BYU students hosted to the Public Relations Student Society of America for the 2006 National Conference, which took place at the Sheraton City Centre Hotel in Salt Lake City Nov. 10-14, 2006.

The conference brought public relations students from universities as far away as Florida and New York, providing them an opportunity to build resumes, attend professional development workshops and meet other PR students nationwide.

Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman Public Relations, the world's largest independent PR firm, delivered the conference's keynote address Saturday morning, speaking to students about the importance of diversity and moving the PR field forward.

"Our profession [public relations] can be the communications discipline of choice in the 21st century," Edelman said. "In order to achieve this lofty objective, we will have to work together to change the ingrained bias against PR."

In addition to Edelman, students were able to attend workshops with various speakers where they learned more about specific aspects of the public relations field.

Students could get an overview from professionals about international public relations, about event planning and even how to target consumers.

One highlight for the weekend was Saturday night's "speed networking" activity.

Speed networking allowed student groups 4 to 5 minutes to communicate with public relations professionals in a series of short networking rounds. They were able to get specific answers regarding career advice, how to succeed in public relations and even circulate their personal business cards for potential future employment.

As the host of the conference, BYU students were asked to be volunteers and serve in various capacities. Sarah Heitman, president of BYU's PRSSA chapter, said BYU student participation reflected highly on the university.

"We're really impressed with Salt Lake and very impressed with our students," Heitman said. "It's been a great opportunity for BYU to have the added bonus to volunteer and make great connections."

Students were able to network in ways that are often difficult in the realm of scholastic education.

"It's one thing to learn PR skills in the classroom," said Adam Denison, communications director of BYU's PRSSA chapter. "It's quite another thing to see its professionals living and practicing what you're learning. It's a very motivating experience to see what you've been learning in practice. I think everyone has benefited very greatly from it."

The Public Relations Student Society of America, based with its mother organization, the Public Relations Society of America in New York City, has 275 operating chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Copyright Brigham Young University 14 Nov 2006