Posts Tagged ‘Kevin Dugan’

August 30, 2008

{ October 7, 2008 @ 4:45 pm } · { Comment }
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Comment on Dr. V’s Blog on “Crazy Things Happen In PR”

PR Skills

{ September 4, 2008 @ 1:58 am } · { Assignments }
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John Bell’s “13 Skills of the PR Pro of the Future,” are very specific and many of these skills are associated with technology. The book suggested that the five most important skills a person wanting to practice PR should acquire are having good writing skills and expertise in a few areas, being inquisitive and committed, and showing common sense.

I also noticed in the book there are “the top-three desired qualities for entry-level employees” according to the 2002 study that are very closely related to Kevin Dugan’s advise. These three qualities are strong written and oral communication, willingness to learn and enthusiasm, and personality. Kevin similarly advised our class for one to interview for a public relations field, they must have very good writing skills and a professional personality. Also like the third quality listed in our book Kevin said that most importantly they must have passion for the job and be willing to learn the new position.

It seems to me that since two different sources point out three very related requirements, I should begin to increase my skills in those areas:

-My best quality of these three is the willingness to learn and amount of enthusiasm because I am a very optimistic person and I usually catch on fast.

-My personality is very outgoing and I believe I can portray a sense of professionalism wherever I go.

-My oral communication, and especially my written communication needs improvement. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and it is hard to get this idea onto paper.

-My plan is to continue to take writing and communication courses at Clemson University. As far as John Bell’s 13 skills go, I believe I am very good at “managing communities” but the other technological skills listed I could probably use some improvement in as well. Hopefully in the next few years I will be able to expand my technological horizon by keeping a blog and subscribing to new websites.

Kevin Dugan’s Telephone Call

{ August 27, 2008 @ 2:31 pm } · { Responses }
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Kevin Dugan, director of marketing communications for FRCH Design Worldwide, spoke to our Public Relations course via speaker phone yesterday. After hearing from Kevin, who is one of the writers of “The Bad Pitch Blog,” which presents real live Public Relation pitches that are unsuccessful and almost comical, I had a better understanding of how to be prepared for an interview in the Public Relations field.

Kevin told us that the skills most needed for an interview in this field, especially for someone working for him, would require three main things. First, he stressed the need to be professional in every manner. He advised to pay attention to detail such as professional clothing, speech, and mannerisms. Also, he said that employers want to know that you can write so he encourages us to bring samples of our writing such as essays and articles. Lastly, Kevin says that we must have passion for the job and are willing to learn everything about the position.

Although it was hard to hear Kevin in a large class on the phone, I did understand from him that it is important to have strategies in the Public Relations field. This means we must have a goal in our mind and a purpose for taking certain actions.