I spoke at the PRSA Leadership Rally over the weekend to discuss PR 2.0, social media communications and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.  It was a great conference with approximately 150 incoming PRSA leaders in attendance.  I introduced to the group an exercise that I call “The Making of the Hybrid,” which focuses on individual, communications career development. The exercise gave examples of the differences between the traditional strategic PR communicator and the Hybrid professional.  As I moved through my presentation, I asked the audience to rate themselves, with respect to their own roles, responsibilities and professional career development (traditional vs. hybrid).

For the past couple of years my presentations have focused on the PR professional moving from handler/facilitator of communication (who often found success in great media coverage) to the PR 2.0 Champion, who climbed the rungs of the Forrester’s Technographics Ladder, from the “Inactive” all the way up to the “Creator.”

Here’s the graphic that I used in my presentation, which takes the PR person’s professional development from traditional strategic communicator to the hybrid professional.  The diagram not only illustrates the communicator who applies a blend of traditional and social media, but who also works more closely with other members of marketing and Web as well as other areas of the company (including sales, HR, IT, Legal, Customer Service, etc).  As a result, the Hybrid is the strategic communicator who guides all communication and has secured a seat at the boardroom/strategy table.

The Making of the Hybrid

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Source

What do you think of these levels of development from traditional to hybrid?  Are there any other levels that you would add into the diagram?

How do you teach a group of PR professionals to build a social media plan in one hour?  Not an easy feat, especially because planning can take months. To teach planning, you have to have a plan and a streamlined approach to your presentation.  I’m presenting at the PRSA Digital Impact Conference on May 6^th in New York City and there is a tremendous amount of information to cover. My session begins at 3:15 p.m. and runs until 4:15 p.m. and when it’s over, I’m hoping that the PR pros in attendance walk away with a clear Roadmap to social media communication success.

There is so much that I could talk about, but I am basically focusing my discussion around challenges to planning, the Roadmap that you need to build for your brand and a breakdown of strategies based on a tool that I developed, which has helped me tremendously in my planning.

Here’s a glimpse of the tools we’ll be discussing:

The Mango! Roadmap

The Strategy Wheel

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Having the right visuals will guide my discussion and help me to streamline my presentation.  I’ll also be using one of my client’s as an example a social media program that used the Roadmap and the Wheel in their communications program.

I’m looking forward to the PRSA Digital Impact Conference and, if you are joining me on Thursday, May 6th, get ready to move quickly and steadily.  Before you know it, you’ll be navigating your own Roadmap and using the Strategy Wheel for your own brand.

Hope to see you at Digital Impact!