MegRoberts

I have included some pieces of my work for you to review. They range from press releases to brochures to graphic design. If you have questions about any of my work, feel free to e-mail me. 

• My Blog - PR Interactive - Halfway through the fall 2007 semester I decided to launch a blog about public relations from a student's perspective. The blog has been well-received and averages 40 hits per day. It helped me learn about RSS, CSS, blogging, social media, and current issues in the communications field.
• PRSSA at USF Web Site - As Director of Member Services for the USF chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America, it was my responsibility to keep our 160 members informed about events, meetings, community service projects, internships, and scholarship opportunities. Sending out lengthy E-mails every week was time consuming and flooding inboxes, so I decided to redesign our web site.
  
• Company Blog - SG is for YOU - I am the Director of Marketing and Public Affairs for USF's Student Government. After conducting primary research, my department noticed that students did not feel like the student body president and vice president were visible enough on campus. Because USF has over 35,000 students, we knew it would be a challenge to create visibility that every student could appreciate. To overcome this, I presented a proposal for a blog that would allow interaction between the students and SG.
  
• Contributing Blogger - Brazen Careerist - In December of 2007, the founders of Brazen Careerist, a comprehensive career center Web site for young professionals, contacted me and asked me to be a contributing blogger on their site. I immediately took the opportunity, and Brazen Careerist officially launched on March 1, 2008. I am honored to be a part of such an innovative and proactive group of young people, and hope that my posts help other public relations students in their education and job search. 

• Student Government Pushes for Online Database for Course Evaluations 
• Student Government Launches Blog to Keep Students Informed
• Student Government Launches Safety Whistle Program 
• Pitch E-mail and Article for a Web Site - This piece was written in my Writing for Public Relations class in November 2007. For this assignment, we read an article that Ron Rhody had published about ethical behavior in business. After reading the article, we had to write a story for a local PRSA chapter's web site and send an E-mail pitch to the rest of the chapter to generate traffic to the website. 
• Hard News Release - On the first day of my Writing for PR class, our professor wrote down a long list of basic facts about a hotel fire. We then had to write a press release in 20 minutes based off these bullet points, eliminating ones that were unnecessary or might damage the hotel's reputation.
• Generate Media Coverage for a Research Firm's Report - This assignment had us read a very detailed research report about identity theft, and then write a release that would target business journals.
• Grand Opening of a Restaurant - This was written for my final project in Public Relations Issues, a course I completed in December 2007. We had to create a business and write a press release about an innovative function the business had that set it apart from its competitors. While everything in this release is fictional, it does show my ability to write in a feature style

• Make Your Voice Heard - This piece was used throughout the 2008  Student Government election season as  we tried to raise awareness about the General Election for  Student Body President, Vice President, and Senators. We distributed over 1000 flyers and ran five ads in the daily student newspaper that featured various sizes of this graphic.
• Full Page Newspaper Ad - To have the current Student Body President and Vice President encourage students to vote in the election, I helped them write editorial pieces explaining their positions and why students should care to vote. I then designed a full page ad to resemble a page in the newspaper to give the piece for credibility. This ran the first day the polls opened for the election. 
• Half Page Newspaper Ad - This ad ran on two consecutive days in the University of South Florida's daily student newspaper to promote the  General Election. The paper has a readership of over 40,000.
• Election Television Ad - The University of South Florida has a television station that runs promotions in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. This graphic was displayed on the station prior and during the election, and was shown in the Student Union and residence halls
• I Voted. Have You? - In order to reach out to the large number of students who eat and study in the Student Union, we inserted this flyer into table pieces throughout the designated area. 
• Get Involved with Student Government! - This appeared in a booklet that was published for the University of South Florida student leadership fair in January 2008 to promote Student Government and encourage involvement. 

As the Director of Marketing and Public Affairs for Student Government (SG), one of my main roles was to serve as the spokesperson for the 250+ organization that is responsible for allocating more than $10.1 million in student fees. When that much money is being handled, the organization is often under the meticulous watch of administration, students, and the media. It was my responsibility to maintain an objective voice on behalf of SG and to ensure all facts are portrayed accurately in the media. 

An article that demonstrates my ability to explain SG procedures to the media can be read here.

For this article, I spent a significant amount of time with the journalists discussing impeachment proceedings, statutes, and administrative functions so that the article's readers would be properly informed.  The paper featured this quote of mine on the front page: