By RACHEL STARK
The University of Memphis Public Relations Student Society of America won a competitive bid to host the 2020 PRSSA International Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
A team of four students, led by PRSSA adviser Dr. Teri Del Rosso and PRSA professional adviser and PR professor Kim Marks Malone, APR, made the pitch at the 2019 PRSSA International Conference in October in San Diego.
The bid, which the team started working on in June, included a presentation led by students Kix Patterson and Aly Brandon detailing why the University of Memphis PRSSA chapter would be the best team to host the event.
“It was super exciting! Kix and I knew first and then told Professor Marks and Dr. Del Rosso after, they both started crying, and we were all hugging, laughing and crying,” Brandon said. “It felt amazing to know that all of our hard work had paid off, and we beat out schools that are Nashville based.”
Their presentation included proposed branding for the conference, as well as a theme and proposed speakers and professional development sessions and the chapter’s professional connections in both Memphis and Nashville.
Extensive planning and fundraising made the San Diego trip possible. PRSSA members sold custom “Meeman apparel,” which included tank tops, T-shirts and sweatshirts, to raise funds.
The pitch focused on the diverse professionals who work in public relations and the need to increase that diversity in the future.
“Our desire to be thoughtful about diversity and inclusion was a huge factor in our decisions,” Patterson said. “Public relations as a field struggles with this and our conference is all about finding their place in the industry.”
While in the planning process of their pitch, the team worked on immersing themselves in what it would be like to be a tourist in Nashville, developing tours and sight-seeing excursions in the country music capital.
With the awarding of the bid, the group will spend the next nine months preparing for the conference, which is set for Oct. 25-27, 2020, at the Gaylord Hotel.
“It takes nearly a full year to plan the conference,” Patterson said, “so we’ve got to get back into the grind.”