Historic Day for the U.S.A.!

Hello FPRA Treasure Coast!

Historic Day for the U.S.A.!
What an exciting day for America and for all of our citizens. I hope you were able to watch today’s Inauguration of President Barack Obama. With the emergence of Facebook and other social networking technologies, I felt like I was there with all my friends (both in Florida and in D.C.) without the chill of the weather! All weekend long, friends posted photos of their arrival in D.C. and of the concert. CNN.com Live also partnered with Facebook to let people “Experience the Inauguration,” where people could watch the inauguration and see friends’ status updates, all in the same place. Your FPRA Chapter has a “Group” on Facebook and if you are on Facebook, feel free to join us!

Call for Entries for the FPRA Treasure Coast Chapter 2009 Local Image Awards
The Image Awards Committee has announced the “Call for Entries” for the FPRA Treasure Coast Chapter 2009 Local Image Awards. Please be aware that there will be “no snail-mail” “call for entries” this year. This information is only available electronically on our website at http://www.fpratreasurecoast.com/! Don’t forget the 25 Tips for Image Awards are available on this blog (http://www.fpratreasurecoast.blogspot.com/). A special thank you to Image Co-Chairs Robin Delgado and Dorothy Kamm and committee members Adrienne Moore, APR, CPRC and Nancy McCarthy, APR, for their hard work and organization in getting this event going. Thanks and good luck!!

More Image Tips from Moore (Adrienne, that is)
17. When you read the entry booklet, you will see that the judges have the right to disqualify an entry. You don’t want that to happen. Make sure you follow all the rules regarding the set up of the entry binder, from font and type size to page layout. Use the Research, Objectives, Implementation, Evaluation and Budget headings in your two-page summary. Follow the NEW Rules for the Budget process. Meet all the binder requirements for placement of information.

Judges are instructed to look for the headings listed above in the summary and sometimes, will even measure the margins around the summary pages to make sure they are one inch around, as instructed.

18. Judges have the discretion to move your entry to another category. That will NOT disqualify your entry. Try to stay away from the OTHER category, if possible. The association has worked to include all types of projects in the stated categories.

19. Judges for Image Awards are selected from another Florida chapter. Most likely, those judges will not be familiar with your area or business. While you don’t want to waste space in the two-page summary to explain the demographics or location of your project, it often helps to say things like . . . on Florida’s East Coast or an underserved community . . . in order to give the judges a quick reference. Some of this may be handled in the one-page Organizational Summary to help orient the judges.

Media Conference Update
There will be a kick-off meeting for the 2009 Media Conference on Tuesday, January 27 at 4 p.m. at the office of Beverly Jones, APR, chairman of the event. Please plan on attending if you are interested in helping; however, if you can’t attend and want to help, please contact Beverly at beverly@bbjonespr.com for more information. Beverly’s office address is: BB Jones Communications, Inc., 2682 SE Willoughby Blvd., Suite B, Stuart.

2009 FPRA Annual Conference Update – January 2009 from your Annual Conference Committee
PR on F.I.R.E. ~ Foundation, Innovation, Reputation, Education
Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to attend the 2009 FPRA Annual Conference? We sure hope it is!

Thanks to everyone who recently completed our short survey to help us find out a little more about what your expectations are of the conference and suggestions on speakers, sponsors, and sustainability. According to the survey, we already have 141 members planning to attend our conference in August – that’s fantastic! And congratulations to Lonnie Parizek of the Capital Chapter for winning the FPRA bucks.

One of our sessions is a panel discussion focusing on “PR Under Fire” (Foundation and Reputation components) to address the criticism our profession is receiving, especially during these difficult economic times, and what we can do to address that criticism and change the negative perception. Suzanne Sparling, APR, Immediate Past President of FPRA, has agreed to moderate this panel. Panel members include representatives from non-profit and government organizations, as well as agency and academic representatives. Following the panel discussion, we’ll hold breakout sessions with the panel members to address proactive ways to address this criticism.

Here’s another member testimonial from Denise D. Feiber, APR FDACS/Div of Plant Industry, Public Information Director of the Gainesville Chapter.

In these times of tight budget constraints, I feel more confident asking my boss for conference funding support when I can demonstrate that attendance will not only help me professionally, but will also benefit my agency. One way I have done this is by seeking opportunities to showcase our agency’s project work at conference – by volunteering to serve as a leader of a roundtable discussion or preparing a poster for display and discussion.

SAVE THE DATE
Location: Boca Raton Resort and Club, Boca Raton, FL
Date: August 9 – 12, 2009
Registration Fee: $595/person

If you have a testimonial about how the annual conference has benefited you and your employer, please e-mail it to ksmittle@ch2m.com. Remember, you can register now and make your hotel reservations. Room prices are tiered, starting as low as $145/night. We look forward to seeing you at the conference in August 2009!

Member News
Congratulations to Krista Garofalo, Director of Communications & Marketing for the United Way of St. Lucie County. Krista is participating in the St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership St. Lucie Class 27 this year.

Congratulations to Kathryn N. Treadwell, Director of Community Development for The ARC of Martin County. Kathryn and her husband, Andrew, were lucky enough to attend the University of Florida Gators’ National Championship win on January 8th! Go Gators!

Former Chapter President Melinda Glasco (2003-2004) and her husband David are awaiting the arrival of their second child, a boy. She is eight months pregnant with the arrival planned around March 23. Little Julia, born around the time Melinda was president, is now four years old and says she is ready for her new baby brother. Melinda works at the Upledger Institute in Palm Beach Gardens. Congrats to Melinda and David and of course, big sister, Julia!!

Have a great week,
Linette