Welcome to the first instalment of Thursday’s From the Front Desk.

Please note! Due to the unpredictable nature of the PR world From the Front desk may occasionally be posted on a Friday, after-hours, from my father’s computer. Like today, for instance.

From the Front Desk is Samantha Lovelace’s spin on the PR world from a entry-level perspective.

As an entry-level PR-erson and, indeed, office worker, Samantha sits at the front desk of TFC.

During an average day she doesn’t just answer phones and fix printers; Samantha’s front desk experiences are just short of a full degree’s worth of education in PR, computers and people. This, along with general office antics keep her, and she hopes will keep you, entertained all workday long (and sometimes longer).

Now that being said, and with out further ado, Here’s Sammy!

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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls - Welcome to the first ever post From the Front Desk!

I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself:
My name is Samantha Lovelace and I work at the front desk at Thornley Fallis Communications.

I was lucky to have been introduced to the job, Alex Milroy, Sandra Cruickshanks and Michael O’Connor Clarke by my most fabulous friend, Ms. Lauren Saliba.

Lauren was “the front desk” at TFC in Ottawa and knew they were looking for “Lauren” in Toronto. After great consideration, she declined the offer to transfer herself and passed on the opportunity to me; a quickly tiring, server/bartender/manager of 8 odd years.

Lauren and I have been faithful friends for close to 14 years. We met, one fine evening, in the yard behind Muchmore public school in Ottawa’s “the Glebe”. I believe it was a Friday.

With a fresh squeezed BBA and a desire for something new I was eager to take on the new challenge and marched in to the Ottawa office for my first “career” interview.

I got the job!

With in the month I left the famed Royal Oak in the Glebe of Ottawa, trained a couple of days in Ottawa and packed up my things, my loving partner-in-crime and our cat. Off to Toronto we went.

It was three days before I experienced my first printer malfunction, learned how to do a mail merge, met my first client and worked past five in a 9-5 job. Lets just say I didn’t find my admin skills they were violently thrust upon me with the fury of one incredibly angry volcano.

I like to think, though I’ve hit many a nasty pot hole along the way, I’ve fared relatively well. Not only have I learned how to take care of normally adminy duties, but I took on some new roles too. Media monitoring, event support, ideation, podcast production and some fundamental accounting tasks are just a few of my weekly activities.

And now I can ad one more notch to my PR agency belt:
Almost a year later, well versed in computer malfunction, telephone manner, morning scans, excel spreadsheets, and with a couple of events under my belt, I am writing my first official post on PR Girlz. I can say, as I sit faithfully at the front desk of Thornley Fallis Communications, I finally feel like I am an official PR Grrril.

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to sharing some front desk antics with you next week.

Until then, take care.

Samantha Lovelace

My first couple of months at Thornley Fallis have been great.
 

A new job is always daunting and you have all made my transition enjoyable and understandable. I had a lot of unformed ideas about what working in an agency might be like, but I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The learning curve is steep but I wouldn’t want to be here if it wasn’t.

This is just a short post. I needed to break the ice and say an official ‘hello’ here on the PR Girlz blog before too much time passes. As a former PR Girlz special correspondent, I’m especially happy to be here.  

Any advice for the greenest girl in the group?

As the newest member of the TFC Toronto team, it’s only natural for me to join my fellow PRGirlz in the blogosphere. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used the word “blogosphere” in a sentence. How exciting!

I am setting aside my stage-fright and diving in headfirst. I think my hesitations stem from the fact that I was never very good at keeping a diary as a child and I think of blogs in much the same way as I do diaries. Entries in my pink patent-leather diary (with a heart-shaped lock) would often be months or even years apart. I’m confident that I will be much better at blogging though because I have no doubt that Jos and her whip will keep me in check.  Blogging comes as second nature to most people here at TFC, so I definitely have lots to learn! The most exciting part of this new adventure for me will be reading and responding to the comments which will be posted to my entries, right?  Fingers crossed.

 This “tag” idea began when Zoey Castelino tagged Joe Thornley, who then tagged the PR Girlz. However, my post today is really in direct response to Mary Ellen’s tag from last week. Confusing, I know. Anyway, here we go… 

Q: When did you first start blogging and why? 

A: I started blogging when I formed PR Girlz with my colleagues. Before joining Thornley Fallis last year, I didn’t know much about blogging or what role it could play in my career development. Since then, I realize that it is definitely a worth while activity and it is something that I have come to really enjoy. 

 Q:What don’t you talk about? 

A: So far, I haven’t talked about my personal life, except when in relation to my career. Why? I don’t think it would be something others would be interested in reading about! 

Q: Are you and your blogging persona the same person? 

A: Absolutely, yes. What you read is what you get. 

Q: How do you use blogging to build friendships? 

A: I haven’t done this yet, but it would be neat to try. 

TFC ladies, I am waiting to read your responses, let’s keep this one moving! 

I’m inordinately glad that Joe Thornley tagged us yesterday, because I was out too late last night and I’m about to leave for two weeks vacation. (I guess you’d call it vacation - I’ll be joining the league of the marrieds next Saturday.) So, I’m excited and exhausted and incapable of creating anything thoughful today. So I’m making this quick and dirty, and then I am out of here…

Q: When did you first start blogging and why?

A: About a month ago, and for a lark. To be honest, I’m not a blog fan per se, but the great womyn in my office wanted to get onboard the blogging bus so I thought I should join them. I figure I can scoff at it in a much more sophisticated way now…

Q:What don’t you talk about?

A: Proper PR topics, so far. Which is probably an issue. Which I’ll most certainly address. But in a few weeks. (See above.)

Q: Are you and your blogging persona the same person?

A: I think so. Obviously, I think I’m fabulous in the real world and in this fake one, too. (Kidding aside, is this multiple persona thing a real issue? Is this a new practice area for shrinks?)

Q: How do you use blogging to build friendships?

A: Can’t say I do. Thus far I’ve made friends the old-fashioned way - in person.

I’m tagging… the rest of the TFC ladies. Sorry to send chain mail and run - look forward to reading your responses!

Before joining Thornley Fallis in 2005, I knew blogs existed but I really hadn’t thought about how they were relevant to my world, especially to the world of PR. Now here I am seven months later and I am actually writing my first blog entry. It has been very exciting over the last few days to see how my fellow PR Girlz have been receiving comments on their posts. Some of these comments have been strange and others inspiring. It is great to see that this early on in the game, the voice of PR Girlz is already being heard and is being met with enthusiasm. As we move forward, I look forward to offering my perspective on the PR industry, as having been in it now for over six years, I feel I have learned so much and have come a long way. I know that I have much further to go in my workplace journey and I look forward to sharing my experiences as one of the PR Girlz. 

As a fairly new entry into the PR world (I’ve been working for about 10 months) I have the advantage of being aware of the blogosphere and the role it plays in the communications world from the start. That being said, I haven’t embraced it all together with open-arms and an open-mind. There is the skeptical part of me who feels that blogging, as it were, could be a fad- one that arrived on the scene quickly and swiftly and may leave in a similar fashion. However (I am just full of contradictions today) I do enjoy reading blogs. I have several that I subscribe to and look forward to new posts, comments and opinions. It’s refreshing to be able to read about someone’s life and views- someone you have never met, nor are likely to ever meet outside the realm of the blogosphere (sorry, Mary Ellen, there’s that word again).

Now for the intimidation part. I read blogs several times a day and despite having a comment, I have never posted one on any site. I find it to be a scary notion- passing judgement on someone else’s view or contradicting it where the whole world can read it and then comment on YOUR comments. It’s all so very OUT there. So what better way to confront my demons than head on? Post my thoughts on my own blog and see what everyone has to say about my views. Maybe now I’ll be more comfortable posting comments on the blogs I read- keep an eye out for me! I look forward to doing the same.

When we first started to talk about blogs and social media around our staff meeting table I thought there was a new language to learn but I’ve found that’s not the case. In fact this medium is allowing more people the opportunity to express their issues, concerns and ideas in an more open and meaningful way than any other. That’s why PRGirlz is seemed like such a natural next step for the women at Thornley Fallis. We love to hear about and share ideas and we are particularly interested in helping more women in public relations — at all stages in their careers — join the social media world. We think a collaborative blog is just the way to encourage others to take a step and join the blogging world.

Having been around the communications and public relations field for a while, far longer than I like to remember sometimes (how about the typewriter?), I realize we have lots to learn and share. Step up. Find your voice along with me.

So, finally joining Jennifer in the “blogosphere”. (Does that word strike anyone else as funny? I find it hard to type it with a straight face, let alone say it…) Echoing Jen’s first post, it’s pretty obvious that the ol’ sphere is largely a male domain so far. And the genre of PR blogging is - dare I say - over-populated with men, given the actual ratio of males to females in the business, especially on the front lines. So, I guess we’re hoping to add some estrogen to the fracas. Myself, I come to communications from a journalism and publishing background, and my first agency experience was in technology, so I’ve been around digital communications for awhile and have always been interested in its evolution.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I’m hoping to discuss some of the hype around “social media”, especially as it relates to PR and corporate communications, and to play devil’s advocate. As my colleagues know, I’m pretty under-whelmed when it comes to the reach and importance of blogging and bloggers. So far, I’ve failed to see the revolutionary part, and historically I’ve thought of bloggers as kind of digital public navel-gazers. So then, a few questions to stir the pot… Isn’t a blog (web log) just a jumped-up website? And haven’t they been around for years now? And wasn’t the goal of conversation better served by old-fashioned message boards and discussion groups, wherein people reacted to each other’s comments as opposed to one person’s pontifications? 

Can’t wait to hear what you have to say… 

Well here it is, my first blog! For those of you who know me this is quite a leap forward. A fellow blogger was just in my office showing me how to manage my way around the PR Girlz site and how to go about writing my first blog…here it is it may not be pretty or profound but it is MY first blog!

I decided to enter the world of blogging when I noticed that there were not many women in the blogosphere talking about public relations…the glorious and the not so glorious work we do. It is my mission to get the conversation about women in PR started…who knows, one day we might dominate the social media world just like we dominate the PR world - one can only dream!

Thanks for reading and now that I have completed my first blog and it was not so scary, I look forward to writing many more!