Mediating your social interactions

Today's Public Affairs final really taxed our mental fortitude. Between evaluation of public policy, characteristics of Business Improvement Districts, Iron Triangles of political influence, and so forth our answers quite likely seemed a bit rushed. However, as ever, our class was not without its moment of redemption. All during the course, our Professor had been joking that we'd be doing the final with little party hats on because we'd be having such and amazingly good time with the final. True to form, a couple of our integrants made a side trip to a party store, passed out party hats to the entire class before the exam got passed out, which everyone kept hidden until, at one critical moment while he had his back turned, we all got our party hats on at the same time. I'm certain someone has photos, it was a good memory.

After spending the entire day funneling the greatest amount of information into our already crowded minds for what frequently seemed the least amount of effect possible (a sort of bastardization of the rule of parsimony. A cost-benefit analysis would show this to be an inverse correlation,) we set to the task of writing out the Public Affairs exam. Many of us took the entire two hours and whatever else we could get our hands on, to finish, and, as with many things, quantity does not necessarily denote quality. However, I personally walked out with a good feeling about the thing, and I suspect so did quite a few others, in direct contrast to how many of us felt in regards to the midterm.

Following the exam, we were accosted by a group of 2010 folk who were make a solid attempt to complete a Stats II survey analysis with the objective of completing sufficient data to do some manipulations which were are all assured we will have to experience in approximately 10 months... No doubt of that, though, I'm convinced I will be sending out a version based on a digital platform to as many people as possible engaged with my online presence as possible. Quick like bunny rabbit we hopped on over to a presentation on Social Media by a panel of experts in the industry, where I managed to glean several ideas for how to deal effectively with the several interfaces I currently manage to leverage them for profit and position. Not a bad use of time, though, from what I could gather, the totality of the presentation boiled down to the following:

1. Utilize the media networking platforms available to you
2. Don't be scared to deal with people in real time (offline, outside of cyberspace)
3. Complete your LinkedIn profile 100%
4. Send vibrations down your web of influence.
5. Keep all your contacts "warm"
6. Mind what you're putting out there. This is akin to 'dress the part': whichever way you dress - you're going to find what you're looking for...
7. Brand yourself, and if you're changing gears, repositioning, or retooling your approach, don't be afraid to re-brand.
8. Applications like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and so forth for your Smartphone are your friend
9. Sometimes, you just have to go off the grid.

 Malla Haridat, Kenneth Briscoe of A6 Media, and Allison Jones all contributed valuable insights into the presentation. Now to turn in the first case study for Budgeting. Uuuufff...