2011 PRSSA National Conference

The 2011 PRSSA National Conference was a complete success.

Eight students from the University of Washington, including myself, attended the conference, held in Orlando this year. We are the current officers of UW PRSSA. At the conference, we learned new skills, tips, and tricks for improving our chapter of PRSSA.

We started our trip with an evening in the hotel, getting to know Orlando. Early the next morning, we registered for conference attended our first session. The first official day was very relaxed. That evening, we attended a masquerade. Everyone was given a mask to wear at the event.

The second day, we got right to work. The keynote speaker was Craig Dezern from Disney Destinations. Later that day, we attended a session with Richard Levick of Levick Strategic Communications. In my opinion, this was the most influential session of the entire conference.

That evening, we took the night to go to Disney World. It was a nice break after an intense day of learning.

Day three of our trip included a keynote address by reporter Rick Leventhal of Fox News. We were lucky enough to attend a PRSA general session with speakers Soledad O'Brien with CNN and Peter Diamandis of X Prize. Not only did we get to attend, we sat with our PRSA Puget Sound president Kathy Reith.

The following day, we attended a coffee meet and greet with our PRSA professional mentors then our group split up into several groups for sessions. Later that evening, we attended a dinner with the entire PRSSA conference and sat with our peers from other chapters.

On our last day, there was a final breakfast with thank you's and excellent conversation.

This experience was well worth the money and the days of school missed. I would recommend any and all chapters of PRSSA go and try to include all officers. We had excellent bonding and are much closer than we would have been had we not gone.