PRSSA Transitions To Holds Meetings Online
Liberty’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) club is full of students pursuing degrees in interpersonal communication. Creating a club for seasoned communicators means events are characterized by stimulating, animated conversations. However, when clubs were required to change their events to honor COVID-19 restrictions, no one was quite sure how to continue those same conversations on a virtual platform.
A shift to virtual events for PRSSA meant finding new ways to maintain interactivity and engagement online. While the transition was bumpy, recent virtual meetings have been successful. The club held a virtual pitch competition where groups had 10 minutes to create an inventive pitch for a product.
“The truth is that the world is embracing this new work-from-home format,” Katelyn White, president of PRSSA, said. “While it has been a challenge learning how to hold our highly interactive events virtually, I am confident this will give our members another chance to prepare themselves for the future workplace.”
Another student club, Fashion Design and Merchandising Association (FDMA) encourages stylistic creativity and serves as a springboard for students working toward a career in the fashion industry.
FDMA responded to the COVID-19 restrictions by separating students into rooms and digitally streaming the speaker into each room. Combining in-person meetings with virtual technology both challenged and excited club directors.
“Being able to execute the last-minute solution that our team came up with brought excitement and chaos as we all rushed around to make our solution happen,” FDMA President Kendra Hicks said. “It was all worth the chaos, though, when we hosted an excellent meeting.”
Clubs will finish the semester by holding events in-person, as Virginia restrictions continue to loosen. However, PRSSA will still stream its events through Microsoft Teams for students who want to tune in virtually.
More information regarding student clubs is available on Liberty SGA’s website.
Lindsey Erickson is a Guest Writer.