Where are they now? – Tyler Hall
By Dan Toland
Brad Boyer, Tyler Hall, and Sara McKinniss, were just three fresh baby-faced young professionals when they joined Melanie Wilt during the early days of Shift•ology (then known as Wilt Public Relations). During a recent episode of our Shooting the Shift podcast, we had the opportunity to catch up with the trio to learn where their careers have taken them, what they have carried with them from their time with Melanie, and to reminisce about the good old days of agency life.
Here we feature Tyler Hall. Check out our other posts in this series featuring Brad Boyer and Sara McKinniss.
Tyler Hall
Tyler skipped a marketing class to take an internship at Wilt PR, which he somehow obtained despite hand-delivering his resume to the intern that had already filled the position. His efforts and attention to detail left an impression as he went on to become a social media specialist for Wilt during the medium’s infancy. This led to him taking a similar position with the City of Dayton where, in addition to other duties, he spent a surprisingly significant amount of time answering Facebook messages from the public asking when Beggar’s Night was being held.
Described by Melanie as “a genuine, humble person of faith,” it’s no surprise that Tyler is now a full time preacher at the West Mason Church of Christ, where he also produces a podcast titled “You are from God”.
Tyler is known for his snappy style (although he was forced to remove his socks because his pants were too short for a company photo shoot), which was once imitated by the entire Wilt team dressing up as him for “Hall”-oween. Employees also helped him design his first date and eventual proposal to his wife.
Hall helped establish Shift•ology’s “three eyes” rule, whereby content we produce is reviewed by three employees before going out the door to a client. This greatly improved Brad Boyer’s content, as Tyler had the chance to mark it up and improve it before being seen by Melanie.
What Tyler learned from Wilt PR:
- If you put a lot of knick-knacks on your desk, there’s a high likelihood that you’ll come to work one day to find your entire station completely gift-wrapped.
- You don’t have to necessarily enjoy liver and gizzards to be good at posting weekly about giblets.
- Sometimes the classroom can wait when you have an opportunity to gain real-world professional experience.
- Having had a previous penchant for using exclamation marks in his copy, Tyler learned directly from Melanie that just one exclamation point is more than enough, and is most-often unnecessary.
In Tyler’s words:
- “Public relations isn’t about just selling something. It’s about sharing ideas and telling a story. It’s in our human nature to want to draw in and lean closer when we hear stories. Every single person and every single business or organization has a story to tell. Some may be better than others at it, but that’s where the experts come in and are able to frame and deliver it in ways that are easy to digest, process and resonate with.”
- “I learned soft skills…things you don’t necessarily learn in a classroom, but things you learn about yourself as a person. I worked for a client where there was a lot of public pushback about what we were doing, and I would initially take that personally. But I’ve learned to put things in perspective…that not every negative thing is an assessment of me as a person. And also to take that as an opportunity to learn how to turn something negative into something constructive.”
- “I look at billboards today and think ‘there’s way too many words on that thing.’ I only have 3 seconds to read it. Those kinds of things I learned continue to influence the way I work…thinking about how people communicate, and how we structure messages that go out into the community.”
Special Note from Melanie Wilt
“I am incredibly proud of the careers these three have created, the work they do in their communities and the positive impact they have on those around them. Although I shed tears the day each of them let me know they were moving on, I am better for having had the opportunity to get what I could from them and teach them what I could. I am honored to have been a part of each of their journeys and consider them a part of my network.”
Learn why it’s no surprise that former Shift•ology employee, Tyler Hall, ended up being a preacher during this episode of Shooting the Shift.Listen to Tyler’s “You are from God” podcast