The monthly professional development programs tackle a wide variety of topics relevant to today's practitioner, including diversity, strategic communication, crisis communication and media relations, just to name a few. All workshops are designed to help members develop and enhance the skills necessary to practice effective public relations.

Usually scheduled annually in October, these full day sessions are a great addition to the chapter's monthly luncheons.

Full-day Seminar: October 7, 2010
Crisis Communications Professional Development Seminar
Featuring industry expert, James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA

Morning Session
Crisis-proofing Your Organization – How to Avoid the Crucial Mistakes that Cause Most Responses to Fail

This is an intensive emersion in the strategic concepts and thinking required to develop crisis communication plans that work. Learn to identify crisis-causing risks and exposures; the crisis plan components most plans miss but must have; and how to avoid, anticipate and preempt the mistakes and errors that cause response failure. Learn how to involve key leaders in the approval and planning process that builds crucial management and employee buy-in so necessary for ongoing readiness.

Effective crisis plans must meet seven powerful tests:

• Top management approval before you proceed.
• Sensible, sound thinking and strategy.
• Get the first few minutes, few hours of a crisis right, or loose the battle.
• Manage media coverage and public concerns and the victims, from the start.
• Involve management meaningfully in execution and readiness.
• Accommodate the foreseeable patterns of mistakes, problems and distractions.
• Accountable, ethical and moral behavior by leadership.

Each participant in the full-day seminar receives a substantial handout including Your Quick Guide to the Crisis Communication Management Planning Process.

Luncheon Presentation
Getting Your Boss to Listen to You – The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor

Based on Jim Lukaszewski’s new book, released in 2008, this program addresses one of the most crucial questions facing most communicators. How do you get the boss or leaders to listen? You may need to change your perspective. Jim shares the disciplined approaches required and how his seven disciplines mold you into a strategic advisor.

You’ll be learning from a master trusted advisor about how to have a more meaningful, important, satisfying career. This program will help you to both better organize your abilities and gain the perspective to give advice that will be better accepted. He will help you answer the question, Why should the boss listen to you?”

You will learn:

• How the day-to-day world of leaders applies to you
• The seven key expectations executives have for advisors
• How to gain senior manager confidence and annoying staff habits to avoid
• The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor
• How to teach the boss how to take and to use your advice

Afternoon Session
When You Are the Target – Coping With Activists, Antagonists and New Media Attacks

Anti-corporate activism, as well as bullying individuals, is a growing concern. Large public companies, high-profile products, noteworthy spokespersons and celebrities are big targets. But the contention, personal attacks and cyber pressure can also focus on non-public figures and organizations, as well. Each day, the Internet is used to discuss and often attack the world’s largest consumer products and service companies, as well as local high-profile organizations and brands. These attacks come from unsatisfied customers, disgruntled current and former employees, competitors, stock manipulators, class action attorneys, extortionists, activists and others seeking to cause reputational damage and pressure, anger, humiliate or embarrass their targets. Managing and estimating these potential threats and their personal, psychological and reputational damage costs is one of the dominant management and communications problems for the future.

Program Objectives:

• Recognize the pattern of attacks and why they do it
• Reduce Internet and other forms of victimization by activists, antagonists, short-sellers and wackos
• Take appropriate offensive and defensive measures when attacked
• Learn strategies for identifying, resolving, or neutralizing activist attacks
• Leverage attacks into effective relationship-building energy with your most important publics
• Learn how attacks start and perpetrators work
• Understand how to neutralize the impact of attacks
• Understand what your response and preemption options are
• Choose your strategy to fight back: litigation, correction and clarification, delisting
• Counteractive measures: tracking, backtracking, detection, removal

James E. Lukaszewski, (loo-ka-SHEV-skee) ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, is one of North America’s most prominent management advisors and crisis management strategists. He has more than 25 years experience in dealing with the most troubling, tough, touchy, sensitive issues facing corporate organizations locally and globally. He provides counsel to companies facing serious internal and external problems involving: activist counteraction; community relations and grassroots campaigns; corporate relations failures; reputational threats; crisis communication management; employee relationship building; ethics/integrity/compliance; litigation visibility management; management communication strategies; media relations strategy and analysis; public affairs/exposure management; Web-based attacks; and counteraction strategy. His broad-based experience ranges from media-initiated investigations to product recalls and plant closings, from criminal litigation to takeovers. He is frequently retained by senior management to directly intervene and manage the resolution of corporate problems and bad news. The situations he helps resolve often involve conflict, controversy, community action, or activist opposition. The fastest growing portion of his practice involves civil and criminal litigation.

Register now!

PRSA 2010 International Conference: Powering PRogress
October 16–19, Washington, D.C.

Join us in Washington, D.C., October 16-19, 2010, and experience the excitement, the power, the people and the places of a true capital city. Combine that with the best professional development, influential speakers and networking opportunities, and you’ll be “Powering PRogress.”

Super Saver Registration Rate (Save $250) Deadline: March 1, 2010
Download the PRSA 2010 International Conference Super Saver Registration PDF