Assisting Prince Charles Public School

Tweet

Providing assistance where assistance is needed is the mission.  We all know there are a lot of places that could use help.  To end my Loyalist PR course at Loyalist College,  I choose at the last minute to assist Prince Charles Public School here in Belleville Ontario.  The main task for my internship was fundraising and assisting Prince Charles Public School in fundraising and assisting with coordinating their fun fair. Last post was titled: Prince Charles Fun Fair.

Prince Charles Public School, located on Richie Street currently goes up to grade five.  Currently, grades six, seven, and eight attend Sir Mackenzie Bowell School, also known as SMB.   I choose this school because it also is in my community.  As I stated in my last post next year, SMB will be closing.  Currently under construction to expand to take in more students along with three more grades are Sir John A. Macdonald School and Prince Charles Public School.  I felt this year’s fundraising is important because Prince Charles still needs new play equipment for the following year.  Construction of the new school is located where the equipment was, the new equipment will be relocated.  Prince Charles is looking forward to their new play equipment.

The fun fair is not the only task I am assisting with for my internship.  As I said it was important to me to do much more this year then they had done in the past.  I want to set records and leave them with a “BANG”.

Prince Charles Fun Fair

Today, May 5 2011, Prince Charles Public School of Belleville Ontario, will be holding their annul end of the year fun fair at 4:30 PM.   I have been doing my Loyalist PR internship with Prince Charles Public School working on fundraising for their fun fair.

Prince Charles Public School, which is located on Richie Street in Belleville Ontario currently goes up to grade five.  Current grades six, seven, and eight now attend Sir Mackenzie Bowell School, also known as SMB.   Next year, SMB will be closing.  Sir John A. Macdonald School and Prince Charles Public School are currently under construction to expand to take in more students along with three more grades.

This year’s fundraising is important to Prince Charles as they still need new play equipment for the following year.  The construction is currently being built over the old playground and the new playground will need to be relocated.  Prince Charles is looking forward to their new play equipment.

Tips on How to Brand Yourself

Tweet

Branding is important in life not only just for companies.  Everything you wear and do reflexes on your image/brand.  That image/brand can affect every type of relationship you ever have with anyone you have a relationship with-in your life. 

You can read more about personal branding and its affects in my post titled “Personal Branding: All or Nothing”. 

Over the past couple weeks I have been working on branding myself.  It has taken longer than needed but I had started to enjoy designing my self-image/brand and had gotten carried away.

I had a self-branding assignment as my last assignment in the digital design program with-in the Loyalist PR program at Loyalist College. Once I had designed my first self-branding design I had taken it to a few trusted friends around the school and past instructors from the business program at Loyalist College.   During the past couple week I have learned there is no perfect branding.

You will never amaze everyone. 

Everyone has their own sense of design.  Most important you can’t express everything in one design.  When thinking about branding yourself or a company; here are some key tips:

1.       Be Creative, don’t use a template.

2.       Remember that it represents you; your design should also represent you.

3.       Less is more; don’t over crowd your design.

4.       Color: don’t use too many color; once again less is more, try to pick 2 or 3 colors that represent you.

5.       Like your own design.

6.       Use it and distribute it.

Creativity is key when designing your image/brand.
In my opinion,

Loyalist PR Comes to an End

Tweet

Thirty three posts about Loyalist PR later and it’s OVER.  It’s been a long time coming and I am so glad it’s here.  What trip it has been to get to today.

The last few weeks have been busy with events, assignment and reports.  Loyalist PR does so much work in March.  March is by far the busiest month for Loyalist PR.  What the future leads for us public relations students I am not sure.  For the next four weeks our class will be on our internships. 

First semester was a breeze, didn’t even notice it passed by.  Second Semester started similar but quickly picked up pace.  When March hit we were stormed with work.  February was steady.  March, I Blinked and it’s the 26^th.  Where did the time go?

Currently classmates are going all across Ontario and a few across Canada.  Will we ever meet again?  My theory is; if we are good at what we do, than I’m sure we will hear about each other?  Will they all follow in the same field?  Only the future will tell.  Now is only the beginning.

Our class filled with a wide verity of people with a wide range of skills.  Some classmate I will miss more than others, but I was also too busy to get to know everyone well enough to call them all friends.  Good times and bad, Loyalist PR was an experience I will never forget.

I’ve posted now 33 times about Loyalist PR, I am not sure if I’m done yet.  I should pass this torch on to next year’s students.  It’s been a long year, alot has happened. 

If you Google “Loyalist PR” I’m the only student to show up on the first page.  I would say I’ve promoted them really well.  More views on my blog than all other classmates.  I assisted my town and

Rovers Irish Pub Review

Tweet

Over the last week I have spent a good amount of time at Rovers Irish Pub in Belleville, Ontario. 

Planning events is not easy but it is always good to see when you have a successful one.  In public relations you need to be able to deliver success in your event planning.

This year I was working with some classmates from Loyalist PR on this event, which was held this week.  The event was for the QAC (Quinte Arts Council), which was held at Rovers Irish Pub in Belleville Ontario.  The event was also Rovers Irish pub’s grand opening.

I would say the event was a huge success, our team leader Grace Scutella did an amazing job as leader holding the group together and getting things done.  Rovers Irish Pub was in my opinion was lead by their amazing food.  Their head chef Paul cooks amazing food no matter what it is.  During our event Stirling Friend (Grace’s Son), assisted Paul in the kitchen and the two of them ran waves of orders, always sending out success.  The two chefs were some of the fastest working chefs i have ever seen.

I would like to thank everyone that attended the event; it could not have been a success without everyone.  I would also like to say thank you to Rovers Irish Pub for being great hosts & assisting in the success of our event.

Rovers Irish Pub is in my opinion has some of the best food in Belleville Ontario. Rover Irish Pub is also a pub with good beer but beer just tastes like the brand of beer.  Rovers Irish Pub does have a variety of Irish beer, which I am not experienced in.  Rovers Irish Pub is Located in downtown Belleville.

Events in the Quinte West (March 12-18, 2011)

March is a busy month for Loyalist PR, also their last month of classes.  If you haven’t heard Loyalist PR is hosting workshops from March 18-23.  For more Info read my post http://kwbenjaminblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/free-workshops-from-loyalist-pr.html .

There are many other projects held by other classmates and are approaching.

Saturday, March 12, 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM, will be the End of Winter Blues Fest.   The event will be held in the Shark Tank Pub at Loyalist College.  It looks to be a great an event, with interesting entertainment.  You can RSVP on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=134834536584221&index=1.

Wednesday, March 16, 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM, will be the Gleaner’s Basketball Game.  The game hosts staff vs. students from noon till 1 Pm.  The game costs $2 or a donation of a non-perishable food product.  I will be assisting this event.  You can RSVP on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=197767616912275

Thursday, March 17 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM will be the (QAC) Quinte Arts Councils St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, which will be held at the Rover’s Irish Pub.  I will be assisting this event.   You can RSVP on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=113117795432561

Friday, March 18 5 PM – 8 PM is Gleaners Fill That Bus.  The event is one of the most interesting event to check out.  For more info or to RSVP, veiw the Facebook event. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=188372307864559

Breakfast & Idea Exchange

Have an idea? Want to network? Loyalist College's Public Relations students are attending the 2011 News Canada Breakfast & Idea Exchange for anyone interested on March 9 2011 from 8:30 AM till 10:30 AM.

The event is being held at the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites in Belleville, and will have an honourable guest speaker, Martin Waxman, Co-founder and Managing Partner of EnergiPR in Toronto. 

The cost is $ 15/person and $10 for alumni of Loyalist College.

During the event the friendly staff of the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites will be serving a tasteful breakfast, as everyone enjoys the opportunity to network with others from all areas of the Quinte West.

I feel the breakfast will be an interesting morning and I personal can’t wait for it. 

For more information see:
http://www.loyalistpr.com/2010/12/loyalist-pr-to-host-networking.html

Loyalist PR Presents St. Patrick’s Day Celebration in Support of the Quinte Arts Council

Rover’s Irish Pub at 230 Front Street in downtown Belleville will be hosting a St. Patrick’s Day of Celebration on March 17, 2011 beginning at 11:30 am.  This event is being organized by the Quinte Arts Council with support of Loyalist College Public Relations students.

The celebration will include an old fashioned Irish fare prix fixe menu, a honourary Irish table, Irish dancers, a pianist, Irish music and a raffle. Enjoy soup, salad and a choice of four traditional Irish main courses, and imported beverages such as Strongbow Cider, Guinness, Harp Lager and Kilkenny beer.  The prix fixe menu is only $25 (does not include gratuity or beverages). Tickets must be reserved in advance by calling 613-962-1232.  Lunch will be served between noon and 3:00 pm.

Leading the festivities will be Shannon Neely, the Master of Ceremonies and head of the Honourary Irish table. A bagpiper will escort our Honourary Irish to their special VIP section where they will don a St.  Patrick’s Day hat and receive a certificate of appreciation.  Those who would like to celebrate their Irish heritage or become Honourary Irish for the day should call Shannon at 613-966-1020 ext. 454 or e-mail shannon@financialprotect.com.   Tickets are $125 and include the prix fixe lunch, and VIP extras.  Guests will receive a tax receipt in the amount of $100.  Festivities for the VIP guests take place from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Traditional Irish dancers will perform during the lunch hour as well as an Irish pianist. Music and festivities carry on throughout the afternoon and evening.

Carol Feeney, executive director of the Quinte Arts Council remarks, “This should be a fun day and we are delighted to have the support of the Rovers Irish Pub and the Loyalist College Public Relations students to raise funds for our programming and artist services.  We hope to have a good turnout.”  

 

Free Workshops From Loyalist PR

This year is the fifth year, and they want to know if you can hear them now?

March 17 – 22, 2011 At Loyalist College, located on Wallbridge Loyalist Road in Belleville Ontario, there will be seven free workshops on communication training to non-for-profit organizations hosted by Loyalist PR.

Avaiable to anyone in the greater Qunite area to educated them on the newest communication trends.  The workshops have been announced and they are;

Thursday, March 17, 2011:

- “Getting Started: How to Create an Effective Communications Plan”

& “What’s New with News Releases: How to Best Reach Your Partners in the Media”

Monday, March 21, 2011:

- “Citizen Journalism: How Today’s Social Media are Changing the Concept of Media Relations”
- “You are Here: How to Put Geolocation Marketing to Work for Your Non-Profit Organization”
& “Virtual Fundraising: Tips for Holding a Successful Online Event"

Tuesday, March 22, 2011:

- “Corporate Sponsorship 101”

 - “Idea Exchange: How to Get Your Team to Work Creatively and Collaboratively”

& “Talk to Me: What’s New in the World of Online Networking”

For more information; see Loyalist PR.

Loyalist PR Offers Free Hugs at Loyalist College

Monday, February 14, 2011, (Valentine’s Day), Loyalist PR was holding up signs displaying “Free Hugs” as they were handing out free hugs to all whom were willing. 

The class had learn about a man that had started this trend a little while ago, by standing around in a business high traffic area and held up a sign for hours that said “Free Hugs”.  He carried this same process for the following couple weeks.  He had made Feb 14^th “Free Hug Day”.

The video shows you his progress throughout the weeks, but it really shows how untrusting people are in the world.  I am not going to tell you what happens in the video I will let you watch it below.  It’s a god inspiring video.  

In my opinion, everyone does need a hug or something to make them happy everyday but to stand around hugging random people is still a little weird to me and creepy.  Most people are good people but as we all know there are some extremely “different people in the world with a lot of different problems.”  There would always be someone that would take it too far.

The only reason I really did it was because it was at Loyalist College, if it was say downtown, would have made it a lot different.  I’m not sure if anyone would stand down there offering free hugs to everyone.  I still have no idea what this had to do with public relationship other than how friendly people really are.  Still is one of the more interesting lessons this semester at Loyalist College with Loyalist PR.

I support the Free Hug Campaign.

Blogging Stats

This is just quick blog to recap on everything for this blog site.

The site started as a class project and has been come a past time of mine.  The lesson was so well I have, rubbed off on others.  No one in my class has blogged as much as I have.  Most will never blog again.   As for that my list is deleting on the side titles fellow PR blogs, as I look for new interesting blogs to follow.

My greatest successes from this blog in my opinion are the number of Google search I have had.  I have been found on Google so many times, I now commonly show up at the top of the search, I am the only Loyalist PR student I can find using Google.  If you even Google "Loyalist PR", my blog appears above all others, I love it.  The other great success I get from this is just the personal skills, I have obtained.

There are many things that have changed and most will continue to change on my blog.  My skills have spread, which is why I have been helping promote a new local blogger.  “http://www.uneekvids.blogspot.com”. 

Blogging has been fun and time consuming, I would like to thank you all for the views and your support.   I will always hope for more.

I have only been blogging for three and a half months now.  There were 63 posts in 2010 and another 11 this year.  I hope you have time to read them all and look forward to the next posts.  I broke the 5000^th page view not too long ago, I am totalling 5318 page views now, thank you all again.

A Couple Good Blogs

Blogger Report: Where Attention is Needed

Record Breaking Loyalist PR

Effective Brand Advertising

Tweet

Advertising can be a hard task in the world today.  We all know how much we hate commercials, it’s most commonly used as a break, to get a drink or use the washroom.  Most people would say TV commercials are a waste of money, when advertising for that reason.  Not many people will talk about commercials but this one was discussed in classrooms.

Last year Old Spice came out with one of the most effective commercials of the year.  Most people will already know the commercials I am talking about as it was previewed at the Super Bowl last year.  I did not watch the Super Bowl but had seen it on TV a few days later.  The first commercial was so successful they had made a few more, like a series of commercials.  I had not known how big it was until it was taught in my Loyalist PR class.  The lesson was in semester one but it has just stuck in my head ever since, than I saw it again the other day.

I am not 100% sure what made this advertising so successful.  It could have been the fact that it confuses you, which gives you the need to watch it again to understand it.  Well that was how it affected me the first time I had saw it.  Maybe it was what he was saying, or maybe the way he looked, Im not 100% sure.   In my opinion, it was the most effective commercial for Old Spice and the funniest commercial of the year.

I know of five commercials, one which is the good-bye video, which I have not seen viewed on television.  I am not sure if they are done with these commercial, but I am sure they became less effective with time.  It does make me wonder how Old Spice plans to create a better commercial.

The You Tube Video of the first commercial was only 33 seconds long, was posted eleven months ago and has already been viewed 29 millions times.

Commercial Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e_igiPIUI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpUrz9RvuPk&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtF13U5t8xE

Good-bye Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwjJ-573njU

Learning Interviewing with a Painful Interview

If you think about it, you are your own brand, and an interview is kind of like selling yourself. 

Interviewing or being interviewed could be one of the hardest things to do successfully.  I simply think the word adds stress to the situation.  This week in Loyalist PR, we had an eye opener on how bad some interviews could get, while learning interviewing skills.  An interview could make or break the situation.  People should always think before they speak.

There have been many funny interviews in the news in history, Sarah Palin having a few. There were a few videos that had been viewed by our class including hers but there was one video that we had watched, which is the worst interview I have ever seen.

The video below is the shorten version of the interview.  The interview was with Billy Bob Thornton and his band.  There is a full version of the interview, but the shorter one gets to the point.

The video is kind of funny in my opinion.  Their tour was cancelled after this interview.  Billy Bob also did a public apology.  The reasoning was because they had talked about his movie career, but later had said it was all a joke.

Here is the full interview.

A Crazy New Year

The year has started with a storm for me.  Now that this is a new year I have tried to set new goals for myself.  This year I want to start getting on the path of my career.  To achieve that goal I needed some experience, so I had volunteered to do some work for the Belleville Bearcats, just to get some experience.    The work was not too hard but with Christmas and the New Years, there was not much left of my holiday left. 

As we started the second semester in Loyalist PR, I was slammed with seven group projects and no class time to work on them.  The semester does not look fun, it may be when it is all over but there are too many things due within a two week span.  To add to everything there are more little assignments, the weather, the flu, daycare and time table problems to deal with.   It is so hard to adapt at the beginning of the semester, and I feel the college never cares in semester two.

I find it odd that Loyalist College says they are there to do everything possible to help you succeed but their daycare closes before classes even end but if you leave or miss a day you lose marks, which is so helpful to me.  Their solution for me is to bring my child to class with me, so I ask how I will get my work done.  Just think about it a four year old girl, which is always hungry after school, going to sit in a computer lab, not touch anything and be quite, it’s not possible, no one will get any work done, I’m sorry Loyalist College but I’m not that disrespectful to other students, as I can see you don’t care.

The semester maybe busy but I have many project to blog about, so the post may come a little less but please continue to read them, I am almost at 5,000 page views.  This month has been a little slow for blogging but I will try my best to get them in there.

To add to the status of my blog, I will also be working on the design and layout of my blog, so feel free to email me at k.benjamin87@hotmail.com, let me know what you like and what you don’t like about my blog.  I hope everyone a good and safe new year.

Loyalist PR Is Back With a Bang

Now it is 2011, which is now a new year, with new classes, and a new semester with Loyalist PR.  There was no slow start to semester two.  No easy first week.  Semester two came with a punch and our Public Relations class had to start off running.  The semester had made us look like a whole different class.

With some groups carrying over from last semester, the semester started with client presentations to find out what the rest of the group would be this semester.  The class had gone from a split two sections to one whole class, which you can read in "Loyalist PR Sections Are Going To Merge". Now our class has seven group projects on the go, which have different people in each group, there is not much time to fool around.

This semester does look to leave no surprises, as our whole semester had been given to us at the beginning.  I do like having my work ahead of time but I wish my groups were more similar and were given more time to work in our groups.  In my opinion, it is hard to meet with 4-6 other people and their schedules with work, day-care and everything else.  With half our days not ending until 4-6 PM, I don’t know what to think about this semester with Loyalist PR.

The semester looks full and it is shortened due to it ending with our internships.  All I can look forward to is the internship.  The semester does look full of stressful but fun events and assignment we will be working on, but I have never planned seven things at once.  There is more than the seven projects. we have other smaller assignment too, but not to many.  This semester is nothing like the first.

My Last 2010 Post

This is my last 2010 post, to wrap up this past year.  For this blog I truely don’t know what to say or think of the last year.  Was it good? Was it bad? I am not sure; I honestly have not thought much about it.  This is what I do know about the past year

Some of the good things about 2010 are attending Loyalist PR, and finding my career path finally.  Loyalist PR is amazing not perfect but a good course.

Another Foursquare, the whole program/site I enjoy and I still think it’s an amazing thing for businesses to get into.  Foursquare could open new marketing tactics.

The top thing would be that I did learn how to blog, one go do thing about the year, if not I wouldn’t be doing this right now.  Thanks to Loyalist PR again.

With all good things, there are still bad moments.  There are many things I didn’t like about the year.  I don’t want to bring down the New Year but two are the amount of people passing away due to cancer, and the amount of problems in Belleville, Ont.

But with everything that has been said I am proud to say Good-bye 2010, Hello 2011.

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R S

D O N T   D R I N K   &   D R I V E

if your out tonight.

Loyalist PR Christmas Get Together

Loyalist PR had a get together with the students after semester one was over, for a little Christmas get together.  In one house? This was understandable for the small classes Loyalist College has had for Loyalist’s Public Relations Course in the following years.  This year we started with 42-44 students, more than double some of the years in the past.  Personal I thought we would do it at Loyalist College but one of my classmate had suggested we could have the get together at his house, he had enough room for the all of us.  Now, my class is a wild bunch, I was sure he could not fit us all, if we did all fit it would be a tight fit.

As arrived I had to slap myself to make sure  I was not sleeping because the driveway I had just pulled into looked like something out of a fairy tale movie.  Yard as far as the eye could see, with forest all around, and mansion in the middle, I must add a dozen like 25 foot solar panels in the back yard.

The day was amazing.  We started with some socializing and exploring the giant house.  I must say the house was epic. 

The get together was a pot luck, so everyone had brought something, and I must say the food was also amazing.  The class had planed out a Secret Santa for the class to do, with the limit of a $10 dollar gift, which was another amazing idea the instructor thought of.

We all were all given a secret gift, which was a personalized 2011 calendar, from the instructor.  The day was filled with fun, song, socializing, food, and just an all around good day.

I must say thank you to the classmate that hosted the event, also opening his wine up to us, everything was amazing.

Loyalist PR is such a friendly course, but the Christmas break is needed for this student.

Loyalist PR 2010/2011 Semester One, Complete !!

This is just a quick blog to quickly recap the first semester of Loyalist College’s post-graduate Public Relations Class (Loyalist PR).

It started out to be an experience and turn quickly to a lot of fun.  I have learned some interesting things.  I think in some weeks I had learned more in a week of Public Relations than the whole two years of Loyalist College’s Business Admin course.  In a class less than half the size as the business course, I think I have met more people as well.

The course started slow and sped up quickly, before I knew it I was blogging this post.  The last two week was more stressful than I would have like them to be, but that is life these days.  I had found out of classmate a lot on why they don’t and do like the course, which was kind of disappointing to me.

When all is said I still hope to see everyone back in the fall. To my the program is alright, better than the Business Admin program.  I do like how much the class has kind of turn into a family, and keep hosting together for the whole class.

I can’t wait for our Christmas Party/ Secret Santa out at one of our classmates houses.

Here the First Post of the Semester

Record Breaking Loyalist PR

After being called a “PHENOM bigger than Beiber”, for the way we hosted the United Way Campus Truckload Sale.  We found out today that we are a recorded breaking PR class.

This is not a long blog post because the pictures say enough for themselves.  This is only a post on our achievements as a class (Loyalist PR).

Last year’s goal for Loyalist College was 12,000 dollars to raise and this years was 20,000 dollars to raise all being for the United Way of Quinte.

Well my class, which is Loyalist PR, with the help of a couple amazing instructors, raised more than 75% of the whole schools goal.

All I have to say is it was fun and I would do it again any time.

Congratulations Loyalist PR

It's Not Good-Bye!!

Today is November 30, 2010 and this week is just not going my way.

I had planned on getting so many more post in before today but I just have not had enough time.

And today my final post was to be handed in before 9 o clock in the morning, so I posted: Loyalist PR Accepts the Challenge and Challenges all, as my last post.

I than posted a couple because they were some I had planned on doing but did not have time.

I was working on this on my phone today because I have not had time to be near a computer and my computer died in class today, I hate that.  With so much running around and the bus  drivers in Belleville driving crazy I miss click and hit discard to my 5 paragraphs of texting a blog on my phone.  So I waited to do some more running around and than jump on the next bus an hour later and start all over, to just come home and fix it all before i posted it.  I still blogged from a phone.

I am to guess my post this morning was the last one to be marked as it was before 9 o clock but I am not sure because we only had to post 8 posts all semester and I have done 50 so yeah I’m not  sure.  That is kind of funny but I enjoyed this, it just goes to show if one course sucks then switch to another because Loyalist PR was amazing to me.

I just have to say this has been an amazing experience blogging, I am sure I will look amazing in the portfolio, with 3,600 page views in more than a dozen countries around the world in just over a month.

Loyalist PR was Amazing.   This here proves that what they are teaching works and works well.  I knew nothing of this a couple months and ago and now look at this.  You can make money before finishing your first semester, bonus.  The semester has been a blast and I can’t wait till the next one.  Check out first post ever, view first ever blog post, here.

I do have to admit I am going to take a break for a couple days because for one; I am in the War Child Challenge, which is no social media for 24 hours and I have a lot of other work to do, but I will be bloging again in a few days.  my blog post may slow down due to it's not an assignment anymore and i will be busy with others but i will keep posting, so keep reading please.  War child challenge blog post is here.

Blogging all day would be already to get paid for.

A Recap of some blog post you should read;

#1 All-time Post: Blogger Report: Directions Unlimited's CEO

#2 All-time Post: Dear Belleville, Lock Your Doors, Bar Your Win...

#1 Loyalist PR Post: Loyalist PR & War Child: "War Is NOT For Children"...

#2 Loyalist PR Post: Is Loyalist PR a PHENOM Bigger than Bieber?

Other Post 1: The Social Revolution

Other Post 2: Paying Your Respects

Talk To You All Later!!