Amid all of the networking during PRSA annual meeting, we picked up some interesting nuggets of information to share.
- PR pros know to keep the spotlight off of them and on their clients. Try telling that to public television. A freelance film crew, working on behalf of PBS' "Frontline"
series, poked around the conference, shot some of the proceedings and interviewed PRSA execs like president-CEO Reed Byrum. Rachel Dretzin, a producer with Ark Media in New York,
told PR NEWS that the footage from PRSA's annual meeting would be featured in a two-hour "Frontline" documentary focusing on PR, advertising and marketing. The program is slated
to air next fall. Stay tuned. - If Mike Herman ever gets tired of the PR grind, he has another career waiting in the wings. At a dinner party during the PRSA's annual meeting, Herman, president-COO, Epley
Associates, who in January takes over as Chairman of the PRSA's Counselors Academy, had some kind words for the invited guests and then, a cappella, belted into song. In a bass
baritone, Herman delivered inspired versions of "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," both originally recorded by New Orleans'
favorite son Louis Armstrong. Herman started singing with a band called the Panhandle Ramblers in Oklahoma when he was about 12 years old and through his early years worked with
several country-recording artists, including Dotty West when she toured with Kenny Rogers and the Oak Ridge Boys. Herman left the road In his mid-30s for a career in PR. He's
still croons, though, as part of a band called "Moonshine Express," which is made up of former professionals who raise money for the Shriners Hospitals. - "You're going to make mistakes. Corporations are trying to figure out what to be in a post-Enron world; government is under increasing scrutiny. You will make mistakes in this
time. Just have the guts to clean it up and clean it up quickly."--Victoria Clarke, former assistant secretary of defense for Foreign Affairs, during a General Session speech at
the PRSA's annual meeting - "One reporter I know says, 'I don't cover CSR. I cover corporate social irresponsibility,' and that's something we have to deal with as an industry." --John Paluszek, senior
counsel, Ketchum, during a presentation on CSR trends.