Event Rapporteur Report- Comms for a Cause: #DigitalAdvocacyAU Panel

JJ Dawson

Comm 551- Grassroots for Digital Advocacy

Event Rapporteur Report

Thursday, February 27^th I attended the event Comms for a Cause: #DigitalAdvocacyAU Panel, which took place from 6:30 to 8 pm on the campus of American University in room MGC 4-5. American University professor Scott Talan moderated the event, which consisted of about thirty participants. Talan, who is an assistant professor of Public & Strategic Communications at American University, is a social media and personal branding expert in four distend fields including: TV news, politics, nonprofits/NGO’s and higher education. Prior to becoming a professor at AU, Talan worked at the United Nations, Harvard University, and the March of Dimes. American University alumni participated in the panel event with Professor Talan—Gaby LaVerghetta (SOC/MA ’13), Daniel Maree (SOC-CAS/BA ’08), Jason Rahlan (SPA/BA ’07) and Keosha Varela (SOC/MA ’08). The event began as a panel discussion, which later broke into a roundtable discussion facilitating one-on-one discussion with the various panelists.

During the panel discussion, Professor Talan moderated a few personal questions as well as selected questions from the audience. The first question asked to the panel was “How did you feel about having to move cities and what hurdles did you face”. Koesha, who is currently a senior digital editor and producer at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., answered first and reminisced on feeling “lost” when she had to move, but she felt that she could “bring her skills to the table and adjust in her new work environment”. The second question addressed the issue of finding and a job/internship in strategic communications. Jason, the Human Rights Campaign Communications Director, talked about skills that employers look for when selecting potential interns or associates. He emphasized skills such as effective writing, being able to work under time constraints, thinking outside of the box, and being efficient and effective at work. The third and final question, which was posed to both Gabby and Daniel, was how to strategically and effectively craft a message for an organization. Gabby suggested “sounding as human as possible”. She elaborated on the effectiveness of being able to relate to followers and investor of the organization. She then suggested to appeal to the public through emotions as this leads an active and engaged audience. In Daniel’s explanation he highlighted the importance of ease and convenience for the public to get involved in the organization. From this, he suggested creating a list of “five easy things they can do to get involved” which gives the public a clear way to show their support. Additionally, this will allow the public to actively stay involved. Lastly, Daniel emphasized the importance of taking action “offline”. By this, he was highlighting the importance of making connections with the right groups and forming coalitions to maximize the impact of the issue. He said that “social media is effective but its effectiveness is maximized when its coupled with offline action”. At the conclusion of the panel discussion, each panelist partnered with event participants for a one-on-one interactive discussion. I partnered with Koesha for this discussion where we went in-depth about beginning a career in strategic communications. She offered valuable advice such as how to use social media platforms as a tool to gain employment, her work as a senior digital editor and producer at the Aspen Institute, and where to begin when looking at employment.

In relationship to the class, the discussion particularly did a good job of showing the importance of strategic communications and how to effectively use social media to convey a message to the public. Each panelist had unique insight from their various perspectives as to how to craft a message that will interest the public and keep them engaged. In the discussions, various social media outlets were touched upon including YouTube, Facebook, Tumbler, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Overall, the panel discussion offered invaluable advice and in-depth job analysis, which helped participants to understand the day-to-day operations in strategic communications.