President's Word

Hello and Happy Summer!

In July we are truly in the thick of summer, a wonderful time of year when families spend more time together, work slows a bit for us in Southwest Florida and we can reevaluate things a bit. What’s your goal this summer?

Is it to tackle the garage, organize your office, and catch up on the mounds of filing to be done? What about the bigger picture? I touched on this a bit last month, but now is really the time to start thinking about professional development. The adage “failure to plan is planning to fail” stands true. Book time now in your schedule, not just for the summer, but for the next year to enhance yourself as a professional.

What better way than to attend the FPRA Annual Conference in August? It’s right around the corner and a perfect way to kick off the start to a new, enhanced you! Think about following it up with some luncheons, special FPRA SWFL events and even potentially accreditation. Your chapter is here to support you and we would love to see you grow even more as a professional.

Thank you for being a member of the Southwest Florida chapter of FPRA and for what you bring to our profession. See you soon and don’t forget to - Think FPRA!

Samantha Scott, APR

Media Breakfast 2014 Wrap Up

Great job and a big thank you to Jessica Boles for organizing this year's Media Breakfast!!

The Annual Media Breakfast on June 12^th was another great success as 6 panelists from Southwest Florida spoke to over 65 people and addressed current media trends and shared their insights on the future of journalism. Thank you to our sponsors for this year’s Media Breakfast; Charlotte Behavioral Health Care, Avow, Susan Bennett Marketing and Media LLC and Shell Point Retirement Community. A big thank you also goes to our committee members that helped coordinate this program and secure sponsors to offset any costs.

The panel of experts included Osvaldo Padilla, Editor, Florida Weekly; Steve McQuilkin, Business and Real Estate editor, The News-Press Media Group; Jimmy Dean, Editor, Harbor Style Magazine; Phil Borchmann, Editor, Gulfshore Business; Darrel Lieze-Adams, News Director of Waterman Broadcasting and Jean Gruss, Editor, Business Observer. Susan Bennett, APR, APRC served as the moderator for the program and assisted with facilitating with the number of questions from the audience. All of the speakers offered great tips to our PR pros and were very engaging throughout the event.

The media breakfast was a great way to get in touch with local media experts and the committee as well as the attendees enjoyed the program and look forward to next year.

Here are some of the photos from the event:

Save the Date - July Luncheon

We hope you all enjoyed the Media Breakfast in June! Now it's time to start thinking of the July luncheon, which is the Southwest Florida Chapter Annual Meeting, on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Crowne Plaza Bell Tower.  Please join us as we swear in the 2014-2015 Board of Directors and Leadership Team.

We have a great topic for the July luncheon: It’s election season – the July 8 meeting will feature the new slate for FPRA and also will have a PR-Elections presentation.

Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington and Collier County Supervisor of Elections Jennifer J. Edwards will be joined by their public relations staffers to discuss the array of issues they face, the lessons learned and the stories elections communications challenges can generate. The panel discussion will shed light on how you handle planning a congressional election in mere weeks and also how you manage intense media coverage the day before, day of and day after an election.

Listen to the panel, ask questions and become more aware of the election cycle we are in while garnering  PR insight.

Registration closes July 3. Click here to register now!

A Reminder: No-Shows Will Be Billed

The Road Best Traveled - FPRA State Conference 2014 YouTube video and brochure

Are you hiking the Road Best Traveled to State Conference?

The official program has been released! Click here to get your copy from the State FPRA website and learn about all the great speakers and sessions.

Here's one more way to get pumped about the greatest annual get together for FPRA members, a great YouTube video! Click here to watch and get even more hyped about the conference.

Haven't registered yet? There's still time to register AND apply for a scholarship! Scholarship deadline is June 20. Submit your application today.

Meet the Media Breakfast Panelists - Darrel Adams, Waterman Broadcasting

Darrel Adams serves as the Executive News Director for Waterman Broadcasting (NBC2 and ABC7). He has been with the station since 1997.

During his tenure at Waterman Broadcasting the station has won three National RTNDA Edward R. Murrow's for Investigative Reporting. Darrel says, "I believe investigative reporting is the foundation of a great news department." The station has also won several Regional Awards including Best Station, Best Breaking News, Best Newscast and Best Reporting. The news staff has won many Florida Associated Press Awards too, including Best Overall, Best Newscast, Best Weathercast, Best Sports, Best Public Affairs, and Best Reporting.

Darrel currently serves on the ABC News Director Advisory Board. This is a select group of News Directors who give feed back to the network. He served as Board Chair from 2006-08. He as served on many local boards, including the founding board of the Southwest Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. He has also served on the Island Coast AIDS Network (ICAN) and Children's Home Society boards. He is a 2003 Graduate of Lee County Emerging Leaders and one of Gulfshore Life's 2008 Men of the Year.

Darrel came to Fort Myers from Minneapolis. He was the senior executive producer for KSTP-TV in the Twin Cities.

The ABC affiliate is a news organization known for its excellence in journalism, having earned such prestigious awards at the Alfred DuPont-Columbia Journalism Award and the George Foster Peabody Award. Darrel himself has won two Emmy's.

Before joining KSTP-TV, Darrel worked in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at KGAN-TV and in St. Cloud, Minnesota at KXLI-TV. Darrel has served as a reporter, anchor, producer and in several management positions.

A native of Motley, Minnesota, Darrel holds a degree in broadcast journalism and speech communication from St. Cloud State University. He grew up on a dairy farm in Central Minnesota.

Darrel currently lives in Lee County and is the proud father of twin daughters.

APR Trivia

Question: Candidates preparing for the written examination for Accreditation in Public Relations must understand the difference between a goal and an objective. Which of the following is an objective?

A.   To increase seat belt use among all company employees.

B.    To raise awareness among employees who drive on the job about the importance of wearing a seatbelt while driving.

C.    To increase seat belt use among all company employees when driving on the job from 85 percent to 98 percent within the first six months of 2014.

D.   None of the above

Answer: C. Objectives much be SMART, meaning they must be: (S) Specific, (M) Measurable, (A) Attainable, (R) Realistic and (T) Timely.

President's Word from Samantha Scott, APR

Hello fellow members,

Summer is here and we can take a moment to relax. Breathe. Ah, that was nice, but what’s next?!

As PR professionals we are always striving to learn more, do more and enhance not only ourselves, but our profession. FPRA is here to support you in that journey with all the resources you could need.  Thank you for taking the journey with us.

As we enjoy “slower” speed of summer, I would encourage you to take a few moments to set goals for the coming year, what would you like to accomplish? Do you want to get your APR or perhaps enrich your media relationships? Your chapter of FPRA is here to help you. Visit the website, contact your chapter leaders or visit the state office website to learn more.

Thank you for being a member of the Southwest Florida chapter of FPRA and for what you bring to our profession. See you soon and don’t forget to - Think FPRA!

Samantha Scott, APR