We launched a process to canvass our partners as to what they see as our priority work in the next three to five years. Following this feedback- which is critical to our success and to the satisfaction of our members - we will discuss and refine our days in February in Miami and then send our findings and suggestions to all partners for a full discussion in our Annual meeting in Quebec City.

Here follows the letter we sent you as reminder:

"It is surely a sign of maturity when one contemplates a strategic planning process and so the Global Alliance has arrived at this juncture after several years of tackling issues and projects as they came along.

With our current strength in numbers, we find ourselves at an important juncture: how to prioritize our efforts and align our considerable volunteer and support staff base with the best possible strategic plan?

So far, we have:

• Adopted our first global standard - the ethics code with a suitable protocol for implementation
• Created several active work groups who are exploring issues such as corporate social responsibility and regulation of the profession, investigating other possible standards or acting as global clearing houses
• Grown beyond initial expectations and at a faster rate
• Launched a solid Website to leverage our collaboration and information sharing
• Adopted a formal governance structure and elected officers
• Adopted an ‘at members rate’ policy thereby linking all of our members and offering them a global passport to a wealth of conferences and products

Now we are at a point where we all see the even more potential that our Alliance has in unifying the profession and facilitating advocacy on behalf of the profession.

Here follows a short questionnaire that you could use with your own board of directors or elected officers to guide your discussion on what the Global Alliance’s priorities should be. Feel free to use it or invent your own process. The important thing is that we hear from you.

A word about the process we are following for this planning exercise. We are seeking your feedback before December 15. Please address your comments to Susan Richardson at this address - susanr@prisa.co.za 

In that way we will have your valuable input in time for our February executive board meeting, where we will draft a proposed strategic plan and circulate it back to you.

We will have this as one of the main items for approval on our June 9 Global Alliance council meeting in Quebec City.

And here is the questionnaire we sent you:

To unify the profession by focussing on the establishment of standards and sharing information between national, international and specialized associations and institutes involved in public relations and communication management.

• A structured forum for discussion of common issues.
• A universal protocol of ethics
• Adoption of ‘ at members rate’ policy
• Operational web site for collaborative work and discussion
• Benchmarking studies in: accreditation, regulation, research and education
• Work groups on the development of a resource on the practice of public relations around the world, evaluation and measurement, professional development and global/social issues.

Please help us by answering the following questionnaire:

1. From your perspective the most important thing the Global Alliance can accomplish over the next few years is (please rank in order of priority):
   1. Standards for professional credentials (accreditation)
   2. Standards for the accreditation of public relations education curriculum
   3. Sharing more resources from one association to the other (opening up more access to more products and services to Global Alliance members)
   4. Developing an advocacy platform and an active public relations strategy to get the message out
   5. Operating a clearing house for communication researchers to match needs with demands
   6. Publishing documents on the practice of public relations around the world
   7. Communicating more often with individual members of partner organisations
   8. Other….
2. If the Global Alliance could focus on only one thing and do it well what would that be?
3. Considering the current work plan of the Global Alliance, what in your opinion would you say is the least important?
4. What could the Global Alliance undertake that would make your life easier as an organisation representing practitioners in your country/area of speciality?
5. Please tell us anything else you would like us to consider.

A draft of the final report, including three country studies as well as issues raised by the effort to discuss, will be sent to you before the end of the year.

You will be requested to comment, to make the report available to your members for discussion, and to develop you own country study thus contributing to the expansion of everyone’s understanding of this very relevant issue for the future of our profession.

The project is led by Toni Muzi Falconi (Ferpi) and assisted by Nigel O’Connor (IPR) and Margi Moscardi (Prisa)

This project to document how public relations is practised around the world and offer practical information about each country, is in its most active phase.

It is led by Juan Carlos Molleda (PRSA) with help from students from Mount Royal in Canada and from the University of Florida while European countries are being handled by our new member (welcome!) EUPRERA. Soon you will see the first country profiles, but only after you will have had the opportunity to read and adjust yours, on our Website.

Members of the Executive Committee have been on the road since the Rome June actively participating to GA members national conferences.

From Puerto Rico to Slovenia, from Madrid to Kenya, from the United States to Switzerland, from the IPRA Board meeting in Bruxelles to the IPR conference in London, from Brasil to the annual EUPRERA conference in Estonia….…in all these instances the Global Alliance was able to promote its mission to participants underscoring the inextricable relationship between the public relations profession and the need for a global vision on the part of the professional community.

As the number of member associations joining the GA grows so does the need to have a better geographic representation on the executive board. For that reason, the board decided that we would add two regional seats- one for Asia and one for South America. We are pleased to announce that Ajit Pathak from the PR Institute of India has agreed to serve on the board. Ajit has been an active member of his institute and has readily espoused the cause of the GA in his part of the world. We welcome his involvement. He can be reached at:drajitpathak2002@yahoo.com 

A happy 2004 to all Global Alliance members,