PRSSA National Conference 2012 San Francisco

Greatest experience of my life [so far].   That is the only way I can describe the awesomeness, sometimes madness, of this years PRSSA National Conference in the beautiful city by the bay.  The conference got off to a rough start the first day when we lugged our bags through the city because we could not find the right hotel.  Eventually we settled in, met the rest of our chapter members, and quickly proceeded to have an unforgettable experience.  Growing up in a small, agricultural town I had no business being surrounded by such successful professionals and future professionals from prestigious schools such as USC, BYU, and Florida.  It was a strange sight when I looked in the mirror and saw myself in a suit, about to shake hands with PR legends.  These presenters did not disappoint.  The conference had a star-studded line up of presenters and speakers, including Twitter co-founder (and possible stand-up comic) Biz Stone, MSNBC's Michael Steel, and PRSSA President Gerald Corbit.  A few of the companies that showed up for the career fair included General Motors, Edelman, Fleishman-Hillard, Lewis PR, and many others.  Despite the big names, it was the eager students that made my weekend.  I met so many amazing people that were just as excited about public relations as me, from all over the country including Southern Missouri, Southern Georgia State, Sacramento State, CSU Fullerton, San Diego State, and West Virginia.  One of the greatest moments of the trip came when I had burgers with two members from the Southern Georgia State PRSSA chapter.  They were so excited to be in San Francisco, and we had a blast talking about anything and everything.  While eating our burgers, we ran into two PRSA members and shared french fries and laughter.  Another amazing moment came on the very last night of the conference.  I met two brothers from my fraternity from chapters all across the country.  We shared stories with one another and I was surprised at how much us three had in common.  Public Relations is all about networking, and the networks I established from this event and the experience itself was something that I will always look back upon with joy.  I cannot wait for the next conference in beautiful Philadelphia   Hopefully I will attend that conference as chapter president.