FPRA - Florida Public Relations Association Blog

The Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA will usher in the new year with a fantastic luncheon featuring Philadelphia social media and technology guru Alex Hillman.

Many are predicting that social media is "the future" of online marketing, but it's here now and it's not going away anytime soon. Alex will be talking about some of the common misconceptions about social media and social marketing, common barriers to entry, and how you can overcome them.

Event check-in for the luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 22, followed by the luncheon and presentation from noon until 1 p.m. The luncheon will take place at the University Club, 150 E. Central Blvd. in downtown Orlando.

Register here.

Photo: Flickr, stellargirl

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Congratulations to FPRA State President Lanette Hart, APR, CPRC who gave birth to a baby boy at 6:48 p.m. on Thursday, December 11. Philip Alexander Mallory Hart tipped the scales at 7lbs., 7oz and measured 19 and 3/4 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well.

Congratulations to the Hart family!

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The Florida Public Relations Association has released an updated version of its membership application.

Download Application

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In a tough economy, the best investment you can make is in yourself! And what better way to do that than to renew your FPRA membership. Even better, FPRA wants to thank you for your membership by investing in you! Those members who renew their members by December 31, 2008 will be entered to win one of three fabulous prizes:

- $400 Travelocity Gift Certificate
- $300 of FPRA Professional Development Bucks
- $200 Visa Gift Card

Download flyer

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On the eve of the Nov. 8 Florida Public Relations Association state board meeting, members of the FPRA Executive Committee and leaders from FPRA chapters around the state were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Flagler County's Emergency Operations Center. Click here to see the entire photoset.

The EOC houses the administrative offices for the Flagler County Emergency Services Department which includes emergency management, fire rescue, flight operations, geographic information services, 911 addressing and the county's 911 dispatch center. The facility includes radio and television broadcast studios for Flagler County's all-access government channel, training rooms, a full kitchen and employee sleeping quarters.

The center opened in April 2006 at a cost of $7 million.

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The Executive Committee of the Florida Public Relations Association today hosted a surprise baby shower for FPRA State President Lanette Hart, APR, CPRC.

Executive Committee members pitched in and presented Lanette with a cake, a baby stroller and car seat, assorted blankets and clothing, and a few stuffed animals. Click here to see the entire photoset.

Lanette is due to deliver her third son in December.

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As organizations focus more than ever on improving operational efficiency and service, they are asking: Do organizations that communicate effectively outperform those who don’t? If they do, is our communication effort contributing the way it should to improved results for our organization?

Join the Volusia/Flagler Chapter of FPRA from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Nov. 12 at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange as Ron Hess, an employee communication expert, shares with us the “Ten Employee Communication Traits of High Performing Organizations.” Through his consulting experience, plus more than 25 years of senior level experience at GE, Eaton, Watson Wyatt and other companies, Ron has seen high performing organizations that effectively practice and encourage communication behaviors, and traits that mediocre or low-performing organizations do not.

If your organization is not high performing, he’ll also provide plenty of practical ideas on how to get in the game and accelerate winning through organizational communications.

Ron is president of Motiv8 Communications, a full service employee communications firm based in Port Orange, and a frequent writer and speaker on employee communication topics.

The program will be held at Palmer College of Chiropractic, Port Orange, FL, in Building 1, Room 1203. Check-in and networking will begin at 11:30 a.m., and lunch will be at noon. The cost is $10 for FPRA members and students and $15 for nonmembers.

Register online at www.fpravf.org by noon Nov. 7. Cancellations made after 8 a.m. Nov. 10, will be billed. Space is limited to the first 50 reservations.

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The Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association is offering an exclusive Backstage Pass tour of Orlando’s newest waterpark -- Aquatica! Learn how the SeaWorld public relations team successfully used public relations strategies and tactics to launch the waterpark – and how you can use a similar approach for your organization. SeaWorld’s Director of Communications Nick Gollattscheck will be our guest speaker.

This exclusive event caps at 75. Don't miss it! Register online at www.fpra-orlando.org.

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Each year, the Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association presents two of its most prominent and prestigious awards, the Bob Davis Award and Member of the Year.

This year's Bob Davis Award recipient is featured in a separate post.

The Member of the Year award is intended to recognize one member of the chapter who has made a significant contribution through outstanding leadership, demonstrated enthusiasm, extraordinary involvement and loyal support.

This year's Member of the Year award recipient is Keith Salwoski, director of public relations and chief storyteller for Gaylord Palms Resort Hotel & Convention Center in Kissimmee.

Since joining FPRA, Keith has worked tirelessly to support the association and the Orlando Area Chapter. He hosted one of our signature Backstage Pass events, served as a conference speaker and has donated numerous auction items to support various FPRA fundraisers.

His biggest effort to date, however, has to be the hosting of FPRA's 70th annual conference earlier this month at Gaylord Palms. His attention to detail made it an outstanding experience for all those who attended the conference. And his donation of food to the fundraiser helped raise $10,000 for student scholarships.

(pictured, from left to right) FPRA Orlando Area Chapter President Jamie Flower, APR and Keith Salwoski.

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The Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association on Wednesday, Aug. 27 honored Amanda Forbes, account executive at Fry Hammond Barr, as the recipient of the chapter’s 2008 Bob Davis Award for outstanding contributions to the public relations profession.

The award is presented annually to an individual for his or her “behind the scenes” volunteer efforts that go largely unnoticed by chapter members and are not recognized by other awards programs.

The award is named in honor of Bob Davis, Ph.D., ABC, APR, CPRC, a retired professor from the University of Central Florida who has given tirelessly to FPRA and the profession for the past three decades.

Since joining FPRA, Amanda has served two years on the Chapter's board of directors as well as on several committees. She was also a member of the blog team for this year's FPRA annual conference in Kissimmee. Beginning Sept. 1, she will serve on the Orlando board as vice president of membership.

(pictured, from left to right) FPRA Orlando Area Chapter President Jamie Floer, APR, Amanda Forbes and Dr. Bob Davis.

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A few of FPRA's Chapters have received some post-conference media coverage:

Public relations group named best in the state - Sarasota Herald-Tribune (August 24)

Dick Pope/Polk County FPRA Chapter Makes Mark on FPRA State Conference - PolkVoice.com (August 19)

People & Changes - Lakeland Ledger (August 11)

Polk FPRA wins pair of state awards - News Chief (August 9)

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This morning marks one week since the 70th FPRA Annual Conference officially kicked off in Kissimmee. This post will be my final look at blog Web stats related to the conference.

Total unique visitors: 2,570
Total page views: 8,810
The average visitor stayed on this blog for 4 minutes, 52 seconds.

Compared to our 2007 conference blog coverage, these stats represent a 16 percent increase in unique visitors and a 24 percent increase in total page views.

This blog has allowed our Association to reach individuals we might not have reached otherwise. It has allowed us to share information about our growing profession with others living outside the state... and the country. Despite being one of 112.8 million blogs worldwide, the FPRA Blog found a niche and reeled in more than 2,500 unique visitors in one week.

Thanks, again, to our dedicated blog team who made it happen: Suzanne Dameron, Kelly Donovan, Melissa Filipkowski, Amanda Forbes, Chris Gent, Dr. Allen Moore, APR, Paul Ramey, APR. Special thanks to Paul Ramey, APR for championing the cause with FPRA's Executive Committee and to the FPRA State Office for assisting with promotion and logistics.

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On the heels of the FPRA annual conference comes another great professional development opportunity: BlogOrlando. And this one is FREE!

Voce Communications, in partnership with Rollins College and the Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA, will host the third edition of this event from 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 at Rollins College. The event is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike and will bring together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen's journalism and other related topics.

Click here to register for BlogOrlando.

Click here to see who's already registered.

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Disc jockey Allen Moore, APR put this video together from Monday night's Foundation Funk-tion. Check it out...

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This blog enjoyed a steady stream of visitors throughout FPRA's annual conference on Aug. 3-6.

That trend continued Thursday -- one day after the conference -- when the blog drew an additional 266 unique visitors.

Here are the totaled stats since Monday:

Total unique visitors: 1,967
Total page views: 7,276
The average visitor stayed on this blog for 4 minutes, 50 seconds.

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Working behind the scenes at this year's annual conference was a true public relations professional and marketing genius. I'm talking about Keith Salwoski, Director of Public Relations and Chief Storyteller at Gaylord Palms Resort.

Although we never saw Keith on stage or in the spotlight during the conference, he was making things happen to enhance our conference experience.

Things like donating all the food for Monday night's scholarship fundraiser. This allowed all auction and event proceeds to go directly to the Florida Public Relations Education Foundation. Without Keith's donation, the auction would have raised less than half of the $15,500 it made.

Keith also arranged the donation of an amazing Gaylord Palms ICE! package to the live auction. This item helped raise funds for ongoing educational and professional development programs for FPRA members.

Keith was the mastermind behind the ICE! certificates that were distributed to all conference attendees for donation to the local non-profit organization of their choosing. A nice touch and a great way to give back to our local communities.

He also served as a speaker at Tuesday afternoon's student track, sharing his many years of experience with the future leaders of our profession.

These are but a few examples of how Keith reached out to us during the conference. As a member of the Orlando Area Chapter, Keith continually gives back to FPRA and the public relations profession -- and for that we are all extremely grateful.

Thank you, Keith, and thank you to Michelle Smith at Gaylord who worked tirelessly throughout the conference to support Keith.

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In closing, I wanted to share with you the totaled Web stats for this blog during our three day conference. The event itself may be over, but the information, podcasts and photos we've posted these past few days will remain for you to refer back to in the future.

Total unique visitors: 1,701
Total page views: 6,314
The average visitor stayed on this blog for 4 minutes, 49 seconds.

Thanks for visiting. We hope to see you next year on Aug. 9-12, 2009 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton. Here's a glimpse...

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FPRA's 70th Annual Conference has drawn to a close. We'll be posting a few recap items over the next day or so. We hope you enjoyed the blog coverage.

Special thanks again to our awesome blog team who worked throughout the conference -- day and night -- to ensure a continuous flow of conference coverage.

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FPRA Annual Conference: Closing Session, What Makes the Great Ones Great – Don Yaeger, New York Times best-selling author

Sixteen Characteristics of Greatness

What makes great people tick, and how can we apply those characteristics to our lives? We’re all capable of greatness. It’s all in the mental approach we take to our work and our lives.

How great leaders think:

1. It’s personal.

Don once scored a basket while playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player in the world. Furious that he was one-upped by a short white guy, Jordan trash-talked Don every time they met after that, not because he hated Don but because he hated losing. Great leaders expect only success from themselves.

Continue reading "FPRA Annual Conference: What Makes the Great Ones Great - Don Yaeger" »

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Dr. Leslie Gaines Ross leads Weber Shandwick’s global reputation consulting services and proprietary thought leadership development. She is the architect of groundbreaking, award-winning research into CEO and corporate reputation, executive team reputation, leadership transitions, and reputation sustainability and recovery. Dr. Gaines-Ross is a member of Weber Shandwick’s global senior management team and is based in the firm’s corporate headquarters in New York.

Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation
Dr. Gaines-Ross started her talk by telling us that the growing significance of reputation became very apparent to her when her manilla folders on the topic began growing. It was around 2000 that reputation as a subject was becoming an important body of knowledge and a discipline.

Gaines-Ross found herself and others asking questions: What is driving reputation? What is the relationship to financial performance? How can you recover reputation?

Continue reading "FPRA Annual Conference: General Session D, Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation - Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross" »

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