The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication will host a conference Oct. 19-20 to educate participants on the ins and outs of social media and its effect on public relations.
“Social media is today’s collaborative way to communicate,” said conference organizer Karen Russell, Grady College associate professor of public relations. “These various online resources are becoming more important to the practice of public relations.”
Guest speakers include Kevin Dugan, co-founder of the award-winning Bad Pitch Blog, and Jay Bernhardt, director of the National Center for Health Marketing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In panel discussions, top-ranked PR professionals Constantin Basturea from Converseon, Josh Hallett from Hyku and Katie Paine of KD Paine and Partners will advise participants on cutting-edge techniques such as blog monitoring, social media news releases and measurement.
Kaye Sweetser, assistant professor of public relations at Grady College, will be joined by Northeastern University’s Walter Carl and the University of Wyoming’s Robert Sprague to explain the latest academic research on political blogs, word-of-mouth communication and the legal implications of social media.
Additional sessions will feature national and state experts providing advice on using social media. Attendees will have the chance to connect with other communicators and gain valuable networking resources.
The cost to attend the conference is $125; registration deadline is Oct. 8. Registration information and the full conference agenda are available online (www.grady.uga.edu/connect).
