More than 1,500 PR practitioners from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Latin America flocked to Atlanta last month for the PRSA's international conference. Conference organizers
incorporated new sessions on crisis management and building tolerance in response to the terrorist attacks and the current national outlook, but the prevailing sentiment among
attendees was that "life goes on." Topics that were top-of-mind before Sept. 11 remained in the forefront, including technology. Three technology-related sessions offered
especially substantive contributions to current practice.
1. Kirk Hallahan of Colorado State University ([email protected]), working with David Hachigian of Hewlett-Packard,
shared the results of their research study "Journalists' Perceptions of Public Relations Web Sites." Questions covered to what degree journalists rely on Web sites as sources of
information; to what extent Web content is important; how perceptions of Web site sponsors influence journalists; and whether journalists perceive Web sites as providing economic
advantages in day-to-day newsgathering. Among the results:
Web sites ranked fourth behind phone, face-to-face, and news releases as the favored way to receive information (but ranked ahead of press conferences).
Journalists mostly agreed that Web content is relevant, useful, and valuable, but complained that it needs to be updated more frequently.
Corporate sites rated less credible than association and government sites.
2. Melissa May, APR, of Digivent ([email protected]) and Paul Wood of PainePR ([email protected]) presented "Interactive Web Events: Moving to the Next Level of e-Public Relations."
May covered key questions to answer before planning a Web event:
- how do I know if tools are viable for company/clients?
- what should I know before I plan a Web event?
- am I prepared to answer questions from management/client?
3. I presented "Building Trust Online" as a call for public relations professionals to pursue the following strategies in their online efforts:
- Offer easy access to valued information;
- Create/contribute content based on trust-building concepts;
- Address core questions about personal information collection and management.
Mitchell Friedman, APR provides training in writing, media interview preparation, presentation skills, Internet public relations, and other communication skills. For more
information, see http://www.mitchellfriedman.com or contact him by email at [email protected] or phone at 415/824-1466.