A team of UGA students assisted Edelman in the research and logistics for EDB. Below is a list of their names and assignments during the campaign. You can also check out more information about them on their LinkedIn profile.
Karen Baxter is a senior majoring in public relations at the University of Georgia. Baxter is a member of the publicity committee for the Edelman Digital Bootcamp. Baxter has written social media releases, press releases and other articles for media coverage of the event.

Haley Binowski graduated magna cum laude from Clemson University in May 2007. Currently, Binowski is a graduate student at the UGA studying mass communication and public relations. Binowski is a member of the research team and also in charge of the campaign book for EDB.

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Today the Athenians are breaking out the toboggans and mittens, but this weekend’s weather looks fair:

Friday- High 63/Low 46 Partly Cloudy

Saturday- High 68/Low 37 Sunny

Sunday- High 68/Low 43 Sunny

Great weather for a great weekend!  Can’t wait to see everyone!

If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know that social media is the next big topic in public relations. But you may not know that Edelman is helping to leading the charge in use of social media in public relations campaigns. Edelman began claiming its spot as a forerunner back in 1995, when they became the first PR firm on the Internet and they haven’t looked back since!

As the years passed by, Web sites lead to blogs and Edelman was there. In 2004 president and CEO Richard Edelman began his own blog, 6 a.m. Currently, Edelman executives and employees publish more than 30 other blogs, including one from Phil Gomes, who will be leading the educators discussions on Saturday.

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Here are your questions, here are our answers. Feel free to add more!

Q: How long will Saturday’s conference last?

A: Check-in begins at 8 a.m. and the conference should be over by 5:30 p.m. The reception at East West Bistro will begin at 7 p.m. and end at about 10 p.m.

Q: What do I need to bring with me?

A: Business casual clothes, laptop, a notepad and a willingness to get your mind blown away by social media. Okay, just teasing a bit, but definitely count on the first few items if you can. For those of you looking for post-graduation opportunities don’t forget your resumes and/or business cards.

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We can’t wait to see everyone in Athens for some hands-on social media training. We will post important information about the conference. Let us know if you have any questions about the event and make sure to stop by to see new posts. Here’s some crucial information for potential attendees:

You can register online now.

Price is $25 for students to go to the Bootcamp and reception at East West Bistro. That’s a great deal, let’s be honest, even for college students. Tons of networking chances and social media fun to be had, so register early to secure a spot!

If you can’t go to our daytime conference, you can pay just $10 for the networking reception at East West.

Educators can look forward to round table discussions led by Phil Gomes and learning to integrate social media in the classroom for only $40.

Remember space is limited so register early and bring friends for a great weekend in Athens.

It will be worth your time. Trust me.

Before we began planning the Edelman Digital Bootcamp in earnest, we began with questions. Lots of questions in fact: what should we discuss, how long should the event be, with which tools you were familiar.

The truth is we thought we had a lot of answers. We were completely ready to plan a two-day event but thankfully like good PR practitioners we conducted research instead of going with our gut.

And so we deployed our survey to more than 50 PR schools in the Southeast even though we thought we already knew what you would say. Boy, are we glad we asked!

When the responses came in, from nearly 170 students and 295 educators (a 29% response rate), we were truly surprised to find that nearly 85 percent of students wanted a one-day event! A fact we would have never guessed had we not conducted research.

That was just the beginning of the great things we learned:
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Bootcamp? What for?

My friend called me up the other day to invite me to a party on Saturday. Instinctively, I asked: “What are we celebrating?”

The truth is we can’t plan a party, an event or a campaign without a clear intention and purpose to guide us.

Our purpose in creating the Edelman Digital Bootcamp was clear: Educate students in social media techniques.

Why?

Simply put, we believe in Web 2.0. We believe in engaging in the conversation and getting back to what public relations was designed to do: build relationships.
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