Mary Lynn Cusick, president-elect of the Public Relations Society of America, spoke with PR NEWS days before she left Columbus, Ohio, for the annual PRSA conference in Nashville (which began yesterday) to give her insight on what issues PR professionals will be facing in the future. Cusick is VP of corporate communications for Bob Evans, Farms, Inc.
PRN: Even though the format for the general assembly has been revamped for this year's conference, given the immensity of the event, isn't there only so much dialogue a gathering of this size can support or foster?
Cusick: We did research among the delegates that directed us toward this revised format because we realize it's difficult to conduct meaningful dialogue with that many people.
That's the reason for the focus groups [attendees will be broken out into focus groups to talk about chapter concerns] and allowing for questions and answers during the town-hall portion at the end of the assembly.We purposely positioned it after the operating report because we felt that the State of the Society address will either trigger questions or answer some questions people wanted to ask.
PRN: The association being formed by those on the Counselor's Academy side is being portrayed by some others of the press as though members are walking out on PRSA. What's your take on that?
Cusick: I don't think people are walking out on PRSA. More than a year ago, it was PRSA that brought together CEOs to start this kind of dialogue and the concept of an association grew out of that. So far, I don't see a conflict between the two because I think they [those raising seed money for the association] are really looking to fill a need that exists.
PRN: How do you effectively preside over an organization made up of members with extremely different client responsibilities, operational needs, geographical influencers and technology know-how?
Cusick: What I want to do is convey the power and value of PR to people who can utilize and pay for our services and for them to understand, in a competitive environment, what a difference PR can make. I've been on the board since 1993 and I've visited with a lot of PRSA people, and during 1998 I plan on spending even more time visiting with external audiences to promote the value of PR.
Secondly, I'll be looking internally at issues about how we can best serve our members. I do believe that PRSA can speak to each person individually, and we're doing this. We're doing it when someone takes part in a professional development seminar or networks with another member. And we do this through our publications.
PRN: What changes will we see in PRSA over the next year?
Cusick: We will continue to work on closing the gap between what our members want and what we provide by adding, or changing, products as well as responding to the survey's results.One of the biggest challenges we're facing is:
'How do you provide a seamless organization when people, with the pressure of work and families and other responsibilities, don't have a lot of extra time for volunteerism today.' We have to find that balance.
PRN: Do you think a PR practitioner can be just as effective if he or she hasn't sat in a reporter's or editor's chair?
Cusick: What a PR person does is put him- or herself in another person's place, so I don't know if you have to have worked in journalism to do that...What you need is to be able to make yourself a student of the process and how it works. And you need to read the varying media and understand how they are positioned.
(Cusick, 614/491-2225)