June message from the president

Professional conferences: Snooze? Or spark? If you don’t see the relevance to your particular niche in public relations, a conference can be one big yawn.


But don’t ask that question of chapter members Claire Faucett, Randy Berger, Tom Ellis and now president-elect Don Hendricks. They would tell you otherwise, having attended one of PRSA’s many top notch conferences this year. In fact, Don just returned from a PRSA Leadership Rally in New York City for chapter leaders.

However, you don’t have to go far for a top flight conference. On Sept. 30, our own chapter presents a professional development conference of the highest caliber. Planning chair Paula Ringer and her committee have already booked Dr. Joseph Trahan whose topic will be “Top Dog Barks First —The Spokesperson’s Role,” and Josh Stoffregen who has moved Prudential Financial’s global PR forward using social media. Josh is a fairly recent graduate of Missouri State University who now works in New York City.

Circle Sept. 30 on your calendars—you won’t want to miss our Professional Development Conference.

In October, I’ll be joining Melinda Arnold, our Assembly delegate, at PRSA’s International Conference in Washington, D.C. Would you consider attending, too? Leaders in social technology emergence, crisis communication, and public affairs will present keynote sessions. One of those is a panel on how health care reform and public affairs will interact.

We’re taking a break from our regular monthly meetings in June, but I look forward to seeing you in July.