This week in PR (20 October)

News in brief

• The CIPR says that over 200 candidates have achieved professional qualifications, including many on the first intake for the new Professional PR Diploma.
• The PRCA’s Francis Ingham tweeted that it’s ‘ridiculous and immoral for MPs to work for lobbying firms’, linking to this story in the Mail.
• French advertising group Publicis is writing down the value of its digital business – by $1.5 billion – according to the Wall Street Journal. Public relations expert David Brain comments that with acquisitions, ‘the marriage is always harder to manage than the wedding.’
• O’Dwyer’s reports a decline in the membership and assets of IABC, which mostly represents internal communication practitioners.
• The Taylor Bennett Foundation has appointed Sarah Pinch as chair and John Lehal as vice-chair.

Calendar

• October is Ethics Festival (CIPR) and Ethics and Professionalism month (PRCA)
• Deadline for the Douglas Smith essay prize for young public affairs practitioners is 27 October
• International History of Public Relations Conference is in Bournemouth, 11-12 July 2018. Deadline for the call for papers is 18 December 2017 (email  prhistory@bournemouth.ac.uk)
• Next year’s PR Festival is in Edinburgh on 14 and 15 June 2018. You have until 31 October to offer to speak.
• The World Public Relations Forum 2018 is in Oslo, 22-24 April 2018. Here’s the call for papers.
• Next year the CIPR will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Here’s how you can contribute to a publication.Pitch submission form (deadline 3 November)

Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week. Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com

• Andrew Grill: What makes a great conference keynote presenter? (13 October)
  ‘As a professional presenter myself, I’m always watching others to see what I can do to up my game with each and every talk I deliver.’
• Martin Flegg: Why more internal communicators should ‘get chartered’ (15 October)
  ‘Achieving chartered status is true recognition of what you know and the breadth of your experience.’
• Richard Evans: History of Oxfam adverts (16 October)
  ‘I’d love to hear any other views on this. What are the lessons you think charity communicators can learn from Oxfam’s past?’
• Jim Hawker: Opinion: Why PR should embrace SEO insights (16 October)
  ‘SEO is growing fast and the PR industry has a lot to contribute and gain by being part of it.’
• Amanda Coleman: A heated debate (16 October)
  ‘The demands on the modern communicator are many and varied so being able to adapt, develop and deliver results is critical.’
• Iliyana Stareva: Where PR Should Go Next – Is It Really Just About Technology? (17 October)
  ‘Stakeholder management and influence don’t work without trust. To build trust as advisors, PR people need to get very, very business-savvy.’
• Sarah Hall: #MeToo To #HimThough: Why Active Language Is So Important (17 October)
  ‘The news about Harvey Weinstein might have opened up the conversation, but talk now needs to lead to genuine culture and behavioural change.’
• Claire Bridges: The War For Ideas: Five Years Of The Creativity in PR Study (17 October)
  ‘Is the PR industry creative enough?  This was the question that we set out to answer through the first study in 2012.’
• Phil Jewitt: Keep calm and conference on – a tale of two conferences and straplines (20 October)
  The one statement that stood out for me was “You cannot talk yourself out of a situation you have behaved yourself into”

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Here’s our pick of the best posts by those studying public relations and/or aspiring to work in PR.

• Orlagh Shanks (Liverpool John Moores, 3): #PlacementSeries: How to Make Your CV Stand Out  (13 October)
  ‘The dreaded CV. How do we convey how amazing we are by not coming across as cocky? Impossible.’
• Caoimhe Fitzpatrick (Ulster, 4): Once upon a placement… (13 October)
  ‘My role was Regional Communication Intern for Disney Channels and I was across franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel.’
• Conan Meehan (Ulster, PG): The Banality of Nuclear Threat: My time in Korea (17 October)
  ‘I was about to spend two weeks essentially locked in the crosshairs of Seoul’s nuclear neighbour just 35 miles north of the city.’