Cultural Event #5 - Drag Show

For my last cultural event blog I wanted to talk about an event that is very dear to my heart, the Drag Show. The Drag Show is another Program Board event I work adamantly with. I started working on the Drag Show 3 years ago and it is my favorite event. The Drag Show is put on by Allies and Program Board. It’s a benefit show for Community Networks of Martinsburg for HIV/AIDS prevention, and is the second largest fundraisers at Shepherd.

This year is the 10^th annual Drag Show, which is extremely exciting to think for a decade we’ve been raising money to benefit Community Networks in Martinsburg for HIV prevention.

The process of planning an event this large takes a whole school year. We started this planning this fall semester. We start so early because it is always a challenge to pick a date that works for the Shepherd calendar, but that also works with the Drag Queens. Since the Queens donate their time to us we can’t say “hey, this is the date do it or you won’t get paid”. Plus their schedules are busy with other shows and pageants.

Eventually we settled on April 11^th and also figured out a theme, Lights Out on HIV, which was a black light theme. It was so cool. We had glow sticks we used to decorate tables and LED fiber optic lights, the Student Center recently installed LED stage lights which changed colors at the beat of the music, which added a more club like atmosphere.  

The event was spectacular. We raised over $2,000, which was our goal. So thrilled! Two Queens made their debut at our show this year and we had a lot of people attending for the first time, which makes me so happy to think this event will continue and we will continue to make a positive impact. 

Cultural Event 4 - New York City Trip

On March 1^st I went to NYC with Program Board. I love NYC. It is so full of life and culture. This trip was even more special, because I got to take my mom with me this time. My mom hadn’t been since she was in high school. I’ve been to NYC 5 times on school and graduation trip to see Broadway shows and just to explore, so this trip was about showing her all my favorite places.

The bus ride turned out to be a cultural experience, because we watched the Lion King, and people sang-along, which was hilarious!

Once we arrived, we went to the 9/11 Memorial. It is a beautiful memorial. From there we hopped back onto the subway, which is crazy! We got lost. While we were waiting for our train we were looking at one of the maps and it just blows my how they built the system. We arrived then at Rockefeller Center, which is full of history. We did the Top of the Rock tour, where you go up 70 flights. The elevator ride is a little scary to be honest, but the view is breathtaking!

After the tour we went over to Time Square and were total tourist. From there we went to the Disney Store in honor of me getting into the Disney College Program! We spent like 2 hours in there. Then we went to dinner at Junior’s, they also serve New Style Cheesecake. My one piece of cake was huge, but delicious! It was a great time and mother-daughter bonding moment.

Cultural Blog 3 - Avenue Q

Shepherd University Music Department put on the Tony-Winning musical Avenue Q. It was fantastic! The cast was amazingly talented. It’s hard to believe they are just students.

Avenue Q is a hilarious musical that touches on real life issues, like graduating from college and becoming an adult, which is easily relatable to my life now. The show has a mix of humans and puppet characters like Kate the girl next door, Rod the Republican, Trekkie the Internet sexpert, and Lucy the slut, who all are helping Princeton, a recent college graduate (with B.A. in English) find his purpose in life. It is basically just the grown up version of Sesame Street.

I ended up seeing the show twice, because it was that good. You can’t help but enjoy every moment. My favorite songs are “It Sucks to Be Me” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”.  I love how the show takes the more taboo things in life and just throws them all out there in the open, but I guess it’s ok to have full on sex scene if they are puppets right? Now enjoy the video below of the Broadway Cast singing "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist".

Cultural Event 2 - NOH8 Photo Booth

Back in January I had the chance to participate in Shepherd’s NOH8 Photo Booth put on by Multicultural Student Affairs. It was a great program. It was a simple, but effective program; it spreads the message on our campus, any form of hate will not be tolerated. You can see my best friend Rogelio and I standing against hate and being goofy.

The NOH8 Campaign was started by photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley, as photographic silent protest against California’s Proposition 8. The photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world. You can learn more about the NOH8 campaign here.

Along with the photo booth, they also had a raffle for NOH8 merchandise. I ended up winning a tote, wristband, and stickers!

Cultural Event 1 - Children of Uganda

On January 15, I saw the amazing performance of Children of Uganda’s Tour of Light, put on by the Performance Arts Series at Shepherd. It was extraordinary!

Tour of Light transports you across Africa’s vast cultures through song and dance. It is vivacious and fun. You cannot help but smile as you watch the performance. They sing in Swahili, Luganda, Ryunyege, Kinrwandan, Ruto, Zulu, and English. 

Not only to they teach you about African culture, but they raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, and fund to educate, feed, and clothe their brother and sisters in Uganda. All the performers come from extreme and vulnerable conditions. Many of them are orphaned, affected by poverty, or has one or more family members living with HIV/AIDS. However, tragic their stories are, they do not let it affect them. Each time they’ve been at Shepherd, I saw nothing but pure joy and gratefulness.

This was my second time seeing them perform. They came to Shepherd back in 2012 when I had just started working for Program Board. The kids were so joyous when they arrived on the campus. They immediately hugged us as they got off the bus. Many of them had never been to the US before, it was heartwarming to see them enjoy things like ice cream, full buffet at the dining hall and bowling for the first time; many things we take for granted. It was a moment I will never forget, and definitely reaffirmed my love for programming and Shepherd. 

Faculty Review

I believe my faculty review went well. I received some good feedback and I now have a greater understanding of the importance of copyright. I appreciate the advice. I plan to do a SWOT analysis on the challenge that didn’t work like Jason suggested. I also plan on doing one for the whole campaign. I’m getting very excited for the BIG event next weekend. I’m looking forward to fine tune the rest of my project and then present in April. Almost there!!

Progress - March 3

My capstone is still going well. I plan to start the “Why I Relay” stories on Facebook next week. In my meeting with Matt we discussed how I can translate the stories onto other social media platforms without them being exactly the same. My plan is to make Twitter the platform here followers can share why they relay and Instagram will be graphic photos with quotes from stories I have collected. I’m really excited to create a more personal atmosphere. The event is sneaking up on us. We are now a month away (AH). We have Paint the Town/Campus Purple I event coming up after we return from spring break. I am also working on getting the Instagram off the ground so when the event is here, student will already be following it. I have also completed my cultural experiences. I just need to write them.

Capstone Progress

My capstone project is coming together nicely despite the snow conflicting with events and meetings. For the past couple months Dr. Kushin and I have been laying down to foundation of the project by creating the social media plan and setting goals and objectives. On February 3, the first of my campaign started, which was the Game Face Selfie Challenge. Unfortunately it didn’t have the draw I expected it to. I ended up canceling the event. Right now I am in the process on revamping my content calendar by making what I post more personal and engaging. I am also focusing on getting more followers on the Twitter and Instagram. I am planning in March to start my campaign of “I Relay” stories, which highlight the reason each committee member joined Relay For Life. I am excited for this particular campaign. The rest of my work is just preparing for the event in April. It is less than 40 days! I am feeling prepared for presentations on March 17.  

Social Media: New Hybrid

In the article Social media: The new hybrid element of promotion mix, written by W. Glynn Mangold and David J. Faulds, they explore the development of social media and how it has changed how consumers communicate with their customers. The purpose of this article was to provide evidence that organizations should incorporate social media Integrated Marketing Communication strategy, to compare and contrast the traditional communication methods, and methods marketing manager can shape the consumer-to-consumer conversations. 

  

   Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the guiding principle organizations follow to communicate with their target markets. It attempts to coordinate and control the various elements of the promotional mix (advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion) to produce a unified customer focused message. 

  

   Social media has impacted IMC because it encompasses many forums, which not only allows consumers to communicate with companies, but consumers to directly communicate with other consumers. The study found Internet has become a mass media vehicle for consumer-sponsored communications. Consumers are turning away from traditional sources such as radio and magazines. Social media is also perceived as more trustworthy because of consumer's ability to communicate directly.  

I found this article very intriguing. I because I think egaging with your consumers should be company's top priority. It is also important, because if you aren't engaging you aren't maintaining positive relationships. 

Social Media & Nonprofis

Social media helps us stay connected all over. It aslo has powers to spread ideas and inspire people all over the world. Social media can spread ideas of hope, change, happiness, and equality. That is why it is a great tool for nonprofits to utilize. 

In the study conducted by Lindley Curtis, Carrie Edwards, Kristen L. Fraser, Sheryl Gudelsky, Jenny Holmquist,
Kristin Thornton, and Kaye D. Sweetser about the Adoption of Social for Public Relations by Nonprofit Organizations, researchers surveyed public relations practioner to find out how they are adopting social media tools and if they view them as credible. The Unified Theroy of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was employed to examine the practitioners' use of social media and investigated their familiarity with social media, their level of participation in communication technologies, their behaviors concerning new media communication outlets, and their tendencies to adopt these tools. 

The study found women consider social media to be beneficial, whereas men exhibit more confidence in activel utilizing social media. Organizations with specified public relations departments were more likely to adopt social media. There was also positive correlations between UTAUT factors and credibility indicated a greater likelihood to adopt social media. The results of this study indicatcat that social media tools are benefical methods of communication in the public relations field. 

I chose this article to research more for research into the type of career I plan to have. I feel it benefits me to understand how nonprofits are adopting social media tools for their businesses and nonprofits. 

Viral Content

In the study done by Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman What Makes Content Go Viral, they researched why certain online content is more viral than others. They found through collecting data from New York Times articles published over a 3 month period, positive content is more viral than negative. They also found the relationship between emotion and social transmission is more complex. Virality is driven by physiological arousal, which is a state of mobilization. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral. Content that is more deactivating such as sadness is less viral. The study is important because it helps marketers and PR professional create more effective social media campaigns. 

Based this study, a connection can be made the "opinion leaders" Laserfeld refers to in his study of two-step flow, are mostly sharing positive content. I would even conclude the negative emotions like anger which were found to be highly viral could also be positive. I believe in most cases the sharing of content that is negative isn't meant to create negativity, but instead to ignite justice for all. 

It personally helps me, so I am able to understand not only what I should be posting but how to write the content. Being apart of Relay For Life is a amazing experience, because it is are creating hope for people who are in need. I didn't understand the impact until I join the committee and started researching American Cancer Society and Relay. It is important to create a positive and uplifting message not only for the students who are attending, but for the survivors and caregivers. They need to know that we believe they can carry on too. 

Cancer having a negative tone anyway, I don't want the content I'm posting in the page to be depressing. Therefore it is important to post content that is inspiring and motivational, but create a positive outlook for the more negative stories. 

Two-Step Flow Theroy

The theory I am exploring is the theory of two-step flow. This theory was introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld. It focused on the decision making process during a presidental election campaign. Theory states that information travels in two steps. First from individuals, who are opinion leaders and pay attention to mass media. They recieve the message and then pass it to individuals who are close to the opinion leader. 

Photo Soruce: Communicationtheroy.org

Social media has allowed media to spread their message even further. When the theory was first introduced in 1944, the main media channels and sources of information were radio and newspaper. The article says most of the connections a person had were family, friends, and co-workers . Social media platforms like Twitter have changed that. Most people have at least 100 followers, some are friends, classmates, co-workers, but others are people who have similar interests to them. For example, my followers are made up of people with interest in public relations and social media, who I have never met, but they influence what information I see. Social media has changed the relationship of the opinion leaders and individual. It just isn't a interpersonal connectional anymore. 

Another aspect that has changed is who the opinion leaders are. The theory suggested the opinion leader is someone who pays close attention to media and then pass it along. Therefore I could be an opinion leader and most of my friends would be considered one as well. I stay updated on current events via the news, Twitter, and Facebook. A majority of the time I share it either on Facebook or by retweet and sometimes by word of mouth. The opinion leader is no larger someone who was in high social standing. 

This applies to my campaign for Relay, because in order for people to participate in any fundraiser they need to feel like that are making a difference. Social media gives people that gratifaction. By sharing a post or updating their status, they are in control of the message and who sees it. They are the leader. This is especially important for people invovled with Relay, because there was once a time cancer was a taboo and no one talked about it. As times as progress the message is everywhere and social media plays an important role. 

Statment of Intent

For my Capstone project I will be implenting a public relations campaign for the Relay for Life event here at Shepherd. Matt Kushin will be my director. 

 I am currently serving as publicty chair on the Relay for Life planning committee. It is my job to help advertise all events using various media channels. I chose Relay because my ideal career is working with nonprofit agencies as their communications manager, create events and social medai campiagns for that organization. This allows me to apply my skills to a real world experience.

My goals are to increase engagement of students on Shepherd's campus. We have numerous campus clubs and organizations who participate, but I want to see more students outside of those groups actively participating, which could involve doing Zumba, walking a lap on the track, or buying a cookie. With the use of social media tools I want to spread awareness of the importance of not only our event, but Relay for Life events nationwide. 

I am focusing on Relay's Facebook and Twitter page. In the past they have not been very active and I would like to change that through more motivational and educational content, while also creating social media plans such as "Game Face Selfie" to be held the month of February. 

For the project I intend to do an audience analysis, internal communication audit, and an external communication analysis. I will determine who my content is aimed to and research what communication SU Relay has used in the past, an look at how other nonprofits marketing their events. Then using that information and established objectives, stageties, and tactics I will create a content calendar. 

I am really excited to showcase all I've learned for a cause that is dear to my heart.