Oct. 16 Meeting Minutes

Reminders:
*Still looking for PRestige members. Meetings are at 5pm on Tuesdays, before PRSSA meetings.
*Anyone who didn't get to participate in MentorMatch will have an opportunity to sign up in the spring.
*Guest Speaker Scott J. Miller is interested in finding an intern for this or next semester. You can contact him at 225-237-1609 or Kaki Heiligenthal Kheili1@lsu.edu 512-627-5254. For an internship description, contact PRSSA President Monique Friloux at mfrilo1@lsu.edu

Guest Speaker: Scott J. Miller
Miller is the corporate communications manager at Baton Rouge General. He got his start in PR from volunteering at a hospital where his dad worked. He worked more specifically with their PR director and realized that he might want to pursue that as his own career. He was unique in the fact that he was exposed to PR at a young age. He feels that strong writing is necessary to succeed in the profession.

He's been in the work force for nine years and graduated with a degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He worked in the non-profit sector for two and a half years for the Baton Rouge Food Bank. He really appreciated and recommends the experience for young professionals. He says you get your hands onn everything in non-profit. Marketing, board relations, PR committees, etc. He headed the PR committee and through that work he met a woman who offered him a job with Eatel in Gonzales where he worked for four year. He printed newsletters, updated websites, sent letter and notification. He worked for a home health care company for 9 months, which was mostly internal communication and he found it to be boring. He was very interested in PR for a hospital and went to work at Baton Rouge General.

His first week of work was the same week Hurricane Katrina hit, and he had to jump into a crisis communication situation very rapidly. He learned to deal with national media. The Children's Art Project is a campaign that BR General is known for. He said it's a great way to interact with the community and get the name of the hospital in the community. They hold a contest for children to enter and their pictures are included in the BR General publications. Every child who enters receives letters and certificates for participation. Great examples of stewardship. There's also an awards ceremony that helps promote the hopsital as well.

One of the problems the PR team faces is that the children's art program, while great, also makes them look a bit too much like a pediatric hospital. One way they combat this is to make the children's art more subtle. For example, on their website, they use the picture of a flower a child drew as the link to the gift and flower shop at the hospital.

The hospital was recently awarded the Best in Cardiac and Critical Care for Louisiana awards, and he spread this news thru online & print newsletters. He also deals with reporters that specialize specifically in health care. This is both beneficial and challenging, different reporters like different stories and you have to build a relationship with each of them in order to use their work most effectively. Another issue Miller faces at his job is work interaction with insurance companies. One company, Hermana, was unwilling to reimbruse them what they asked, and he's trying to get the patients to pressure Hermana into treating the hospital fairly.

Miller is also APR certified, a certification program public relations practitioners can participate in after being in the workforce for a recommended 4-5 years. It isn't necessary, but it definitely doesn't hurt to have it. He said after receiving the certification, he began to work at more managerial positions. He also said this might have been due to his work experience as well.

Miller said that throughout his work experience he's generally had an average work day: 8am-5:30ish. He said you get more experience in nonprofit because they can't afford to have a lot of specialize employees. He also said that in corporations you have a more specialized job and there's more perks and monetary benefit. You can generally expect some travel, occasional weekends, etc, especially when you get into more managerial rolls.

Our next meeting will be held on Oct. 30. Our speaker will be Dr. Cleo Allen, press secretary for the Louisiana Department of Social Services.