CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — The Penn State Lehigh Valley Communication Society hosted its third annual Communication Day conference on Feb. 26 at the Lehigh Valley campus. The theme of the conference was “Click to Connect: New Media, New Messaging.”

About 40 students, faculty and staff from Penn State Lehigh Valley, as well as program coordinators and faculty members from Penn State corporate communication degree programs attended the event. Guests were also invited from local community colleges.

Beth Michalec, instructor of corporate communication and Communication Society adviser at Penn State Lehigh Valley, arranged seven speakers from various companies to come speak about their career paths and give advice to students.

"Communication Day serves many purposes for our PSU-LV Communication Society and corporate communication degree program. Students plan and run the entire event, capitalize on networking opportunities, and gain exposure to marketplace professionals and career opportunities that might exist for them in the future,” Michalec said. “I was so impressed by my student team, speakers and our campus community. Communication Day 2019 was a great success!"

The featured speakers included:

— Carol Obando-Derstine, regional affairs director, PPL Electric Utilities

Obando-Derstine focused on the universal dimensions of executive presence in the workplace. She emphasized the importance of focusing on the things you can change about yourself and letting go of the things that you cannot change.

— David McDowell and Ben Feinberg, SEO specialists, Liquid Interactive Agency

McDowell and Feinberg explained the evolution of SEO and the important role it plays in marketing. They also stressed how popular voice search has become and how much more it will be used in the future.  

— Dana Eiselen, strategic projects manager, Olympus Corporation of the Americas

Eiselen touched on internal communication by talking about productivity, change and different methods of communication in the workplace while also sharing information about her eight years of experience at Olympus.

— Stacey Stauffer, host, QVC

Stauffer was the keynote speaker for the conference. She spoke about connecting with television and social media audiences. Stauffer was interviewed by Liz Keptner, director of PSU-LV’s Multimedia Innovation Center (MIC).

— Pamela Riddell, administrator of strategic communications, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Riddell focused on the importance of story branding by using tangible items as an example and creating the meaning of it into a bigger idea. She provided the attendees with insight about her work at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

— Anna Lingeris, earned media and brand publicity lead, The Hershey Company

Lingeris spoke about the importance of earned media and how it can be done. She shared insightful information about her work at The Hershey Company for more than 10 years and the many times Hersey has positively impacted its reputation with earned media.

Tina Q. Richardson, chancellor of Penn State Lehigh Valley, also shared brief remarks about the importance of Communication Day during the luncheon.

Communication Day was planned by Penn State Lehigh Valley’s Communication Society and its event committee, including Penn State Lehigh Valley students Ashley Rutter, Savannah Malesky, Imani Stevens, Carissa Ackley, Walter Roland, Naseeba Saeed and Olivia Howe, and Penn State Lehigh Valley Instructor Beth Michalec.