This Friday I sang Halleluiah as me and my five teammate finally finished up our Common Cents financial literacy campaign for the Public Relations Student Society of America annual Bateman competition. Seeing this is the second time I have competed in the Bateman competition, you think I would have learned how to work all the stressful kinks out of the process. But of course, the complete opposite panned out. Late nights in the lab, problematic printing errors, missing appendix pages…the same problems followed me once again.
Bateman is stressful. There are not buts about it. But each year after I’ve pulled out all my hair and breathed a sigh of relief after the book has been sent a printer, I always feel an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. My instructor, Alisa Agozzino, shared lessons she learned from Bateman on her blog. Therefore, she inspired me to share my reasons to participating in Bateman. Bateman is a bear, but I admit that I would do it again for the following reasons…
Three Reasons to Compete in Bateman
1. Learn to work with tight deadlines. Bateman is the epitome of a tiny time limit. A few months to completely research, plan, implement and evaluate an entire campaign squeezes a PR process into a tight timeframe. But let’s be real…tight deadlines are the norm in the real world. Bateman teaches you how to be efficient in fully executing each element of a campaign and getting results in a particular time frame.
2. Apply your knowledge in real situations. Classrooms are great places to learn the theory behind executing a public relations campaign. But I don’t think you truly learn how to run a campaign until you fully try it in the real world…mistakes and all. Running a full blow educational campaign has given me valuable skills…and a unique experience to highlight in job interviews!
3. Your allowed to make mistakes. Bateman gives you a free pass to make mistakes. Between formatting an InDesign appendix wrong, publishing incorrect times in a student email, and a bit of group communication mix-up in a printing situation, my group made our fair share of mistakes. But this is the time you’re allowed to make them…no boss was breathing down my neck with the threat of a pink slip. Making mistakes early helps smooth the world for running a campaign in your first job.
