The Update

9/2007

Welcome to the official newsletter of the Greater Spokane PRSA Chapter. Past issues can be found by going to www.prsaspokane.org and clicking on the "Newsletters" link.

Join us on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 a.m. in Cataldo Hall on the campus of Gonzaga University for the joint PRSA/MARCOM breakfast meeting. This month's meeting features Dr. Stebbins of the Gonzaga University Business Ethics Advantage Program, speaking about "Ethics from the Inside Out."

The meeting is open to any interested public relations professionals and students. The meeting fee, which includes breakfast, is $9 for members, $11 for non-members and $7 for students. Those students who are participating in the Day-on-the-Job program do not have to pay the meeting fee.

More about our featured speaker:

J. Michael Stebbins is the director of the Gonzaga Ethics Institute at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He is responsible for designing and conducting ethics programs aimed at a variety of audiences – students, faculty, staff, alumni, professional groups outside the university, and businesses and other organizations.

From 1994 to 2000 Dr. Stebbins served as a Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center, located at Georgetown University, where he directed the Arrupe Program in Social Ethics for Business. During that period he worked primarily in the area of business ethics and organizational leadership, and designed seminars aimed at helping executives and managers explore how well-run, financially successful businesses can make a significant contribution to the common good.

Before going to graduate studies, Dr. Stebbins worked as a registered nurse at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. He taught in the interdisciplinary Perspectives in Western Culture Program at Boston College (1989-92), and later taught ethics at Gonzaga University (1992-94).

Dr. Stebbins holds a B.A. in philosophy from Gonzaga University (1977) and a B.S. in nursing from the University of Washington (1981). He received a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College (1991), concentrating in the areas of systematic theology and ethics. Dr. Stebbins and his wife Mary Kay have five children.

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Dear fellow PRSA Members,
It is that time of year again: you can start to feel fall in the air, the kids are going back to school and another program year for PRSA and MarCom is about to begin. I am excited for this year’s programming and to see each of you at the breakfast meetings and other events.

In response to feedback we received from meeting surveys, you will see some positive changes in this year’s programs. We have improved meeting logistics and quality of speakers to enhance the breakfast meeting events, as well as planning a full year of speaking topics that will soon be posted on the PRSA website so you can plan ahead to attend the next meeting. With topics ranging from copyright and intellectual property to internal communications and new technology tools, it is shaping up to be a stellar year of programming.

The PRSA Board is also in the process of developing a comprehensive sponsorship plan to allow businesses to sponsor events throughout the year. These sponsorships provide the ability to bring in high-caliber speakers and events to Spokane and to support student activities. We will be reaching out to past sponsors as well as other member businesses in the next few weeks. If your organization would like to consider helping sponsor the professional development programs and activities for 2007-2008, please contact me.

Again, I look forward to seeing you all at the first breakfast meeting of the program year, Friday, September 7th at 7:30 a.m. in Cataldo Hall of Gonzaga University. Enjoy your last few days of summer as we gear up for a great fall season full of professional development and networking events.

Best wishes,
Tamitha

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Greater Spokane PRSA will start another round of APR study courses this fall. If you are interested in studying or learning more about the Public Relations Accreditation please contact Maggie Crabtree at (509) 999-2928. Dates and times will be determined by those participating.

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Read Special needs, common concerns: Building an awareness of the disabled community, featured in PR Tactics and The Strategist Online (July 12, 2007). The author of this article spoke to PRSA members over a year ago about this topic.

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This school year, an added element of flexibility will allow for greater student and professional participation in the PRSA Day on the Job. As in the past, students will spend a day shadowing communication professionals to glimpse insights into the working environment. For the 2008 Day on the Job, students and professionals will choose a mutually beneficial date during the course of a month to complete the job shadow.

Students and professionals will indicate their desire to participate in the 2008 Day on the Job event by late February and the matches will be made the first week in March. Participants will have through the first Friday of April to complete the Day on the Job experience. As in the past, the April breakfast meeting will highlight the Day on the Job event. The professional panel presentation for students will follow the April breakfast meeting.

Students and professionals have given high ratings to the Day on the Job event in the past few years. The single date in the spring has proved restrictive for many however. The PRSA board decided to experiment with the flexible date for 2008 to provide a greater opportunity for participation.

Although the student/professional matches will not be made until the end of February, students and professionals interested in participating may sign up for the 2008 Day on the Job anytime before then. More specific details about the 2008 Day on the Job will be released as the event nears.

Participating schools include: Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, University of Idaho, Washington State University and Whitworth College.

If you would like to participate in the PRSA Day on the Job, contact PRSA board member Chris Bieker at chris.bieker@wa.usda.gov or (509) 323-3014. Provide the following information:

Your name
Contact information
School (students) or Business/Organization (professionals)
Year in School (students)
Particular interests - Corporate, agency, non-profit, government (students) or type of business/organization (professionals)

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For four days, October 20-23, top professionals in the industry will assemble in Philadelphia for the PRSA 2007 International Conference. Drawing inspiration from an earlier Philadelphia convention — the one with Ben Franklin and his revolutionary friends more than 200 years ago — these PR professionals will share bold ideas and best practices for an evolving industry. Hence our conference theme: PR Evolution. Visit www.prsa.org/conf2007 for moe information.

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Angela Matson joined Hill & Knowlton as account supervisor working with the health care practice group. Matson, who previously worked as a marketing specialist with radiology practice Inland Imaging, is based in Spokane.

Additionally, Brian Coddington has been promoted to senior account supervisor, while Mikki Choman has been named account executive. Coddington is based in Spokane, while Choman is based in Seattle.

Matson came to Hill & Knowlton with 15 years of health care communications experience. Matson also worked nine years as a regulatory affairs coordinator and communications specialist for Group Health Cooperative's eastern Washington/North Idaho operation.

Coddington has many years of experience in business finance and journalism, and has developed successful public relations strategies for a number of regional public and private organizations. He is a graduate of Whitworth College.

Choman is a member of the firm’s technology practice and works on behalf of some of the world’s leading hardware and software companies. She is a graduate of the University of Washington.

About Hill & Knowlton
Rockey Hill & Knowlton, with offices in Seattle, Portland and Spokane, became the Northwest division of Hill & Knowlton when it was acquired in 2000. It is the successor to The Rockey Company, which was founded by Northwest public relations legend Jay Rockey in 1962. The firm provides strategic communication services in public relations, public affairs, and marketing communications. Hill & Knowlton, Inc., is a leading international communication consultancy, providing services to local, national and global clients. The firm is headquartered in New York with 71 offices in 40 countries, and is part of the WWP Group plc (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s largest communication services groups.

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Save the date and make your PRSA membership work for you! Join us on Friday, Nov. 2 for the annual professional development workshop, to immediately follow the regular breafkast meeting. Rhoda Weiss, APR and national PRSA chair, will speak about Low-cost PR Solutions. Additionally, another speaker will address PR Research Tactics on a Budget.

More about our featured speaker:

Rhoda Weiss, APR, Fellow PRSA, is the chair and CEO of the 31,000 member Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). During her career, she has traveled more than 6 million miles speaking and consulting to over 700 organizations in 49 states and abroad. A UCLA Extension faculty member, Kellogg Foundation Fellow and national consultant in public relations, marketing and strategy, Rhoda is based out of Santa Monica, CA. She is a recipient of dozens of communications awards, including the PRSA Health Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, PRSA National Volunteer of the Year, Award of Individual Excellence from the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development, Woman of the Year from Women in Health Administration, among others.

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Consider posting your employment opportunity on JobCenter, PRSSA’s national employment database. It’s free, easy to manage and an excellent resource for Public Relations employers to post opportunities. Your listing would be exclusively available to PRSSA members ensuring enthusiastic and dedicated applicants. For more information on posting your opportunity on JobCenter, contact Denise Kreft, vice president of job/internship services, at DeniseKreft@gmail.com

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Garry Matlow is the new marketing and development director for the Spokane Chamber Music Association, which presents concerts by the Spokane String Quartet. He also is continuing as communications and program assistant for the Alzheimer’s Association Inland Northwest Chapter.

Do you have a member update that you would like to have featured? Contact Lance Kissler, lkissler@ewu.edu or (509) 359-6317, with your update.

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Visit www.theprsite.com and include your information in the "I Need P.R." section. Small businesses are looking for PR firms -- they may choose yours!

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Ethical situations affect most professions and professionals in one way or another. Each day we choose between the high road and the low road. Sometimes the culture of an organization dictates one thing, but a professional always has the choice between doing the right thing or doing what the company wants/demands.

I've been faced with this situation more times than I can remember--perhaps due to the amount of corporate work I've done, the diversity of my client base while consulting and the complexity of many industries I've work within. In corporate or small business organizations everyone within a decision making sphere does not has the same level of ethical conscious or courage. Sometimes you, as the professional, have to walk away, making sure you let your client/employer know the basis for your professional and ethical "line in the sand." Other times, your approach to an ethical issue may depend more upon your ability to creatively, and with integrity, infuse what you know is right into the corporate approach. It takes courage and it's encouraging to know this approach works more often than you might suspect.

If your organization is subject to or has been affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), otherwise known as the American Competitiveness and Corporate Accountability Act of 2002, you how deep the ethical accountability can go. The SOX only applies to publicly-traded companies. It is a landmark corporate governance bill requiring public companies to establish a confidential system for employees to report wrongdoing and required companies to create an ethics code for senior financial officers. The SOX also requires that publicly-traded companies adhere to significant new governance standards broadening board members’ roles in overseeing financial transactions and auditing procedures--with violators subjected to hefty penalties of up to $5 million and 20 years in prison. Those who have been stung by SOX know all to well the penalties of ethics violations.

Here's an ethical scenario for you to ponder. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is far more complex than you might imagine. If you have any solutions you'd like to offer up, feel free to e-mail me at susan@strategicniche.com and we'll catalogue the responses and perhaps use your response in a future issue of the local PRSA newsletter.

Scenario: The publicly traded company you work for is getting ready to announce a major product launch. Everything to this point has been code red confidential (if you talk, you're terminated). You know this launch has the potential to significantly impact the stock price in a positive way. Your entire family owns shares in the company you work for (some own more shares that you). They've heard a rumor that the company is preparing for a major announcement and have asked  you if they should hold, buy or sell a portion of their shares. What/who do you owe the loyalty to? What do you say?

Susan Nielsen, M.S., APR
Ethics Officer

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There may not have been monthly breakfast meetings during the summer, but your board has been busy! Each month, the board met to discuss improving the quality and efficiency of programming, sponsorships for scholarships and events, strategic planning, and other ways of enhancing the value of your membership. Look for more detailed information to come in the next few months.

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Have a story idea for the Spokane PRSA newsletter? Send your article, announcement or shameless plug to Lance Kissler by the 15th of the month.

Contact:
Lance Kissler
lkissler@ewu.edu  
(509) 359-6317

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