My journey to APR was a long process (at least in my mind) that was interrupted by my youngest child (what an awesome surprise) and that culminated in March 2013. While my path was different than most, although not unique, it consisted of a “self-study” plan.

My “self study” syllabus included:

• Chapter readings — “Effective Public Relations,” 10th edition.
• Using social media tools (blogging, tweeting, pin boards, etc.).
• An online study course (for group study).
• Audiobooks (of myself) reciting the APR Study Guide to listen to.
• Commissioning a graphic artist to create two “one-pager” infographics to help prepare (Readiness Review, CBE).

What to Expect at the Readiness Review

• Be comfortable, yet be powerful.
• Think 50 percent job interview, 50 percent big presentation.
• Just because APRs are leading it, they don’t know everything about public relations. You can teach them something new and/or give them a new strategy/tool/tactic to employ.
• Remember, you have a shared vocabulary (the KSAs), but we all bring something unique to the table.
• Shine!

What to Expect From the Computer-Based Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations

• Three hours and 45 minutes can seem like a long time and a short time (weird).
• Your mind will wander because you’ve been reading voluminous amounts of text.
• You may begin to wish the Examination was “over already” so you just get your score.
• You will begin to wonder, “Why didn’t I study that more?”
• After you submit your Examination, the screen will go blank; and those are the longest 30 seconds of your life. (I felt my heart beating in my chest waiting for the results.)
• Finally, if you’ve lived the APR Examination, you will pass. If you went at it half-heartedly or you aren’t humble, you will fail — it’s as simple as that.

When I saw that I’d passed, the first thing I did was send a tweet … seriously — then I called my husband. Crazy, I know. But I’d made this process so public that I felt that I should share my results publicly as soon as possible.

Tying your company into what’s already on the media agenda is a great way to boost the newsworthiness of your pitch angles.

McDonald’s struck an excellent balance this week when reacting to the benevolent neighbor who rescued the three abducted Cleveland women. Charles Ramsey mentioned McDonald’s in both his now-famous initial TV interview and his 911 call, which also went viral. He was the top trending topic on Twitter for almost a full day. Many in the Twitterverse hailed him as a hero and called on McDonald’s to figuratively shower him with Big Macs.

But the company showed appropriate restraint in its eventual tweet. First, they expressed support and sensitivity to the victims. Then, a subtle hint that they would “be in touch” with Ramsey. McDonald’s reps didn’t return calls asking for further comment — another wise move to avoid being perceived as exploiting the sensitive situation.

The webinar Accreditation Power Play: The How-To of Accreditation is now available on-demand. This public relations accreditation training sesssion is free to PRSA members.

Some people earn their APR to impress their boss — or the boss they want to have. I did it to impress my students — to encourage them to be the public relations professionals I want them to be.

I have taught public relations full time since 2007. An APR after my name, I believed, would allow me to speak more authoritatively to students about their need to keep exercising their minds long after they walk across the stage at graduation.

But first I had to go back to school myself.

There’s been a lot written about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its potential impact on key industry players — i.e., pharmaceutical and device companies, clinicians, health plans and patients. But, what about the PR professionals who work alongside these players?

Whether we work in-house or on agency teams, PR professionals know that everything that affects clients affects us too. . . eventually. We can be reactive and wait for the ACA dust to settle  or we can proactively help clients navigate the new landscape.

Now, there’s a huge opportunity for us to be proactive and to expand the range of internal and external stakeholders with whom we work.

Historically, health product companies have been organized around departmental “silos” – e.g., Patient Safety, Advocacy, Product Management and Access. For decades, health care PR and marketing teams focused on product/service promotion. Our goal has been to demonstrate clinical outcomes; our opinion leaders have come from academia and science.

In the wake of Medicare reform and the ACA, a new mandate has emerged: to help health decision-makers understand the relative outcomes and costs of available treatment options.  The goal is now to demonstrate total value as our opinion leaders include health economists, payment authorities and policymakers (in addition to clinicians).

To help clients succeed in this new environment, PR teams need to make five key changes:

A few minutes before midnight on the evening of April 3, 2012, I sat alone, exhausted, in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. The room was silent except for the constant click, click, click of my mouse as I nervously refreshed our website every other second. The story had already been broken hours ago by the Associated Press and word was beginning to spread about the next day’s announcement. However, all I cared about was making sure that our website, the central point of information we had worked on for months, went live when it was supposed to.

As April 3 became April 4, the site, as if sensing my anxiety, refreshed and the content — which we had spent countless hours meticulously editing, proofing and polishing — appeared in bright, bold colors illuminating the darkened hotel room. For a few hours, I could rest.

On the morning of April 4, 2012, the ABIM Foundation, along with Consumer Reports and nine medical specialty societies launched the Choosing Wisely® campaign at a standing-room-only event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The ABIM Foundation, long a leader in advancing medical professionalism, created the campaign to encourage physicians and patients to engage in conversations about unnecessary tests and procedures that may provide no benefit, and actually could cause harm. To help begin these conversations, the nine societies created lists of “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question.”

The event marked the official unveiling of these lists, and while we were hopeful they would be well-received and embraced by physicians and patients, we were surprised, and, quite frankly, a bit overwhelmed by the response.