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Starting a global conversation on global public relations standards

We have received an invitation from Professor Anne Gregory and Jean Valin for all readers and contributors to PRConversations to get involved in a global project defining the capabilities of proficient public relations practitioners. It’s the Global Body of Knowledge project, or GBOK for short – and your wisdom and knowledge is being sought to get this right. Anne and Jean write: Over the last couple of years a number of professional associations, including the...

Posted on PR Motion

Calculating your worth in public relations

A basic calculation of what you are worth as a PR practitioner comes by dividing your annual income by the number of hours that you work. Not the number that you are employed for, but how many hours you work. Often in PR we ‘over-service’ – not only if we work as a consultant but within in-house roles too. It has become ingrained in practice that clocking up hours, and getting the job done is...

Posted on PR Motion

Edward Bernays and the College of Communication Management

Reporting the death of Eddie Bernays at the age of 103 on 9 March 1995, The New York Times presented a largely favourable obituary. Over the past two decades, Bernays’ legacy has been mixed as his work has been praised as pioneering and also derided as deceptive manipulation. These opposing, simplistic interpretations, are combined in Cutlip’s overview: Bernays was a brilliant person who had a spectacular career, but to use an old-fashioned word, he was...

Posted on PR Motion

Presenting the shadows of public relations

Public relations is frequently presented in a dim light; “entering the dark side” is how journalists refer to working in/with PR. And a theme of presentation, representation and re-presentation of some shadowy corners was evident at the 5th annual International History of Public Relations Conference (#IHRPC) held at Bournemouth University A dominant trend in the papers I heard seemed to be the representation of activism as public relations, alongside presentations examining social movements through a...

Posted on PR Motion

A chicken and egg conundrum for PR careers

In the run up to Easter, here’s a chicken and egg conundrum for PR careers. Should we start out as generalists before specialising or vice versa? Does the navel gazing within PR (as noted in the interesting “Endless Fight” post and comment discussion preceding this one) – and a focus on being recognised as a profession – argue that the function is a specialism seeking exclusivity, even isolation and protection of a territory which may...

Posted on PR Motion

Networks and mentors, workplace similarities and differences, complete a cross-border PR adventure

Final installment of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet Communication contacts and networks In part I and part II, I related communication contacts and groupings I was privy to at Allianz. In this final chapter I’m sharing external networking and mentor relationships that were going on behind the scenes. Prior to my departure, I had Edelman support from Grant Smith, general manager of Edelman...

Posted on PR Motion

Deep dive into corporate communications work and culture in a cross-border PR adventure

Part II of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet Allianz’s corporate communications structure and how and where I fit in I indicated in part I how my acclimatisation included scheduled appointments for meetings and lunch dates with different members of the communications team. I was quickly brought up to speed on how Allianz SE’s Group Communications team was structured into three main units: external...

Posted on PR Motion

Cause and effect of a cross-border public relations adventure

Part I of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet I’ve been invited to share with readers of PR Conversations the narrative about how voluntarily becoming involved with a global PR event (supported by my employer) and, in particular, meeting key senior PR practitioners, provided me with an incredible opportunity only a few years after completing my university degree in media and communications. I was...

Posted on PR Motion

Nurturing public relations talent

Nurturing the upcoming generation of leaders in public relations is something that should be of concern to all current PR practitioners and educators. Finding and developing bright young talent is one of the biggest challenges according to senior in-house and consultancy managers that I speak with. The industry has a good record of employability for those graduating with PR degrees – and with a couple of years’ experience on top, there are plenty of exciting...

Posted on PR Motion

Action learning – NYU students develop opening address

PR Conversations contributor, the Italian professional and scholar, Toni Muzi Falconi, has just presented his latest thinking and processes in an opening session of a two day workshop in Brazil (August 27/28), under the title:’Towards an effective infrastructure for global stakeholder relationships governance’ (click for the presentation and notes). Toni involved six students in preparing his presentation – and in this post, we share their thoughts on the experience, along with their future expectations from...