A Tale of Two Assemblies at PRSA

To most of us, the workings of the PRSA National Assembly is “inside baseball.” That is, unless you’re part of the governing body, you tend not to know or care what’s going on. I have little interest in PRSA politics, but I’m struck by what I’m calling “A Tale of Two Assemblies,” one presented by PRSA, the other by newsletter editor Jack O’Dwyer.

From O’Dwyer’s newsletter yesterday:

An aroused PRSA Assembly rejected (175-103) the board’s attempt to turn it into an advisory body and also rejected just about every other major plank in the bylaws revision. The revised bylaws were then accepted overwhelmingly.

Voted down were attempts to make all national directors “at large”; sprinkle “communications” throughout the bylaws and in the Preamble; place a sitting board member as nominating committee chair; let the board expel any member at its “sole discretion”; allow non-APRs as directors or officers; allow 25+ national committee heads to vote in the Assembly, and let the national board create additional classes of Assembly delegates.

Contrast O’Dwyer’s take on the Assembly outcome with PRSA’s news release on the topic:

Delegates to the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Assembly overwhelmingly approved a new set of bylaws that strengthen the Society. New provisions were adopted that give the Nominating Committee greater flexibility in proposing candidates for board service, establish a “Leadership Assembly” to focus on issues of concern to the profession, and move the organization closer to the direct election of directors and officers for the National board.

The Assembly adopted the comprehensive slate of changes to PRSA’s bylaws, which become effective immediately, by a final tally of 264 to 20. In most cases, the revisions successfully attached amendments proposed by Assembly Delegates to the original changes suggested by the Bylaws Rewrite Task Force.

PRSA’s release quotes CEO Michael Cherenson: “While there is always a tendency is to look for winners and losers in a process such as this, I’m certain that those who were in the room today would all agree that it’s the future of PRSA that emerged on top.”

Attempts by O’Dwyer to elicit a comment from PRSA leadership met with the usual resistance. PRSA doesn’t talk to Jack, and it’s been that way for some time. From the O’Dwyer’s story:

Chair Mike Cherenson and bylaws chair Dave Rickey, asked to comment on the rejection of so many of the bylaw recommendations, refused to do so.

Cherenson, asked what he would say about the near total rejection of the bylaw committee recommendations, “If that’s the way you want to characterize it, that’s your opinion.” He would not comment further. Rickey, asked the same question, said he had no comment and added that he did not want to be quoted saying no comment. He turned away.

I’m guessing that the truth of this story lies somewhere between the two extremes. But this tweet from PRSA Chair-elect Rosanne Fiske has me wondering. But like I said, for the average PRSA member wondering these hallways in San Diego, it’s inside baseball.

Media relations and the 24-second news cycle

Made it to the PRSA conference hall in time to catch a session on Sunday afternoon. Since I’m back to teaching the Media Relations class at Kent State, I decided to take in Mike McDougall’s session called “Working at the Speed of ‘New’: Secrets for Conquering and Surviving the 24-second News Cycle.”

I’m a sucker for titles with colons in them. Must be the academic in me.

Mike, VP of corporate communications and public affairs at Bausch & Lomb, offered some great advice for media relations practitioners, but the media landscape he described worries me – a lot.

PRSA Day One

I landed in San Diego about 11 a.m. yesterday, but didn’t have the time or the access to alert my Twitter friends or my ToughSledding readers. I’m sure you all survived my absence

Everyone is raving about this beautiful city on the bay and its perpetual 72-degree weather. Me? I don’t get it. On Saturday, back in Ohio, we celebrated the end of fall by raking our leaves, then taking a barefoot kayak tour around Sandy Lake and its feeder canal. But here’s the big difference: In San Diego, $250K doesn’t by your squat. In Northeast Ohio, it gets you 2,600 square feet on a private lake.

Okay, I know I won’t be paddling the kayak come January. But I will be skiing the trail around Sandy and celebrating the change of seasons. Like I said, I don’t get California. Let it snow.

In the PRSA conference center, I’ve connected with two PRKent grads and had a great chat with Jack O’Dwyer – PRSA’s staunchest critic – and some will say – its only media watchdog. I know the leadership of PRSA thinks Jack is awfully biased in his coverage. And at times I agree. But I’m glad someone’s out there watching the hen house.

Also met and chatted with my online pal Jason Kintzler, founder and CEO of PitchEngine, the social-media news-release platform that I wrote about here. Jason told me about some exciting new services coming soon, and I’m happy to offer a plug. You may recall I talked about the SMR a few posts back.

I’ve decided that since the conference hall has no wifi that I’ll do my posting here on the “real” blog. It’s be tough to keep up with Posterous and Twitter without instant access. So much for the immediacy of blogging, eh?

A citizen journalist heads for the Coast

I touch down in San Diego Sunday morning for my first PRSA national conference in 8 years. This time, I’m attending not as a PR professional or educator, but as a PR blogger — a media person in search of a story. (Stop your snickering!)

Photo from Creative Commons.

What does this mean? I have no idea. But as a “credentialed journalist” in a tough economic year, I’m not expecting a press room stocked with champagne and caviar. OK, it would be nice. But I’m told PRSA has eliminated the media room altogether, an anachronism from an analog age.

(Update 11/5/09: PRSA email says there is a “media center” at the conference. I stand corrected, but I still don’t need it. Opps! See next update. I guess I DO need it!)

No matter. I’ll find a place to collect my thoughts and dash out a few lines of copy. But don’t count on detailed coverage of the sessions or keynoters. I’m one of those oddballs who sees live blogging and tweeting as disrespectful to the speakers.

Reining in the budget. I stopped attending PRSA conferences when the out-of-pocket cost exceeded my academic travel budget by 4-fold. This year, it’s a bit different. I snagged a cheap flight and booked a 4-star hotel near the conference at less than half the conference hotel rate. The Hilton Bayfront, via hotels.com, is just $109 a night. I’m told you can find even better rates on Priceline.com, but I don’t trust Captain Kirk since he gained all that weight and became a travel shill.

Talk to me about tweet-ups. I’ll be watching the Twitter hashtag #PRSA09 for news about social gatherings in San Diego. I way more interested in talking with conference goers than listening to presentations. But I’m thinking the place for me, at least on Monday night, is Bub’s Dive Bar in Pacific Beach.

Bub’s is where the Steeler faithful of San Diego meet to worship. If you didn’t know, our World Champions in black and gold meet the Broncos on Monday night football. That’s a 5:30 start on the West Coast. A word of caution to the Steeler Nation: No boilermakers until halftime — or about 7 o’clock.

What will I write about? Maybe nothing at all. But look for some short blasts on my Posterous site and my usual snide remarks on Twitter. I doubt I’ll have time to write much for ToughSledding until I return, since real blogging requires focus.

Update 11/6/09: Just learned the conference center doesn’t have wifi available. Who knew? So I won’t be doing any microblogging on this trip, which means no Posterous and no Twitter. That’s fine with me. It’ll improve my focus! The media center at the conference does have an Internet connection, so at least I can check my email! And don’t suggest I run out and get an iPhone. Ain’t gonna happen.

Thanks to Arthur Yann and Diane Gomez, the PR pros from PRSA, for offering me a shot a covering this meeting as a “media guy.” I wouldn’t be making the trip were it not for their invitation.

Oh, yeah. If you hear of other places where the Steeler Nation is meeting up on Monday night, drop me a line, OK? I may not make it to Bub’s, but I gotta be with my people.

On social change and the role of the PR professional

Photo from opendemocracy.net

When the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, I was a 37-year-old grad student studying social change. Hey, I was a late bloomer!

Each week, as our seminar convened, my classmates found something exciting to discuss as we dutifully applied our sociological theories to the events unfolding in Europe.

Two decades later, I don’t remember much about those theories.

Kent State interns turn classroom lesson into social-media initiative

I’ve been intrigued by the social media news release since Todd Defren posted his first template in 2006. SMRs are versatile tools, especially for reaching consumer audiences. They incorporate audio, video and still photo components along with story information. And they allow for comments and bookmarking, making them truly interactive.

Plagiarism and other tomfoolery — You won’t believe this

Susan Getgood

Online pal Judy Gombita sent me a link to this post by popular blogger Susan Getgood. I’m not a regular at “Marketing Roadmaps,” but I am interested in issues of PR ethics, so I’m happy Judy passed it along.

In her post yesterday, Getgood tells us about a PR pitch that appears to have been plagiarized from another blogger’s post  — almost word-for-word.  That’s more than bad PR practice — that’s theft of intellectual property.

Things happen for a reason — even in PR

I’m not a religious person, but I am spiritual. I have a sense that someone or something is watching over me. I just don’t know what it is.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been so lucky in this life. I married the perfect woman, I have my dream job, and I win lots of stuff in raffles.

I also believe things happen for a reason. And one of those things just happened.

Three years ago, the 2.0 world was buzzin’ about ‘WalMarting Across America’

I cross posted this item at my new Posterous site — my latest 2.0 addiction. The event is significant enough to warrant broader coverage in the Sledzik Social Media Network. And I really need to get a life.

WalMarting Across America: Jim & Laura's Blog

Ah, the good old days.

It was Oct., 12, 2006, and my first month as a blogger when I came across this story in Business Week. It involved Jim and Laura and the fake blog called “Wal-Marting Across America.” The story became instant folklore in the 2.0 digital world of PR and marketing. I wrote about it here – three years ago yesterday.

Student blogs remain foundation of social-media lessons at Kent State

You’ll find 14 new links on my Kent State “Student Bloggers ‘09″ box today (right column) — bright young minds discussing niche topics in public relations.

The assignment: Find an area of PR that excites you, explore it, write about it, then work to engage others in the discussion.

Is the exercise effective? We think so. I see passion in the posts, and I hear some online voices stretching beyond the shallowness of tweets and Facebook updates. Blogs require critical thinking and clear writing. Most other social-media tools do not.