Present at this meeting: Leah Anderson, Justin Brown, Nicole Burmaster, LuAnn Christoffers, Ryan Dick, Christy Durand, Meghan Ellingson, Christine Fischer, Andy Gerlt, Sara Glasgow, Jerald Gross, Lisa Hunt, Meredith Hunyadi, Alison Koscielniak, Janelle Layland, Jeannette Lemrise, Katya Rimboym, Crystal Smith, Jessica Steirer, Karen Tournier, Maria Troia, Stacy Warren, Lonny White, Jessica Williams and Henry Milam - Advisor.

This meeting was set up as a public relations roundtable. Although it was a very small roundtable, much information was given.

LuAnn quickly mentioned the PRSA meeting at the Embassy Suites on Thursday, September 17 at 11:30 a.m. They will be serving a Chinese Dim Sung Buffet which will cost $15 at the door. There will be small table discussions.

For those interested there was a short informational meeting about Boston after the general meeting.

Then Jerald introduced our speakers. They were both 1998 graduates from Drake. Cari Brodersen is the account administrator at CMF&Z. One of the current clients she is working with is the Iowa Department of Economic Development. This project is keeping her busy because she has planned a large conference for Thursday.

Mieka N. Rustand is the media relations/special events manager with Iowa Health System Affiliates. Some of her responsibilities are the weekly employee newsletter, media relations, special events on health, such as marathons and fund-raisers.

Both speakers emphasized how important it is to get experience through internships.

When asked what they wished they would have learned more about at Drake they both said media relations. They said the media can be hard to deal with sometimes. Cari mentioned how important it was to know the editors and their work when pitching a story.

Both said that when dealing with press releases they normally send out the release and then call two or three days after to make sure that the specific person received the release.

When asked about the salary range around the Des Moines area Mieka said that it could be anywhere from $18,000 to $35,000 a year. It was explained that salary in non-profit is lower and corporate is higher. And in agency you would start out low but it’s easier to advance quickly.

We’d like to thank Mieka and Cari for joining us.

Reminder: Next meeting Tuesday, September 29, 1998 at 9 p.m. in Meredith 102.

Present at this meeting were: LuAnn Christoffers, Christy Durand, Lisa Hunt, Crystal Smith, and BJ White.

We first discussed Boston since we finally received all the information. We thought it would be nice to have an exec member go and it seems that BJ is the only one who is considering the trip. Registration is about $200, the hotel is $181 divided by four with roommates, plus transportation and spending money. The actual dates of the conference are October 17 - 20. They would like us to register on the 16th and two days should be considered on either side for travel (Oct. 14 - 22).

As far as the T-shirts are concerned, Keefer approved the idea so long as she sees the design before it is printed to approve it again. BJ and his friend Matt Stockdill are going to work on a design Sunday, so hopefully we will see it at the general meeting on Tuesday.

We discussed the PRSA luncheon, but the deadline was too soon and no one showed any interest. We wouldn’t have had time to tell other members about it.

The theme we are working with for Bateman is "Kick Butts Day!"

We seemed to have run into some problems with the roundtable. The people from CMF&Z can’t come. Amber will speak from the not-for-profit view and possibly Jason Menke for the corporate view. LuAnn will get a hold of Jerald to find someone from an agency.

LuAnn brought a list of scholarships and awards which she will copy off and hand out at the next general meeting which is Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 9 p.m. in Meredith 102.

Executive Council has finally decided that we will meet the Tuesdays opposite general meeting in the reading room at 9 p.m.

We also got concession information so we should be able to start signing up for times soon.