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Dog Blog

Welcome to the Dog Blog!  This blog is written by students in the Top Dog Communication course.  Students share their views, experiences and knowledge on topics such as college, the class, internships, jobs, etc.

Post its to the Rescue

10/11/2017

4 Comments

 
By Cassandra Reverman

If you know me, in any sense, you know that my methods of organization are basically gibberish to anyone. I am a HUGE fan of keyboard slams when it comes to labeling. Most of my photo folders are labeled with keyboard slams. For example the engagement photos I did for a friend last year are labeled “adsflkbj.” ​
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Being hyper organized, in any sense, gives me anxiety. Just recently in journalism I was asked to reorganize the way I label the photos for sections and I about passed out at the thought. My heart started racing and I could see all the folders flying around in my head. It’s kind like that scene from Spongebob when he’s threw out the guy’s name from his memory. ​​
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I suppose this weird form of anxiety comes from me feeling that my creative flow is halted when being organized. I feel restricted and I don’t like feeling restricted. I understand where people are coming from when they choose to be super organized. I see how much easier it makes their life. People are always suggesting to me to use a planner or put everything on a calendar in my phone. But just seeing all that information all the time is incredibly overwhelming and freezes my creative flow. 
    Luckily though, I did find one method that seems to work fairly well. A fun fact about me is I LOVE color. Being able to choose the color to create something is the ultimate “YES” moment for me. Choosing a color defines what you’re trying to convey. Trying to sell your outfit for the day? Color coordinate it. (Or don’t. Same principle.) Working on a theme for your Twitter? Match the theme color with your profile and header photos. Designing a style guide for you client? Work with the colors that go along with your clients vision. SO.MUCH.FUN. 
    That being said, my method of choice for organization is Post-It notes. On a good, or a busy day, my life is filled with color coordinated Post-It notes. They’re not lined up in any special fashion. They’re posted all over my walls, my computer and my poor attempt to keep a planner going. Instead, they’re organized by color. I despise the yellow Post-It notes, so if something needs to be done ‘like yesterday’ or more likely ‘a week ago’ I write the item on a yellow Post-It note. Pink is for “ya got maybe two days, C”, green is for a “solid one to two weeks before it’s due”, orange is “get it down on paper” and blue is “relax, ya got a month. just think about how you can do this.” I organize it this way because once I finish as task, I get to rip off the Post-It, crumple it up and fail at throwing it in the trash can that’s sitting right by my feet. The faster I get the color I don’t like off my wall the better. And it’s incredibly satisfying to crumple up that little piece of paper and see a space free up.
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(Me attempting to organize my thoughts for senior project. The color coding wasn’t an option. All I had were blue post-it notes.)
    I hope you all try this sometime, and if you do, feel free to let me know how it works for you!
4 Comments

Twitter Accounts You Need To Follow Right Now

10/11/2017

1 Comment

 
By Kristen Gandenberger

These days, you’re not really a PR pro unless you have a social media presence. Most college kids already have this in the bag. However, an important aspect of working in public relations is being able to… well, relate to people. Media relations experts have to know the journalism world in and out. Anyone focusing on community relations better be aware of any big event rolling through town. As a student, I have no need to specialize but I have started to be a little more strategic about how my Twitter timeline can educate me. Here are 4 types of Twitter accounts that make me a better PR practitioner. 
  1. Journalists. Like anyone wanting to be an informed citizen, I follow all major news outlets. But recently I’ve started to follow journalists whose work I like. Maggie Haberman gives me the White House scoop.  Gregg Doyel keeps me current on Indy area sports. Bekah Pollard and Hannah Sparling give me insight to colleagues my age in the journalism field, something that can benefit me as I strive to make professional contacts with media personnel in a couple years. In a world of media distrust, I think it’s important to understand the structures and systems that give us information. Having individual, off the record professionals on my timeline is helping me do this. 
  2. Verified Locals. My homerun recommendation in this category has got to be Neal Taflinger, who not only has the blue checkmark by his name but also happens to work for Borshoff. His tweets help me keep a pulse on a certain segment of the Naptown population (post-college males, to be exact) that I don’t hear from much. John Green rarely tweets about Indy specifically, but he is (outside of athletics) probably the most famous person that lives here which I find valuable. Lara Parker is a Hoosier transplant at Buzzfeed who proves that you can go from UIndy PR to looking like an Instagram model daily (while creating digital content)!
  3. Your dream workplace. I know I’m a true millennial because I found out about my most recent internship on Twitter, which proves that clicking the follow button can literally pay off! Since I’m on the prowl for future internships in the nonprofit field, I follow everyone from the Arts Council of Indianapolis to Music for All.
  4. #Goals. I always try to keep a steady stream of funny, insightful role models trickling through my timeline. Professionally, this means watching how PR entrepreneur Heather Whaling stays professional while talking politics. Recently I found out that my favorite Refinery29 contributor, Ashley Ford, is from Fort Wayne which endeared her to me even more. And of course, Jenny Slate never fails to make me laugh with her quirky, rose tinted tweets that prove just how much you can fit into 140 characters. I’ll end this post with one of her inspirational nuggets:
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1 Comment

An Ode To My Planner

10/11/2017

1 Comment

 
By Shelby Zellmer

Dear My Planner,
First off, I was not sure if capitalizing your title was appropriate, but you deserve the capital letter. To be completely honest you deserve caps lock. You deserve YOUR WHOLE NAME TO BE LIKE THIS SO OTHER PEOPLE THINK I’M YELLING.
We have grown up together, and have transformed into an updated and better version of us. I am a 19-year-old college student. You are a 2017-2018 spiral bound book that manages to keep my life from falling apart. When we were first thrown together in fourth grade, you were the bane of my existence. The audacity my teacher had making me remember to get you signed every night made my eleven-year-old self-want to scream. Since then I am happy to say that I have grown up, a little bit. 
In the past, our relationship was rocky. I would start to use you for a few months, but the moment I left you, because I “did not need you anymore” my life would quickly fall apart. Tasks would not be completed. Events would be left on the back burner. Worst of all you would be left alone. As your days would go to waste I would go about mine, with the constant feeling of something being forgot because you were not there to complete me. We have had a good thing going this past year and I plan on keeping it up.
I spend most of my days running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but who needs a head when everything is in your weekly layout? You go through a lot every day and you do it for me, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your hard work. 
With all my love and… “hold on I need to add something to you…” I forgot what I was talking about.
1 Comment

When You Wish Upon A Star...

10/11/2017

1 Comment

 
By Claire Gilbert

When I’m not studying or re-watching Gilmore Girls, I work on the BizHounds Team as a Student Recruitment Manager for the UIndy School of Business. We take a unique approach to recruiting students to attend UIndy and study business. Not only has this position helped me network like you wouldn’t believe, it also allows me to flex my creative muscles. We will often attend state-level professional conferences to create awareness of the UIndy brand among high schoolers. Think Business Professionals of America, DECA, and more. In May, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. We’d been toying with the idea of attending one last conference at the end of the school year. As luck would have it, the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference was being held in Orlando, FL in May. During one of our meetings, as somewhat of a joke, I said “Let’s go.” The following weeks progressed quickly and before I knew it, this comment became a reality. While visions of palm trees danced in my head, my team and I boarded a flight to Florida. We unpacked, settled in our sunny digs, and prepped for the amazing week ahead. Over the course of 5 days, we attended one of the largest high school level professional conferences in the country. As someone in Marketing, you can understand how excited I was to put the UIndy School of Business brand in front of students from every single state. We attended the conference for two days. On the first day, we setup our booth and interacted with over 200 high school students, sharing our UIndy stories and helping them get excited to write theirs. Day two brought a new group of students and an exciting challenge. We’d prepared a presentation outlining our experiences and lessons learned from internships, organizations, and people at UIndy. This was one of my favorite parts. Sharing my tips and acting as a mentor for these students was something I’ll never forget. Of course, we also had some fun on the trip. We dedicated a whole day to sampling the sweet treats on Main Street and strolling through Cinderella’s Castle like regular princesses. Not only did I get to spend a day at the happiest place on Earth, but I gained valuable experience in mentorship and networking. My interactions with executives in the National BPA organization leading up to the conference helped form a partnership between the UIndy School of Business and National BPA. The BizHounds Team is now planning our next partnership with BPA, a webinar later this month. As a marketer, it makes me so excited to know that students from across the country are being exposed to the UIndy brand and all because BizHounds took a chance on something we’ve never done before. And the reward was well worth the risk.
1 Comment

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    Students in UIndy's Top Dog Communication Class. 

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