Laura Maginley
Assoc. News Editor

Members of Millersville University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) attended the 2012 International Conference in San Francisco, California from October 13 through the 16.  Defined on the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) website, this conference is the “intersection of technology and media, and leads the competition by providing unparalleled knowledge and tools on the latest trends impacting the industry — critical to your professional success.”

Millersville University PRSSA President, Meredith Noll; Vice President, Gina Masciantonio and advisor, Dr. Thomas Boyle, chair of communication and theatre, attended this year’s conference. MU received the “Star Chapter Award” while in San Francisco.

Eligibility for this award includes the following requirements: one community service project, implementation of at least one national initiative, attention to ethics during at least one chapter meeting and a strong relationship with the chapter’s PRSA sponsor.  There are a total of 10 requirements to qualify for the award, but the chapter must only meet eight out of the ten.  More information on this award and requirements can be found at http://www.prssa.org/scholarships_competitions/chapter/star/.

MU’s PRSSA received the “Star Chapter Award” while attending the 2012 International Conference in San Francisco.

Despite being across the country, Noll and Masciantonio were tweeting all of the conference’s highlights, memorable quotes and updates from California.  The hashtag of #PRSSANC ended all of their tweets for those that couldn’t be there in person, but still wanted to remain informed on the events.

Thousands of industry leaders, members of PRSA and students from various PRSSA chapters are invited to these international conferences to learn from the industy’s brightest and most innovative minds.  Not only was the conference one large networking extravaganza, but also attendees were invited to workshops about branding, marketing, media relations, pitching and additional topics.

Speakers at the conference included: Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter; Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategy officer of Pandora; June Cotte, consumer behavioral expert and Michael Steele, political analyst of MSNBC.