In this age, when knowledge and information are king, and social infrastructure platforms are proliferating, professional membership organizations are becoming even more essential to the progress and professional development of public relations and communications professionals. With credit to American Express, membership has its privileges and rewards and membership organizations are a quick means to building a network.

The fact is that one’s professional network is the currency of today’s knowledge-based society. A strong network has many benefits that span career advancement, benchmarking, job performance, effective crisis management, on-the-job problem solving and a myriad of other factors where it pays to have a broad, deep and wide network of people with whom to collaborate and knowledge share.

One other interesting fact to consider: In today’s job market, roughly 70-80 percent of people who are landing jobs are doing so as a result of their networks. So it is both wise and prudent to have and maintain a network and be part of something bigger than “us.” My recommendation is to look at joining organizations that reflect your professional interests and aspirations. By joining, you have reason and rationale to stay in touch.

Continue reading " The Rewards of Membership "

Social media has hit public relations and the world by storm. It has shown its effectiveness through campaign fundraising (President Obama) and the Middle East uprisings.

However, the full potential, application and usefulness of social media and social networking as a business tool has yet to be fully developed.

Organizations are eager to engage in social media, but often lack full understanding of the return-on-investment (ROI) and applicability. The business applicability of social media is still largely in a “trend state,” rather than a fully developed business tool that provides predictability.

For all its enormous benefits, the social media platform comes with challenges. Even as the medium changes how we work, we are at the same time learning that some things cannot be replaced by technology.

We now speak in 140-character sentences, misuse the English language by finding shortcuts to words (e.g., r = are, c = see, u = you) and are basically inventing a new culture around nascent digital tools.

Ironically, this wonderful communication method hampers face-to-face and voice-to-voice contact with employees, customers and clients.

Continue reading " Mentoring in the Digital Age Requires Real Communication "

I’ve always thought of myself as an optimist who could accomplish anything in life. Optimistic euphoria is a personal addiction that’s hard for me to kick. Of course, throw in a few overly optimistic failures and self-doubt begins to erode confidence and dull the drug. So, one of my secrets to remaining positive has always been to draw inspiration from others who are on the same journey. What’s really cool is I that I didn’t have to look too far this year to find a big source of it.

At the recent PRSA Counselors Academy Conference in Asheville, N.C., I was browsing the conference program to select my next workshop of the day. I ran across an interesting session being presented by my College of Fellows colleague, Elise Mitchell, APR, Fellow PRSA, who is CEO of Mitchell Communications Group in Fayetteville Ark.  Something about the title, “Postcards from Dartmouth,” intrigued me.  Not knowing what I was in for, I entered her “class” and took a seat right up front.

Continue reading " On Inspiration, Optimism and Winning "

Continuing in the HAPPO spirit, I thought I’d remind my fellow public relations professionals of how important it is to “pay it back” and “pay it forward” in return for their good fortune in being gainfully employed.

As a PRSA Jobcenter mentor, I’ve responded to more than 100 inquiries in the last year about searching for public relations positions and landing “the ideal job.” These questions have covered nearly every conceivable topic, including cold calling, search techniques, bad bosses, jumping ship and jumping fences, compelling resumes, coaching references and network building. I’ve seen or heard the good, the bad and, frankly, the downright ugly.

Continue reading " “Do’s” for Helping a Public Relations Job Search: Pay it Back/Pay it Forward "

In anticipation of more than 3,000 public relations professionals, educators and students gathering in November for the PRSA 2009 International Conference and PRSSA 2009 National Conference in San Diego, the Public Relations Student Society of America is launching a month-long series of professional development opportunities to further connect college undergraduates with public relations professionals.

For more than 40 years, PRSSA has been helping students explore the field of public relations, enter the profession and, ultimately, succeed. As the world’s foremost pre-professional society for students interested in public relations — with more than 10,000 members at 303 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad — our mission is twofold: We enhance our student members’ knowledge of public relations and facilitate their access to professional development opportunities and, at the same time, advance the public relations profession by preparing knowledgeable, skilled and confident candidates for entry-level positions.

Continue reading " How Will You Impact the Future of Public Relations? "