Week 3 - Willis

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area offers many special-interest groups in the media industry due to the fact that it is the 31st largest media market in the United States. A variety of disciplines are available, ranging from Radio and Television to Public Relations and Entrepreneurship. I was able to find several different organizations on the website: http://kc.iabc.com/special-interest-groups-sigs/#link-3. The organization best suited for me was the 'Rising Stars Special Interest Group'. It is a group specifically for workers in the industry who have less than 10 years of experience. Upon entering the job market in this field, this would be a wonderful place to make connections. Though the group is smaller and doesn't meet on a strictly set schedule, friendships are formed and networks are created. It has more of a social spin to it, rather than that of professionalism. The KC/IABC Rising Stars group make themselves readily available by having a Facebook page, which is where I obtained some information for my search. Just today, (February 2nd, 2012) they held the 2012 Business Communicators Summit where they dined together and brought in about a dozen speakers who are masters of their fields. Taking the time away from work to build up connections can really pay off in the long run. In the words of Armstrong Williams, a politician and talk show host, "Networking is an essential part of building wealth."