Last week might have been a short feeling week but boy did I get a lot out of it! I was able to hold two interviews with two professionals who are some of the best of what they do. The information I was able to receive from these two conversations was extremely helpful and eye opening. I was able to learn things I would had no clue occur in sports PR. The two professionals both had similar answers though. They both stressed that they have FULL time jobs. During their sports seasons they are busy seven days a week. Finding that perfect balance does take a little time but is crucial that people going into the PR field find it or you can be driven crazy. Although the job can be more time consuming then others it can also be more rewarding than others. A joy both of the professionals had was seeing the players they get to work with work and dedication pay off weather that be a pre season win or a national championship. I am very honored for the time they both took out of their days and hope to continue to have the opportunity to speak with many more people in their same career field. 

Well, the ball sure does seem to be or feel to be rolling! This past week I contacted multiple people, from the contact list I gathered, asking for interviews. I was nervous sending my first couple emails not sure what I was going to receive back as answers or if I was even going to get answers back. Not many people have the time or patience to meet with a high school student they have never met. Fortunately I received very enthusiastic emails back from most the people I reached out to. I now have two informational interviews set up for the end of this week and could not be more thrilled. I have my questions set and outfit picked out ready to go! Not only do I have interviews but they are both with some great people in the PR world! This week I am hoping to secure even more interviews so I am able to get as much information and learn more about the sports PR field. Another thing I hope to get out of the interviews are possibly more contacts that I was not able to find myself searching the internet. Excited to share my experiences over this coming week with ya’ll soon! 

Contacts. Contacts. Contacts. That is all I have been able to think about this past week. At first I was honestly freaked out with the thought of getting 25 contacts to reach out to, for possible interviews. It put being in ISM even more in reality. I thought I could go into this process, find all these top dogs in the professional sports field here in DFW and everything was going to go smoothly. It is still going smoothly but in just a slightly different direction I had anticipated. I found it a little more difficult to find the direct contact information about the professional teams around here and in general. Organizations don’t just put that information out an in the open like they might for ticket or merchandise purchasing. while searching the web for them though I did come across sports agencies. These sports agencies specialize in public relations and although they might not represents teams they do represent the players on these teams and know tons of other DFW PR members. My new game plan is to interview and get in touch with the agencies in hopes to either grow contacts through them or even find out that working in an agency is what I want to do instead. The agencies still allow me to do the same line of work I was hoping to with exploration into PR outside of the sports field providing even more experience. 

Hi and welcome to my blog! Two weeks ago I started on my ISM journey and could not be more excited. I know this class and  process is going to be very helpful for my future and I am looking forward to really diving into the sports public relations field. Every week I will be posting a different blog post talking about the previous week I had in ISM. You will learn about different assignments I am working on as well as my view on interviews I will be conducting with professionals in my field of interest. 

The first week of ISM we started at the basics, introducing our selves to one anthers and learning about what each other will be researching this year. We also began our first assessments and built our blogs, two things we will create and use each week in ISM. 

Last week, week two, we went over professional dressing and what we should and should not wear or look like went interacting with professionals and possibly future mentors. What I thought was most interesting is that it only takes 30 seconds to make a first impression and over 20 visits with that same person to make a bad impression turn into a good one. I am not going to have even close to 20 visits with most the people I interview and meet so those first 30 seconds are a make or break.

I can not wait to learn more and tackle this experience head on. My year in ISM I know will be one I will cherish.