PRSA Chicago – October Political Panel

 

PRSA Chicago October   
Wow, last night was an exciting presidential debate and I‘m looking forward the continuing discussions – and maybe some arguments – as the season heats up! Locally I am pleased to share with you an event organized by Chicago PR executives David Rudd and Glenn Eden with an all-star line-up of Chicago political leaders.

On October 16 – the day of the next presidential debate – PRSA Chicago teams with Weber Shandwick and The Axis Agency to fire up a discussion with political experts who will offer their perspectives on the changing face of voter opinion.    

Our panel includes:

Laura Washington, Sun-Times columnist and ABC-7 Chicago political analyst


Ann Liston, Political strategist


Chris Robling, Principal, Jayne Thompson & Associates


Alderman Proco Joe Moreno, 1st Ward, Chicago

Moderated by Armando Azarloza, President, The Axis Agency

 Topics:

Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting voters during the 2012 election, including:

– How candidates battle for top-of-mind messages

- How social media has changed the topic of discussion for voters

– How candidates compete for attention from a diverse population

– Variables that have shaped the race for the White House
– How voters view the election from an online perspective

Click here to register!

When: Tuesday, October 16,
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Where: Maggiano’s Little Italy, 516 North Clark Street, Chicago
Event Registration:
Member, $37.00/Non-Member, $45.00/Student, $37.00

Thank you Weber Shandwick and The Axis Agency for their organization of the event.

 


 

PRSA Chicago PR Agency Leaders

   

I’m looking forward to moderating a panel of the Public Relations industry’s top agency leaders. These top industry executives will address current PR challenges and opportunities in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. Our leadership forum is one of the most popular PRSA Chicago Chapter events held each year and is back by popular demand!

Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the practice of PR in agencies and companies including: 

• The Communications role within the marketplace and current economy
• Issues that are critical to all in the C-suite, especially in driving economic growth
• New insights and innovations that agencies should provide clients
• How do forward-thinking agency leaders stay in front of clients’ needs?
• Predictions for the rest of 2012 and 2013!


Our panelists for the program are: 



Rick Murray, President, Edelman


Patti Temple Rocks, Managing Director, GolinHarris

Bill Zucker, Midwest Director, Ketchum

Susan Howe, President, Weber Shandwick

Maxine Winer, Senior Partner and General Manager, Fleishman-Hillard

Erica Swerdlow, Midwest Market Leader / Managing Director at Burson Marsteller

Claire Koeneman, Executive Vice President, Hill+Knowlton Strategies


Moderated by Jack Monson, Vice President, Engage121

 

Register now for this September 18 PRSA event in Chicago!

.

PRSA Chicago Update

Thanks to all participants in PRSA Chicago’s September luncheon with Chicago agency leaders. I enjoyed moderating this panel of our city’s communications leaders and appreciate the excellent questions asked by attendees and via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and this blog. Edward Bury wrote an excellent summary of the discussion here on his PR Dude Blog.

L-to-R: Jack Monson, Engage121; Rick Murray, Edelman; Maxine Winer, Fleishman-Hillard; Bill Zucker, Ketchum


.

Public Relations Agency Leaders Roundtable

 

PRSA Chicago

I’m looking forward to moderating a panel of the Public Relations industry’s top agency leaders. We will address current PR challenges and opportunities in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. This leadership forum is one of the most popular Chicago Chapter events held each year and is back by popular demand!

Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the practice of PR in agencies and companies including:

• Predictions for 2012

• The Communications role within the marketplace and current economy

• Issues that are critical to all in the C-suite, especially in driving economic growth

• New insights, solutions, and strategies under the label of innovation that agencies provide clients

• How do forward-thinking agency leaders stay in front of clients’ needs?


Our panelists for the program are: 



Susan Howe, President – Chicago, Weber Shandwick


Bill Zucker, Midwest Director, Ketchum 


Rick Murray, President, Edelman
 Chicago

Maxine Winer, Senior Partner & GM, Fleishman-Hillard

 • Moderated by Jack Monson, Vice President, Engage121, Inc.

Register Now

Does PR Own Social Media?

PRSA Chicago 

The Chicago Chapter of PRSA once again wrapped up a year of programs with the city’s agency leaders discussing this year’s trends and next year’s industry forecast. 
 
Northwestern professor Clarke Caywood moderated panelists Bill Zucker, Midwest Director at Ketchum, Maxine Winer, Senior Partner and General Manager at Fleishman-Hillard, Maril MacDonald, CEO of Gagen MacDonald, and Gary Rudnick, EVP and Managing Director at GolinHarris.

 
What are agency leaders asked about first? That’s right…Social Media. The discussion quickly turned to the looming question of WHO owns Social Media:  PR? Marketing? Advertising?

 

The panel made a good case that PR pros should lead Social Media efforts due to a history of (and skills sets that include) relationship-building, content creation, and garnering attention

 

Bill Zucker cautioned that no one really “owns” social media, but all disciplines should participate. Gary Rudnick added that owning SM is like the outdated thinking that advertising owns TV and PR owns newspapers. 
 
Maxine Winer sees PR beginning to make a difference when it intersects with customer service. The integration of CRM tools with SM platforms enables companies to engage with their customers faster and more directly. 

It was refreshing to hear Maril MacDonald advise the crowd to align SM engagements to your clients’ or company’s most important business metrics (sales, traffic, etc.) instead of communications metrics. 
 
I agree! Too often, PR conferences are infiltrated by “Social Media measurement mavens” (the most horrible term in the industry) and their silly equations that make CEOs’ eyes glaze over. In order for PR to participate in bottom-line business discussions, we need to speak the language.

 

While these PR industry leaders make a good case for PR to lead Social Media, I question if that is really happening currently. Many companies with whom I speak daily have Social Media engagement sitting squarely with Marketing with no contribution from the PR team or outside PR agency.

  
 

Please share your thoughts via comment section –

Should SM engagement be led by PR, Marketing, Advertising, or Customer Service? And…WHY?

 

5 Awesome PR Innovations – PRWeek Awards

PRWeek Awards

The PRWeek Awards winners will be announced tomorrow in New York including PR Innovation of the Year. 
I have been working on the development of MatchPoint for the past year and want to congratulate everyone on the team for the nomination.  

  
All Nominees for PR Innovation of the Year:

Edelman and American Thoracic Society The TB Advocacy Toolkit  

Ketchum The Ketchum Media Optimizer: Adding Discipline to the PR Discipline  

Ketchum Virtual Meeting Mashups – Reinventing Online Events
 
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide What’s on Your Mind? Now Anyone Can Decipher Twitter Discussion with the Help of twendz!  

eNR Services, Inc. and MatchPoint MatchPoint for PR  
 

Best of luck to everyone and I look forward to speaking with you at the Awards!

MatchPoint: Finalist for PR Innovation of the Year at PRWeek Awards

 

I am pleased to pass along the good news that MatchPoint has been nominated for The PRWeek PR Innovation of the Year Award!

Full disclosure: I’m a member of the development team for MatchPoint.  Additional disclosure: I am freakin’ thrilled about this!

 
A tip of the hat to all nominees:

Edelman and American Thoracic Society The TB Advocacy Toolkit

Ketchum The Ketchum Media Optimizer: Adding Discipline to the PR Discipline

Ketchum Virtual Meeting Mashups – Reinventing Online Events

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide What’s on Your Mind? Now Anyone Can Decipher Twitter Discussion with the Help of twendz!

eNR Services, Inc. and MatchPoint MatchPoint for PR

 
Saying it’s an honor just to be nominated along with these top global PR agencies is not just an old cliché in this case. I cannot think of a previous year where any non-agency PR application, software, or service was nominated for PR Innovation of the Year.  

See you at the PRWeek Awards  on March 11 in NYC!