Reflections on presenting & attending AEJMC 2015

The last few days have been a complete whirlwind of discussions, research findings, and enlightening conversations. The AEJMC conference did not disappoint at all - in fact, I am amazed with all of the activities, people, and experiences I got to participate and meet along the way.

There were a lot of lessons and insights I was able to take away from my time in San Francisco. Here are just some of the highlights I was able to take away:

Opportunity to go to LinkedIn and Facebook

When it comes to social media, there are just certain things you have to do. This also applies for professors in this area, and that is why my trip to Facebook and LinkedIn were both such HUGE highlights for me. There really isn't a rule to this among professors, but if you can share with your students about the stories, insights, and experiences you have along with those in the industry, that's a huge selling point.

So, that is why I am extremely grateful for Dennis Yu and Kevin Cote (Facebook) for allowing me and my Mom to come and take a tour of Facebook before heading to AEJMC. What an experience and there's a lot of great work and cutting edge technologies that are being implemented and incorporated into the largest social media network. Thank you Dennis and Kevin for taking the time to show the two Dr. Frebergs (Mom and I) around Facebook!

We had a great time also going to LinkedIn and I thoroughly enjoyed our time listening about how professors can help their students with their LinkedIn profiles. Since then, I have been trying to update my profile with the great insights shared during the off-site tour. We got a chance to hear from Yumi Wilson, who I had a chance to see speak last year at the Edelman Academic Summit. Another great talk and thanks for sharing this with all of us, Yumi!

Meeting social media friends IRL

There's nothing like meeting someone you have been communicating and chatting with for years on social media to finally have a chance to 1) hear their presentation in real life and 2) meet them in person. This is what happened to me in San Francisco.

I had a chance to meet Michael Brito for the first time and he did a fabulous job in his talk for the social media measurement pre-conference. I was thrilled to see he was going to be a speaker and have been a fan of his work and books (I use his "Your Brand" book in my social media class). It was a pleasure meeting you in person, Michael!

Reactions to presentations

I had two presentations I had to do for AEJMC - one was part of a teaching ethics and legal panel and the other one was focused on a research study we did for Hootsuite University. Both were very well received. I did do one thing that I felt as a professor could either be successful or not for my crisis presentation and that was to add emojis. 

However, it went really well! It was fun for me to share my slides in my crisis talk using emojis (got my inspiration from my time at GM and learning about the Chevy Emoji  campaign).  Everyone actually liked it, so that was cool to see! Can you tell what the summary slide says?

I also had a great time presenting our award winning research on Hootsuite. I had the opportunity to work with Emily Kinsky (West Texas A&M), Matt Kushin (Shepherd University), Carolyn Mae Kim (Biola University), and William Ward (Syracuse University). Each professor brought forth great insights, a strong work ethic, and creative ideas. It was a great project and well received as well. Congrats team on our first place teaching paper!

Also, I'd like to send a special thank you to Kimberly Yu, Kelsey Wong, and Kirsten Bailey for your support and encouragement throughout this project! You all at Hootsuite are amazing and we couldn't have been happier with the response to our first place teaching paper at AEJMC.

What about things to jump on and engage in more for the upcoming academic year? Here are a few of my thoughts on what I hope to address and expand on even further for the 2015-2016 year:

More mentorship

I saw this as being one of the main takeaways I had from my conference this year. There seems to be a lot of professors and graduate students out there who are looking for someone to chat with about potential research projects, ideas, and advice on what to do next. I am always happy to help out and chat with fellow professors and graduate students. I spent a lot of my time in San Francisco talking to some amazing people and bouncing off ideas for potential projects. This was fun and I think we as a profession in PR need more of this.

Advocating for more transdisciplinary work & balance in approaching research

I did something that was a lot of fun for me - I brought my Mom (the original Dr. Freberg) to AEJMC. This was Mom's first ever PR conference, and it was fun for me to have her chat with my fellow colleagues and bounce off ideas. Plus, it was good for my colleagues to see the importance of having someone from an outside and related field evaluate and talk about PR research. We definitely need more of this in PR.

Not only should we advocate for more transdisciplinary work, but we should also encourage others to have a balance when it comes to their work and daily activities. It's important to do a little bit of work each day, but also take breaks when needed to rest, brainstorm ideas, work on other projects and rejuvenate yourself so you can jump back into work with a fresh perspective. I try to do this in my work and it's worked for me, so I tried to encourage other friends and colleagues to consider this as well.

Paying it forward

This is always something I think about, but especially when it comes to graduate students. There are some AMAZING students who are on the job market in PR. I was super impressed and really excited for their future careers as professors. They are the future of our field and I wanted to share some tips and best practices on what they could do to take their work to the next level and advice I wish I had as a graduate student.

Overall, it was a great conference and time in San Francisco! I also had the opportunity to fulfill my new role as communication manager of the AEJMC PRD. It's a new leadership role for me and I am excited to be working with the website, newsletter, and social media teams.

Thanks to everyone who made AEJMC such a wonderful experience!