Lab 1 – Creating a Professional Bio

Task: Create a two slide PowerPoint presentation. On Slide 1, clearly state your Mission, Vision
and Values. On Slide 2, include a 300-400 word bio and a professional image of you. Use
resources listed in the Lab Handbook, and elsewhere to help you create the lab.

You will need to include a bio and image for your portfolio.

Slide 1: Mission, Vision, Values

Resources

Canadian Public Relations Society. (2014). Mission. Retrieved from

http://www.cprs.ca/aboutus/mission.aspx

Madsen, S. (2013). How to create a personal mission and vision statement for the year. Retrieved
from http://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/create-personal-mission-vision-statement-year/

Critical Thinking Activity

Madsen (2013) provides a series of questions to help develop a Mission and Vision Statement.
Take some time to answer her questions thoughtfully. Then consider how the CPRS (2014)
phrases their Mission, Vision, and Values (or Principles). Thinking specifically about yourself
as a professional practitioner, use these resources to create your own Mission, Vision and Values
statement.

Slide 2: Bio and Bio picture

Resources

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/professional-bio-examples

https://brandyourself.com/blog/how-tos/8-tips-on-how-to-write-a-personal-biography/
Critical Thinking Activity

Who are you?

This question relates to the identity you create online through your profile. You’ve started this
process already; you have set your Mission, Vision, and Values. Now it is time to complete Lab
1 with those in mind.

Create a professional bio. The bio, no matter how short it is, is absolutely VITAL for your public
image. You want something that articulates key elements of your Mission, Vision, and Values.
You also want something that is engaging, perfectly written, and speaks about you as a
professional. Remember, if you are claiming to be a communications expert, the bio is the first
piece of your writing that anyone is going to see. There are a few things to keep in mind when
you create your bio.

a. Be accurate. Don’t over sell or under sell yourself. State an accurate and truthful
representation of yourself.

b. Be passionate. Make your bio interesting and engaging. So, although it is accurate, it is
also the best you that you can put forward.

c. Be focused. Think carefully about the type of people you want to attract to your “tribe”
and make the message tailored to them.

d. Be complimentary. Tell the success story of your life. You want this to highlight the
value that you bring to the conversation and what you will offer someone that will follow
you.

e. Be human. Make sure that what makes you unique is demonstrated in your bio. Include
something important about your personality.

3) Include a picture. You must include a picture of YOU! Images on [especially on the web) are
absolutely vital for engagement. You want to include a professional and high quality image of
yourself for your portfolio, and for any online bio. It should be an image that reflects your
professional brand and the type of community of practice you wish to lead. Here are a few tips:

a. Smile with teeth, but don’t laugh.

b. Formal clothes.

c. Head and shoulders, or Head to Waist.

d. No sunglasses, hats, hair on face, or “sexiness.”

Research has demonstrated that the image you post will have a direct impact on the assessment
of your ability to be trusted, whether you are competent or not, and many other attributes related
to both your personal and professional identity, it is worth getting a professional shot taken for
your profile picture.

Lab 2 – Creating your Portfolio webpage

This lab provides you with the beginning elements of your portfolio.

To provide you with comparison and context, here are a few examples of recent completed
student portfolios. These are provided for illustrative purposes only, to demonstrate the range of
topics, work samples and portfolio approaches used by students just like you.

Marketing student samples

https://zehennaallen26.wixsite.com/portfolio

https://kwanlokfung.wixsite.com/mysite-3

https://sjboucher.wordpress.com

https://courtneyscreative12.wordpress.com/212-2/

HR student samples

https://amritdutta14.wordpress.com/portfolio/

https://ridhigroup.wordpress.com

https://edbrooke.wixsite.com/mysite

https://allisonstofer.wixsite.com/mysite

You will notice some of these students used Wordpress and some used Wix. Others have used
Squarespace, however I don't have a Squarespace sample listed here.

No matter what website builder you choose to use, your website should include:

An About Me section -- this is about you. You will probably want to adapt your biography for
use here, and include a profile picture that gives readers a greater sense of who you are. You will
also need to include your Mission, Vision, and Values statements on this page.

A Portfolio section -- this is where you will put your work. You will want to provide a brief
introduction of your work, and make it clear to readers what each sample was intended to
achieve, and that is representative work, not actual work that you have produced for the
company. Some of you may choose to set your site, or some of your site pages to 'private' so that
there is no confusion between your work, and the organization's actual materials.

If you do set your site or site pages to private, you will want to make sure you give me the
privacy access code when you submit your final portfolio.

A Contact section -- this is where you can direct readers on how to reach you.

Many of you are still working on the designs of your work samples for your portfolios. I
recommend you may find it easiest to work with free template software like Canva. You can
create a free account here: https://www.canva.com

If you will be doing a fair amount of content production, you may also consider the paid version
of Canva, however it is not necessary for your portfolio.

As we get closer to the end of the course, and definitely before the Peer Review, you will want to
load your finished work into your portfolio section.

Here are some videos comparing the pros and cons of free website building software to help
you choose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zpPXlYG7_A offers an educational look at the pros &

cons of Wordpress, Six and Squarespace. It also points out some stumbling blocks that might be
helpful in making your choice, and does a comparison of building a Six or Squarespace site in
1/2 an hour by an experienced user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OkLNYbpNfU A shorter comparison of Wix and

Squarespace

Wix tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qboKD0vEslY a short overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3ZywgdCZI a longer and more detailed tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlsfWFslDmw a student portfolio tutorial

Squarespace tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqqcWKaWYSY short overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-DnVBrzeLs a longer and more detailed overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKHtxMeUrVA a portfolio specific tutorial

Wordpress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gosrWrGF9Q – detailed –Wordpress is most popular in
world, but the free versions do have lots of ads. And can be more complex to build. Long and
detailed, but particularly useful for marketing students who may need to build sites using
Wordpress in your future work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAdjevvUBiQ a little shorter, entirely student oriented.

I hope you find these resources helpful, and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate
to contact me, or to set up an appointment.

Lab 3 – EC 1 – Marketing.

For Lab 3, you have a choice of four different pieces of communication collateral: Content
Marketing, Print/Digital Advertisement, Advertorial, Print/Digital Brochure

Content Marketing. Content marketing is not advertising. Content marketing is about creating
information that people seek out, and consistently creating material that customers want to read
and share.

See the attached blog posts for information and examples

https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/best-content-marketing-examples/

https://www.singlegrain.com/content-marketing-strategy-2/companies-dominating-the-wold-
with-content-marketing/

http://www.curata.com/blog/best-content-marketing-examples/

Print/Digital Marketing.

You may want to prepare a traditional advertisement, and/or a digital alternative. See the
attached blogs for information and examples

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/what-is-digital-advertising/

https://digitalagencynetwork.com/work/ad-campaigns/

https://www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/print-ads-1233780

Advertorial.

Advertorials are a way of writing your product or service into a trusted publication so that it
looks like editorial content. See the attached blogs for information and examples.
https://kopywritingkourse.com/advertorials-how-to-write-them/

https://www.copyblogger.com/writing-advertorials/
https://nativeadvertisinginstitute.com/blog/the-ultiCmate-guide-to-advertorials/

Print/Digital Brochure.

Brochures are a marketing communication staple. They play an important role in positioning
your organization. See the attached links for information and examples.
https://venngage.com/blog/marketing-brochure-examples/

https://www.readz.com/interactive-brochure

https://www.ipaper.io/blog/how-to-create-an-online-brochure

Lab 4 – EC 2 – Public Relations

There are MANY different documents that someone in public relations would produce. This lab
asks you to create a Corporate Backgrounder (or sometimes called a Corporate Profile). You
may recognize these from some of the corporate websites that you visit. It tells the story of the
company in an engaging and dynamic manner.

Often a Corporate Backgrounder would be part of a larger Media Kit. However, for this lab, we
will just focus on the backgrounder
https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/chapter/press-kit-materials/

Lab 5 – EC 3 – Media Relations.

Media releases are publicity staples. You may choose to do both a traditional media release, and
a social media release. See the attached links for information and examples. There is a discussion
of all the elements of a Media Kit in the Portfolio and Lab Resources section of D2L.

https://www.canadaone.com/promote/newsrelease1.html

https://www.cision.ca/communications-best-practices/three-press-release-templates-to-
power-pr-content-marketing/

https://coschedule.com/blog/how-to-write-press-releases-examples-templates/

https://cuttingedgepr.com/free-articles/media-relations/social-media-release-arrived/

Lab 6 – EC 4 – Social Media.

There are many different types of social media content. You can create
Audience Profile/Avatar. You can be creative about how to present your Audience Profile or
Avatar, but the important element to consider is the motivations, demographics and
psychographics of your intended audience.

These resources may help:

https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/create-customer-avatar-youtube/

https://www.einsteinmarketer.com/customer-avatar-target-market/

https://blog.hootsuite.com/buyer-persona/

Blog. There is a video and a PowerPoint in the Portfolio and Lab Resources on D2L that will
help you create a successful blog.

Instagram Engagement Post. These are different than digital advertisements, they are designed
to get folks to engage with your post and to share or like your content.

Here are some principles to build better engagement posts:

https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-engagement/

https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-engagement/

https://later.com/blog/how-to-increase-instagram-engagement/

Lab 7 – IC 1 – Communicating Culture.

The following links provide excellent context for the importance of communication in human
resource management and leadership as well as examples of types of internal communication and
emerging practices.

https://peopletalkonline.ca/effective-communications-and-hr-making-the-connection/

https://shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/Pages/managingorganizationalcommunication.aspx

This site from a specialist communication firm is an excellent “one stop” resource for employee
communication examples, principles, examples and insight.

https://www.davisandco.com/hr-communication
Leadership vision/mission letter. Leaders inspire their communities through the effective
communication of a vision. See the attached links for information, inspirations and examples.
https://www.skipprichard.com/how-leaders-create-a-compelling-vision-to-engage-inspire/

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/20-years-ago-amazons-jeff-bezos-sent-an-extraordinary-
letter-to-shareholders.html

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312517120198/d373368dex991.ht m

https://www.pg.com/translations/pvp_pdf/english_PVP.pdf

Lab 8 – IC 2 – Recruitment.

Recruitment advertising is a specialized field. Depending on the nature of your recruitment

requirements, you may need to market your opportunities in traditional or digital media, or both.
See the attached links for information, examples and inspiration.

https://appcast.io/what-is-recruitment-advertising/

https://www.betterteam.com/job-posting-template

https://www.socialtalent.com/blog/recruitment/30-crazily-creative-recruitment-ads

https://skillroads.com/blog/20-incredible-recruitment-ad-campaigns-that-will-make-you-smile

https://harver.com/blog/innovative-recruitment-methods/

http://talentheromedia.com/theguide/TheRecruitersGuidetoOnlineMarketingNew.pdf

Lab 9 – IC 3 – Programs & Benefits. There’s a choice of 3 different pieces of communication

collateral for this lab.

Program promotion (ad/announcement).

Effective communication of employee programs – whether onboarding, health and wellness,

training, volunteerism, self-funded leave or others – is necessary to ensure success. Your
organization may be introducing a new program or reminding employees about an existing
program. See the attached links for information and examples.

https://www.davisandco.com/sites/default/files/infographic/interactive/DCo-
TransformingContent-9WaystoReach/DCo-TransformingContent-9WaystoReach-v6.html
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/pages/managingorganizationalcommunication.aspx

https://www.davisandco.com/sites/default/files/infographic/interactive/communicate- learning-
development-employees/why-and-how-to-communicate-learning-development-to-
employees.html

Benefits overview. Benefits are an important investment, and benefit communication is a

specialized function. See the links below for information and examples.

https://www.benefitfocus.com/blogs/benefitfocus/finding-the-right-approach-to-benefits-
communication

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/234061/CR00376_Ebook_WorkplaceComms_07.17.pdf

https://www.ifebp.org/pdf/benefits-communication-survey-results.pdf

https://www.ifebp.org/bookstore/benefits-communication-survey-results/Pages/benefits-
communication-survey-results.aspx

https://issuu.com/westcomm/docs/samples_2018

Position profile. A recruitment ad and a position profile are not the same thing, but they do work
together. A well-written position profile will support attracting the talent your organization is
looking for by making sure the tasks, duties, functions and role of the position is clearly
communicated. Please see the links below for more information, examples and guides.

https://blog.ongig.com/job-descriptions/top-15-job-descriptions

https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2014/04/job-descriptions-that-win-3-
outstanding-examples

https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2014/04/job-descriptions-that-win-3-
outstanding-examples

Lab 10 – Cover letter.

Create a cover letter that connects your experience, your portfolio communication collateral
items, to the job description of the job you are applying to obtain. Here is a good resource on
how to organize and develop your Cover Letter:
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/professionalcomms/chapter/5-10-cover-letters/