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Alliance newsletter - March 2005
Dear Colleagues and
Friends
I am extremely pleased to tell you
about some exciting developments within the GA. As you will see, we
are now beginning to realise the benefits of our Alliance in a very
concrete way.
Landmark
agreement with Digital Management AG
After almost a year of due diligence, the GA Executive Board has
reached an agreement with Digital Management AG (DM) that will
grant the Swiss-based company ‘preferred supplier’ status within
the GA partnership.
There is perfect synergy between the
DM software product and the GA mandate to unify the
profession. The software is based on a state-of-the art database
containing authoritative definitions and case studies, and provides
guidance in the preparation of a host of public relations documents,
e.g. strategies, plans and policies.
Having gained access to parts of this
database, the GA will use it to populate its knowledge centre on the
GA website and thereby provide a free information service to the
global PR community. In addition, a practitioner version of the
software will be accessible on a DM server and sold through those GA
partners who desire to enter into their own country-specific
arrangement with Digital Management AG. The GA and its member
organisations will receive a commission from each licence sold. I
will be writing to national PR association leaders shortly to
outline this offer and provide more information.
The GA Executive Board is very
excited about this world-class product and wants to encourage all GA
members to examine the unique opportunity of disseminating PR
knowledge in a practical, easy-to-use software package that
contains, amongst others, standard templates for public relations
documents. A news release is being prepared and will be sent to you
for distribution to your own media sources.
Three cheers for the CIPR!!!
Yes, the IPR in the United Kingdom is now the CIPR. A remarkable
thing happened just a few weeks ago when the IPR obtained a
Royal Charter which gives our colleagues in the UK another
feather in their cap, and the Charter confers
special status to the Institute. The awarding of a Charter is
recognition of the important role that PR plays in business and
society: it is in the public interest to have a self-leading
body.
The Charter also sets out important obligations for the
Chartered Institute and its members to operate in the public
interest and to advance the profession for public benefit. For
more information please see:
www.cipr.co.uk/charterspecial
Tsunami
project
The scale of this disaster and the destruction it left behind
moved many of us to action to support the relief efforts. We at
the GA also saw a need to help by documenting the role played by
public relations during the time the world was listening. This
should be an interesting report which will help refine
communication efforts whenever global crises strike. What’s
more, we see a need to explore the needs of our PR colleagues
from the affected countries in re-building efforts. This may be
where all the power of public relations can really be put to
good use. How do we help our colleagues press their case for
re-building beyond the relief efforts? What can the rest of the
world do? Those are some of the questions that we hope will get
answered. Our thanks to Michael Morley of Edelman Public
relations and Krishnamurthy Sriramesh for leading this effort on
our behalf. We look forward to their report when we meet for our
AGM in Trieste.
Michael and Sriramesh are eager to have input from all
interested practitioners, especially those in countries that
were affected by the tsunami. Send your thoughts to
Michael.morley@edelman.com or to
tksriramesh@ntu.edu.sg.
Annual
Meeting in Trieste, Italy 28 June
Thanks to the wonderful organising skills of our former chair
Toni Muzi Falconi,
we will hear from the world’s best speakers on the theme of
Diversity in Trieste. The WPRF (www.worldprfestival.org/eng) is
set to begin immediately after the Global Alliance AGM which
will take place at the conference venue on 28 June. We sincerely
hope you can register early for the conference. Space is limited
to 600 people and already 400 people have signed up. Of course,
the AGM meeting has no space limitation. We will be reviewing
important matters at the AGM this year. I urge you to make your
plans to attend now.
PRWeek, the leading magazine for the
international public relations community, has agreed to be one of
the media partners of the second WPRF. Other media partners are the
Journal of Communication Management, the Italian daily Il Sole 24
Ore, the Italian weekly Vita and the Italian monthly Prima
Comunicazione.
GA in
China
The China International Public Relations Association is hosting
a delegation of PRSA and GA leaders in early March. CIPRA is
interested in closer ties with both PRSA and the GA. It is
expected that we will sign letters on intent to define areas of
mutual benefit and co-operation during our visit. The delegation
will meet leaders of CIPRA in Beijing, Shanghai and Honk Kong.
New
country Profiles added to PR Landscape collection
Thanks to the efforts of Juan Carlos Molleda, we have added
three new profiles to our website. You can find profiles of
Romania, Bulgaria and Korea as well as an update to the Chinese
profile here:
www.globalpr.org/knowledge/landscapes.asp
Joint
efforts
The GA website will soon have a new addition. Kogan Page -
publishers of fine public relations books - and the GA have
reached an agreement by which books sold from the GA website
will return a commission to the GA in support of our global
activities.
Setting
global standards
Ratification of the universal ethics protocol continues. If you
haven’t already done so please address this issue before the
deadline becomes a looming problem. Show your support to the GA
and join the ranks of those who have endorsed the protocol.
Work continues on our other priority areas: curriculum, body of
knowledge and accreditation. We expect a report on accreditation
at our AGM in June.
More
Outreach
The Chair and past Chair of the GA will participate by
videoconference to a workshop organised by the Columbian Public
Relations Association on 3 March in Medellin, Columbia. Our
colleagues there are eager to hear more about membership in the
GA.
The Malaysian Institute for Public Relations is launching a
profession accreditation program. The GA was asked to help in
setting up this new activity in Malaysia.
Your comments and participation in GA
activities are always welcome.
Jean Valin
Chair 2004/05, Global Alliance
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