November President’s Message
Greetings from Indianapolis! This intro might seem like an odd way to start the President’s Message for November, but I’m writing this as I sit in the Indianapolis Airport waiting from my flight home to Richmond. Joined by other PRSA Richmond members, I was in Indy for four days in late October for PRSA’s Leadership Assembly and the 2016 PRSA International Conference.
Both events provided a great deal of valuable information. I’m once again energized and inspired by the incredible work of PR pros around the country!
The Leadership Assembly is an annual gathering of leaders from PRSA chapters, districts and sections. PRSA National staff provided updates on the state of the Society, and the Assembly tackled several strategic questions and three bylaws amendments.
The biggest take away from the Assembly was PRSA’s renewed commitment to deliver extra value to members. The new PRSA website is finally in the last stages of development. Do you want a sneak peek? Check out new.prsa.org. PRSA also released a new member benefits app. You can find it in the App Store by searching “PRSA.” Finally, PRSA is finalizing a new member discount program. Once launched, members can get discounts at a variety of companies, including FedEx, ADP, OfficeMax and others. This is a new benefit I’ll certainly use, and we’ll update our members once it’s live.
The 2016 International Conference was a great event as well. The event lived up to its tagline of accelerating the speed of innovation and connectivity. There were a wide variety of professional development and leadership workshops coupled with fantastic keynote speakers. PRSA Richmond board members in attendance took copious notes, and we’ll be using what we learned to improve our chapter and deliver even more resources for our members. Since our chapter’s theme of serving as a resource has guided our work this year, I thought it would be appropriate to share two reports that received a lot of attention at the International Conference. The first report is BusinessWire’s most recent media survey. More than 400 North American journalists participated and there is a wealth of information directly from reporters about how they want to be pitched. The second report comes from the USC’s Center for Public Relations. The 2016 Global Communications Report takes an in-depth look at the state of the communications industry and where it’s headed, both from the perspective of agencies and corporations. I strongly encourage you to review both reports so you can stay ahead of the trends and challenges we face as PR and communications professionals.
Remember to take advantage of your PRSA membership during the remainder of 2016, and I hope that you will renew your membership in 2017. With the added benefits from PRSA National, incredible networking opportunities, and phenomenal professional development programs, there has never been a better time to be a PRSA Richmond member!
Sincerely,
Andrew Ryan, APR
PRSA Richmond President
