Connect 2019

By: Eimile Harrison, Chapter President

This past Friday, November 8th, we attended the Connect Professional Development Conference in Cayce, SC hosted by SCPRSA and IABC-SC. For many of us attending, it was our first time, so we were unsure of what to expect, but we knew it would be an amazing experience. While at Connect, we were able to meet so many amazing people, as well as our fellow PRSSA chapters in the state, Claflin University, Anderson University, and UofSC. With an amazing speaker to start our morning off, there were a total of 8 break out sessions to choose from, but you could only attend four. We each picked whichever session piqued our interests, but the Student Panel was extra special. Nicole McAlister, who spoke on the student panel, is a Clemson graduate and former member of the Clemson PRSSA chapter. I think I took over 5 pages of notes throughout the day. The last session I attended was Brandi Boatner, or as she calls herself "The Beyoncé of the business world", on Driving Digital DNA. With an interactive presentation and clever connections to the communication industry, she presented our digital dna as being made of ACGT, just like our DNA, but here it means Audience, Technology, Goals, and Content. I don't want to spill too much on her session, because it's my hope that our chapter will be able to have Brandi as a guest speaker later this year. Connect was an amazing opportunity that allowed us to meet so many people, both students and professionals, and I can't wait to attend next year (even if it means leaving campus by 6am again).