Thanksgiving Break

My Thanksgiving break was jammed pack full of family, friends, events and unfortunately a ton of homework.

My break began by having a family reunion with my dad’s side of the family, which includes the ONU President. We had a great dinner and went to the Holiday Spectacular. I had never been to the Holiday Spectacular before and it was fantastic! 

The next day I caught up with my best friend from home and got dinner with her at Nagoya, which is a Japanese steakhouse and one of my favorite restaurants. We also spent hours talking at her house just like we did in high school. We see each other a lot less as we get older, but every time we are together it is like nothing has ever changed.

The next few days were spent getting homework done… gross, right? Now, this is partially my fault since I could have rallied and finished my homework before break. Though, before break I had zero motivation and it was a struggle to get anything accomplished.

On Wednesday I traveled to my lake house to meet my family members for Thanksgiving. In total there was 17 family members and we were combined representing the West Coast, East Coast and of course the Midwest. My house was jam packed, but it was a great family gathering and there was too much food to imagine.

My last night of break consisted of Chipotle, Starbucks and watching Christmas movies while putting up my Christmas tree with my boyfriend.

Overall, it was a great break and time well spent in my mind. Now to get through the final three weeks until Christmas break.

Let the countdown begin!

Preparing For Thanksgiving

If you haven't guessed from my blogs, I want to be an event planner. My family sometimes takes advantage of my skills and makes me plan our holiday events. My family always hosts Thanksgiving at our house and this year we are having about 17 people in attendance. Needless to say, my parents are stressed and want everything to be perfect.

Since I have been more focused on school, I haven’t thought of anything extravagant for Thanksgiving, but I have thought of a few DIY projects I can easily create before Thanksgiving.

The first DIY project is name placeholders. With 17 people in one dinning room, name placeholders are important so everyone is seated quickly and without any dispute. Now, with 17 people I had to think logically. There are so many cute ideas on Pinterest, like using tiny pumpkins, but in reality I am not buying 17 tiny pumpkins.

Instead, I am creating simple cardstock name placeholders. Pinterest is full of free templates you can easily download and personalize. I am thinking about using the one below.

The second DIY project is all about burlap, burlap and more burlap. I think burlap is perfect for Thanksgiving because it is so rustic and works beautiful with the colors. One idea I really like is a monogrammed burlap table runner. Burlap is very cheap and can easily be found at any craft store. For this project, all you need to do is draw your initial with a Sharpie at the end of the burlap as seen in the picture below. It is literally the most non-crafty and lazy DIY project, but I think it adds a simple and elegant touch.

My last DIY project is painting wine bottles, such as the picture below. I have no reason behind doing this other than I think it's really cute. 

All of these projects are super simple, but extremely cheap and quick to make. Even though I would love to go all out, I just don’t have the time this year. Maybe next Thanksgiving when I am out working I will blog about the most extravagant Thanksgiving ever.

Do you have any DIY Thanksgiving ideas?

What Do Employees Really Think?

As many of my business professors would bluntly say, “employees suck.” Employees mostly seem to care less about their jobs and more about their free time. Well, that's at least what many employers may think. In Chapter 10 of “Measure What Matters,” it discusses the need for companies to understand how to better communicate with employees in order to engage and energize them.

It is clear, most employees now get their information about the organization from company blogs, text messaging, e-mail and social media. Yet, there still seems to be an issue when companies try to communicate with employees.

What’s the books solution to understanding the best way to communicate? You’ve guessed it… measurement. Measurement has once again proven to be extremely valuable. Measuring what employees think, say and do, will give the company results of the details of internal communication.

Even though employees might “suck,” there is no doubt they are not a crucial and viable part to a community. Understanding their thoughts helps a company take action and handle any situations instead of an employee releasing their thoughts on social media. Ultimately, companies should want their communication efforts to make employees more knowledgeable, more loyal, and more productive.

A company should not let an employee feel like they are withholding information from them or controlling them. It should be an honest and trustworthy relationship in order to thrive.

Snapcash

I know many people may be blogging and reporting on this already, but I had to put my two cents in (no pun intended). Snapchat has partnered with Square Cash to release “Snapcash” as an added feature to the popular app. According to Tech Crunch, Snapcash allows someone to add a debit card to their account and instantly send money to another.  

Basically all the user of the app has to do is create an account with Square Cash and then use the text chat feature by texting friends the amount desired using the “$." Snapchat reportedly wants to eventually use this feature for ecommerce. Companies would advertise products through a Snapchat video and you could instantly purchase it through the app.

Snapcash may sound innovative and great to some, but I have so many concerns with it. For starters, Snapchat has a history of violating privacy, so why would anyone trust them with their money? Also, this feature is not new. Venmo and Google Wallet are two similar apps, which are proven to be trustworthly and accurate. Why wouldn’t someone just download those apps instead of bothering with Snapchat?

I guess this new feature has not yet sold me. Are you sold on using Snapcash?

Check out the video announcing Snapcash

ONU PRSSA Leadership

I teamed up with Alex Reese to work on a video about Ohio Northern University individual recipients of PRSSA awards and scholarships as well as students selected to be on the PRSSA national committee. 

We hope students consider applying for these prestigious honors. 

Enjoy our video! 

The Price is Right with SPC

SPC Events are coming to a close with the end of the semester near. Though, some of my favorite events we have saved for last.

On Friday, we had The Price is Right, where we attempted to replicate the beloved TV. This year, we hosted the event in Snyder Recital Hall in Presser Hall, which seemed to be the perfect location. 

There were two rounds and three games per round. Students were called to “come on down” if their raffle ticket number was randomly drawn. Every round four more students were drawn, so many students had the opportunity of playing.

Some of the most popular Price is Right games were played, such as Cliffhanger, High and Low and Plinko. Though, we did not give away crazy prizes such as a car or a trip to Jamaica, we did give out great prizes such as Keuirg, food, movies and the top prize of a one night stay at the Ohio Northern University Inn. Also, we raffled off additional prizes and any student that made it onstage but did not win, received a SPC t-shirt because we did not want anyone to go home empty handed.

This event is always a lot of work to plan and execute and I am so proud of the group that accomplished this task. It was a great night of laughs, fun and great prizes.

 Dan (Freshman) as the host Bob Barker! 

Past president, current president (myself) and freshman member! 

Social Media Communities

This weeks blog post on "Measure what Matters" is all about measuring relationships with a local community.

A community can be defined in so many different ways. In fact, I am in a class currently called The Value and Nature of Communities. In the class we discuss all the different definitions and aspects of a community. One community in particular we have discussed is social media communities.

Chapter 9 goes into detail of social media communities for companies, which includes internal communities of customers, vendors, partners, organizations and many more.

It is obvious companies should have a good social media presence and use it wisely. Though, that means more than just saying the right things, it also means engaging. Engaging with others on social media is just like engaging with neighbors. It is not a bestfriend relationship, but a polite and mutually beneficial relationship. 

The chapter briefly discusses campus opportunities, which immediately caught my eye because I am so interested in studying the relationship of campuses and social media. Estentially, the book is advising companies to partner with campuses to share information because there is already a built in community. 

I think companies need to be very careful when reaching out to universities. Often times companies that do this seem phony and illegitimate. If companies are after surveyors, researches and interns to assit them, it should be done in an appropriate and sensible manner.