Valley PR Blog

What’s ahead for PRSA/Phoenix? 5 questions for Abbie Fink

By Linda VandeVrede on January 20th, 2010 In People

Every January, the leadership baton of PRSA/Phoenix is passed on to a new candidate, and this year it’s Abbie Fink, vice president and general manager of HMA Public Relations.

1). What key initiatives/developments at PRSA national would you like Valley PR Blog readers to know/understand? 

According to Gary McCormick, PRSA’s national chair, the organization will be focusing on five pillars of the Society to ensure that it continues to build on the accomplishments already made in advancing the profession and the professional. The focus will be on: 

• A – Advocacy
• B – Business Case for Public Relations™
• C – Community
• D – Diversity
• E – Education

 2).  How is the local chapter doing – how many members, what are the most popular events, any new things in store this year under your leadership? 

The Phoenix chapter is very strong.  We are considered a large chapter, with just over 300 members.  Our membership is diverse with representation from the corporate sector, agencies, not-for-profit, education and government.  Our most popular events are our media breakfasts (held every other month), our professional development luncheons (held monthly) and all of our networking opportunities.  In addition, we are seeing very strong participation with our special interest groups — masters practitioners, the indies group and our new pros — all implement programs geared toward the needs of those groups.  And a new group is forming this year focusing on the non-for-profit sector.

 And we culminate the year with our annual Copper Anvil awards, recognizing the best of the best in public relations programming in the Valley. 

 Similar to what our national chair has outlined, the 2010 board will continue on the positive path set by the last administration.  An underlying theme for us will be member value — we believe strongly in the role of a professional association and we want to do everything we can to demonstrate that value to our members.  So we’ll be offering programs at various locations throughout the Valley, some of our events will be in the morning, others in the evening to accommodate schedules.  And we’re encouraging member feedback, tell us what we can do to make your membership more valuable.  Whether that is programming, scheduling, access to information, we want to know what our members want from PRSA, both nationally and locally.

 In addition, we will further our relationship with the PRSSA student chapters at both ASU and NAU, through our mentorship program and shadow day.

 3).  What do you see as some of the top challenges facing PR professionals in 2010? 

Our profession is changing on a day-to-day basis.  We are all being asked to do more with less; the media landscape has changed causing us to think differently about where our messages can best be told.  We must continue to be part of the decision-making within our organizations — there is a tremendous opportunity now for your target audience to interact with your brand.  PR professionals are poised to manage that function.  We’ve been commuicating those messages all along and we should continue to be involved in that process.

 4). What is PRSA doing to keep up or stay ahead of all the changes in the PR profession?  To me, one of the telling signs of staying ahead in the profession came during this year’s Assembly.  More than 200 representatives attended the Assembly and discussed and debated a variety of issues about PRSA, the profession, our elections procedures, membership, accreditation, etc.  Then-chair Michael Cherenson summarizes what occurred during the meeting.

 Locally, we want to be the resource for public relations professionals.  We want to be a value to our members, provide the kind of information, programming, and continuing education that will allow them to be the best practitioner they can be. 

 5).  What’s your personal definition of public relations?  My personal definition of public relations is the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively your organization’s key messages to your intended audiences.

Share This

Hide Sites

Want Your Picture Icon? Go to gravatar.com and set a picture up to your email address for free. It also works on thousands of other websites, too!