photo: Scenes from the May 19-20 Sports PR Summit in Manhattan. In the photo above, CoSIDA 3rd vice president Rob Carolla (left), Big 12 Conference Director of Communications is pictured with Sports PR Summit Founder and CEO Brian Berger (center) and LIU Post Athletic Media Relations Director Ian Schraier. Schraier is co-chair of CoSIDA's convention program committee.
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by Rob Carolla, Big 12 Conference Director of Communications/CoSIDA 3rd Vice President
The third annual
Sports PR Summit, which brings senior level public relations and communications executives from the sports world together for panel discussions & networking, took place in New York City on May 13-14 and CoSIDA was well represented.
As CoSIDA third vice president, I represented our officers group.Ian Schraier, the Athletic Media Relations Director from LIU Post and co-chair of the CoSIDA Convention Program committee, took the short trip from his campus into Manhattan as well. Our second vice president Andy Seeley of UCF had also planned to attend, but unfortunately Mother Nature (and airline scheduling in Chicago!) intervened and prevented him from getting to the Big Apple.
A busy and educational day began with a panel made up of several corporate public relations executives discussing the role of communication in the overall corporate structure and how it applies to the sports world. Another interesting panel later in the morning, moderated by sports media consultant Joe Favorito, discussed how polling and public opinion influence PR strategies.
After a networking lunch break, an extremely enlightening discussion took place with three staff members from Sports Illustrated – Jon Wertheim (Executive Editor), Chris Stone (Managing Editor) and Richard Deitsch (writer/reporter). The insight they provided into their work and reporting at SI was invaluable.
A social media discussion followed, with speakers gathered from the professional world, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Cavaliers and NFL. The day wrapped up with a talk on "Sports & Society" and how sports shape larger conversations in our country. Insight was provided by a great group, including Arizona Diamondbacks President & CEO Derrick Hall and former NFL players (now media members) Derrick Mason and Tiki Barber, a Capital One Academic All-America Hall of Fame inductee at our 2014 June convention in Orlando.
The event provided a wonderful opportunity to interact with those in sports public relations and communications across many different avenues while talking about and promoting the CoSIDA membership and those in college athletic communications. A special thanks to Brian Berger, the founder of the event, for extending CoSIDA this invitation.