2300: AG Evaluation

A couple weeks ago, the Attorney General of Utah Mark Shurtleff came to Utah State University. A group of PR students was allowed to do all the public relations for the event. I signed up to be part of this group, and worked with other students for weeks to get everything ready. We executed all the principles that we learn about in class on a daily basis. We were confident in our abilities, and sure that the evening would be a success. When I showed up to listen to his address, there were maybe thirty people in the audience, and the majority of them were PR students. The presentation was informative and everything went well, but hardly anyone showed up. After all the work we did, no one came.

Did we fail? It seemed like our goal was to get the word out that he was coming, to get people to come and listen to him speak. The fact that there were not many people there seems like we didn’t achieve the purpose. Yet after he was done speaking, Shurtleff said that Utah State was the most successful stop on the college tour. So what constitutes success in a PR campaign? I think the answer varies depending on the situation. This is where the evaluation part of the ROPE process is so essential. After everything is done, we can step back and ask ourselves what we did well, what we could have done better, and what didn’t work. Through the attorney general experience I learned that even when you follow all the principles and rules to the letter, it won’t always work out. It was eye opening to experience a real campaign and then evaluate the success of it after wards.