By Nicole Park
Daily Titan Staff Writer

The International Association of Business Communicators of Cal State Fullerton is hosting its fall semester Professional-Student Mixer at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse in Brea Oct. 13 starting at 7 p.m. The Professional-Student Mixer aims to bring CSUF students together with professionals in the communications and business industries for networking opportunities.

IABC has invited and confirmed professionals in the public relations, marketing, advertising and other various business fields to meet and mingle with students. The mixer has been styled as a “speed networking” event where individual professionals float from table to table to answer student questions, share their professional experiences and offer advice for rounds of five to eight minutes.

“The event will be extremely exciting, quick and informative,” said IABC-CSUF President Steven Muniz, 24, a political science major with an emphasis in public relations.

The guest list boasts prominent professionals with career experience ranging from CEOs of marketing companies to advertising account executives to former IABC members-turned public relations gurus. The experience is invaluable to a young student in need of real-life work advice. Professionals sometimes find interns at IABC mixers, and students have turned to the professionals to gain tips on how to find jobs or even how to start their own communications companies.

“We encourage all students to attend. You may be in a different field of study, but you never know how the person you network with can potentially help you in the future,” said

IABC-CSUF Director of Membership Aria Fadakar, 21, a public relations major. This rings true especially for communications and business students. While it is important to network within your major’s emphasis, in today’s fast-paced work environment, a young professional’s network will often inevitably intertwine with other professions from all areas of the communications and business arenas.

“I’d like to meet more contacts with professionals from various industries,” said Kristina Finney, 22, a public relations major. Hopeful students like Finney can look forward to meeting professionals from companies such as Wundermarx, Golin Harris, West Bound Communications and many more at this evening’s event.

The IABC Professional-Student Mixer is free to all IABC members and $5 for non-members. The event includes complimentary BJ’s appetizers and soft drinks. Last semester, the Professional-Student Mixer hosted more than 10 professionals but is expecting a larger turnout of both students and professionals this fall.

The association is a global network of communications professionals. The CSUF chapter’s Web site stated, “IABC provides students with the opportunity to network with professionals in the communications industry and enriches club members’ learning experience.” IABC has a network of over 15,500 business communicators in over 80 countries and encourages students to take advantage of its professional resources through the IABC Web site.

Executive Vice President Nicole Pierce, 22, a public relations major, described IABC as “a club to help students make the connections to transition from the student to professional world.”

IABC-CSUF strives to help students enrich their learning experiences in a variety of ways. Social media is not only the latest method of global communication, it is the newest implementation that IABC uses to promote their Professional-Student Mixer.

IABC’s newest contest is “Twitter for Tacos,” where students simply add IABC’s account (IABC_CSUF) and Re-Tweet the mixer details in order to win a coupon for free tacos from Cantina Lounge of Fullerton. The first 25 CSUF students who re-tweet “IABC_CSUF” are eligible to win. The contest details will be posted on IABC_CSUF’s Twitter account.

For more information about IABC and its upcoming Professional-Student Mixer, please contact IABC-CSUF President Steven Muniz at iabc.csuf@gmail.com.