PRSA Exhibitors Cry Foul...Traffic at the PRSA exhibition hall - media analysis vendors et al. - was extremely light throughout the three-day conference, we're told.
Not good, considering that exhibitors help to subsidize the conference and want a little ROI. "Sunday and Monday there was very little traffic. Monday there was a flurry of
activity," says one exhibitor who requested anonymity. "But then it stopped and people started packing up by noon on Tuesday...We're like the lepers in the back."
Indeed the exhibition hall was at the opposite end of floor where PR execs attended PRSA workshops on strategy, measurement, media relations, etc.
Another exhibitor says that despite a higher turnout in attendance this year (compared with 2003 in New Orleans) there "hasn't been very good flow." This exhibitor says she
would probably budget for the 2005 PRSA conference (in Miami) but would give "competing shows another look instead of this always being No. 1."
Janet Troy, a spokeswoman for PRSA, tells us, "there was some inconsistencyin the traffic in the exhibition area." The lack of traffic on Sunday, she adds, was due to a mob
scene around the registration area-- a way station to the Exhibition Hall--because of the pending arrival of keynote speaker Donald Trump. "It's important to remember that this is
not a trade show in the usual sense," Troy says. "Nonetheless, we are going to form a council to explore ways to allow for more consistent traffic flow inthe future."
Fair and Balanced...Ken Auletta, media columnist for The New Yorker, didn't mince words in his keynote speech before the PRSA, wasting no time in telling
the audience what he doesn't like about PR execs. "I don't like it when you mislead or, worse, lie; when you micromanage the interview process and sit in on interviews and give
signals to your boss before he/she can answer," says Auletta, who is author, most recently, of "Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire" (Atlas Books/Norton, $22.95). Yet he
also offered this advice to balance things out: "A good PR executive provides reporters with valuable information, offers perspective and makes valuable suggestions. You just
don't represent the person who signs your check. You represent the press and the truth."
Winner's Circle...Thomas Hogg, chairman of Hill & Knowlton, Washington, D.C., was the winner of the PRSA's 2004 Gold Anvil Award, presented to PR executives
who have advanced the profession. Hogg, who was chairman-CEO of Hill & Knowlton from 1996 through 1991, is considered a PR industry guru. PRN