By Elizabeth Bacheson, Programming Chair

We’re working on an ambitious programming calendar for our members this year including several expert speakers, panel discussions and networking events. Here’s a preview:

Young Professionals Communicator Tour Series

Our Young Professionals committee will host their first tour of the year in March! The Communicator Tours series provides students and young professionals with a look inside a variety of PR agencies and corporate settings in the Pittsburgh area. Past tours include rue21, BRUNNER, Elias/Savion and Gatesman+Dave. Stay tuned for where our tour series will make its next stop!

GIFs, Memes, Hashtags, and Celebrities – What content can brands create and share and what should they avoid?

We’re working on a Q&A discussion with an IP/copyright attorney to discuss the do’s and don’ts for creating, curating and sharing content. This can often be a blurry topic, so we’re looking to bring some clarity to this important issue.

PRSA Cleveland Partner Event

We’re looking forward to joining forces with our fellow PR pros at PRSA Cleveland for a partner event to unite our two cities.

And much more!

Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming events and what’s to come this year! Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @prsapgh and like us on Facebook at PRSA Pittsburgh for ongoing updates!

By Autumn Barszczowski
[ This post was originally published on Her Campus – Point Park: http://bit.ly/1Qj4Pvl ]

When told that he was a Public Relations group’s “Communicator of the Year,” Mayor Bill Peduto joked that it is probably because he is always available.

He said folks can direct message him on Twitter, as well as texting him, but to climb through his window is better than sending him a message on Linkedin.

Every year, Pittsburgh’s chapter of the Public Relations Society of America holds a Renaissance Awards dinner to honor agencies from all over the city of Pittsburgh and their accomplishments in events, fundraisers, campaigns, and more.

“We’re going to be a city that learns to handle growth,” said the mayor, in response to the president of Pittsburgh’s Chapter of PRSA Steve Radick’s comment, which is to keep people in the city of Pittsburgh with communication and innovation.

During a dinner of carrot ginger soup and Peruvian style free-range chicken with tri-color quinoa and chimichurri sauce, the group presented awards in 17 categories, of both individual and collective achievements.

The mayor wasn’t the only winner of the night. Other agencies won for accomplishments in digital/social media campaigns, community relations/public service campaigns, and awards for special events, observances, or fundraisers.

The PRSA works to highlight the previous year’s accomplishments from PR agencies and individuals in order to learn from each other and create better ideas for the upcoming year, according to Steve Radick, president of Pittsburgh’s Chapter of PRSA.

“The Renaissance Awards gives an opportunity to look at success the PR community had” said Radick.

Along with these agency awards, Rachel Willis, a sophomore from Duquesne University and a double major in Public Relations and International Relations, was awarded with the Bob O’Gara Scholarship. The scholarship worth $2,000 was established to recognize outstanding public relations students for all of their hard work.

Students applying for the scholarship were asked to write an essay explaining what Public Relations meant to them. According to Willis, PR allows people to build relationships, a community, and gives them a way to engage with others. “To me, together that means we can impact others and affect change,” Willis said of the PR community.

The Agency of The Year Award went to The Motherhood for their Stork OTC campaign, which compiled blog posts from mothers about their difficulty in conceiving and the options that they found that could assist them in their process. They also hosted live Twitter chats in which they helped to promote the sales of the Stork OTC.

The ceremony ended with The Motherhood also being named “Best in Show” out of all the agencies in attendance, but the only agency out of 87 to receive a perfect score from the judges.

The Renaissance Hall of Fame Award, which went to Bob Oltmanns of OPR Group, LLC. During his speech he discussed his time in the PR field, leading up to that moment.

“This business is fun if you hang around long enough,” said Oltmanns, during his acceptance speech. He was nominated by fellow colleagues in PRSA, including Kenneth P. Service, Vice Chancellor of Communications at the University of Pittsburgh.

Service was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows in 1998, four years before Oltmanns in 2002, according to the PRSA website.

These Renaissance Awards are “good for people to get to know each other and to learn from each other…to learn different ways of doing things,” said Service.

Other winners include Giant Eagle, Gatesman+Dave, Smith Brothers Agency and more, which can be found on the PRSA’s website.

By Valerie Bennett

Once a year, the professionals of our industry gather to celebrate the accomplishments of fellow agencies and their peers. This gathering is known as the PRSA Pittsburgh’s 2016 Renaissance Awards and took place last Thursday at Hotel Monaco.

The Renaissance Awards are much more than an awards banquet; it is a time when the busy professional communicators of Pittsburgh can come together and catch up with old friends, co-workers, and meet the rising new talent.

As being a part of the “new to” crowd for PRSA and Pittsburgh, this event was a great experience and an even greater networking opportunity. Professionals from all corners of Pittsburgh including agencies, colleges, and corporations were in attendance. From this networking, I was able to hear stories of the past and how the industry we love so much has grown.

The entire night was beneficial but what I appreciated the most was being able to see some of the best campaigns created within this city along with the passion, determination, and endless work that went into each piece, making them truly memorable.

I am grateful I was given the opportunity to attend this event as well as hold a membership with an organization that continues to surprise me. One which worked so hard to make this event special to each individual who was present. I couldn’t have asked for a better first event to attend, and I am already looking forward to the next.

By Steve Radick
[ This post was originally published on PRSAY: http://bit.ly/1lUnR2V ]

We, PR professionals, have to stop thinking of ourselves as the “earned” bubble of the PESO model. If and when we do, we’ll realize that while we’ve been focused on writing press releases, pitching the media, and planning events, marketers from other disciplines are not only playing in the earned bubble too, they’re increasingly doing it better than we are.

We live in a world of integrated marketing whether we like it or not. Ad agencies are winning Cannes Lions for “PR campaigns” and PR agencies are winning for “ad campaigns.” We may be the only ones still drawing a line between PR and marketing and between paid and earned media.

This “us vs. them” attitude is the same argument we were having 20 years ago. Today’s consumer doesn’t care. And increasingly, clients don’t care either. As Kieran Donahue, VP of Marketing Americas at Hilton Worldwide said,

“The whole idea of PR versus marketing is crap. You are all connected.”

The things that make great brand marketing are the things that PR should have always been about – authenticity, newsworthiness, shareability, transparency, creativity. Think about the best marketing campaigns. They are filled with content that you seek out, that you watch willingly, and that you share with your friends. That’s the type of content that PR has always talked about. And as more and more people use ad blockers, DVRs and subscriptions to avoid interruptive advertising, PR thinking is finally showing real business dividends.

So while PR pros are sitting around arguing about how we should have a seat at the table, other disciplines have started doing PR work better than our own industry. That invitation to the table that we’re always waiting for? It’s not coming. Seats at the table go to the people with the best ideas, not the people in a particular box on the org chart. If we want a seat at the table, we have to earn it, and once we’re there, we have to be better guests.

We have to compete on the strength of our ideas, and that means changing how we think, how we talk, and how we present ourselves. We have to think of PR less as a workstream, as a functional specialty and start thinking of it as a mindset, as a unique perspective you can bring to marketing. I spoke about this topic at the PRSA International Conference in November. In my presentation, I shared five things PR pros have to start doing to improve the quality of those ideas.

Get inspired. Stop reading PR-only articles and blog posts. Stop going to PR-only events. top talking to PR-only people. You’re not only allowed to get out of the PR bubble, it is necessary for your survival. Broaden your horizons and start checking out what other marketing disciplines are doing. Understand how they talk about themselves. How they present their ideas.

Learn their language. Saying “I went into PR because I hate math” may be said jokingly, but every time it’s said, it sets our industry back. We may have different functional specialties, but we’re all business people with the same business goals. Learn about aided and unaided awareness, share points, RTBs, CTAs, CPMs, CTRs, and USPs.

Think critically. Rarely is a business problem solved solely with PR. We have to stop and think with our business hat on more often. Let’s ask “is that really the problem we should be solving? Is that the real problem?”

Own the big idea. We’re all tired of being asked to “PR this” or to “get coverage” for something. Why are we sitting and waiting for “the big idea?” What would happen if we were the ones coming up with the big idea? What would happen if we were driving this bus from the beginning instead of jumping on at the end? Do we even know what a “big idea” is? Instead of training our people to come up with big ideas, we train them to be smart and detail-oriented. We have to work harder to come up with our own “big ideas” – ideas that work across paid, earned, owned, and social. They have to impact the business in a profound way.

Sell in the big idea. Coming up with ideas is easy. Getting them sold in to your boss, to your client, to the finance department – that’s the hard part. And unfortunately, that’s the part we don’t do well. Here’s one example of how PR is losing that battle. Leo Burnett and MSLGroup’s Always’ #LikeaGirl campaign was one of the most iconic campaigns of the past year. Not surprisingly, it was awarded the Cannes Grand Prix in PR this year. Here’s the submission video they created for Cannes, the “Oscars” of advertising and creativity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdMLD7Cd3Ec

Pretty inspiring, huh? I’ve got three daughters and that video got me thinking they’re going to change the world. What a great way to showcase that campaign. Note how it uses video and striking imagery to tell a story and inspire people. That’s what sells in big ideas, not complex slides and detailed bullets.

If you’re interested in checking my whole presentation, it’s available here: http://bit.ly/1npeNUz.  PR is what makes great brand marketing today, so shouldn’t we be the one leading the charge?

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is pleased to announce its 2016 Board of Directors. The new team is comprised of board veterans, new members and everyone in between. Together they will continue to advance the field of public relations in the Pittsburgh area through professional development, member events and more.

“As one of the larger chapters within PRSA, the Pittsburgh chapter is an influential voice in the public relations industry on both a local and national level, and I’m flattered and honored to be named 2016 President,” said Steve Radick, 2016 PRSA Pittsburgh President. “We’ve got a great Board in place for 2016, and I can’t wait to work with them to create a diverse and engaged PR community here in Pittsburgh.”

The 2016 Board includes:

• President: Steve Radick, BRUNNERWORKS

• Vice President: Meredith Klein, Gatesman+Dave

• Immediate Past President: Meredith Amoroso, Mullen

• Secretary: Darcey Garda, National Alliance on Mental Illness

• Treasurer: Caitlin Driscoll, Better Business Bureau of Western PA

Committee Leads and Chairs:

• Programming Director: Elizabeth Bacheson, Westinghouse Electric Company

• Renaissance Awards Co-Chair: Amanda Hardt, Schneider Downs

• Renaissance Awards Co-Chair: Noah Fleming, Steel City Media

• Speaker Series Lead: Mendy Nestor, Infinity Concepts

• Professional Development Chair: Robin Rectenwald, Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania

• Young Professionals Co-Chair: Jamie Kurke, Gatesman+Dave

• Young Professionals Co-Chair: Livia Vissat, Management Science Associates, Inc.

• Communications Director: Chelsea Cummins, Goldberg, Persky & White, P.C.

• Social Media Chair: Samantha McClintock, Dollar Energy Fund

• Blog Coordinator: Valerie Bennett, BRUNNERWORKS

• Website Lead: JoAnn Jenny, University of Pittsburgh

• Multimedia Lead: Tim Long, Em-Media, Inc.

• Member Services: Jessica Franklin, United States Steel Corporation

• Student Liaison: Bob O’Gara, Point Park University

• Diversity/Ethics & Student Liaison: Eric Winkfield, West Virginia University

• Directory/Job Bank: Dr. Andrew Lingwall, Clarion University

• Accreditation: Jeff Worden, Worden Public Relations

• Senior Practitioners Liaison: Allison Peiritsch, Slippery Rock University

To learn more about PRSA Pittsburgh and open positions on the board, please contact Chelsea Cummins at info@prsa-pgh.org.

About PRSA Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America represents more than 200 of the region’s top public relations professionals. The organization offers professional development, social, education and networking activities, including seminars with top PR leaders, award programs, dynamic speakers and communicator tours. PRSA Pittsburgh members are part of the nation’s largest organization of communications professionals, representing  a piece of nearly 20,000 members nationwide. Visitprsa-pgh.org for more details.