As we start the New Year, the world is talking about resolutions. A key to a good resolution is that it must be something that YOU control – something that you put your heart into, dedication behind and talent towards. Will you lose weight? Become more organized (my personal resolution)? Stop complaining about the little things? You only get out of life what you put in, so as 2011 starts, people everywhere vow to put more in.
The same can be said for PRSA. I personally have been a member since graduating college and dove headfirst into attending luncheons, networking with fellow members, participating in committees, chairing committees, serving on the board and now becoming president. PRSA has always given me so much back, because I have put so much in.
So, this 2011, I challenge every one of you to think about what you put into PRSA – and I promise that if you dive in like I did, you will get value back tenfold. Maybe you always wanted to be involved in committees to perfect your leadership, attend more luncheons to bring more knowledge to your job, attain your APR to grow your resume, network with more PR professionals to further develop relationships and skills. It will only happen if you make it happen – and PRSA gives you that wonderful opportunity.
I am honored to serve as your president this year among a talented board and remarkable members. And, we are thankful for the hard work Chris Kemper put into the chapter this past year to make it what it is today. So, thanks to all of those who progressed our PRSA chapter in 2010 through leadership and active membership, and here’s to a 2011 of “putting it in!”
Sarah Pasquinucci, APR
President
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Mark Your Calendar – January 18
Join Bob McCarthy from ServiceWeb Systems as he explains the capabilities of mobile devices and how businesses are using them to reach customers’ markets in new ways.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
11:30 a.m. – noon: Check-in and networking
Noon: Lunch and program
The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati Conference Center
The Rookwood Tower
3805 Edwards Road
Fifth Floor
Cincinnati, Ohio 45209
$15 Cincinnati PRSA members
$15 PRSSA members
$23 Nonmembers
RSVP by noon on Monday, January 10
For more information about the program, please visit cincinnatiprsa.org.
Sponsored by:
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Meet the 2011 New Professionals Chair and Committee
Happy New Year! I am excited to serve as the New Professionals chair this year. After a great lineup of events in 2010, including a behind-the-scenes tour of the Newport Aquarium and a crisis communications panel, this year’s New Pros committee is committed to continuing the tradition of fun, informative events. That being said, I’d like to introduce the great team I will be working with this year:
Megan Haughney (@mhaughney)
Meghann Craig (@meghanncraig)
Christine Demeropolis (@chrisdemi)
Stephanie Johnson (@saj1112)
Stephanie Lowe (@stephanielowe21)
Kristen Marshall (@kmmarsh)
Andrew Shipp (@andrew_shippr)
Nikki Williams (@nikkijoy)
The team is currently in the process of scheduling this year’s events. (If you have any suggestions, please email us!) We will have our first event in February. Stay tuned for details!
For the latest news, remember to follow us on Twitter @CinPRSANewPros and check out the New Pros page on the Cincinnati PRSA website: http://cincinnatiprsa.org/professionals/index.php. If you are interested in being added to our email list, please let us know at cincynewpros@yahoo.com.
Megan Haughney
New Professionals Chair
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My name is Andrew Shipp (@Andrew_ShipPR), and I am honored to be a part of the Leadership Team this year as the sponsorship chair. I'm so excited to develop sponsorship partnerships to make 2011 an awesome year for all of our valued members. We have multiple sponsorship opportunities available at our monthly luncheons, Media Day, Blacksmith Awards and New Pros events! Please feel free to contact me (shipp.andrew2@gmail.com or 859.814.7034) to find the perfect fit for your organization. I'm always up for coffee or cocktails, let me know what works best for you!
Andrew Shipp
Sponsorship Chair
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We are proud and excited to announce the second annual Cincinnati PRSA and University of Cincinnati PRSSA Mentorship Program.
Mentoring is not only enriching, but it is also a learning experience for both mentors and mentees. Members of the University of Cincinnati’s PRSSA chapter are eager to be matched with members of our chapter to get a first-hand look at the real life of a PR pro. Would you be willing to lend a hand?
The time commitment would be completely up to you and your mentee. How you handle the mentorship is your choice – whether you meet in person, converse over email and the frequency of interaction. Students will be encouraged to seek advice from their mentor about working in the PR industry, searching for jobs, interview/resume tips, writing tips and other relevant topics. Mentors would serve as a sounding board and be a source of advice.
We will be hosting a get-together for all of the mentors and their students shortly after the program begins, and we will plan a few other get-togethers to help keep the students engaged and comfortable around the professionals. We will notify participants of their matches toward the middle/end of January. The program will officially end when the UC school year closes in June.
If you would like to serve as a mentor or have any questions, please send an email to Darcy Little (dlittle@vehrcommunications.com) by Friday, January 14. Thank you for your consideration. On behalf of UC PRSSA, it is greatly appreciated!
Darcy Little
Treasurer/ UC PRSSA Professional Advisor
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If networking is one of your New Year’s resolutions, then you are in the right place. As a PRSA member, in addition to the many local- and national-level benefits, you have the opportunity to connect with 217 PR professionals from the Greater Cincinnati area. The more members, the greater the opportunities for everyone.
As membership chair for Cincinnati PRSA, I work to recruit and retain members. If you know someone who you think would benefit from PRSA membership, please let me know.
Contact me at jdunne@go-metro.com, on Twitter https://twitter.com/writerjillie or on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/jilldunne.
When I’m not working to increase Cincinnati PRSA membership, I am Public Affairs Manager for Metro/SORTA where I manage media relations, public relations, social media and community relations efforts for one of the nation's 28 largest urban transit agencies.
Jill Dunne
Membership Chair
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Begin the New Year with a New Career
Is your New Year's resolution to find a new job? Start a real career? Change directions? Then stop what you're doing and head over to http://www.cincinnatiprsa.org/jobBank/index/php. In addition, make sure your resume is on file to ensure prospective employers have the resources they need. Many area hiring managers reach out to PRSA before posting their positions on Monster or other similar sites because, "PRSA has the best candidates around."
Questions? Concerns? Please contact Maureen Richmond, Job Bank coordinator, at maureenrichmond@ymail.com or 513-362-4546.
Maureen Richmond, APR
Job Bank Chair
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Blacksmiths Seem So Far Away
We are excited to be serving the chapter this year as co-chairs for the Blacksmith Awards and look forward to building on the success of last year’s stellar event. As we look into 2011, many of you probably made some New Year’s Resolutions, some of which you may have already broken! How about taking on a New Year’s Resolution that will help your career and plan to enter the Blacksmith Awards this year? If you take some baby steps now, entering later this year will be a snap:
- Create a folder on your computer for Blacksmith 2011. Go ahead and do it now…we’ll wait.
- As you finish projects this year that you are proud of, put copies of all the supporting materials in the folder.
- Pull together some bullet points on each completed project. We may not have the entry forms ready yet, but you know we’re going to ask for the basics like objectives, target audience, budget and evaluation.
We know, that’s easier said than done, but it really will make your life easier when you’re down to the wire for the deadline later this year. We are also looking for members to join the committee this year. It’s not a big time commitment, and it’s a great way to get involved in the chapter. Contact Shara Clark (smclark@gafri.com) or Barbara Flick (barbara.flick@strata-g.com) if you are interested.
So, here’s to a year of amazing public relations work that will be award winning later this year!
Shara Clark and Barbara Flick
Blacksmith Co-Chairs
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Blacksmith 2010 Photos Available
We have lots of great photos of people receiving their Blacksmith Awards in November. If you’d like an electronic copy of your photo, please e-mail gail@gailmyerspr.com, and I’ll be happy to send them to you.
Gail Myers, APR
2010 Blacksmith Co-Chair
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Name: Annie McManis
Position: Partner/Owner
Company: Saybrook Marketing Communications
Twitter handle: @AnnieMac253
What social media outlets do you use?
Not as many as I should! Of course, Facebook and Twitter. I also have a profile on LinkedIn but admit that I am not very savvy even though I understand it is a pretty powerful tool, especially from a networking and business development perspective. I messed around with Foursquare for a while but got bored with it. And, I’m married to a cop who wasn’t too thrilled that I was alerting people every time I left the house…I am hooked on Twitter. It has definitely been a great resource for learning new information about our industry.
How long have you been a Cincinnati PRSA member?
Whew! Off and on for almost 20 years! I started my PR career and PRSA membership right out of college, but took a short detour into sales for a few years. I revived my membership about 6 or 7 years ago when I left sales and re-entered PR.
What do you find the most beneficial about Cincinnati PRSA?
As an agency owner, I think the networking and learning opportunities that Cincinnati PRSA offers are terrific for PR pros at every experience level. And Cincinnati is such a small town—it’s truly important to know your peers and colleagues in the industry. Plus, the members are just a fun group of folks!
Whom do you suggest your fellow chapter members follow on Twitter and why? Hmmm…certainly any media outlet you may ever pitch to! I’d also recommend @MarkRaganCEO for links to interesting industry articles. I also like @mashable and @TechCrunch. I do think chats are underused. I sometimes join in the #pr20chat on Tuesday evenings put on by @prtini, @pr20chat and @jgoldsborough (all worth following). It’s a great way to connect with other PR pros around the country and share new ideas and insights. And, of course, one of my favorites is probably @clientsfromhell. I have my days when I can totally relate!
You're in PR which means you're interesting by default! Tell us one fun fact about you:
I’m a hardcore coupon queen! I have an entire binder of coupons. I read my favorite mommy blogs and plot my weekly grocery strategy to get the best deals. What’s pathetic is that I am only shopping for two! Needless to say, we have an endless supply of Triscuits, Goldfish crackers and dental floss. And ironically, I don’t cook (often.) I love to dine out—I used to be the dining editor for CityBeat and used to cover local restaurants for AOL.com, so I love to check out new places.
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New Member Welcome
Stephanie Johnson, Marketing Assistant, Metro
Stephanie’s primary focus at Metro is customer communications, sending daily email alerts concerning detours, developing content for the monthly e-newsletter go*INFO and programming the electronic message sign at Government Square. Prior to joining Metro, she held a variety of internship positions in the health, entertainment and non-profit communication fields. Stephanie graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Communications and a B.A. in History in May 2010.
Kristen Marshall
Kristen came to the Cincinnati area to complete a post-graduate internship at GyroHSR. She recently completed her internship and is now looking for her next opportunity in the public relations or marketing field. Prior to Kristen’s most recent position, she was an intern at Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green, Ohio, a public relations writing assistant at the Safety Council of Northwest Ohio and was a representative for recruitment for the BGSU Greek Affairs office. Kristen graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor’s degree in public relations in May 2010.
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(from www.prsa.org)
PRSA offers a host of opportunities to grow as a professional. Visit http://www.prsa.org/calendar to access a calendar of upcoming events.
By Gary McCormick
CommPro.biz
Published: Dec. 22, 2010
The Economist is many things: A world-class business and political affairs newsweekly. High-brow journalism. A publication offering thorough perspectives on relevant issues. Well, most of the time ...
In a lengthy article for its year-end issue examining issues of global concern, The Economist smartly listed public relations as an industry that will continue to play a big role within the global business community. Unfortunately, the publication chose a rather perplexing and contumelious approach to analyzing public relations’ value.
Derisively titled, “Rise of the image men,” the article attempts to paint the profession in the unflattering light of being the selfish younger brother of advertising and marketing; desperately grasping at those industries’ long-held fame and fortune.
Fortunately, for the well-informed, The Economist’s pessimistic assessment couldn’t be further from the truth. Reality tells us that PR is far more sophisticated, and delivers considerably more value, than it is often given credit for.
And, as 2011 PRSA Chair and CEO Rosanna Fiske, APR, noted in a tweet Monday afternoon, the article missed two clear points relevant to the rise in PR’s value: “Whatever happened to the women? And we work on reputation management, not image.”
In a letter to the editor of The Economist submitted this week by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and co-signed by John Paluszek, APR, Fellow PRSA, former PRSA chair and CEO, and current Global Alliance Chair, we noted that, “Public relations is widely recognized within the global business, nonprofit, NGO and public service communities as having progressed to the point where professionals are generating two-way communications, leading to mutual understanding, cooperation and reciprocal relationships at many levels of society.”
What else did The Economist fail to grasp in its analysis? Beyond the obvious, a few key points—and a much broader perspective—would have been prudent to properly inform its readers. Among those:
- PR has served immeasurable public good. It has changed attitudes and behaviors toward some of the world’s most pressing social issues, from breast cancer awareness to drinking and driving to smoking and obesity.
- Women play a significant role in driving innovation within the profession. The article’s use of the pejorative label “image men” is insulting not only to the profession as a whole, but to female professionals, who make up a large swath of practitioners, including serving in senior-level positions in some of the world’s largest corporations.
- PR already owns social media. Numerous influential bloggers, news outlets and research reports make a clear distinction that in the digital age, PR provides the most value to clients for their social-media endeavors.
- The industry is growing—rapidly. According to projections from the Veronis Suhler Stevenson 2008 Communications Industry Forecast 2010-14, the PR industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.6 percent through 2014.
- Ethics guide the profession. Public relations professionals have a special obligation to practice their craft ethically, with the highest standards of truth, accuracy, fairness and responsibility to the public. The PRSA Code of Ethics provides a practical set of standards to follow in this regard.
But don’t just take my word for it. The comments written thus far to the article offer an encouraging rebuttal to The Economist’s short-sighted and pejorative-laden analysis.
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