Many of the WrightsPR team have just returned from the Public Relations Institute of Australia national conference on the Gold Coast. This was our first conference since the PRIA conference in Melbourne in November 2019.
Three years on and I am happy to say that our profession is moving ahead. There is a freshness in the way we are approaching the needs of society and an even greater emphasis on the importance of communication.
Public Relations didn’t stand still during COVID lockdowns. The importance of communication became obvious when people were forced to change how we worked, lived, related to others and coped with whatever came our way. We wanted to know the facts, we craved considered opinions, and we needed to make wise choices.
The world has been in crisis from COVID for more than two years.
In our presentation at the conference, we undertook a crisis simulation, live on stage and largely unrehearsed. We dealt with the ebbs and flows of a crisis, just like we have for years. The panel cooperated and collaborated and stood their ground when needed, always putting people first. Just like in a real crisis.
Thanks to event expert Peter Jones, operations manager James Reid, senior reporter and producer Georgie Hill and insights director Ngaire Crawford.
The main learning from our crisis session is that communication is king. And that people are the most important consideration – always.
Other #PRIAcon2022 sessions provided confirmation that public relations is the ‘must have’ skill for the modern world and needs to be at the centre of every organisation’s future.
The supremacy of validated earned coverage influences people’s thinking and actions beyond other forms of messaging. A strong justified statement in a reputable media outlet and supported by reasonable empirical evidence cannot be ignored or denied.
That is the power of earned coverage. That is the power of public relations.
Three days of mixing with fellow public relations professionals – ranging from tertiary students about to enter the profession through to PRIA Fellows who have helped build the profession’s reputation and standing – was uplifting.
The presentations and our conversations showed the team at Wrights that we have chosen a vital and stimulating career path using skills that inspire people to take action and make informed decisions.
And that freedom to act on the facts is the most powerful pre-requisite for any democracy.
