The next individual award given out tonight was the Doris Fleischman Award.

The Doris Fleischman Award honors unrecognized contributions an individual FPRA member has made to the public relations profession and/or to FPRA. In essence, this is an “unsung hero” award intended to reward that individual who consistently provides support and assistance to the Association.

The award was established to honor the achievements and contributions of Doris Fleischman, business partner and wife of Edward L. Bernays, the “father” of public relations. It honors those FPRA members who, like Ms. Fleischman, make contributions to the field of public relations through consistent, tireless efforts. It is meant to honor a member for his/her “behind the scenes” work and FPRA volunteer efforts that go unnoticed by chapter members and are not recognized by other awards programs.

Drum roll, please… the recipient of the 2010 Doris Fleischman Award is:

Rachel Smith, APR, CPRC
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Florida Department of Education
Capital Chapter

Send Rachel a congratulatory email at Rachel.Smith@vr.fldoe.org

As part of tonight’s Golden Image Awards ceremony, three individual awards are given. The first award is the 2010 Member of the Year Award. This award is intended to recognize one member who has made a significant contribution to the Association through outstanding leadership, demonstrated enthusiasm, extraordinary involvement and loyal support. The recipient is selected by the FPRA State President.

Drum roll, please… the 2010 FPRA Member of the Year is:

Here are a few images from tonight’s Reception of the Presidents. The entire photoset can be seen here.

Tonight is one of the highlights of FPRA’s Annual Conference – the Golden Image Awards. For those who are unfamiliar with the awards, here is a short tutorial:

The Golden Image Awards competition is conducted annually by the Florida Public Relations Association to recognize outstanding public relations programs in Florida and to encourage and promote the development of public relations professionalism in our state.

Winners demonstrate the very best examples of innovation, planning and design. The awards competition includes four divisions of categories: Public Relations Programs, Printed Tools of Public Relations, Audio/Visual Tools of Public Relations and Student Projects in Public Relations. To qualify for judging, an entry must incorporate sound public relations research and planning. Entries also must meet the highest standard of production, execution and evaluation of results and budget.

There are several different levels of awards:

Award of Distinction – presented to all the entries that meet the standard of excellence set by a panel of judges.

Golden Image Award – Presented to the top-scoring entry in each category.

Judges’ Award – Presented by a panel of judges for an outstanding entry that achieves maximum results while using a minimum amount of money.

Grand Golden Image Award – Presented to the best Golden Image Award-winning entry in Divisions B and C.

Dick Pope All Florida Golden Image Award – This is Florida’s top public relations award awards for the year. It is presented to the best Golden Image Award-winning entry in Division A.

Watch for my later post with a complete list of tonight’s winners!

We’re now at the halfway point of the conference and figured it was a good time to ask what you think about our conference coverage thus far. Tell us the good, the bad and the ugly. We’d prefer if you left your email so we can respond to you, but if you feel the need to be anonymous, go ahead.

What has been your favorite portion of the conference coverage?

Do you like the fact that we’ve included commentary on the sessions or would you just prefer the facts from presentations?

Suggestions?

Flawless Consulting / Peter Block – Recommended Book

Crystallizing Public Opinion – Edward Bernays – Recommended Book

Jay provided a background on Counselors Networking and how the organization started in order to meet a need within the FPRA organization for senior level consulting.  The skills in this session can be used in many areas – government, agencies, education, and more. 

Bernays brought to the pr profession what we need to do – get people to think and behave in a consulting way.
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Do you work for a department of the Florida government?  If yes, did you know that if you send work-related e-mails through personal e-mail accounts that they are public record?  Sandra Chance, JD, public-relations-professional-turned-lawyer and executive director for the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida, discussed the hot legal issues of the day, including the First Amendment and Florida’s public records and sunshine laws. 
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Stacey Smith, APR, Fellow PRSA, senior counsel with Jackson, Jackson & Wagner, provided great insights showing the role and benefits of using social media so that we have a thoughtful strategy for its use. She started by telling us that we need to stop ourselves from going to workshops that tell you to just join social networks, and instead stop and focus on the Strategy. What we tend to do is focus on details rather than strategy. Instead, stop and think: what are we trying to achieve? How do we measure this?
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We couldn’t help but notice that a tropical system has developed off the coast of Naples today, just a few miles off the coast from our FPRA Annual Conference. Rumor has it that the storm is likely the result of the combined brainpower of those attending this year’s FPRA conference!

Ken O’Quinn has worked in daily journalism for 21 years, including 12 years with the Associated Press. In 1994 O’Quinn created the website www.writingwithclearity.com. His new book, “Perfect Phrases for Business Letters”, published by McGraw-Hill, is available at bookstores and online at Amazon.com.

In the break out student session “Influencing Your Audience: Crafting Messages that Motivate People to Say Yes,” O’Quinn discusses the practical uses of persuasive writing. This session explores idea of persuasion and why it is important to be able to craft a persuasive argument.

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