FRPE presents: “25 for 25” ! Donate today!

The Florida Public Relations Education Foundation can help bridge the gap for students and professional members, and has been doing so for many years. For instance, a grand total of $39,975 has been given back to assist in the professional and educational development of FPRA members.

Working together, here’s what we’ve already accomplished:

·         Since 2001, 98 members received rebates for APR designation. Total:  $9,065

·         Since 2001, 18 Student Scholarships have been awarded. Total:  $24,000

·         Since 2008, 8 professional members received Annual Conference scholarships. Total: $4,580  

·         Since 2009, 6 scholarships awarded to Counselors’ Network Winter Symposium. Total: $2,330

None of this would have been possible without the FPRE Foundation Fund!

That’s why we are announcing this year’s fundraising campaign: “25 for 25”

Our goal is $25,000 and we can meet this if every professional member donates at least $25!

Here’s what we hope to do:

·         5 additional conference scholarships for first-time attendees ($3,500) – for a total of 6!

·         2 additional scholarships for first-time CN Winter Symposium ($1,400) – for a total of 3!

·         $5,000 set aside to grow a professional scholarship for members seeking advanced degrees.

Recognition Levels:

25 for 25 Participant……………………………….…..$25 - $99

Silver Patron………………………………………………..$100 - $249

FPREF Gold Patron……………………………………….$250 - $499

FPREF Platinum Patron………………………………..$500 - $999

Fleischman Patron……………………………………… $1,000 - $4,999

Dillin Patron…………………………………………………$5000 and up

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF THE FPRE FOUNDATION!

FPRA & PRSA join together to host public relations showcase for nonprofit organizations

The Florida Public Relations Association Southwest Florida Chapter and Public Relations Society of America Gulf Coast Chapter have teamed up to present a Public Relations Community Showcase for Nonprofits on April 19 from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Lee County Election Center in south Fort Myers.

Six local PR and media professionals from Fort Myers and Naples will provide information and tips on the following topics: Writing News Releases, Crisis Communication, Communicating with the Media, Event Planning, Social Media, Public Speaking and more. The list of guest speakers includes; Susan Bennett, APR, CPRC, owner of Susan Bennett Marketing and Media; Samantha Scott, APR, owner of Pushing the Envelope; Carolyn Rogers, APR, CPRC, owner of Simplify PR; Lois Thome, WINK TV news anchor; Rena Romano, certified speaking coach; and Colleen Reynolds, APR, president of Edge Communications.

Admission will be $10 per attendee, which will include the full presentation and a light breakfast.

The Election Center is located at 13180 S. Cleveland Ave. behind Robb & Stucky across from the Bell Tower Shops.

Seating is limited. Information and reservations are available at fpraswfl.org and gulfcoastprsa.org.

About Florida Public Relations Association

The Florida Public Relations Association was founded in 1938 and is the oldest public relations organization in the United States. As a statewide Association, FPRA holds approximately 1,500 professional and student members, all that form the 15 professional and 11 student chapters. The Southwest Florida chapter has over 100 members and is dedicated to programs and activities that enhance the success of public relations professionals in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, and Glades Counties.

About the Public Relations Society of America

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the nation’s largest community of public relations and communications professionals. We provide training, set standards of excellence and uphold principles of ethics for the global public relations profession. As a leading voice in the PR industry, we also advocate for greater understanding and adoption of public relations services. The local Gulf Coast chapter is based in Naples, FL.

Chapter Award Nominations

Every year our chapter recognizes members with three special awards.  Awards are for chapter members only and you can nominate yourself, or someone you believe fits the description in of the categories below.   Please indicate which award you are nominating a candidate for and include a description of why you think they are the best match for this year’s awards. Nominations are due to Jessica Clark, APR by April 30, 2013.

 

The four awards categories are: The PR Professional of the Year; The Rising Star; The FPRA Chapter Member of the Year; and Unsung Hero:

PR Professional of the Year

Our chapter honors a member who exemplifies the high standards of the public relations profession in Southwest Florida with the PR Professional of the Year Award. The recipients of this award display a professional attitude and exercise professional conduct, are cooperative and supportive of fellow public relations professionals, and are very interested in raising the professional standing of FPRA in our community. Think of this person as one who both leads by word and deed. She/ he is a person you respect for their work and for their determination constantly improve.

 

Chapter Member of the Year

The Southwest Florida Chapter Member of the Year is one who goes above and beyond in their commitment of time and energy to ensure the success of the chapter. Not only has this recipient embraced the creative thinking and opportunities for participation in chapter programs and projects, but she or he also serves as an ambassador to the community of what FPRA is all about. Basically, this person excels at their profession, and enjoys giving back to this chapter to inspire future PR leaders to learn and grow through FPRA.
Rising Star

The Rising Star award recognizes and up and coming leader in our chapter. This is someone who has shown enthusiasm and passion for the profession, and where ever you see them, they are likely to be making a positive difference through their service to chapter events, career pursuits and in other arenas. We like to encourage our members to seek opportunities to get involved, and the Rising Star awardee is someone who puts this call into action.

Unsung Hero

The Unsung Hero Award was created to recognize the contributions of an individual SWFL FPRA member for their hard work and dedication to the chapter 'behind the scenes' that helps to enhance and promote the Public Relations profession.  This award honors an individual who consistently provides support and assistance to the chapter and its professional goals without hesitation. 

 

 

I can't live without...

Carolyn Rogers of SimplifyPR shared with us that she is living the brand with the assistance of her go to tool Dropbox...

"Dropbox is my little helper. I smiled when logging on the other day and it's tagline across the top of the page read  "Simplify Your Life."   Well, we at SimplifyPR are living the brand! Dropbox is a convenient type of FTP site with short upload time and easy sharing features to alert your graphic artist, client, photographer or friend that there are files to review--usually large files too big to email, or related files that are more easily bundled in one place.  And, its not bogging down your inbox or file server. It doesn't expire either. When you add new things to the file, it alerts the person you share the box with.  And it's easy to use, very intuitive. It's simple!  It's simplified."

So if you haven't jumped on the Dropbox wagon, make sure you check out their Help Page for details on how this application can help you simplify your daily tasks!

March Member Spotlight

 

 Mike Jackson, MBA, APR has enjoyed three careers -- in broadcasting, business and government – and now is creating new focus on performing as voice-over and on-camera talent for corporate events, documentaries and training, with support on messaging, strategy and writing.

Mike joined SWFL FPRA about a decade ago and served for a year as program chair. At the time, he was Cape Coral Economic Development Director and also responsible for the city’s public information function. Mike had earned his APR a few years earlier, while serving as Marketing Director for the Ohio Department of Development in Columbus, OH. He attributes his successes in Southwest Florida directly to the FPRA network of fellow APRs, who served as his initial network in our area.

Mike’s first career was TV news. He was on-air as an NBC-TV news correspondent and award-winning Chicago TV news anchor. After earning an MBA from Northwestern University, he established Jackson Communications Management, Inc. in Chicago. The company assisted national enterprises such as Motorola, CNA, Kraft Foods and the American Library Association with executive coaching, video production and satellite meetings for sales training, organizational development and quality management.

Mike has been deeply involved in Southwest Florida regional economic development and human resource issues. He serves as Public Relations chair of the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board and is active in his Cape Coral neighborhood association. He has also served as Communications Chair of the Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership and Membership Chair of the Uncommon Friends Foundation.

Mike is a USCG licensed Captain, avid recreational boater and SCUBA diver. He lives in Cape Coral with his wife Sally, an executive of Lee Memorial Health System.

Continued Membership Growth

Our chapter continues to grow as we add new members monthly. Thank you for your support and for sharing information about the chapter with your colleagues and friends.

In the month of February we welcomed four new members - Jodi Huntoon, Kathleen Welch, JoAnn Larkee and Tiffany Whitaker. Please join the board in welcoming them to the chapter and say "hello" at the next meeting.

 

 

Monthly APR Trivia: March

Question: The association that bestows the Accreditation in Public Relations credential is:

A.     Florida Public Relations Association

B.     Universal Accreditation Board

C.     Public Relations Society of America

D.     Southern Public Relations Federation

 

Answer:  B. The Universal Accreditation Board is an international accrediting body supported by 10 member organizations, including FPRA, PRSA and SPRF.

Save the Date for Conference 2013!

2013 FPRA State Conference!

We are getting closer to what is considered Florida’s # 1 Professional Development Conference for PR Professionals.  Mark your calendars for Sunday, August 4 through Wednesday, August 7, 2013 to attend conference at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club in St. Petersburg Florida.  This year celebrates the 75^th anniversary of FPRA, and will have a range of excellent speakers.  Some of the topics include optimizing digital communications, corporate social responsibility, overcoming challenges, handling challenging media situations and more.  To register for conference, visit www.fpra.org.  Conference attendees also receive a special room rate of $139 at The Vinoy if you register through the FPRA website.  Make sure you don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity.  

Conference Scholarships

Each year the Southwest chapter tries to provide a small number of conference scholarships to our chapter members to attend the Annual FPRA State Conference.  This year the chapter will provide a limited number of full and partial scholarships to attend this year’s annual conference, August 4-7, 2013 at the Vinoy in St. Petersburg Florida. 

To apply for a scholarship submit two or three paragraphs on why you need a scholarship, and how attending the conference will help you professionally.  Applications are due by Friday, April 12 and should be sent to Jessica Clark APR at jclark5983@yahoo.com.  Scholarship recipients will be announced during the 2013 Local Image Awards Ceremony on April 18.  

President's Word

I am always impressed by our members in the Southwest chapter of FPRA!  Everyone keeps such busy schedules, especially during this time of year, and I can see the efforts of every member in the community, not only for their organizations, but for charity, networking, FPRA and more.  Even with the sometimes hectic schedules, it is great to see that members take the time to come together once a month to learn something new in our industry, and catch up with old friends and make some new ones as well.  Our membership is growing, and it is exciting to see so many new faces joining the organization who will bring new ideas and energy into an already amazing group of professionals. 

We have had many great topics recently, and still have several fantastic programs coming up.  If you entered into the Local Image awards, mark your calendar for April 18 for the Image Ceremony (and April business meeting) from 6-7:30pm.  Keep checking our website for details on this event, and even if you didn’t enter this year, come and join me in recognizing and honoring our peers for their hard work on the many PR programs and tools they designed. 

On April 19, don’t miss out Community Showcase.  This event takes place from 8am to 11am at the Lee County Elections Center on US 41, behind Robb and Stucky.  Several PR pros will offer presentations for Non-Profits on PR and Marketing tools and tactics while also covering other important topics like Crisis Communications.

Seeing the events that we have lined up, as well as the events our many members create for the community at large, makes me so proud and honored to be working with such talented professionals in this industry.   

Social Media Corner: Klout defined by Social Media Vocabulary

By Jessica Boles

Social media influence is already a large part of what drives page ranking at Google and Bing. There are different tools out there that can help measure your own influence in social media, but with the changing times, these tools are quickly replaced with new ones. Klout is a service that uses an algorithm to measure your social media influence. You connect it to all of the social networks that you belong to and Klout analyzes your activity and engagement with other people on these networks. Your Klout score is based on your ability to drive action on all your social networks.

Klout measures your social media influence on a scale of 1-100. The average Klout score is around 40. The more that you can inspire actions on your social media pages such as “likes”, comments, shares and tweets, the higher your Klout score will become over time. Your Klout score focuses on more than just the number of posts you have or the frequency in which you are doing it. Klout also looks at the conversations and the interactions that come forth with these posts; being active is a lot different from being influential. Klout’s mission is to rank every persons influence on social media much like Google ranking the relevance of every web page.

Once you understand the concept of the Klout score, it can be very addicting to try and continuously increase that score in your social media world. Some tips from the experts include creating content worth sharing, finding your niche in tweeting and posting about your area of expertise and including photos and quotes. Another way to increase your score is to start a discussion to encourage feedback or actions taken upon your Facebook posts or your tweets. The somewhat obvious tip is to connect to other networks. Even if you don’t utilize all of these networks, add them and see your score rise. The last tip is to engage with your influencers by responding to their tweets or posts and getting involved in their conversations (make sure it is something they can respond to).

Your Klout score is not only measured by how your marketing is working, it also helps to promote your tweets and your profiles. The better the score, the better chance of being found on the web and being followed.  As a result of a higher Klout score, your popular accounts get rewarded in the search rankings.