Volunteer, Intern, Freelance: How Strategic Use of These Roles Can Help Organizations

Volunteer, Intern, Freelance: How Strategic Use of These Roles Can Help Organizations, Students and Young Professionals Alike

 

May 2, 2013
12 – 1:30 p.m.
Kim T. Adamson Alumni House, Westminster College
1840 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah

Event Registration

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Every communications organization would likely welcome a few more full-time employees, and those looking for jobs certainly would happily fill them, but our budgets don’t allow this. Come to this panel discussion to learn how some of Utah’s most prominent employers are using volunteers, interns, and freelancers strategically to expand the reach of their organizations, and how students and young professionals can enter a pipeline to meaningful, sometimes full-time, employment.

Panelists

Sheena McFarland, Communities/Close-Up editor at The Salt Lake Tribune. Sheena utilizes interns and freelancers to produce content for The Tribune’s weekly Close-Up section, which focuses on hyperlocal news. She has been a mentor at The Daily Chronicle at the U of U since she served as editor-in-chief several years ago. Through this mentoring, she is able to determine who may be intern-worthy candidates to bring in to The Tribune to work as news clerks, news room assistants and freelance writers. Sheena offers a strategic look at developing a feeder program of quality interns that can someday become paid freelancers for an organization.

Kathy Wilets, Associate Director of Media Relations at University of Utah Health Care. Kathy currently employs freelancers and the occasional intern to augment her staff when they are fully utilized. Prior to her work at the University, Kathy was a producer at KUTV-2 and managed their internship program. Kathy offers a critical look at how much time and effort a good internship program takes, as well as a valuable perspective on how freelancers can be an effective way to flex staffing to meet content demands.

Sean Crossland, Community Partnerships Coordinator, Thayne Center for Service and Learning, Salt Lake Community College. Sean oversees the Thayne Center’s Volunteer Management Training Series, a valley-wide collaboration with United Way of Salt Lake, the Bennion Community Service Center at the University of Utah, and the Center for Civic Engagement at Westminster College. Sean can provide a clear understanding of what it takes to start and maintain a strong volunteer program at your organization, and how this can benefit communications professionals, in particular.

Stacey Closser (Freelance Writer)
Stacey has been a professional freelance copywriter and magazine feature writer since 2005, after serving as an editor and staff writer at multiple organizations. Her clients range from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to the Prism Media Group. She has written for AARP the Magazine, The Sports Page, Park City Magazine and a variety of national and local publications.

 

President’s Message March 2013

A few weeks ago I attended an annual workshop focused on the work I do as an intranet manager. Other intranet teams from various companies were in attendance and included communications and IT professionals. The focus of the workshop was to share our recent “wins” and current challenges to foster knowledge sharing and best practices. I came away from the workshop renewed, feeling a sense of, “I’m not in this alone.” I have others to turn to. I made some great connections with others who are in a similar place as me.

Our next event, “Bring Your Own Dilemma” aims to deliver a similar outcome. As communication professionals we are all striving to reach our audiences, engage employees in the company’s business strategy, and leverage the latest technology to help us do it with ease. It’s rewarding to share the “wins” or your latest accomplishments with like-minded professionals and it feels good to offer help and expertise to others who are in a situation that you have mastered. IABC is the community where you can experience this.

Additionally, the month of April will be focused on connecting students with communication professionals. Students are eager to learn how we apply the methods they are learning in their programs to real life. This is the feel-good part where we get to teach, develop and coach the next generation of communicators. IABC wants to connect students with internships, so please send us your opportunities. We will collect these opportunities, make them available for students through our website and hold an event towards the end of the month to help make the connection.

Thank you for being a part of IABC Utah,

Laraine

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BYOD (Bring Your Own Dilemma) Postponed to a Later Date

BYOD_121197933Inviting all IABC members and guests to join us for a Bring Your Own Dilemma lunch. What better way to get brainstorming help from your communication peers than to join us for dilemma roundtables? Each person at the table will have 10 minutes to throw out a dilemma and see what other experts throw back at you from their “fresh eyes” perspective. 

Register Here!

With everyone in the same room, it’s a quick and easy way to get some new ideas for your work dilemma. And if you don’t have one, come and provide your expertise! We’ll keep notes on all dilemmas that are raised, some of the solutions offered, and post them on our IABC website as a resource for all members. Lunch will be provided.

Don’t miss this chance to talk about the issues that are most important to you! Plus, you’ll have a chance to visit one of our member companies, CHG Healthcare Services. Headquartered in Utah, CHG is one of the largest providers of healthcare staffing in the U.S. and was honored to rank No. 3 on Fortune magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” this year.

Location:

Print

CHG Healthcare Services
6440 S. Millrock Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84121

Date:

Postponed to a later date

Register Here!