As a newbie to the PR world, I’m learning something new every day. The same could be said, however, for the PR world itself. The other day, Mashable.com featured a piece called “10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011”, which discussed predictions about the manner in which people will gather news in the year 2011 (from smartphones, iPads, etc.). While this article touched on some of what I have already learned since starting at Matter, it baffled me nonetheless. It also serves as a great continuation of my colleague Lauren’s post about effective PR news tools, as it highlighted the up and coming channels for news media – forcing PR professionals to keep up.

As technology advances, people are getting their news from all different kinds of sources – Mashable lists social media, interactive television and mobile devices just to name a few. We no longer live in a simple print, television or radio world, and it’s our jobs as PR professionals to get the news out to whoever wants it and from whatever source they want it from. Taking a step back to look at how far social media networks have progressed in such a short period of time, it is amazing to think where it will go next!

Mashable predicts that location-based news (news driven/delivered to your phone based on where you are geographically) will pick up from the small percentage that uses it now – about 4% today. As one of the last people without a smart phone (Mom: if you’re reading this, I’d like a Droid please!), I haven’t experienced the news or social media apps that come along with this new industry. Luckily, my colleagues show me all of their news forums listed on their phones, along with all of their social media platforms – all on just one of seven screens that their phone allows. What!? In a quick poll around the office, it seems that Twitter and specific news sites (AP, CNN, etc.) are the most popular ways my colleagues get their news on the go.

With new media opportunities on the horizon, there seems to be no limit to where news will be available. What’s your favorite way to get your news, or what do you hope to see in 2011?

As a PR professional, there are never enough hours in the day.  A lot of times you are working on multiple projects in the same day and looking for ways to speed up menial tasks: cutting and pasting, reformatting text or the ever popular: creating hyperlinks.

As a millennial, I grew up using a computer from the time I entered middle school, so the ability to use applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint are nothing new.  However, knowing how to utilize and maximize the applications to your advantage when you need to save time can be critical.  I have always tried to pass on the helpful tips and tricks I have learned to colleagues and friends so that our collective efforts are all being done in less time.

On that note, here are a few shortcuts that are my personal time-saving favorites:

Keyboard Shortcuts:

•    To create a hyperlink in Microsoft Office, highlight your text and use Ctrl + K, this is especially helpful for coverage reports and wrap-ups.

•    It’s a great shortcut to use when selecting big chunks of text, or long hyperlinks, but Ctrl + A is Select All.

•    Why click the tiny buttons above your Office Ribbon Bar when Ctrl + Z is Undo, Ctrl + Y is Redo, Ctrl + F is Find and Ctrl + S is Save?

•    You probably know that you can double click on an icon to select it on your desktop, but did you know that you can triple click within Office applications to select entire paragraphs?

•    Ever have problems with documents or emails that come to you in ALL CAPS LOCK?  Not to worry, select away and Shift + F3 can covert that text for you!

•    If you want to print a spreadsheet in Excel, isn’t it a pain to have a one page list print onto 5 sheets of paper?  Save a tree and use Page Break Preview: click on View in your Ribbon Bar and select Page Break Preview in the left hand corner, which should produce a series of blue borderlines that you can click and drag across the page as you see fit.  (If you want to change back to the normal view, click “Normal” which is two buttons to your left…)

These are just a few examples of the helpful hints that I have learned from colleagues over the years.

What helpful shortcuts help you to save time at work?

US News just announced “The 50 Best Careers of 2011.” Guess who made the list?

Yup, it’s true. PR pros are right up there with urban planners, meteorologists, athletic trainers, veterinarians, financial advisors, gaming managers and curators. In fact, US News writer Meg Handley’s PR specialist-specific report said the “employment of public-relations specialists is expected to increase by more than 66,000 jobs, or 24 percent, between 2008 and 2018, according to the Labor Department.”

This report comes at an interesting time, as I was just chatting with one of our junior team members who has been with Matter for about three months, and we were discussing how challenging this industry can be. This is her first “real” gig out of college, and she’s been immersed in some serious on-the-job training since day one. Not only has she had to learn the intricacies of our firm – and some extremely technical clients that we represent – but she’s also trying to grasp the PR industry and all the social media that now comes with it. She’s doing an excellent job – and I was commending her for her perseverance.

I started to see the PR industry through her eyes – and I found myself doling out any advice I could think of. Today, my biggest piece of advice to this particular PR newcomer was “Ask questions.” “Ask why we’re doing this, what purpose it serves, how you can do it more efficiently and if you are on the right track.”

As part of Handley’s report on PR pros, Gary McCormick, 2010 chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, offered his advice: “… It comes down to networking … It’s really the cornerstone for what we do for clients and companies all the time.”

What’s your advice to all the new PR pros who will be coming on the scene in the next eight years?

I’ve had my share of mentors over the years and although each were unique in their own way, they all fell into one of three categories: Casual, Formal and Indirect.

Casual mentors are direct. They shoot from the hip, act as a friend and confidant and show interest in you as a person.

Formal mentors are direct in a different way. You have guided conversations with them, respect their acumen and internalize their advice.

Indirect mentors are those who you study from afar. You observe and respect the way they act, how they conduct themselves and the way they treat others.

PR is a soft science. Sure, the numbers are hard, but the data often leads to different interpretations and you can’t learn how to build a relationship from a textbook.  That is why in this industry, experience is worth its weight in gold. As a PR practitioner, I find myself lucky to be surrounded by the three types of individuals described above on a daily basis.  In their own way, each of them aids my personal and professional development by not only sharing their years of experience, but by offering me genuine, personal advice.

So, who are your mentors? Chances are they don’t even know the weight they carry. You don’t have to tell them – just be thankful for them.