Judy Phair, who takes over as president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in January, sat down in a hushed corner of a New York Hilton & Towers
ballroom to talk to PR News about what she hopes to accomplish during her one-year tenure. Phair, who is president of Laurel, Md.-based PR firm Phair Advantage
Communications, knows it's important to enhance the organization's continuing education programs in both the legal and regulatory arenas (read: Sarbanes-Oxley, Reg FD) and build
better ties with affiliates such as the Hispanic Public Relations Association and National Black Public Relations Society. But she wants to reach out to other groups, such as the
American Bar Association, not normally affiliated with the PRSA. She also wants to enhance the group's relationships with sports/entertainment PR execs as well as those
communication pros who are working in the (white-hot) area of biotechnology
"We need to ask ourselves, 'What is the PRSA brand' and how do we differentiate ourselves from advertising?" Phair says. "We have to get out there in a variety of ways and one
way of doing that is partnering with associations outside of ourselves."
Asked if the PRSA intends to launch an advertising campaign to address some of the more pressing changes PR execs are grappling with--namely, proving the value of PR to their
CEOs---Phair says that the group's ad budget is "somewhat limited," but wouldn't rule it out.
Phair also wants to get the PRSA more involved in global issues. "There's this whole idea of working with the government in the area of international relations," she says. "We
can communicate faster than ever but we're not doing a great job at making people understand us, and that's where this profession can play a role."
Providing PRSA members with better ways to exploit the Web-- and the (growing) blogosphere--is on Phair's agenda, as well. "Blogs are useful and more of our audiences are
reading them," Phair says, as CNN's Larry King passes by assessing the room before giving that afternoons keynote speech. In addition, Phair wants to show PRSA how they can
use blogs to their benefit internally. "People want to understand what it is," she says. "A letter from the chairman doesn't make a blog."
Despite the many challenges, Phair is facing her PRSA term with eyes wide open. "The profession is changing so rapidly and people entering the profession have tremendous
opportunity," she says, "but we have a long way to go."