PRSA in San Diego

Today marks the last day of the PRSA International Conference in San Diego, CA, and because I do not know much about PRSA I decided to monitor some of the online “hooplah” surrounding the conference. In case you do not know, PRSA stands for Public Relations Society of America, and it is not to be confused with PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America). However, with a little research I discovered the two organizations do work together. In fact, they pair together for a conference each year.

This year, the PRSA conference centered on hot and relevant topics, including social media, crisis communications, branding and sustainability. And on top of that the big name speakers were there to discuss these topics, all of which I have recently blogged about. If only I could afford a ticket to California! But on a more serious note, the reason I decided to look into this was because I was not informed about the conference until my teacher mentioned it, even though I am a member of PRSSA.

So, why does a conference centered on PR topics and hosted by PR organizations not have good PR? From researching online, it seems as like the conference was publicized on prsa/prssa web sites for different chapters. However, social media, like twitter and facebook, lacked communication/information about the conference. Personally, I think a good tactic for informing PRSA and PRSSA members of the conference would be personal emails. In addition, using online media and/or partnering with another PR organization may help spread the word. Contacting PR practitioners of national companies may be another wise move. All in all It seems to me that the PRSA Conference was a success, but in my opinion, could use more PR for a better turn out.

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