When Sherry Treco-Jones, strategic consultant and partner of Agency I.D. in Decatur, Ga., and Tom Vitelli, senior director at Intermountain Health Care, Salt Lake City, started
planning this year's international conference for the Public Relations Society of America, they could not have guessed just how relevant their chosen agenda would be.
Set for Oct. 27-30 in Atlanta, PRSA's conference focuses on "The Power of PR" and features such high profile, deep thinkers as Ambassador Andrew Young and Coretta Scott King
as keynoters. Even before Sept. 11, the two political celebs had been slated to talk about diversity and social activism. Their themes of social unity will surely resonate more
meaningfully now.
PRN spoke with the conference co-chairs and tried to fit the breadth and girth of the conference into a nutshell:
PRN: How is the conference relevant to post- Sept. 11 PR?
Treco-Jones: We have added a tolerance session looking at the role of public relations in building a more tolerant world. For that, we have pulled together a panel of people to
help us try to understand the underlying issues of divisiveness and to discuss how PR can help promote unity.
PRN: How have things changed for PR professionals in recent weeks?
Vitelli: In my organization, in Salt Lake City, the news hole has been completely filled by this. All the other issues we have been dealing with have paled in comparison to
worldwide issues. So we have switched gears and are focusing on planning. As the medical provider for the upcoming Olympics (Winter Games 2002), [the PR aspect of] crisis planning
has always been a concern for us, but it is doubly urgent now.
Treco-Jones:: The media is very much focusing on anything related to the [national] crisis. Of course, it is also affecting the economy, and as a result, companies are to some
extent looking at their dollars and realigning. As a result, agencies are having to make a lot of changes to accommodate that slowdown in what was already an "interesting" year
economically.
PRN: How does the conference address the economic slowdown?
Treco-Jones: MIT economist Lester Thoreau will tailor his talk to what we have been looking at and what we can expect to be looking at. There are other sessions that play into
those themes as well, such as how to manage a downturn in the economy.
PRN: Aside from the current news climate, what professional challenges do communicators face today?
Vitelli: The big challenge still is in getting people to see PR in its full dimension. People outside of our profession may see it just as media relations or fundraising or
something else. So we have planned sessions to help people have more of a sense of the full range and power of their profession.
(Contacts: Sherry Treco-Jones, [email protected]; Tom Vitelli, [email protected])