Our chapter blog went to the dogs

(Photo credit: readinginpublic via Flickr Creative Commons)

Ok, I suppose it's not fair to blame Lucy for not coming up with anything good for our chapter's blog. She tried her best, it was just too much to ask this furry friend to write posts for us with any consistent frequency for this blog. Of course, most canines can't understand the in's and out's of public relations, corporate and nonprofit communications trends or thoughts on the profession. Plus, her spelling was atrocious.

We should have tried to get the PR professionals to handle the writing process. Unfortunately, we've not had a major push within the chapter to offer up this blog as a place for members to write posts. And thus, we haven't had anything new since January. (Face in palms)


But, things are about to change. We've let Lucy run free in the backyard and have now opened the blog up to posts from our fellow PRSA members. 

Here's how you can help: Use the online submission form for your guest post. Blog writing is a great way for PR pros to hone writing skills. If you don't have your own blog, feel free to use our chapter blog submission opportunity to share your thoughts. If you do blog elsewhere, be sure to note where you blog so we can include it.

We're looking for posts that cover public relations trends, tools, topics and more. What's happening in your industry or area of expertise? Be creative and share.

What do you think? Is this a good way to add writers to our chapter blog? Have you wanted to write for the blog but didn't know how? We can't wait to see our members' posts.

In the hot Texas sun, sweating and wondering...

Image via Wikipedia

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN -- Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA 

Just sitting here in the hot Texas sun, sweating and wondering ...

... When is it okay to call a woman a fellow? Well, when that woman is Dr. Amiso M. George, APR. Amiso is a member of the Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter, and she's just been accepted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) into its prestigious College of Fellows. The College of Fellows is an honorary organization within PRSA comprised of nearly 500 accredited practitioners and educators with at least 20 years of experience in the business. That's the top two percent of the profession who are members of PRSA.

Dr. George is an associate professor of strategic communication and advisor of the TCU-PRSSA/Bateman Team, Schieffer School of Journalism, Texas Christian University. Dr. George will be inducted into the College of Fellows at the PRSA International Conference in Washington, D.C., in October. She will be the fifth member of the Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter to become a Fellow. The four others are Dr. Doug Newsom, APR, Carolyn Bobo, APR, Bill Lawrence, APR and Mary Dulle, APR. It's a tribute to our Chapter that nearly four percent of our members are PRSA Fellows.

... What would we have done, and what would have happened, if the BP oil well in the Gulf couldn't be capped and the flow of oil stopped? What happens if we can't stop the flow of an underground oil well in the future?

... Was Neil Armstrong chewing gum when he walked on the moon 41 years ago, last month?

... How can millions of people daily be able to view a video being transmitted from a mile underwater, but the local cable company can't maintain service to my house during a thunderstorm?

... If there now are 400 billionaires in the world, why aren't we hearing about the many good things they are doing with their money to benefit the human race?

... If members of the millennial generation are supposed to be such collaborative communicators, why are they like so many other youngsters and do not talk to their parents?

... Shouldn't there be a national holiday for the original Anthora's inventor, who recently died?

... If we are supposed to be flying the friendly skies, why are so many pilots depressed? Just recently, the FAA changed a generations-old policy and began allowing pilots with mild to moderate depression to fly while taking antidepressants. The thought of having a depressed pilot in the cockpit depresses me.

... If after reading the August issue of Texas Monthly, you wondered, as I did, if John Graves found a back porch while he was at TCU.

Try to stay cool. Hopefully, August will fly by and give way to cooler weather and the 2010 college football season!

PR pros thrive and learn @FortWorthPRSA

This is cross-posted on the Next Communications blog:

I am a member of and hold a board position with the Greater Ft. Worth Chapter of PRSA. At the January Board meeting, we were given the local results from the PRSA's all-chapters survey that was launched in March of last year.

According to William Murray, the President and COO of PRSA, the purpose of the survey was "to identify, in a methodical, statistically sound way, which Chapters represent best practices in the area of service delivery, and who can serve as models for other Chapters to learn from and emulate."

The Results
Here are some of the interesting and in some cases, surprising, data points from the Ft. Worth chapter report:

Chapter Satisfaction was listed at 82% compared to a 53% all chapter average and 58% peer chapter by size.

Quotes from the open-ended questions included Positives

• “Good for networking.”
• “Necessary.”
• “Can't think of anything that it is not doing. Very busy bunch.”

...and Negatives

• “We need more of the higher level training experiences like they provide at PRSA New York.”
• “Sometimes not substantive.”
• “The same basic formula for monthly meetings gets boring after awhile.”

 The respondents wanted to see our chapter Do More

• Programs delivered by thought-leaders
• Ethics programs
• Newsletter

...Do Less

• Award programs
• Mentoring programs (This was actually surprising since mentoring should be a fundamental aspect in my opinion.)
  
• e-Group or listserv

...and Maintain

• Website (This pleased me because I manage much of the online content for the chapter.)
  
• Social media (such as chapter blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook group)
• Volunteer opportunities

Chapter events were rated very well including highest remarks in the categories of Professional, Beneficial, Relevant, a Learning Experience, and Welcoming. (I attribute the last one as being in part because we are in Ft. Worth.)

There are some great take-aways for the chapter leadership and members to assess moving forward. I really appreciate PRSA National taking this on for the chapters as a way to help us grow as an organization and on our local levels. As a PR professional, I think it is a great investment of my time to be a member of PRSA and look forward to another enlightening and challenging year.

If you have attended any of the Ft. Worth PRSA chapter events/meetings (or other PRSA chapter meetings) I would appreciate any feedback on your experiences. As always, the comments are yours.

Make every second count this year

Image via Wikipedia

President's Column: Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

As hard as it is to believe, a decade has come and gone. As they say, time really does fly. Then again, even a second can seem like an eternity and be life-changing. Just ask the Nebraska Cornhuskers. And the Texas Longhorns. And the TCU Horned Frogs. In the Big 12 Championship game last month, one second was the difference between Nebraska losing, Texas winning and TCU being in the Fiesta Bowl on January 4 instead of playing for the national championship January 7 in Pasadena. In other words, every second counts.

I hope to make every second count this year for the magnificent public relations professionals in Greater Fort Worth PRSA. It is humbling to lead such a dynamic crowd in my hometown, and an honor as president to follow in the footsteps of some of the titans of our industry — Andra Bennett, APR; Laura Van Hoosier, APR; Marc Flake; Holly Ellman; Heather Senter, APR. I am surrounded by an amazing group of accomplished and dedicated people, including the chapter’s 2010 officers and committee chairs. Thanks to all of them for agreeing to lead with me in the New Year.

The year begins with uncertainty swirling about, but I am encouraged by the continued vitality of the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex and the resiliency of not only our local public relations professionals but the entire workforce. Hopefully we will not see worse economic times or more unsettling changes than what we just survived and that better days are ahead as we build on the personal and professional relationships that sustain us.

I wish you unbridled success and happiness in 2010. And let’s all resolve to make every second count.

Tom C. Burke, APR
IBM
(TCU '76)

Why earn your APR? #accredchat testimonial

Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR

Attaining the APR turned out to be one of the most rewarding endeavors I have undertaken. I have been practicing PR professionally for over 15 years and have always strived to stay informed and updated. As a result, I was astonished at how much I learned going through this process and the impact it has had on my daily practice of public relations.

It is true that much of the information you review in preparation for the APR covers topics you have “learned” before. The difference is that this process forces you to actively apply the details of this knowledge to your real life practice of the profession, which takes your learning to a whole new level.

Now that I’ve completed the process, I fully realize that the APR designation is much more than three letters after your name; it symbolizes a deeper level of commitment to the profession, the public and to your employers/clients.

Fort Worth PRSA Dues Increase Vote Revisited

From the Chapter President, Andra Bennett, APR

Several weeks ago, I e-mailed chapter members and posted a blog item informing you of the Board’s proposal to increase our chapter dues from $45 to $55 annually.

As I outlined in the previous post, our dues have not been increased since the mid-1990s, yet our chapter has grown and with that growth comes increased activities, obligations and associated expenses.

We knew our bylaws called for a vote by the membership at the annual meeting to be able to increase dues for the next fiscal year. However, after looking at the language a little closer, and consulting with a National PRSA, it appears that our bylaws mandate a majority vote of the entire membership, not just those who are present at the annual meeting.

Article IV, Section 1 states: “The amount of Chapter dues for the next fiscal year shall be fixed every year by the Board of Directors. If increased, the increase will be approved at the annual meeting by a majority vote of the Chapter membership.”

In the absence of any other language, such as “a majority of members present and voting,” (which we do have for officer elections), a majority vote means a simple majority, which is 50 percent plus one.

As of Oct. 14, this chapter has 157 members, which means that 79 members would need to be present at our annual meeting luncheon to have a quorum – also defined in the bylaws as a “majority of the membership” – to even take a vote on this issue.

Knowing that we rarely have that many members at a luncheon, and not having time to conduct the vote using proxies, the Board withdrew the proposal for a dues increase at its October board meeting.

However, this issue will likely come back. Our chapter’s budget is around $30,000 annually, and the cost to operate – including luncheons, committees, SIG programs, scholarships, bank and credit card charges, web hosting, tax preparation and filing, etc. – is about $190 per member annually.

We do have a few other revenue streams, but our dues are not keeping up with the cost of doing business. If we want to continue having a vibrant chapter that delivers quality programs in a professional setting, uses up-to-date technology, and encourages professional development of our members and our college students, we will need to revisit that .83 cents per month increase in the next year or two.

Wouldn’t you like to see the GFW Chapter hit the 200-member mark in 2010? Thank you for being a part of it.

Being green is good for the environment, but is it good your bottom-line?

Image by K. W. Sanders via Flickr

President's Column: Andra Bennett, APR

Green's my favorite color. Huge green elephant ears gently sway in the breeze outside my home office window as I write this, bringing peace to my work.

My affection toward green extends to the ink on U.S. currency. Having that kind of green brings peace of mind, too.

Can those two greens live in harmony? As environmentally-friendly “green” initiatives have come upon the PR scene, how do we implement programs and campaigns that are relevant to our customer and measure the return to our company / client?

Find out at our next PRSA luncheon Oct. 14 as our panel shares how the public and private sectors are working to steward our precious environment, communicate these efforts to the public, and bring a positive return to a company. Panel members are:

Brian Boerner, director of environmental management, City of Fort Worth

Tom Burke, APR, manager of public relations and communications, IBM

Chris Smith, Texas media director, Environmental Defense Fund

Giving away some green...
We’ll also be handing out some green. The Greater Fort Worth Chapter has established scholarship funds for outstanding PRSSA students at ACU, TCU and UTA. A student from each university is selected to receive $500 each and will receive their check at the October luncheon. The students are:

ACU - Will Moore

TCU - Katie Pool
UTA - Kathelin Buxton

Finally, congratulations to Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR, for achieving her accreditation status from National PRSA. Diane will receive her APR pin and $100 from the Chapter’s Jim Blackmore APR Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund was established last year in memory of Blackmore’s PRSA legacy in Dallas-Fort Worth, and is awarded to GFW members who achieve accreditation.

Chapter members, your annual dues fund these important local awards that elevate the status of our profession and help support fellow members and students. Please join us in October at our annual meeting for the luncheon program, presentations and elections. Your participation is appreciated.

Ft. Worth PRSA considering chapter dues increase

A message from the President of the Greater Ft. Worth Chapter PRSA, Andra Bennett, APR:

I'm asking Chapter members to consider something that's sort of like a running joke about members of Congress.  Vote yourselves a dues increase.

Our chapter dues are $45 annually. They have not been increased since the mid-to-late '90s, according to chapter records. The Board has proposed increasing the dues to $55 annually, effective January 2010. Bylaws require a majority vote of the membership at the annual meeting at noon on October 14th, at the Petroleum Club, to raise dues. (Register for this meeting here.)

Over the past 11-15 years (when dues were last raised), the chapter has doubled in size, requiring us to send an additional assembly delegate to the national assembly. The chapter has created eight new Special Interest Groups, several new committees such as Diversity and Ethics, committed to annual student scholarships for three universities (UTA, TCU and ACU), and a scholarship fund for members who attain their APR.

Every new activity has associated expense line items - small expenses but necessary for the committees to function. Operation expenses have increased, such as credit card and bank fees for online registrations. Because of our increase in size and budget ($30,000), we now retain an accountant for tax preparation, because even as a non-profit, we are required to file a tax return and associated state tax paperwork. As a 501 (c) 6, we are required to pay sales tax, which has increased as prices have increased.

We have diversified our income streams to include fees for award judging, portions of revenues from the Job Bank and TPRA awards contest, and sponsorships, in order to keep luncheon fees down and not raise dues.

This year, the Board reduced the budget and renegotiated contracts. We are exploring a new venue for luncheons that retains quality and professionalism but would contain costs better.

However, to sustain the many activities and operations of our chapter, we should consider increasing our dues to help cover and defray rising expenses and maintain a balanced budget. In addition, this would add room for further chapter expansion OR protect us from economic downturns like the one we saw this year.

Fyi, a $10 annual increase amounts to 83 cents per month per member.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me (abennett [at] fortworthchamber.com) or our Treasurer Allyson Cross (cross [at] gcgadvertising.com).

Andra Bennett, APR
President, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

Making the News: The Rise of the Crowd

On Tuesday, September 15, GFW PRSA members Tracy Syler-Jones and Richie Escovedo provided a session for the chapter's Education Special Interest Group.

Making the News: The Rise of the Crowd

Tracy Syler-Jones (@TracySJ) - Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communication at TCU
Richie Escovedo (@vedo) - Media and Communication Development at Mansfield ISD

Today's supercharged communication world presents numerous challenges for communicators. In the recent past, one could rely on traditional media to pass along news and information that could reach, and hopefully, influence the masses.

However, a shrinking number of reporters means communicators must learn how to effectively utilize, integrate and manage social networking and new media tools to remain visible and connected with key audiences. Learn more about the role the crowd plays in pushing your message along and how to tap into that energy.

Additional links promised to attendees:

• Social Media Guidelines for Schools
• Social Media Policies
  

Ft. Worth PRSA member receives promotion at TCU

Congratulations to Tracy Syler-Jones has been promoted to Vice Chancellor for Marketing Communication at TCU, Chancellor Victor Boschini  announced in an internal e-mail to faculty and staff July 27th. Tracy succeeds Mr. Larry Lauer who is now the Vice Chancellor for Governmental Affairs for TCU. Mr. Lauer will be based in Washington, D.C.

Until her assumption of this new position, Tracy was the Associate Vice Chancellor for Marketing Communication and Executive Director of Operations in the Office of Communication. She is the first African-American to be named to the post.

Bylaws Rewrite to be a Focus of PRSA’s 2009 Assembly

By Dan Keeney, APR
PRSA Assembly Delegate for Greater Fort Worth Chapter of PRSA

One of the most important organizational initiatives that PRSA is undertaking in 2009 is updating the national organization's bylaws. The initiative is intended to keep up with modern governance theories and current best practices in association management.

Amazingly, PRSA’s bylaws have not been thoroughly revised since they were first ratified more than 60 years ago. Broad and meaningful bylaws changes will help the Society continue to grow, prosper, and serve as a leading voice in the public relations industry.

PRSA established a Bylaws Task Force in 2007 to determine the changes needed. The task force felt that governance changes in three main areas of the bylaws — membership, governance, and leadership — could further strengthen the Society for the future.

MEMBERSHIP: The task force recommended that the bylaws be updated to extend membership opportunities to professionals with a broader range of knowledge, experiences and job responsibilities. This reflects the changes in what many communications professionals do. The change will increase the diversity of thought across the organization.

GOVERNANCE: The task force recommended that we open the election of the national board to all members. The National Assembly would become the “Leadership Assembly,” a body of leaders advising the PRSA Board of Directors on issues pertaining to the profession. The task force envisions a group that communicates regularly, votes electronically and helps shape PRSA’s advocacy agenda. Under the task force’s recommendations, the composition of the Leadership Assembly would remain the same as the present Assembly, with the addition of Delegates representing National committees and task forces.

LEADERSHIP: The PRSA Bylaws Task Force has recommended expanding the requirements for, and eliminating certain barriers to, board service to open board service to a broader range of individuals with diverse backgrounds. Under the new requirements, any PRSA member in good standing who is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) and/or a Chapter, District, Section or Committee leader, and/or has more than 20 years of public relations experience with increasing levels of responsibility, would be eligible to run for the board. Additionally, all board members would be elected at-large meaning that directors would no longer be elected from the specific area of the country in which they live and work. Directors would be allowed to serve up to two, two-year elected terms, which may be served consecutively or non-consecutively. Directors would still be entitled to seek additional terms as an officer.

Subject to input from PRSA members, the plans is to incorporate changes in these areas into a new bylaws document to be voted on by the Assembly at PRSA’s International Conference in San Diego in November 2009.

Member questions may be sent at any time to governance@prsa.org.

Related articles by Zemanta

• May I Have Your Attention, Please?

President's Column from the March eChaser

Image by hyku via Flickr

From GFW PRSA President, Andra Bennett, APR:

Do you think President Obama is saying, “Only 3 years, 11 months to go”? Well, it’s one heck of a first quarter, that’s all I know.

As every level of government, every business and every organization is reviewing its business model and budget right now, so is your GFW-PRSA. Your volunteer elected Board has been diligently reviewing every aspect of the Greater Fort Worth Chapter, from our programs, special interest groups, and service projects to our registration software and luncheon expenses.

Bottom line: we want to provide the best value and benefits to YOU, the member. And we want to be good stewards of the chapter’s funds and come out in the black!

A survey from National PRSA is on its way, to determine your priorities. The GFW Chapter may also be conducting our own survey with “all things Fort Worth” included as well. We will respect your time and make it short, but please be on the lookout for these survey e-mails in the coming months.

Of course, feel free to let the Board or the committee chairs know your opinions / suggestions at any time. All of our e-mails are at http://www.fortworthprsa.org/about/board.htm.

Our April 8 program will feature Brian Pierce, ad copywriter and creative guru, speaking on “How to make your PR writing stand out.” That’s also our Pro-Am Day with ACU, TCU and UTA. Please sign up when you get the e-mail from Jahnae Stout or Mary Dulle, APR, Fellow PRSA for a student shadow that morning. More details will be in the next E-Chaser or online at www.fortworthprsa.org.

Also in April, mark your calendars for Saturday, April 11 for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the non-competitive 5K run/walk. We need 10 members to field a team!! Please contact Cindy Vasquez, cindy@cancercareservices.org , community service chair, ASAP if you’d like to join us in a fun walk for an important cause!