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WMPRSA October 2005 E-Newsletter

President's Message

Dear WMPRSA Members:

PRSA initiated a National Diversity Committee last year to provide more direction on diversity, one of the national leadership's top priorities. On September 14 our national organization launched its new "Advancing Diversity" program.

I encourage you to check out some of the features of this new, national diversity program for the public relations profession. You can learn all about it online at www.diversity.prsa.org, a Web site within PRSA's Web site designed to provide practical information and tools to members for their own diversity initiatives. The site includes:
   -the Diversity Tool Kit. A members-only benefit full of ideas about
diversity programs;
   -a list of speakers  to address diversity;
  -direct feeds from HispanicPRWire and BlackPRWire;
   -PRSA chapter diversity awards to encourage local chapter diversity
efforts.

About 40 percent of PRSA's local chapters have adopted some sort of diversity initiatives of their own. I'm proud to say the West Michigan chapter is one of them. Our diversity plan is online at www.wmprsa.org under the members section. We had the President of the Black PR Association speak to us in May, along with a panel of diversity experts. We are reaching out to chambers of commerce and schools in our region to broaden our reach and hopefully attract a local chapter membership that represents more diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Along with the launch of the national "Advancing Diversity" initiative, I submitted an op-ed  to MiBizWest on the subject of diversity and PR. You can read it on our Website, www.wmprsa.org, or at the MiBiz Website, http://www.mibiz.com/absolutenm/templates/template.asp?articleid=4897&zoneid=1

You'll also find more information about PRSA's diversity initiative in this newsletter.

I hope you take the time to familiarize yourself with PRSA's national diversity initiative. And I hope you'll help us to make the West Michigan chapter more diverse, and therefore more meaningful for everyone who gets involved with our programs and activities. As always, contact me if you have questions or ideas.

Enhancing the Profession,

Tim Penning, APR
2005 WMPRSA President
penningt@gvsu.edu 

October 13 Program

Planning a Photo Shoot:  How to Select and Work With a Photographer Learn how you can get consistently good results for  our photo shoots by selecting the right photographer for the job and effectively planning your shoot. Commercial/Industrial photographer Dan Watts will share his twenty five years of expertise in location photography. Dan has shot photos just about everywhere from the factories of West Michigan to the Lewa Wildlife Conservatory in Kenya.   He'll share with us:
·      10 Things You Can Say to a Photographer to Make Him or Her Cry
·     The Best and Worst Ways to Select a Photographer
·     Things you should ask the photographer (not their agent)
·     What the photographer should ask you
·     How to plan a location shoot and prepare your subjects for the
shoot.
Dan will also provide participants with a basic understanding of digital photography. And attendees may receive a signed, limited edition copy of one of Dan's photo posters.
 
WHEN:  Wednesday, October 13, 2005. 
            Registration/networking at 11:30, lunch at 12:00. 
            The presentation will begin at 12:30.
 
WHERE:  Foremost Insurance Group of Companies
              5600 Beech Tree Lane, Caledonia, MI 49316.

COST:  $20 for members and $30 for non- members.  Full-time students are $15.

From downtown: take the South Beltline (M-6) to where it ends at the EastBeltline.  Take the East Beltline to 60th Street, turn right.  Take 60th Street to Kraft Ave. SE and turn right.  Turn left at the entrance to the Kraft Lake Office Park, on North Kraft Lake Drive. Proceed to the Foremost employee lot, which is the second right.  There will be an area sectioned off for WMPRSA members to park.  Take the walkway to the main entrance. We will be meeting in the Training and Development area on the first floor. You'll get directions upon arrival Cost is $20 for members and $30 for non- embers.  Full-time students are $15.

Please RSVP by Friday, October 8, 2005

TO REGISTER: call the WMPRSA hotline at 616-336-0678 or fax to 616-451-3108 or send an e-mail to Julie Metsker at admin@wmprsa.org All program reservations MUST be guaranteed  ith VISA or MASTER CARD. You have the option of changing your method of payment to cash or check the day of the event.

When you make a reservation we will need your name, company name, phone number, membership status and credit card number and expiration date, and the zipcode where you receive your credit card statement. 
" No shows" will be billed. 24-hour notice required for full refund. 

Meeting room and lunch provided by: Foremost Insurance.

NOVEMBER 11 PROGRAM
"Smart Management Reporting: Linking Media Coverage With Business Outcomes"
Tired of having your communications budget slashed  because management doesn't see your department as contributing to the bottom line? Come hear about how  "Share of Discussion" is as important as market share and is linked directly to business objectives and outcomes. You'll understand the power of PR through case studies and learn to measure and predict the real value of editorial coverage.  
Angela Jeffrey, APR, Vice President of PR Trak, is a 20-year veteran of PR and marketing. She holds four national awards: two Silver Anvils from PRSA and two Gold Quills from the IABC. She and her husband  formed Jeffrey Communications in 1994, and she  continues as a principal in that firm.  She also has nine years of corporate and agency experience. Angela and  her husband formed PRTrak in 1998 to offer  affordable publicity evaluation tools. Angela travels from her home in Houston to speak throughout the  country on public relations measurement and evaluation.
 
WHEN:  Thursday, November 11
Registration/networking begins at11:30, lunch
is served at12:15 p.m. program begins at 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: Duba's located at I-96 and East Beltline
 
COST:  Member $30 Non-Member $35 Full time student $25

Please RSVP by Friday, Nov 5, 2005
 
To register, call the WMPRSA hotline at 616-336-0678 or fax to 616-451-3108 or send an e-mail to Julie Metsker at admin@wmprsa.org. All program reservations MUST be guaranteed with VISA or MASTER CARD. You have the option to change your method of payment to cash or check at the event.  When you make a reservation we will need your name, company name, phone number, membership status and credit card number and expiration date, and
zipcode where you receive your credit card statement.  "No shows" will be billed. 24-hour notice required for full refund.  

News from National
Advancing Diversity is an initiative that promotes multiculturalism in both the public relations industry and the business community. Advancing Diversity firmly positions PRSA as the leading organization providing professional development, career opportunities and networking for diverse professionals, for professionals who want to communicate with diverse audiences and for professionals who strongly want to change their organizations by valuing and managing diversity. PRSA is proud to launch this initiative, and provide you with this brief overview of some of Advancing Diversity's key elements to help you inform your local membership and media of the benefits of this new program.

Diversity PRos (http://www.prsa.org/jobcenter/main/index.asp?ident=job1)
An enhancement of PRSA's online Job Center, this new skills area offers both candidates and employers the opportunity to identify special skills obtained through experience, special training or personal interests. Focusing on diversity specializations, Diversity PRos was created in response to the need and demand in public relations employment for a pool of candidates withdiversity experience.

www.diversity.prsa.org
A Web site within PRSA's national site specifically providing members, Chapters, Districts and Sections with information, knowledge and tools fortheir own diversity initiatives including the Diversity Tool Kit, media room and other resources.

Diversity OpEd
(http://www.prsa.org/diversitymediaroom/diversity_oped.asp?ident=div4)
This is a bylined article from PRSA President & CEO Del Galloway, APR, that can be localized and reformatted for use in local markets to promote PRSA's Advancing Diversity initiative.

Online Media Room (http://www.prsa.org/diversitymediaroom/)
This area of the Advancing Diversity Web site provides news releases, background information, graphics and any additional information that the media will need to know about Advancing Diversity.  We encourage you to forward this link to your local media when discussing the Advancing Diversity initiative.

If you have any questions regarding Advancing Diversity, feel free to contact Rosanna Fiske, APR, chair, National Diversity Committee, at 305-740-3200 or rfiske@prmiami.com or Kelly Albanese, Chapter/District relationship coordinator, at 212-460-1453 or kelly.albanese@prsa.org.

    New Member Profile
 

Stephen Duthie
Whirlpool Corporation
Global Communications Manager

I¹m a manager with Whirlpool Corporation¹s Global Communications team, primarily focused on national and international media and community relations, as well as overseeing significant writing assignments (annual report, quarterly earnings, senior level speeches, etc.).

My path to Whirlpool was somewhat circuitous. I spent most of my working life as a reporter with The Wall Street Journal (11+ years in Southeast Asia), the Detroit News (six years, mostly in the paper¹s Washington bureau), The Star Ledger in Newark, N.J., and a few smaller papers before that. I left the WSJ is 1995 to become the U.S.-based managing director of a subsidiary of a large Malaysian conglomerate, primarily focused on the company¹s newspaper operations and its relationships with the U.S. and Asian media. I joined Whirlpool in January 2001.

As the world¹s largest manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, Whirlpool is leading the sweeping changes in the home appliance industry. From the industry stalemate of the 1990s and the "sea of white" that characterized most appliance retail floors at that time, Whirlpool embarked six years ago on a trend-breaking strategy. This involved remaking the company into a consumer-focused enterprise, rather than a manufacturing and marketing focused company, with an emphasis on creating a continuous stream of unique innovations that serve customer needs as never before.

Communicating internationally the swift and dramatic changes within the company and the launching of new-to-the-industry appliances is a PR challenge of a magnitude never before faced by the company.Though a challenge, it has been gratifying to help engineer the windfall of favorable media coverage that Whirlpool has received over the last four years. Major stories about the company¹s industry-transforming changes and products have appeared in just about every internationally acclaimed publication, from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times to BusinessWeek, Fortune and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Like never before, Whirlpool has deeper relationships with the global media on a routine and on-going basis.

Free time? What¹s that? This has been a demanding, time- consuming period in my career. But when I do find myself with time to spare, exercise, reading, and horsing around with my two daughters and wife fit the bill. 

JOB BOARD

Public Relations Account and Business Development Manager
Top-50 Midwest B2B Agency is seeking a motivated Public Relations
Manager to serve existing accounts and develop additional PR business in our Grand Rapids and Chicago offices. Our primary focus today is product publicity on behalf of a diverse and established list of national and global clients.The successful candidate will have three to five years of successful experience as an agency public relations account executive/writer and will have demonstrated strategy development, writing, account and project management skills. This position offers significant career growth potential to the professional who can work both independently and in cooperation with other agency executives to build our PR business.
 
Submit resume with salary history to: Cathy Luck, Alexander Marketing Services, P.O. Box 601, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516-0601

Edelman Public  Relations

John Edelman, APR, Managing Director of Global Human Resources of
Edelman Public Relations in Chicago, will be visiting GVSU on November 22-23.  He is also looking to recruit experienced, talented professionals for the firm.  If you are interested in an interview, please forward a resume to Betty Pritchard at <pritchab@gvsu.edu>.

Thoughts About Public Relations

The WMPRSA membership booklet is filled with some great quotes about our profession. If you haven't done so already, take a moment to review them.  They are very inspirational and might come in handy to pass along. Here is one example.

"Communication works best for those who work it."

John Powell

Subscriptions and 2005 Newsletter Editor Contact

This monthly electronic newsletter comes from the West Michigan Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Sponsorship of the newsletter is provided by http://www.pathwaynet.com, which also hosts the WMPRSA website.

WMPRSA
PO Box 68124
Grand Rapids, MI 49516
Phone: 616-336-0678
Fax: 616-451-3108
http://www.wmprsa.org

Send newsletter feedback, ideas and accompanying color or b&w photos in jpeg format to: Carol Tanis at ctanis@grsymphony.org.

Deadline for newsletter content is the 1st of each month.