Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Nexus

The Melbourne Mandate: A professional beacon for PR

By Jean Valin, APR, FCPRS and Daniel Tisch, APR, FCPRS The last few years have witnessed a variety of successful global efforts to build consensus amongst public relations professionals and academics on the profession’s role and value to organizations, as well as to society. The most recent process, the Melbourne Mandate, was co-created by some 1,000 people from 30 countries over the course of a year, and then unanimously adopted in November 2012 by more...

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The Art and the science of leaving one’s mark: A requiem for Arthur Yann

“What I’d really like people to say about me after I’m gone is that, in some small ways, I left the profession and the companies and clients I represented better than when I first met them.” – Arthur Yann, APR * * * I don’t know how long Arthur Yann had been in the job of vice president of public relations for the Public Relations Society of America when I mused some five years ago...

Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Nexus

Three wise men – homage to a public relations paradigm

In the last PR Conversations post, Toni Muzi Falconi presented a revised conceptual framework that proposed an organization should apply six generic principles of public relations within the operative context of six infrastructural characteristics to determine specific applications. The paradigm was subsequently developed with input from Rob Wakefield from Brigham Young University (the first scholar to theorize the paradigm a couple of decades ago), and Jim Grunig, who originated the Public Relations Excellence study in...

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Generic principles and specific applications in public relations

In this post, Toni Muzi Falconi presents his development of a paradigm of public relations that seeks to establish common understanding of its strategic role in the contemporary, increasingly globalised environment. Toni subsequently discussed the concept in an email conversation with Rob Wakefield from Brigham Young University (the first scholar to theorize the paradigm a couple of decades ago), which was followed by a review of their elucubrations by Jim Grunig. That conversational development is...

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Developing a worldview of public relations

All conversations about public relations reflect specific worldviews – and this is something we should examine when developing theory, considering practice or undertaking research in the field. Our opinions, prejudices and arguments are the outcome of personal and professional experience, our educational background, our values and perspectives on how things are – or should be – and how we assimilate the views of others into our existing mental frameworks. Likewise when reading the work of...

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Refreshing the PR advocacy platform through the Melbourne Mandate 2012

With only a couple of weeks to go before the Global Alliance’s World Public Relations Forum (WPRF) kicks off, I was reminded of Heather Yaxley’s post around this time last year on relationship advice for PR practitioners. More than 700 delegates from every continent will be meeting in Australia and part of the agenda will include a robust discussion on the Melbourne Mandate, designed to build on the Stockholm Accords agreed to at WPRF 2010....

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Communication without borders…or marketplace competition

When it comes to sharing information about global public relations, standards and best practices, it’s great that typical marketplace “competition” borders can be put aside. Welcome to an atypical PR Conversations tête-à-tête. One conversant is John Paluszek of Ketchum (USA) and immediate past chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communications Management, a featured speaker at this year’s World Public Relations Forum (WPRF). The individual who piloted the interview and formulated the questions...

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The communication process more important than outcomes on PR Conversations

Process is more important than outcome When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there. –Point #3 from (internationally renowned designer) Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth Currently I’m transitioning from thinking-mode process to writing for my June Bytes from the PR Sphere column (which covers the intersection...

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Italian women in PR: challenges and opportunities

Op-Ed by Enrica Orecchia Italian women in PR: challenges and opportunities The gender-balance question in our PR discipline continues to be a topic of interest, as evidenced by a recent poll and discussion in LinkedIn’s Public Relations Professionals Group, “Why are there more women than men in PR?” That debate inspired me to write my own blog post. And because I translated into Italian some blog post comments by Heather Yaxley and Judy Gombita, I...

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Public relations as a promotional industry

It is hard not to believe the PRSA’S #prdefined initiative has resulted in three proposed definitions supporting public relations as a profession.  Any reference to persuasive or promotional aspects of the occupation have been filtered out in preference to the more status-oriented relationship perspective of PR.  The end result will have an aspirational feel good factor, but will it reflect the reality of the experiences of many practitioners? Possibly even more important, the tendency to...