A Message from the 2019 PRSA Pittsburgh President

Hello there! Ben Butler, APR here — your 2019 PRSA Pittsburgh President. For those of you that I haven’t met — it’s nice to e-meet you.

The 2019 board has finalized our Strategic Plan for the year. Unlike most strategic plans, it’s concise and to the point.

I wanted to take a moment to guide you through at a high-level and share what we’re looking forward to accomplishing this year.

So pull open this PDF and follow along.

Page 1: All Types of Background

The main message from Page 1 is that we’re not just some isolated, local organization. We’re a Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), which is a 21,000 member organization with Chapters from sea to shining sea.

PRSA is broken up into Districts (check them all out here), and we’re in the East Central District alongside 17 other Chapters from Michigan to here in Pennsylvania to West Virginia … Mountain Mamaaaaaaaaaaa.

Be sure to consider attending PRSA National events — like PRSA International Conference — as a supplement to what you’re doing locally.

Page 2: Our Two Goals for 2019

Part 1: Emphasize Our Two Biggest Events of the Year
In the last five years, we’ve recognized the growing impact of our two biggest events of the year — Renaissance Awards and PR Summit (formerly Professional Development Day). They’ve raised our profile as an organization and have engaged an incredible amount of members and practitioners in our area.

This year, we’re looking to not just continue the legacy, but continue growing these events. Not just now, but for the foreseeable future. Here’s how:

• Negotiating recurring venues. We’ve started that with Renaissance and we hope to continue it with PR Summit. This means better rates and budgets, as well as continuing recognition.
• Promoting both events earlier, and more often. That means calling for Renaissance Awards sooner.
• Streamlining all other programming, so we can keep our eyes on the ball. We’ve already unveiled a fun and regular happy hour series happening every month.

Part 2: Build Our Community Amongst Members and Pittsburgh
“Community” tends to be a vague, all-encompassing term, but we have our definition down-pat.

We’ll be:

• Having a happy hour a month. Follow our calendar and be sure to meet and network. I’ve also been known to buy people drinks from time-to-time, so there might also be free drinks in it for you.
• Talking about you, the members, more on social media, blogs, etc. Look out and don’t be shy!
• Engaging more frequently and proactively on social media.
• Discussing current events — locally and internationally — related to and impacting our industry. You might recall we talked about and invited the guy who got fired from KDKA for calling Tom Brader a “Known Cheater” to this past Renaissance Awards.
• Sharing what our members are up to with the media more often. We pitched Renaissance Award winners, and we plan to pitch Bronze Anvil, Silver Anvil and other winners. Just be sure to let us know what you’re up to.
• Creating a digital community for you to engage in. We recently launched a PRSA Pittsburgh LinkedIn Company page. Be sure to follow.

And also, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep in the loop.

Page 3: Give Us a Shout If You Have Any Questions

This is a volunteer organization, and we spend our spare time (and sometimes lack thereof) to empower you, the coming generations, and the profession. Your success is our success.

If there’s anything we can do to help you out, or things you think we can do better, please don’t be shy.

Let’s enjoy all the great things we’re up to as a city, as a Chapter, and as an industry.

Here’s to a great year!

-Ben

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About Ben Butler, APR
Ben Butler, APR, is the founder and client services director for Top Hat—an award-winning marketing communications firm in Pittsburgh.

He’s been named a Top Under 40 Communicator, Pittsburgh Business Times 30 Under 30, North Allegheny Under 40 Distinguished Alumni, PR Entrepreneur of the Year, one of Spin Sucks 10 PR Professionals to Follow and am Accredited in Public Relations (APR)—a distinction held by less than 20-percent of all practitioners.