Heather

October 2, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Vision

Mentoring, networking and innovation: a prescription for the 21st century

Mentoring, networking and innovation: a prescription for the 21st century, is a co-authored guest post by Alan Berkson and Fred McClimans History is filled with examples of linkages between networking, mentoring and innovation, but over the centuries the “knowledge acquisition ecosystem” has changed considerably. There was a time when this process was slow and rooted in tacit knowledge, but as the needs and wants of society progressed and evolved, the process became more refined—moving faster—and...

September 26, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Sense

CSR Reports? Reporting of irresponsible behaviours; new book by Paolo D'Anselmi

Book review by Toni Muzi Falconi Disclosure: Paolo D’Anselmi is an old friend of mine. I am grateful to the current leaders of PR Conversations for allowing me to introduce to its many visitors and readers Paolo’s most recent book—his first in the English language—which reveals a number of unique arguments adding much “food for thought” for every public relations and/or corporate social responsibility (CSR) professional. The book is called, Values and Stakeholders in an...

September 18, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Motion

Sex sells – faking it in public relations

Women are successful in public relations – UK data shows a 64:36 female:male gender split in an industry worth £7.5bn. In particular, young women are attracted to the occupation – dominating specialist degree courses (by 4:1 in my experience) and reflecting the largest demographic group in practice. The secret of their success is often stated as strong communication and relationship building skills – however Romy Frölich identifies this as a “friendliness trap” which stereotypes women...

September 8, 2011June 28, 2020 Classic PR Conversations PR Sphere

In praise of publicity – a woman's history

I’ve yet to come across Constance Hope in any public relations textbook – perhaps not surprising as women are largely missing from the history. Indeed, apart from Doris Fleischman, I am unaware of any female voices writing about early experiences of the practice in the US; and Fleischman’s contribution inevitably is linked to her husband Edward Bernays. So exactly who was Constance Hope and why should we care about her story? Well she authored a...

August 28, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Sphere

Austria’s proposed lobbying register

In March 2011, the Sunday Times published an article on how their journalists posed as lobbyists and successfully bribed Members of European parliament in return for amendments to proposed EU regulations that would suit the interests they claimed to be representing.

August 18, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Axis

Constructing the Organizational Narrative: PR definition in the making

There’s an insidious, four-letter word that continues to haunt and largely define the public relations industry (at least in the public’s estimation): Spin. We know this. We fight it. But a big part of the problem is that the average person still does not know what it is we do. For that matter, some practitioners appear confused, limiting PR to media relations and/or publicity. Perhaps even more dangerous, the remit of PR is restricted to...

August 9, 2011June 28, 2020 Classic PR Conversations PR Techster

Using Twitter for PR events

How should you use Twitter for public relations events? This is a topic we’ve pondered among the PR Conversations team (Judy Gombita, Markus Pirchner and Heather Yaxley). Twitter offers potential for conferences, launches, announcements, stunts and many other PR events – and we’ve seen it used well, and badly. We’ve used Twitter at events, and participated remotely in real world activities and those that only exist online. So we thought it would be worthwhile sharing...

August 4, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Axis

Public relations 2011: PR primer for (social) networking

Earlier this year on PR Conversations, The wind is in Craig Pearce’s sails, detailed availability of this Australian’s free e-report initiative, Public relations 2011: issues, insights and ideas, which features a roster of international authors and original articles. The sole Canadian representative, one of my two contributions is now online; following is an excerpt. PR primer for (social) networking When attending networking events as an organization’s PR representative, many of the same norms of behaviour...

July 25, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Sense Seasoned Posts

PR is what PR does – a question of ethics

Not surprisingly there’s been a great deal of discussion of ethics in relation to the News Corp phone-hacking scandal. Although journalism and corporate governance are facing the real ethical questions, public relations has been brought into the mix by many commentators. Indeed, the Vancouver Sun attributes any ethical lapses in journalism to the practice of PR, whilst the UK’s Guardian newspaper drags out the lazy PR disaster label. We’ve also seen the usual implications that...

July 13, 2011June 28, 2020 PR Motion

Arthur Yann: public relations in a fishbowl

An in-depth interview with the gent practising PR for the world’s largest organization of public relations professionals There’s an irony that public relations as a discipline struggles to manage the industry’s reputation. Why do you think this is the case? There’s some truth to the “shoemaker’s children” analogy, but the root causes go well beyond that. For one thing, the profession hasn’t done itself any favors when it comes to managing its own reputation. High-profile...