1998-99 PRSSA Annual Report
Letter to Members
It is a privilege to report that PRSSA is completing one of its best years in its 30-year history. With six new chapters and increasing interest in programs, PRSSA continues to affirm its position as the world's pre-eminent, pre-professional student society.
During the last year, the National Committee has been driven by three key goals: To improve the value of national membership in PRSSA, to improve communication with members, and to streamline and to improve the internal procedures of the PRSSA National Committee.
Improving the value of national membership/communicating with members
To improve the value of PRSSA membership, we must improve communication between the national organization and each individual member. While our organizational structure is such that neither the National Committee nor National Headquarters can ensure that every member receives information about our national programs, several communications initiatives are being development to combat this challenge.
The heart of our challenge is moving the message beyond our communication gatekeepers. For example, although this annual report is directed toward chapter leadership, we must develop ways for every member to gain access to every national document - such as this annual report.
First, the National Committee has voted to eliminate national monthly mailings as they now exist. Beginning in September 1999, chapters will receive copies of a national bimonthly newsletter, "Connecting with PRSSA." The publication will condense all information previously included in mailings into one bimonthly summary, while providing chapter leaders with a document that is easy to reproduce for all members.
Scholarship and membership forms will still be distributed as supplements to the newsletter.
Second, PRSSA will publish its first-ever Member Services Guide this fall. Designed to serve as each member's handbook to national opportunities, the Services Guide will acquaint new members with the details of awards programs, scholarships, national events, national publications, and other major national opportunities. PRSSA will ship a Member Services Guide to each member listed on the November 1, 1999 chapter dues form.
The goal of this guide is to provide new members a "PRSSA crash course" on the front end of their membership. By increasing familiarity with our national programs at the local level, we aim to increase participation.
Other outlets of communication under development include the PRSSA Web site (www.prssa.org) and PRSSA-Talk (prssa-talk@prssa.org). The Web site received a major overhaul last summer, and will again be re-engineered during June and July 1999. Our ultimate goal is to brand prssa.org as the preferred information source of all PRSSA members. During 1999-2000, every PRSSA document, announcement or event will be posted on the site so that the information is instantly available to every member - not just our information gatekeepers.
PRSSA.org also will reinvent itself as the preferred information resource for public relations information. Beyond national Society news, the site soon will begin incorporating academic articles and other trade information to assist individuals interested in the profession or our Society. This change in philosophy will reposition PRSSA as the national leader in preparing students for successful careers in public relations.
PRSSA-Talk, our national list-serv, is one of our most underutilized resources. In fact, at last count fewer than 500 of our members were subscribed to PRSSA-Talk. Akin to the reason members should visit prssa.org, PRSSA-Talk provides up-to-date national news, but also provides a national forum for discussion of public relations issues. Need an internship? Want to know how to write a news release? PRSSA-Talk provides members a chance to discuss these issues. And important to a Committee goal, PRSSA-Talk provides members another ramp of direct access to the National Committee.
Improving the efficiency of the National Committee
Dr. Rick Fischer, PRSSA national faculty adviser, said it best when he said the role of the 1998-99 National Committee was to fine tune what previous committees had done.
1998-99 marked the third year of a restructured National Committee. In 1995, the first-ever "specialty-area" PRSSA National Committee started from scratch in defining the roles of the National Vice Presidents. Through this building process, the construction and job descriptions of committee members change each year. Please read the individual officer updates included in this report to learn how this year's vice presidents further defined the mission of the Committee.
Another important Committee goal was to ensure a smooth transition between the 1998-99 and the 1999-2000 National Committees. For the first time in PRSSA history, Vice President Dan Lemin spearheaded an effort to prepare a national action plan to guide the Committees through the three-month transition. By delivering such a plan to the new committee we ensured that ideas generated during 1998-99 will not be lost when the new committee goes to the drawing board this summer.
Opportunities and challenges ahead
While the state of our Society is strong, there are many challenges and opportunities ahead as we move into our third decade of service.
First, technology will continue to revolutionize the way we function as a Society. Within the next few years I predict that many of PRSSA's processes will be revolutionized by emerging technologies. Eventually, I hope the National Committee will initiate contact with every member through e-mail, and that the Web site will replace our reliance on paper communication.
I also envision national on-line training forums and chat rooms for discussion between chapter and national leaders. We also hope to generate day-by-day Internet coverage of our national events starting in 1999 or 2000. Although initially we will only post digital images and summaries, it will eventually be cost-effective to host live simulcasts of seminars and workshops.
The amazing news is that in 1995 PRSSA did not have any form of electronic communication. In four years, we have developed an infrastructure that when fully developed will guarantee improved communication among our chapters. One day a school in California can hold an on-line discussion with a school in New York. Or a rural school can partner with an urban school to host on-line meetings via distance learning. Truly, our opportunities are unlimited.
In large part because of technology, the American economy is increasingly becoming linked to every corner of the globe. Thus, I hope PRSSA will ultimately embrace the opportunity to expand its operations into other countries. Following the lead of PRSA's current movement in this direction, I believe it will be a matter of years, not decades, before we become an international society.
Just this spring, PRSA's Educational Affairs Section sponsored its first international review of a public relations curriculum in Canada. During the next year, we expect to develop a plan for how PRSSA can include universities outside of the United States in our programs.
First, however, we must focus on the state of our Society at home. A near equal to our communication challenge is the status of many of our PRSSA chapters. The results of March 1999 dues data indicates that more than 50 percent of our chapters have at least one "chapter standard" problem. In an effort to combat this epidemic, the National Committee voted in March to issue national probations to these schools for one year. At the end of the year, the Committee will review the standing of these schools and recommend further action. In January, the Committee distributed its official policy for chapter probations. If you believe your chapter's charter may be in jeopardy, please contact the National President. I assure you we are here to improve your chapters - not punish them.
As is evident from this Annual Report, PRSSA is a complex organization with complex challenges and opportunities. However, I am confident that PRSSA's third decade will be as prosperous and encouraging as its first two. But we must all pitch in to make the Society the best it can be. Please join me in working to advance PRSSA to the next level of service and excellence.
Yours in service,
Kent Landers
National President, 1998-99
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