As the role of the public relations professional continues to evolve and the profession continues to grow, PRSA is dedicated to providing Chapters with the resources they need to flourish in 2012.

Updated initiatives and improved benefits for 2012 include:

♦ Free Online Training Webinars: Webinars are now free with PRSA membership. This represents nearly $2,000 in annual savings for members who participate in just one PRSA webinar per month. Upcoming webinars include:

• “Digital Media and Today’s Digital News Release: Making It Easy for Journalists to Pick Up Your Story” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2012. 
  
• “How to Grow Word-Of-Mouth Movements: People Are the Killer App” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 26, 2012.
• “Creating the Online Newsroom: Develop a Centralized Information Headquarters for Your Organization” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 31, 2012.
  

♦ Revamped Chapter support: PRSA National is working toward tailored plans to make recruitment easier for our Chapters. We are developing customized programming guides and easy-to-use social media templates to make administrative tasks less time-consuming and help you better engage with your members.

Continue reading " PRSA Chapters: Updated Initiatives and Improved Membership Benefits for 2012 "

With thoughts (and client budgets) turning to the New Year, PRSA continues our tradition of an annual PR industry forecast. This year, we feature contributions from 12 creative thinkers in public relations. We asked for insight into trends they believe will fundamentally change the PR industry in 2012.

Below is a compilation of their thoughts. Starting Jan. 3, 2012, and running for 12 consecutive business days, PRSAY will publish each trend as a full blog post.

We hope you find value in reading these predictions. Please add your own in the comments below or by using the hashtag #PRin2012. We’ll capture the best contributions and publish those in a special baker’s dozen post in late-January.

Related: Read the top-11 PR trends for 2011 in this Dec. 22, 2010, PRSay blog post..

Continue reading " 12 Trends to Watch: 2012 Public Relations Forecast #PRin2012 "

Join the PRSA New Professionals Section and personal branding expert Hajj Flemings for the online training session, “Personal Branding: Develop Yourself as a Thought Leader,” on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. Registration is only $35 for members of the New Professionals Section and for members of PRSSA. 

Do you want to become the next Seth Godin, Steve Jobs, or Daymond Johns? I am going to walk you through some points to help you establish yourself as a thought leader in the era of digital technology. One disclaimer: Having a blog doesn’t make you a thought leader in the same way that having an iPhone will not make you think like Steve Jobs. The context of thought leadership in this article is helping individuals understand how to use digital technology, content curation and branding as a thought leadership strategy.

Continue reading " Five Points to Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader "

The PRSA 2012 Digital Impact Conference will be held April 2–3, 2012, in New York City.

We’re looking for online influencers, experts and leaders on the client and agency sides to present strategies, theories, ideas, research and results.

Caryn Marooney, director of product communications at Facebook, is confirmed to keynote, and we’re now accepting speaker proposals until 8 p.m. EST, Dec. 9, 2011.

The Digital Impact Conference is dedicated to profiling the impact of digital technology on the business of communications. We are looking to spotlight projects, programs, organizations and individuals who are effectively leveraging the power of digital to get their message across, increase productivity and manage reputations.

So if you’re ready to share detailed, thoughtful information and concepts (no cream puffs, please) that attendees can put into action immediately, check out the official Call for Presentations and submit to present on one of the following three conference tracks:

Continue reading " PRSA Digital Impact Call for Presentations: Seeking Online Influencers to Share Knowledge and Experience "

Join Steve Radick and Steve Ressler for their online training session, When a Star Leaves: How to Sustain Social Media Efforts Over the Long Term, on Tuesday, March 27, 2012.

I talk a lot about the need to do a better job of integrating social media into the world of higher education. That’s why when my alma mater asked me to speak at their annual Communication Week this year, I jumped at the opportunity. Because these students are already learning the basics of social media in their core communication classes, I didn’t want to do yet another Social Media 101 type presentation. Instead, I wanted to help them understand that even though they may learn what Twitter is, how to use it, and some case studies, there’s nothing like doing it in the real world. That’s why I gave a presentation titled “The 7 Things About Social Media That You’re Not Going to Learn in College.”

Here’s the presentation I gave, with the key takeaways below:

Continue reading " 7 Things About Social Media That College Won’t Teach You "