Anna Murphy-Pociask, a UW Oshkosh alumni who majored in Public Relations, informed students at the 2023 NEWSPA conference about storytelling and public relations, and how skills within these facets can be applied during internship opportunities.

Storytelling is most effective when the readers are involved, so it is important to place yourself into the shoes of the reader in order to effectively tell a story. Murphy-Pociask included a quote from Confucius during her presentation which emphasized the importance of including readers within the dialogue of storytelling.

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will understand. Involve me and I will remember.”

Murphy-Pociask explained two important aspects of storytelling:

Timing and being concise is important in order to not alienate your readers
The success of storytelling is being willing to start right away and start new platforms

Murphy-Pociask then clearly explained that an individual’s job in the field of public relations is to build and maintain relationships between brands and consumers.

Murphy-Pociask reminded the audience to use these within public relations:
Aristotle’s methods of persuasion: ethos, logos and pathos in order to effectively market a cause to the audience
Earned media – platforming your cause by media that require no payment, particularly through social media and other ways of review, is the best type of promotion

No matter what method you use or what platform you are on, the most important component to public relations and storytelling is whether or not you effectively involve the audience as you tell your story.