A visual snapshot of the PR industry for Belmont students through the day of Courtney Eller, PR practitioner with DVL Public Relations and Advertising.

1. { Putting the Relation
into Public Relations }
*
PR Practitioner Interview with
Presented By: Nicole Smart
Intro to Public Relations

2. { Well, hello there }
*
We’re going to talk a little bit
about a lot of stuff…
* A little about DVL
* A little about Courtney
* A little about her day
* A word to the wise
Sometimes a little
goes a long way

3. { A little about DVL }
*
A Full service, award winning, Nashville Public
Relations and Advertising Firm
* During my research DVL stood out to me for a few reasons –
As a company they are proud of their work and their
employees.
* They pride themselves on being thinkers and listening
inventively to their clients.
* The pride in their work shows through the attention to detail
in their projects and on their website.
I wanted to tell
their story

4. { A little about Courtney }
*
DVL Account Supervisor
(and my wonderful interviewee)
* Courtney Eller
* PR graduate from Alabama
* Workday is 9-5ish
* Caffeine intake low - Water intake high
* Mom of two
* Roll Tide Fan for life
This little lady
does it all

5. { Essential Question for the class }
*
What was your educational background and
how did it prepare you for your job?
* Equipped with a BA in Public Relations from the
University of Alabama, Courtney says she has always
been interested in PR. A mom of two girls, avid Roll
Tide fan, she’s all about family and college football
when her work day ends.
But wait there’s more!

6. {“DVL has a professional development program for
their employees, and you get to work with teams of
people each step of the way.”}
*
Here’s a snapshot of the program and
Courtney’s journey to Account Supervisor:
* Semester-long internship  Most start here
* Year-long associate program  Where Courtney Began
* Assistant Account Executive  If you cut the mustard they’ll keep you around
* Account Executive  Courtney went here next (she’s an honor grad)
* Account Supervisor  That’s Courtney!
You could be the next
Courtney!

7. { What else we talked about}
*
“You have to like to write,” she says. Her duties
involve a lot of it.
* One of the perks of the job is the repository of knowledge
she’s built up over the years.
* “You get to know a little about a lot of things,” she says.
* It’s all about teamwork. Courtney interacts with the creative
team quite a bit, she gathers information delivers it to the
team and they work their creative magic.
Trivial Pursuit anyone?
Courtney’s on my team!

8. { A project she’s proud of }
*
www.teensdrivesmart.org
* With the Bridgestone headquarters in Nashville, we’re big into
teen driver safety around here. She watched the project grow from
just an idea to the robust site that it is now, complete with video
contests, scholarship giveaways and driver safety courses.
* “We talked about a video contest in 2007,” she said. The winner
would get a $5,000 scholarship.
* Last year the department of transportation got involved in the
project, we saw well over 1,000 video entries and the winner now
gets $25,000.
Grandma was right,
patience is a virtue

9. { A project she’s proud of}

10. { A little about Courtney’s day }
*
For a DVL Account Supervisor it might include
* Media relations
* Social media
* Print marketing
* Event planning
* Generating project analytics
* Etc.
A little bit of this,
a little bit of that

11. { Essential Question for the class }
*
What is your typical day like?
* “Ha!” She says. “No day is typical, projects change every moment.”
Today alone she worked on:
* A media crisis
* Followed up with bloggers
* Worked on a teen driver safety account
* Picked recipes for a food client’s Pinterest boards
* Was interviewed by Belmont (that’s me! I brought coffee!)
* Has a food feature article to work on
Whew! What a day

12. { Wow that sounds like a lot of work}
*
How many hours a week do you work?
* The schedule is 8-5ish. About 8 hours of work each day but those
seven hours are high octane.
* Courtney lives by her calendar and keeps it color coded to stay
organized… I saw it, if you squint your eyes hard enough, the array of
color blotted and blended together could almost pass for a Jackson
Pollack.
Color coding is key

13. { What else we talked about}
*
Little things make a big difference
* Proving ROI is huge. The economy has not been doing so well
so proving results for your clients is important.
* Learning the nuances of Media Relations is important, there
are a lot of facets to it, learn more about this.
* Know about communications and be able to pull in people or
information from other agencies and facets of PR for your
projects such as TV, politics, food.
Being a student of the
world will pay off in PR

14. { A word to the wise }
*
How to go from student at Belmont
to Courtney at DVL
* Be purposeful about resumes
* Make yourself stand out with leadership opportunities
* Getting internships and getting hired starts with networking
It’s all in the details

15. { Essential Question for the class}
*
When evaluating resumes of prospective
employees (or interns), what makes a resume
stand out?
* "I’m a stickler for spelling,” she says.
* Please don’t copy and paste names and addresses into your
cover letter template.
* Make sure you read over and fact-check your stuff before
sending it out to potential employers.
Sounds easy enough

16. { “Show your experience, we live in an
age where we can be picky.” }
*
What kind of experience you ask?
* “Even small internships can equal big wins, get involved in
organizations and immerse yourself in them if possible. I’m
looking for writing experience, social media experience and
tangible things you’ve done.”
* Hint, hint, it’s probably a good idea to have an online portfolio.
* Another good idea would be to join organizations (ahem PRSSA)
and volunteer. This is all great stuff to put on your resume.
Sounds easy enough

17. { Bonus Material}
*
From Courtney’s top 17 tips for getting hired
* 2. Read. Read. Read. Current events. Greek Mythology. Shakespeare.
* 3. Write. Write. Write. Study Grammar. Don’t limit yourself to 140
characters.
* 4. Gain as much exposure as you can to the do’s and don’ts of social
media.
* 12. Write handwritten thank you notes after each interview or call.
* 13. Be persistent. If it’s something you really want to do, keep in
touch with the person hiring.
Trivial Pursuit anyone?
Courtney’s on my team!

18. { Thanks! }
*
What questions do you have?
Presented By: Nicole Smart
Intro to Public Relations