Museums at #PRSSANC

This weekend, PRowl traveled to Washington, D.C. for the 2014 National PRSSA Conference. Starting yesterday, PRowl is recapping some of the sessions, insights, and stories shared during the conference in our country's capital.

My favorite session of the weekend was A Monumental View: What It Takes To Work in Museums and Public Places. Museums and institutions and arts & culture are more of niche industries, and one we don't particularly learn about as much as say, agency or corporate. Melinda Machado, the Marketing & Communications Coordinator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History presented about her background and experience in this position.

(Source: Newsdesk)

When asked what advice she can give students looking to get involved in the industry, she suggested gaining experience through agency work, where the opportunities for work in different industries is endless. Once employers can see you are capable of handling multiple projects in the fast-paced world of PR, they are more confident in you bringing that back to their internal communications.

Machado prepared a helpful visual presentation breaking down all the processes and results of a few campaigns she's worked on while at the museum. She tracked media coverage and her social footprint as the Communications director. For example, the museum's Communications team organized an event acknowledging Ralph Lauren for his donations and contributions to the National Museum of American History's exhibits. Hilary Clinton presented the award to Ralph Lauren, and clearly - media outlets all over covered the event, giving the museum a ton of earned publicity.

Among many other amazing speakers, Melinda Machado shared great insight for students aspiring to work in the field of PR within not only institutions, but any other industry. Her campaigns are inspirations for future student projects.