To get you prepared for our four days in Naples for FPRA’s 73rd Annual Conference, here are some images of our host city that confirm why so many people love Florida!
The Florida Public Relations Association’s 73rd Annual Conference kicks off this Sunday, Aug. 7 in Naples, Fla. The four-day conference will feature speakers with considerable public relations experience and insight drawn from business, education, politics and journalism.
Several hundred of you have already registered for the conference and we look forward to seeing you. We realize, however, that not every member of FPRA is able to attend. Organizational budgets, time constraints, work and personal commitments are just a few reasons why you may not be able to attend this year’s conference. But don’t let that keep you from participating!
As a member and non-member benefit, FPRA will again offer live blogging of its conference at http://fprablog.org.
Here is what you can expect from this blog:
Session Notes:
Overviews and notes from the general and breakout sessions. We’re going to do our best to cover each session to bring you the latest trends and best practices in public relations.
Photos:
Photos will be included in the blog posts, but the majority of the photos will be found on our Flickr photostream.
Podcasts:
We plan to post audio/video interviews with conference attendees to get their perspective on the various speakers and conference activities.
Conversation:
All blog posts will include the ability for you to comment. We encourage members to continue the discussions from the sessions online. We’ll even ask the presenters to visit the comments and respond as needed.
Twitter:
If you are attending and Tweeting from the conference, we ask you to use hashtag #fpra11. If you are following the conference on Twitter, simply create a search column for #fpra11 to get the latest news and updates.
In closing, we’d like to introduce to you this year’s conference blog team.
So, plan to join us at the FPRA Annual Conference on Aug. 7-10, either in person or online!
It’s hard to argue that there isn’t a crisis of poor eating habits and obesity in America. But, in a world where it’s much easier to point fingers of blame at one company or organization, how do companies like McDonald’s continue to use public relations to help build business, build brand trust and mitigate a host of issues to stay in a leadership position?
McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily from 32,000 restaurant locations. With the expansion of McDonald’s into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence has also made it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity and consumer responsibility.
At next week’s FPRA 73rd Annual Conference, McDonald’s national director of media relations Danya Proud will serve as our Dillin Keynote Speaker and detail how the fast food giant is committed to being part of the obesity solution while continuing to offer customers a range of menu options to meet their changing nutrition needs.
As an added bonus this year, attendees of FPRA’s 73rd Annual Conference will enjoy a night of networking, conversation and culture at the beautiful Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, located just half a mile from the Naples Grande Resort.
The Phil is the premier performing arts hall in Southwest Florida, hosting more than 400 events a year including world-class dance, opera, classical and popular music and Broadway musicals.
Light hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and a private tour of The Phil will be available. As a special treat to conference attendees, a portion of the adjacent Naples Museum of Art will also be open. Currently, the museum features sculptures by Louise Nevelson, whose work has been featured at the Guggenheim and Whitney museums.
One of our breakout speakers at this year’s FPRA Annual Conference is Casey Wohl, known nationally as The Getaway Girl®. Casey is passionate about two things: her girlfriends and traveling the world. By combining these two loves, Wohl created and launched a unique and helpful city-specific travel guide series for women worldwide and created her very own brand in the Girls’ Getaway Guide.
It all started several years ago when Casey found herself divorced and fired from her public relations job. As a way to cope, she hit the road with her gal pals and started traveling the world. She leveraged her unfortunate situation into what some consider a “dream job” by reinventing her career in public relations. Today, she is a sought after travel expert for TV, radio, print and online communication channels as the “go to girl” for fun and entertaining travel information. Other travel experts talk about how, when and where to travel. But because travel changed her life, Wohl has the unique capability of also talking about the “why” of travel, which makes her travel correspondence so relevant.
Casey’s presentation on Monday, Aug. 8, will offer attendees tips on how they too can “reinvent” themselves.
If you aren’t able to attend next week’s FPRA 73rd Annual Conference, you can follow all the action online here on the FPRA Blog. We’ve got a team of bloggers who will bring you all the action as it happens, including interviews, photos and award winners. Don’t miss a minute of conference action!
If you are attending and Tweeting from the conference, use hashtag #fpra11. If you are following the conference on Twitter, create a search column for #fpra11 to get the latest news and updates.
FPRA’s 73rd Annual Conference will take place Aug. 7-10 at the Naples Grande Resort in Naples, Fla. Here’s some interesting facts about our host city:
Click here to learn more about Naples.
Golden Image Awards entries this year were up 25 percent over 2010, with a total of 175 entries received. The awards will be presented at a grand gala on Tuesday, Aug. 9 as part of FPRA’s 73rd Annual Conference in Naples, Fla.
A Golden Image Award is not easy to win, nor should it be. It is the highest accolade in the public relations industry in Florida. Join us as we honor the industry’s best campaigns, tools and tactics. Reserve your seat today.
We’ve had a tremendous response to this year’s FPRA Annual Conference and registrations continue to come in. You as a public relations professional may still be on the fence wondering what value attending the conference would bring to your personal and professional development. Here’s a 9-minute video that provides an overview of the conference, the sessions, the speakers, the special events, and more.
Complete conference details and registration can be found at http://fpra.org.
This year’s FPRA Annual Conference features a competition between the Association’s 15 professional chapters. Each chapter was asked to develop and record a chapter cheer to show their FPRA and hometown spirit. All the videos will be viewed during the Florida Public Relations Education Foundation fundraiser on Sunday, August 7 to kickoff the conference.
Here’s the Gainesville and Orlando Area chapter entries: