly necessary and important industry in the time of a global pandemic, economic extremes, and social and civil protests. And who was lucky enough to attend this year’s conference in Grapevine, TX, the first in-person ICON in three years?! Yep.. you guessed it. ME!

Besides the keynote addresses, fireside chats, breakout sessions, and networking breakfasts, I also had a brief opportunity to explore the area of Grapevine. Here are my biggest PR and travel takeaways from the weekend. 

On creating opportunities…

• Be a student of the world.
• Be comfy with the uncomfy.
• Own your mistakes
• Be empathetic. Be humble. 
• HAVE FUN!
• Find the opportunities to intersect what you love and your professional and personal passions. 
• Everything you do should be part of your purpose.

On crisis PR for airlines…

• Without mandates, the Delta Airlines communication team was able to record 95% Covid-19 vaccination rates among their 80,000 employees nationwide. The communications team conducted surveys, held case studies, set up a hotline, and used a variety of other communications tactics to sway their employees and maintain trust without having to mandate vaccinations. 
• The best way to handle a crisis is to prepare for a crisis. Prepare for a crisis by building reputation early, knowing your audience, creating and maintaining communications channels, measuring your communications, using good storytelling and saying thank you. 
• Utilize trusted leaders during a crisis by establishing relationships with stakeholders early, know who to leverage, when and how to do so and ensure the leaders are overcommunicating during the crisis. 

On communicating luxury…. 

• Luxury is the state of great comfort and extravagant living 
• Luxury public relations is different in the following ways:
  • Smaller audience 
  • Different objectives
  • Distinctive voice 
• The five principles of luxury:
  • Provide a seamless experience 
  • Offer convenience 
  • Emphasize lifestyle
  • Tell the story 
  • Stand firm in your brand

On the Future of Brand engagement…

• Generation Z’s role in culture is changing brands forever
• News looks different to Generation Z in the where, how, and what they define as news
• Trust is increasingly shifting to social media 
• There’s no general “mainstream” culture anymore

On celebrities…

• A celebrity is anyone well known in the public eye within their field or discipline
• Benefits to brand and celebrity partnerships include increased sales (average of 4% increase immediately upon working with a celebrity), greater product recall from consumers and increase in stock prices. 
• Working with a celebrity can look like anything from celebrity endorsements, spokespersons, satellite media tours, etc, there are many other creative ways to collaborate with celebrities depending on their industry, skills, and interests. 

On confidence…

• Confidence matters as much as competence when it comes to success.
• Don’t try to be perfect. The key to confidence is taking risks and not being afraid to fail. 
• “Confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into action.”
• The three keys to confidence are to act more, think less, and be authentic. (Oh and BBC Journalist Katty Kay added a bonus one: pass the confidence on!) 

On Mastermind Methodologies…

• Professional development starts with personal development. 
• Remember who you are! Stay on track by asking what you want, where you are going, and why. 
• The irrefutable laws of high performance:
  • Personal accountability
  • Accountability partners 
  • Professional systems
  • Tap into infinite intelligence
• The derivative of burnout comes from doing work we don’t want to do that doesn’t align  with what we want to achieve. 
• Authority isn’t given. Authority is believed. 

On Grapevine… 

• I was told by one of my Uber drivers that Grapevine is considered to be “The Christmas Capital of Texas.” Upon exploring for myself, I can confirm that downtown, historic Grapevine is beautifully decorated for the holiday season during this time of year. 
• We ate at an authentic French Bistro in downtown Grapevine called “Chez Fabien” that was fabulous. I highly recommend the charcuterie board, French Onion Soup, lobster bisque, and wedge salad, which were all fabulous.

My favorite quote from the weekend: 

“Luxury to me is not about buying expensive things, it’s about living in a way where you appreciate things…”

Oscar De La Renta