Hello FPRA Treasure Coast Chapter!As you saw last week, our Chapter put the “final piece in the puzzle” by winning the “Outstanding Chapter of the Year” for the first time in our 25-year history! All year, this Chapter pulled together, worked hard as a team and advanced the public relations profession on the Treasure Coast. We are a wonderful team and I appreciate everything each and every one of you did this year to make this recognition possible. And, as your President, I am so proud to have served such a fantastic group of PR Professionals this past year.
Congratulations goes to Communications Chair, Erick Gill, who made it possible for us to win the President’s Award for Communications. And thanks to Misti Guertin, APR and Sarah Starr, our newsletter editors, who made it possible for us to win the Best Chapter Newsletter Award, too!
FPRA State President, Lanette Hart, APR, CPRC, was kind enough to share her comments with me and I’d like to share them with you:
President’s Award for Communications
Communications plays such a major role in the success of any organization or business. Identifying your target audiences and understanding the importance of message consistency and continued dialogue is incredibly important. The same can be said of an FPRA Chapter. Timely and meaningful information being sent to members in the manner in which they’d like it received is a delicate balance. I believe one chapter rose to the top in this area and gave the perfect example of how to do it right this year. In fact, this chapter lead the way for many of the chapters by being the first to announce their new chapter blog, and they were probably wondering why they weren’t mentioned for new technology because they did SO much in this area, even sharing ideas and helping other chapters as they set up their own blogs or other tools in the “new technology” department. However, this chapter didn’t just excel in the area of new technology; they excelled in all areas of communications. The chapter we will honor today has spent the year finding new ways to take their communications to new levels through already established tools and the introduction of many new ones! Chapter communications efforts were top priority for this chapter. From an upgraded Web site to a weekly President’s blog, communications to their members, the State Executive Committee and Board updates, and media and non-members were of utmost importance. In September, the first redesigned e-newsletter, The PRO, was issued. Continued upgrades and enhancements of the chapter’s Website provided new options and content. The chapter distributed more than 21 press releases with several media hits included newspaper and magazine articles and radio shows. The President’s new idea was to begin and maintain a weekly blog to communicate to the members. Additionally, the chapter created a Facebook page and LinkedIn group. Let’s hear it for Linette Trabulsy and the Treasure Coast Chapter for their outstanding work in Communications this year!
Best Chapter Newsletter (presented by Melanie Mowery Etters, APR, CPRC, FPRA State Communications Chair)
I will share that the newsletter competition was extremely close. Chapters, please keep up the great work next year. Let me tell you some of the comments from the judges in selecting our winner.
- This chapter newsletter had outstanding graphics which increased its readability.
- Visually it was attractive
- It contained lots of information about a variety of subjects
- And, it was consistently of high quality
Outstanding Chapter of the Year (Presented by Lanette Hart, APR, CPRC, FPRA State President)
The chapter that I’m about to honor with the most coveted “Outstanding Chapter of the Year” had their sights set on this award going into the year, and they shared that with me last August when I visited their chapter to install their new board. As far as I’m concerned they have more than earned it. But, I have to tell you, several chapters gave you all a serious run for your money!!! I can’t really tell you how difficult a decision this was to make. I truly believe you all did an outstanding job this year and I am not ashamed to admit that I did lose some sleep on making this and many of these award selections. So many of you have worked so hard all year and I’m so honored to have had the chance to serve alongside you. However, the chapter we honor today really outdid themselves and it truly was a team effort; all year I saw the perfect teamwork of the president, the immediate past president, the president-elect and many of the other chapter leaders and members. What really stood out to me was how they didn’t stop there. They were eager to share best practices with so many of the other chapters and really led the way with being available to help others when they were called upon to assist with “how-to’s” and other such info sharing and teamwork. This chapter had an exciting and busy year. From a “puzzle” themed Installation Ceremony in September to the annual Media Conference in June, high quality opportunities for member professional development, networking, local awards competitions and leadership were presented. The chapter’s theme, “Putting All the Pieces of the Puzzle Together,” was used to build a network of professionals and put all the pieces into place to form one awesome chapter. After such a strong year and excelling in so many areas, this chapter is poised to flourish and continue to provide the pieces of the puzzle for this chapter for many years to come. Cleary it’s a great time to be part of FPRA at the Treasure Coast Chapter and I’ve been so pleased and impressed with this chapter. Please join me in congratulating Linette Trabulsy and her fabulous chapter! Will you all come forward to be recognized?
Chapter Participation at Annual Conference
While we were at the Annual Conference, it occurred to me that the Treasure Coast Chapter really went above and beyond to help make the conference successful. From raising money for the Foundation to participating in panel presentations, our Chapter served the association by hosting, sponsoring and assisting with the conference including:
- Coordinated and presented a panel discussion for the Student Track of the conference -- Debra Banta, APR, and a committee of five other local FPRA members presented “What Is Public Relations/PR Career Opportunities” to a group of university students at the conference. Panelists discussed their jobs as public relations professionals, how they got into their career and offered advice for entering the public relations field. The panel included: Banta, Trabulsy, Kendall Clifford with The Firefly Group, Pat Austin Novak, APR, Audra Shaneman of Mariner Sands Country Club and Sam Yates with Yates and Associates.
- Blogged from the conference -- Bryan Beaty, president-elect of the Treasure Coast
Chapter, was part of the blogging team that provided real-time information from the conference (www.fprablog.org). - Assisted with Student Track presenters -- Cara Perry, of FAU Treasure Coast Campus, assisted the State Conference Chair, Karen Smittle, APR, with the coordination and scheduling of speakers for the Student Track of the Conference.
- Introduced speakers -- Linette Trabulsy, your Chapter President, was honored to introduce a legend in our profession -- Mr. Joseph Curley, APR, CPRC as one of the speakers during conference.
- Coordinated and hosted the FPRA Education Foundation annual scholarship fundraiser -- Adrienne Moore, APR, CPRC served as the chairman of the fundraiser which raised $8,000 for scholarships given to university students going into the public relations profession.
- Provided golf lessons for the participants -- as part of the fundraising efforts of the Foundation, an annual golf outing is provided to the participants of the conference on the Sunday before the meetings. Chapter member Susan Naugle, of the Executive Women’s Golf Association, provided the lessons.
Even before the conference, our Chapter won 3rd place in the State’s Chapter Challenge by promoting Annual Conference, Image Awards and Golden Image Awards. For our efforts, our Chapter was given a prime spot table at Golden Image Awards along with a bottle of wine. Thanks to all who helped before, during and after annual conference! Your hard work really paid off!
Golden Image Awards
Speaking of Golden Image Awards, congratulations goes to Stacy Ranieri and Nancy McCarthy, APR of The Firefly Group for their Award of Distinction at Golden Image Awards for their work on the Manatee Pocket Dredging Website. Congratulations also goes to Doreen Poreba, APR, of the PR Czar, for her Award of Distinction and Judges Award at Golden Image Awards for her work on Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow news release for the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. Way to go ladies!!!
What's on the Horizon
Looking forward to 2009-10, I wanted the theme to be: Do it again in 2010....but we’ll just have to wait to see what Mr. President Bryan Beaty has up his sleeve! Whatever the theme, it will certainly be an exciting year under his leadership. Please mark your calendars now for our Annual Meeting and Installation of Officers and Directors, scheduled for Wednesday, September 2nd at noon at the IRSC Kight Center for Emerging Technologies, room 309. If you haven’t already done so, please go online and RSVP by clicking here.
Wow! Thanks again for all you do, did and will do in the future for FPRA! :-)
Have a great week,
Linette
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