Angela Waters Eveillard, incoming PRSA Board Chair for 2027 and Executive Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Hillsborough College in Tampa, Florida, took a break from "conferencing" at PRSA ICON 2026 to join PRNEWS in an on-site interview. In this episode of "Five Questions With..." Walters Eveillard discusses what PRSA offers communications professionals at every stage of their career, how the organization is tackling AI head-on and why showing up in person still matters.
Key Topics Covered:
What PRSA Does—and Why It Matters: Walters Eveillard breaks down what PRSA offers members, from local chapters and professional development to a global network of practitioners.
The Real Value of Joining a Professional Society: From landing her first job through the member directory to mentoring students, Walters Eveillard makes the case that the community alone is worth the membership.
How PRSA Is Addressing AI: PRSA’s task force on AI and emerging technologies hosts a monthly webinar series called the "AI Pulse," bringing in industry experts to help practitioners understand and apply new tools to their everyday work.
Getting the Most Out of a Conference: Walters Eveillard shares her conference strategy—divvy up sessions within your team (if available), walk away with something actionable and make at least one new friend, not just a connection.
Personal Insights: Walters Eveillard shares her favorite theme park and reveals that the PRSA board may or may not have done this traditional Disney experience as a bonding activity.
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.
Transcript:
Nicole Schuman: We’re here in Orlando for a special Five Questions With at PRSA Icon, the biggest PRSA conference for the industry. I’m going to talk to Angela Walters Eveillard today, who is the incoming Board Chair for PRSA. Thank you for joining us.
Angela Walters Eveillard: Thank you for having me, Nicole.
Nicole Schuman: All right, first question. A lot of people watching might not actually know this—what does PRSA do?
Angela Walters Eveillard: PRSA is the Public Relations Society of America. We are an association that serves public relations practitioners and communicators globally. We offer several professional development opportunities for individuals. We have local chapters, districts, sections—everything that helps enhance a practitioner in today’s global society.
Nicole Schuman: Great. And for PR professionals looking into something like this, what are the benefits of joining a professional society?
Angela Walters Eveillard: The benefits of joining a professional society are limitless. I say the number one thing is just the community—the directory of members. We met with our students today at the Champions for Breakfast event, which is my favorite one of the year. I always say, get everyone’s card, connect with them on LinkedIn. When I was their age, I wanted to work in travel and tourism in Florida, so I went through the directory, looked at people who had graduated from the University of Florida—Go Gators—and who were working practitioners in the industry. It really helped me find my first job.
Nicole Schuman: Very smart, and it’s not easy to find a job nowadays. That’s a good tip. What is one topic PRSA is super focused on right now for members?
Angela Walters Eveillard: You can’t go anywhere without someone talking about AI. One thing PRSA is doing is we have a task force focused on AI and emerging technologies, and every month we have something called the "AI Pulse," where we bring in industry experts to show practitioners what’s going on, what the new technologies are and how you can apply them to your job and walk away with something actionable.
Nicole Schuman: Is that something they can read, watch—what does it consist of?
Angela Walters Eveillard: It’s a webinar workshop.
Nicole Schuman: Great. You’ve probably been to a lot of these conferences—what do you hope attendees walk away with from this one?
Angela Walters Eveillard: I’m a self-proclaimed conference nerd. I love conferences. I have seven members of my team here right now and I told them, divvy it up—don’t go to the same session. Make sure you’re taking something back that we can apply to what we’re doing at work right now. I work at a college and we’re always telling our students’ stories, so I’m always asking, how can we do that better? Make sure you have something you can apply every day. And make sure you’re making at least one new friend or connection while you’re here—that to me is one of the best benefits of in-person conferences, because you never know who you’ll meet.
Nicole Schuman: I like that you used the word “friend” and not just “connection” or “colleague.”
Angela Walters Eveillard: There’s a lot of warmth and openness at this conference. It’s almost like a running joke—it’s like PR Christmas. Everyone looks forward to texting each other: are you going to be here? What are you wearing? Are you going to this breakout? Are you going to this meetup? There are like three meetups—which one do you go to? So yeah!
Nicole Schuman: Last question, and we always have a fun one. We are in Orlando, home of Disney. What is your favorite theme park?
Angela Walters Eveillard: My favorite theme park is Epcot. I have a little bit of sentimentality around it—my late father and I used to always go to Epcot together. He loved the countries pavilion and used to have a flag from each country. I used to tease him about it, but he still had them to his last days, which was really cute and endearing. But beyond that, Epcot is just a special place. There are so many festivals and it works for everyone—Disney adults, parents, teenagers. There’s something for everyone there.
Nicole Schuman: I’ve heard about the “drink around the world” thing people do there. Have you done that?
Angela Walters Eveillard: The board may or may not have done that on Thursday as a bonding experience.
Nicole Schuman: That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much, Angela, and thank you all for watching.
Angela Walters Eveillard: Thank you, Nicole.