PR firm sponsors PRSSA students

Gramercy Communications, public relations, public affairs and marketing firm located in Albany, N.Y., will be sponsoring 25 students from Plattsburgh State’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) for the Capital Region Chapter’s 2012 PRSA Northeast District Conference on Nov. 8.

On his visit on Sept. 28 at PSUC to speak to students about what it’s like to work in public relations, Tom Nardacci, president and founder of Gramercy Communications, generously offered to pay for 25 students from PSUC’s PRSSA chapter to attend the conference in Troy, N.Y.

Tom Nardacci was also honored as 2011’s PR Practitioner of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America Capital Region chapter and has 15 years of experience as a public relations strategist, senior public affairs advisor, and marketing communications manager.

“Since the Northeast District Conference started two years ago, many students have participated,” Nardacci said. “So, we decided we’d like to do more things and work with college students.” Nardacci also added that Gramercy Communications wants to encourage students’ involvement in public relations. “The best way to do that is to enable them to go to the conference for free.”

A strong PR industry is good for everyone, Nardacci said. The Northeast District Conference will host about 200 professional speakers from the northeast region in New York who will be speaking about this year’s PR industry, best practices and the trend about what is happening in PR.

“This will significantly help our chapter achieve worthwhile networking opportunities among PRSA chapters across the Northeast,” Cara Lee, vice president of PSUC’s PRSSA, said. “Our chapter is excited to regard Nardacci and his team as a partner in strengthening our public relations efforts, and we hope to use Nardacci’s support to further uphold the ethics and values of the PRSA.”

To help students get involved in PR, Gramercy Communications also offers two full or part time positions for students per semester for paid internships. “We want to provide real work experience and practice in PR for the students,” Nardacci said. “We also provide good training.”

“The reason we are doing this is to expose our membership to networking opportunities to professional development and the latest trend in PR,” Christopher Huntley, president of PSUC’s PRSSA, said. “We are really grateful for the opportunity.”

PSUC’s PRSSA opened up a sign up post on SignUpGenius.com, and the first 25 students who signed up are the ones who will be going to the conference for free. The admission fee to get in the conference is about $60 per person, Nardacci said.

“It’s an all-day event from 9 a.m. to about 5 or 6 p.m., and we took two vans to drive us there. Certified student van drivers will be driving,” Huntley said.

“SUNY Plattsburgh is really taking the initiative in getting involved in PR,” Nardacci said. “It’s really awesome that college students are very active.”