Advice to the poor souls who are about to endure the JOUR 4460 campaign

­­My group just wrapped up the final project for 4460, our last public relations class. I was so lucky to have been grouped with three other amazing ladies who were just as dedicated to the project as I was. We all worked hard and met often, brainstorming and collaborating the whole time.

Heads up: this is going to be a HUGE undertaking and will require a great deal of your time. I lucked out with a great group. Some of the other groups had issues with member participation. Just so you know: if someone starts flaking from the get-go, don’t rely on them to finish any of their assignments on time. Expect to have to compensate for weak links right away.

You don’t expect you’re going to need advice. It seems really straightforward. You have no idea.

Heed these tips and save yourself a lot of trouble:

1. Meet once a week.

·         Set an agenda for upcoming meetings. Even if you don’t set an agenda, MEET. There’s always something to talk about, and someone always brings something up that needs to be discussed. Besides, it’s hard to get everyone on the same page without meeting face-to-face (or at least webcam-to-webcam).

2. Make your first meeting a creative brainstorming session.

·         Think about the characteristics of the organization. Come up with a bunch of adjectives, then figure out the best two or three that associate best with the organization’s overall character.

3. Come up with a list of about 10-15 possible taglines

·         What’s the organization wanting to say to the world?

·         Alliteration is good and catchy, but try not to get hung up on the sound alone. If you get stuck on trying to make a tagline sound a certain way, you miss out on creating something with real meaning.

4. Assign parts to each group member based on his or her strengths, then set deadlines for the assignments.

·         Try to get everything done two weeks before the final plan is due. The sooner you finish each piece that will go into your book, the sooner you can start putting it together as a cohesive unit. The book must read fluidly and has to be designed professionally. The more time you have to scrutinize the final product, the more polished you can make it.

5. Have each member edit each assignment. Everyone has a different eye, so each person might find something different that needs to be changed.

·         A Facebook group is a great way to communicate, but a difficult way to share your material. To share documents, spreadsheets, images, etc., use email. I’ve heard that Google Docs is great, too.

6. DO NOT wait until the night before or the day that it’s due to have it all printed up, bound and ready to turn in. A great idea would be to have a book totally finished, printed and bound the week before it’s due so you can each look at the physical copy itself. Failing to look through each printed page makes you miss little things that can be fixed, like fuzzy images or printer ink smears.

This is going to be really tough, but you’ll be very proud when all is said and done. Remember that once it’s over, you will get to sleep again and that your life will return to normal. Good luck, and have a drink for me at Lou’s when you make it through.