Deirdre Breakenridge

I was really happy when Valerie Simon (@valeriesimon) and Arik Hanson (@arikhanson) approached me to participate in Help a PR Person Out (#HAPPO). What a wonderful way to share information and to help PR professionals with the job search by organizing an upcoming Twitter event. The goal: to help PR job seekers locate the numerous PR jobs that are finally becoming available.

I’ve been working on my presentation to the graduates of Syracuse University’s Masters of Science and Communications Management program. The University is holding it’s reunion this coming weekend and I’ll be presenting on PR 2.0 and the state of the industry. Part of my presentation discusses the results of the Vocus survey, “PR Planning in 2010.” I participated in a Vocus Webinar in November 2009 and wrote about some of the findings just after the event. I wanted to share with you a few more of the thoughts from the 1,800 PR and marketing professionals (who participated in the survey and who perform PR functions), with respect to their roles in 2010.

I traveled to Holland last week to present at the Coopr PR 2.0 launch event in Rotterdam.  It was an incredible trip and I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Ruud Bijl, the owner of Bijl PR and his PR team, and also spent time with @jodykoehler and @josgovaart who are driving force behind [...]

I have to admit I got caught up in the conversations on Twitter regarding Kim Kardashian and her new reality show about the world of public relations. The comments on Twitter ranged from “This is tragic for PR” to “Publicity does not equal public relations.” My immediate concern was that public relations would be portrayed the wrong way. Kim even stated in the People Magazine article, “It’s going to be really fun. It’ll show how there’s lots of drama and crisis in the PR world.” Crisis…yes, but we’d prefer to minimize the drama.

Valerie Simon (@valeriesimon) and I just announced that #PRStudChat will be a monthly event. I was thrilled by the enthusiasm and incredible response we received by students and PR professionals on August 19th when we held our first discussion. Our Twitter chat was a success and we’re preparing for the next one.

I recently spoke at the Florida Public Relations Association’s (FPRA) National Conference in Boca Raton, Florida. It was an excellent conference with a variety of top notch speakers who covered topics ranging from Disney’s community relations program to the basics of SEO. I participated on a panel session, “PR under Fire” and discussed a few of the challenges in the PR industry today. One reason PR is under fire stems from PR professionals being seen as nothing more than handlers and facilitators of information. For years, unfortunately, our work has been reduced and described by the media and bloggers as broadcast messages in news releases with spin and hype that carry little value or meaning for the market. On a positive note, I also said that PR 2.0 would enable PR professionals to use social media to become influencers and to rebuild our reputation to the rightful status that we deserve.

The blog post “Is PR Right for Me?” generated a lot of interest this past week. I thought it would be great to do a reverse interview with a PR student. I wanted to get a future professional’s perspective on the public relations industry, focusing on the excitement and challenges that a student experiences today. Angela Hernandez, who is the president of PRSSA at CMU, participated in the interview. She is pursuing her degree in integrative public relations and will be graduating from CMU in May 2010. You can also check out Angela’s blog, In The Lede, where she discusses her journey as a PR student.

I’m working on a presentation for the Florida Public Relation’s Association. Their annual conference, PR Under Fire, is in August 2009. My presentation will help PR professionals to understand how they can be better partners with their clients by focusing on three important factors: attitude, education and technology. Here’s are some highlights from the presentation.