This coming Wednesday, October 21 at noon ET marks the third monthly #PRStudChat, started by Deirdre Breakenridge and Valerie Simon in August this year. Deirdre (@dbreakenridge) is the moderator and Valerie (@ValerieSimon) is the host of the chats, and the next chat has a bit of a twist. The school with the most students participating in the chat will win:

• An “in-depth conversation with public relations industry veteran Deirdre Breakenridge via Skype. The winning students will have an opportunity to pose questions and interact with one of PR’s leading professionals.”
• “the opportunity to earn some publicity for their PR programs”
• “a $50 American Express Gift Certificate to the students and school in order to celebrate their PR Student Chat win”

The assigned hashtag for NYU is #NYU, so if you’re an NYU student participating, please use our university hashtag during the chat.

But what exactly is #PRStudChat?

Despite the name, the chat has nothing to do with studs or hot men of PR. From the press release about this month’s chat, “#PRStudChat is a monthly, live chat session that takes place on Twitter between public relations students, practicing professionals, and educators.”

• Twitter Chat 101: Read Valerie’s “Guide to Twitter Chats” on Examiner.com, with helpful information about how to participate before, during and after the chat.
• Summaries of Past Chats: Valerie has compiled summaries of the last chats, including questions like Question 1 from September, “What happens when you no longer believe in a client or the issue you’re representing?”
• Tools: I find What The Hashtag?! and TweetChat especially helpful for Twitter chats.

Any questions? I’d encourage the students reading to at least follow the chat, especially if you’ve never observed a Twitter chat in action. And even better, jump in and participate.