Key takeaways from PRSA’s 2018 Tri-State Conference by Katherine Olstein
Speakers one and all at the 2018 PRSA Tri-State Conference noted that fast-moving technological and media transmutations are upending the profession, forcing practitioners into daunting territory.
So it was that the leaders of PRSA’s Tri-State District – comprised of chapters from Greater New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut – created a program to uncover new approaches for managing the media, staying on top of trends, defusing crises in real time and engaging audiences overloaded with “endless amounts of digital content at their fingertips.” Which happily came to pass, as Conference Chair Hana Muasher promised at the start.
What is more, panel conversations in the course of the day revealed that tried-and-true PR ethical standards, objectives, practices and products are holding their own as bedrocks of the profession.
In short
Interpersonal, person-to-person, communication overrides the machine
Set out resoundingly in a high-spirited keynote by Sean Greenwood of Ben and Jerry’s and in a discussion on “Humanizing the Algorithm” in “AI Killed the PR Star.”
PR tools from the past can be retooled and recombined for the present
“How not to pitch to the media,” a discussion on the place of the press release among trendier options.
“How the New Media Disruptors are Changing the Game for Media Consumption,” with Best Pitch Practices, and more.
“News in the scrolling economy – Evolution to Digital Communications,” The mindset and the team you need for multi-media messaging.
Crisis management principles, priorities and practices remain the same, albeit on overdrive
Discussed at length in “Throwing out the playbook – responsive approaches in times of crisis,” How to recognize and respond to a real crisis when everything is breaking news.
Into the bargain, a candid one-on-one chat provided food for thought on work-life integration, especially for working mothers, in the midst of a wide-ranging discussion on agency-based talent acquisition and nurturance in “Shaping the Employee Experience for tomorrow’s PR Agencies.”
Facts of life
- The average consumer scrolls on the their phone about 300 feet a day — from the top of the Statue of Liberty down to her toes
- The New York Times’s Sunday circulation is about 1+ million; its Instagram following, around 5 million
- People spend about 1 hour a day on Instagram and get their news there
- Vogue circulation: about 1 million monthly; 20 million on Instagram
Rob Longert, Moderator “News in the scrolling economy evolution to digital comms”