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Upcoming Events

Wednesday 29 August: "An interactive workshop on event management with Ange Bevan, End To End Events”

Find out how to make your event the talk of the town from experienced event organiser, Ange Bevan. Ange has managed major events in Australia and overseas. This workshop will provide tips and tricks of the trade to make your events successful.

Venue: Amy Johnson Room – Darwin Airport Resort
Time: 8.30am – 12noon
Cost Members: $50.00
Non–members: $110.00

Email Kerin at ntpria@bigpond.com to register your interest

September: Advanced PR Skills

A one-day-workshop including understanding market research, strategic communications and brand management

November: PRIA Master Class

An intensive strategic session that will challenge the most senior practitioner. This event will be strictly limited to members only

Information regarding upcoming events will be published soon.

Webinar: Take a Tour of Second Life

Webinar: 5 Sepember 2007

In August 2006 Text 100 became the first PR company to open for business in Second Life - a rapidly growing virtual world in which people can interact, create, educate, play, and work in a 3-D environment. 

Join Text 100 for an online tour of their offices in Second Life and discussion of the benefits and risks of partipating in this virtual world.

Upcoming Professional Development Events

Sydney - PRIA National Academic Forum
14 October 2007
PRIA National Conference 2007 - Academic Forum

Leadership and Value - The public relations challenge

The National Convention of the Public Relations Institute of Australia will be held in Sydney under the general themes of leadership and the value of public relations.

Click here for more information and to register

2007 National PRIA Conference
15 & 16 October 2007
Sydney Australia

The PRIA National Convention 2007 will feature a two day conference with three afternoon streams covering all the latest industry developments, including strategic and practical PR issues and case studies from key sectors. Speakers and delegates at this summit will represent a broad range of professionals from PR and communications backgrounds from in-house corporate communications to leading public relations agencies.

Click here for more information and to register

Higher Education Marketing 2007
28 - 28 August 2007
Sydney, Australia

To financially survive the difficult times of increasing governmental control on university fees and funding, you need to devise innovative marketing campaigns that attract a diverse audience.
In order to secure revenue and stay ahead of competition, higher education providers must be able to attract more local students and expand into the international students market. However, many students are choosing private colleges or Universities in the UK and USA, defer their studies or even opting for alternative career routes. The best way to prepare for this critical time is to embrace proven marketing strategies, differentiate your institution and build an attractive University brand.

Click here for more information

IPRA Regional Conference 2007
4 - 6 September 2007
Bali, Indonesia

The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) brings to members in South East Asian region a two-day regional conference where notable speakers from all over the globe and the IPRA fraternity come together to share their thoughts on the power of public relations in building relationships among the various societies and countries of the world.

Click here for more information

PR Global Conference on Corporate Reputation, London
18 September 2007
London, England

Balancing Your Local And Global Voice — To Build A Consistent Corporate Identity — In An Interconnected & Instantaneous Media Climate

The PRGlobal Summit unites, for the first time, our sister publications from across three continents to bring together senior communications representatives from some of the world’s best-known companies. Hear actionable insights on how best to manage your reputation across national borders and time zones.

Click here for more information

Scholarships

The Jon & Lynne Royce Memorial Trust provides a Fellowship worth up to $10,000 each year to enable a student to build their public relations experience and advance their understanding of the profession.  It is open to all undergraduate and post graduate students studying in PRIA accredited programs. 

Candidates must be a Australian citizens and demonstrate how they will benefit from researching into particular aspects of public relations practice through further study and/or activities such as attending international public relations events.

For more information download the Fellowship Brochure.  To apply download the registration form here.

The Donald Dyer Scholarship is now available for 2008, and the close off date is 31st October 2007.

Applications are now being sought (before 31st October) for the Donald Dyer Scholarship for Public Relations and Communication the largest research scholarship available in Australia for communication practitioners. Backed by the PRIA, and made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of the late Sylvia Dyer, the scholarship offers the opportunity to further develop advanced research in PR, normally at a PhD level.

Stipend: A$23,539 per annum (tax-free), 2007 rate. Plus one return travel airfare between the candidate's home location and Adelaide, and organised by the University.

Early career and experienced practitioners are encouraged to consider the career option of PR research. Candidates normally complete a PhD in 3 years full-time; however, the trustees of the Scholarship will consider part-time scholarships for those applicants who prefer to continue to work.

For more details, please contact david.brittan@unisa.edu.au  or visit the University of South Australia website.

From the Info Officer

The Future of Media 2007 Conference

Sarah Creelman (Chair of the NSW New Practitioners), Sue Kirkland Smith (Chair of the NSW New Technology/Social Media Committee) and I went to the Future of Media Conference at Luna Park on 18 July.  I reported live to the PRIAWeb from that Conference (you can review the report here).  It was held simultaneously in Sydney and Silicon Valley California with half the speakers being piped in via a video feed. 

The event addressed a number of burning issues facing media in the future.  It was interesting to hear everyone talk about advertising as the great future hope. The only mention of PR was the Edelman Trust Barometer. Clearly advertising has this space in its crosshairs. Many presenters were of the opinion that the only way forward was to use an advertising business model.  However, they also asserted that users are both numb to advertising and that advertising impairs social networks.

• The Future of Media Report 2007 makes a great read – you can download it here.
• There was substantial media coverage - which you can access here.
• The Participant Blog can be read here.

Social Media Index

Edelman's Eurpoean CEO, David Brian has summarised an interesting attempt to measure social media via what they call the "Social Media Index". This is an attempt at opening a debate about how to rank social media.

They test drove their methodology by using the top 30 bloggers from the CNET Blog 100 list and scored them based on their presence in the following:

• Blog - analysed Google Rank, inbound links, subscribers, alexa rank, content focus, frequency of updates, number of comments
• Multi-format - analysed Facebook - number of friends
• Mini-updates - analysed Twitter - number of friends, followers and updates
• Business cards - analysed LinkedIn - number of contacts
• Visual - analysed Flickr - number of photos uploaded from the person/s or about the person/s
• Favourites - analysed Digg, del.icio.us

Read all about it and participate in the conversation to help develop this metric.

A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm

Bravo! Paul Holmes has absolutely nailed it with his recent article: A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm.

Paul's essay was published in the Holmes Report dated 30 April 2007. The weekly newsletter is available on a paid-subscription basis, but Paul has generously given The PR 2.0 Universe.com permission to republish his entire article.

It is a brilliant combination of revelation and affirmation for the case of PR 2.0. It draws out everything in my heart on PR. A must-read.

You can find it by following this link

More resources online 

• Media Analysis – research study on the water debate in Australia  

Jim Macnamara has provided us with his recent media analysis of the Water Debate.  Apart from being a great examination of the issue it is also a great case study for media analysis.

• iC SURVEY 2006 – Internal Communication

Organisations in every sector are being overwhelmed by change. Furthermore, internal communicators are primarily focussed on supporting their organisations through the challenges of structural change – with far less focus on corresponding cultural and behavioural change.  This is just one of a host of conclusions reached by the new iC survey conducted by Karian and Box out of the UK in one of the most comprehensive surveys of the internal communication industry today.

• Infusing Ethics in Everyday PR Practice – Sheila O'Sullivan
  Webinar June 2007 

Following the great Webinar discussion last month we have now placed it on-line to download and watch in your own time.

• Internal Branding - what is it and why should I pay attention?
  Webinar July 2007
  
  Internal branding has now been around for over a decade and is well passed the "fad" stage. The concept has great value but is still causing confusion. The terminology doesn't help with brand engagement, assimilation alignment and equity, the internal brand and employer branding.

Request for assistance

I am keen to put together a list of professional core competencies for communication professionals.  The aim of the list would be to:

1. Allow Members to benchmark their skill set against the industry to identify key areas for their professional development. Wtih an aim to help them develop new skills to use in their existing jobs, break into new areas of specialty and/or seek a promotion.
2. Create a guide to assist Members when they restructure their organisation or communication unit.

Can anyone assist me with templates or lists that you have found beneficial? If so please email me information@pria.com.au.

Members' questions

• A Member is looking for information on a Media Scorecard – does anyone have a template that has worked well for them?
• Does anyone have a template for KPIs for measurable goals and industry standards that relate to securing publicity?
• Is there a place where you can log big events so that they do not clash with other organisations' event calendars?

If you can provide answers, guidance or assistance with these questions, please email me information@pria.com.au. I remove all identifying information before forwarding any responses or posting information – so your details will always remain private.

PRIA (National) are now keeping all the answers to your questions in our new KnowledgeBase. Please assist with this project by sending anything you think might add to our collective Knowledge.

How far we have come?

I have dug into the archives and found this gem from 1972 where:

• Our national membership topped out at 620
• We established the first full-time PR Course
• There was talk about the first PR Textbook
• We were worried about what photographers thought about us
• And the ACTU President Bob Hawke was a guest speaker at our Queensland Branch luncheon.

Download this blast from the past and see how far we have come.

(you will have to be logged on to get it).

Bookshop

Highlight on Books

Ethics in Public Relations: hot on the heels of our Ethics Webinar comes a new book on ethics in public relations.

Ethical practice is fundamental to the professionalism and credibility of PR. This book provides a framework for understanding important ethical concerns in the field of public relations and corporate communications. It helps the reader to clarify their own principles and values, and provides the tools to enable them to make ethically defensible decisions.

Author: Patricia Parsons

Retail Price: $59.95,
Members' Price: $53.96
Student Members' Price: $47.96

To purchase this book click here

Take a look at the other new titles here

And finally - some cool stuff

• Leo Burnett Site
• Rexona Risk Site
• Microsoft Silverlight
• Grand Prix Lion Award Winner at Cannes

Free library

Our free library service is available to all PRIA members. Please feel free to contact Kerin at anytime should you wish to borrow any materials. The library is available at:

Creative Territory
3/55 Cavenagh Street
Darwin City
Ph: 8941 9169

In addition to these resources there are also copies of B&T Weekly, Management Today and Professional Marketing. If you would like to have access via the PRIA to other publications, text books, periodicals or resources, contact Kerin.

PRIA works with AON to provide competitive Professional Indemnity Insurance

PRIA's Insurance Brokers, Aon have been able to negotiate some excellent changes to their Professional Indemnity for members of the PRIA.

A few of the notable changes are:

• Reduction in the premium
• Reduction in the excess for firms with income over $ 200,000
• Excess will NOT to apply to any legal fees
• Automatic cover of previous "corporate entities" of a member firm
• Automatically includes "graphic designers"

For members who have their Professional Indemnity Insurance policy arrange through our Insurance Broker, Aon, you will receive your renewal terms after completed the renewal proposal form.

If you don't have a current Professional Indemnity Insurance policy and would like a obligation free quote, print out the "Professional Indemnity Insurance proposal form" and return it to your closest Aon office to receive very competitive terms.

Click here for more information and to download a proposal form

Advertisers

 Do you have a position or event coming up in your organistion that you would like to advertise to our members?  Contact the PRIA on 02 9247 6944 to find out how, or visit the website www.pria.com.au for more details.