Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard about the Royal Wedding happening later this week. On Friday, April 29^th Prince William and Kate Middleton will tie the knot at Westminster Abbey.

This marks the first Royal Wedding of the digital age. More than one billion people worldwide are expected to watch Prince William and Kate’s big day on TV. That’s a major uptick from the 28.4 million viewers who tuned in to see Princess Diana and Prince Charles wed back in 1981.

Today, there are more media channels than ever to keep people across the globe, not only looped in, but also engaged with all things Royal Wedding.

Predictions have already been made that the volume of tweets on Twitter during the Royal Wedding will reach record heights. The volume of tweets during the big day is anticipated to surpass the current record of 5,000 tweets per minute after the death of Michael Jackson in 2009.

If you’re a Facebook junkie, then you probably already are one of the 345,000 people that “Like” The British Monarchy Facebook page. Perhaps you’ve even added a comment to a post about Buckingham Palace.

If you really want to feel like you too are a part of Prince William and Kate’s special day, then you can add your name and message to The Wedding Book Facebook app. The messages will be collated and bound into a leather-bound book that will be given to the couple as a “special gift from the public.”  

And, if your schedule permits, you can view the entire wedding ceremony as its broadcasted on YouTube via The Royal Channel, (which already has more than three million channel views).

With all the different options available, how will you be getting your #royalwedding social media fix this Friday?

A few weeks ago, I stood in the hallway outside room 4A during career day at my children’s school. Standing there, breathing in that elementary school air that makes you feel like you’re ten years old again, I watched Carl’s dad passing around bubbling test tubes of something – wearing a white lab coat and goggles, and explaining a scientific theory that had enchanted the children.

Standing there waiting, my phone was dinging with emails (review asap!), ringing with meeting invitations (all day tomorrow!), and my mind was slightly distracted by the ever-present to-do list for clients and for Matter ticking through the back of my mind – things I’d need to do later tonight, because I left early for career day.

Suddenly, instead of being jazzed up about what a great career PR is (Telling a great story! Facebook/Twitter/Social Media! Working with smart people all day!), I was thinking about how much less cool it seemed than the demonstration of liquid alchemy currently underway in 4A. Fast-paced, stressful, demanding, with deadlines and crises that are oblivious to normal working hours, travel, all the demands of a client-service business, PR doesn’t always compare well to the easy-to-sell world of science (curing disease!), or medicine (saving lives!), or teaching (molding minds!).

Every time I have an informational interview, or am invited to talk with a group about a career in PR, I start by saying (because this matters to all of us who care about job security) it’s a career that remains in high demand. More importantly, though, I always say that there has not been one day in my career that I haven’t learned something new. The older I get, the more I realize how crucial that is to long-term job – and life – satisfaction. Not only do I love the daily challenge of learning, but I am happy to say that I’m a more interesting person because of my career – the people I’ve met, the products I’ve learned about, the programs I’ve led, the challenges and trials, the good and the bad – and I wouldn’t trade that for a lifetime of bubbling test tubes.

Uncovering and telling the story of a company in a way that captivates an audience, influences behaviors, and ultimately drives business value for the company’s stakeholders is a high that is both inexplicable and elementary. Who among us can’t relate to that great feeling of telling a new story to someone who gets something out of it?

So, with renewed enthusiasm I stepped over the boxes and beakers while Carl’s dad cleaned up his messy little experiment, and I started my talk to the eager faces of 25 ten year olds, by asking them: “How many of you like to learn something before most people know about it, and find fun ways to tell your friends about it?” All 25 hands went up. “Well, then,” said I, “You could have a future in public relations.”

As PR professionals, we spend a great deal of time and effort to promote our clients.  In the end, our goal is to make sure that message is on point and being delivered to the right people.  From time to time though, it’s fun to take a step back and recognize one of our own for their personal PR.

Matter account executive Stacey Allaire was featured today in the Newburyport News for her Betty Crocker-esque baking and cooking skills.  In a bit of foreshadowing, Stacey was awarded the “Top Cupcake” prize in the Matter February Potluck event and I can personally testify that those were award-winning cupcakes.  In today’s paper, Stacey has featured two special recipes for Farmers’ Market Lasagna and Apple Cinnamon Muffins, be sure to pick up a copy if you are looking to try them out at home.

We are all happy for Stacey and this article was a great way to establish a little personal PR.  The article ties together her passion for the pantry outside the office.  Independent of our time in the office together, we all have additional hobbies and interests, mine would probably have to be rooting for the Merrimack College hockey team.  Still, it’s great to see one of our own rewarded for some great and above all, tasty work.