Today is a sad day for public relations. The profession has lost an icon with the passing of Karen Plunkett, APR.

A 22-year veteran of the industry, Karen was a leader who cared deeply about the profession. She was a tireless advocate for public relations education, and previously chaired the Florida Public Relations Education Foundation.

Karen was a former Florida Public Relations Association State President (1991) and FPRA Orlando Area Chapter President (1987). She was named Central Florida PR Professional of the Year in 1989 and FPRA Member of the Year in 1994. In 2008, she received FPRA’s highest individual honor — the John W. Dillin Award.

In recent years, Karen taught public relations at Rollins College and served as faculty advisor to its FPRA student chapter, Communiqué. She loved her students and was available for them at any hour, for any reason.

Karen was an inspiring role model, mentor, teacher, friend, and colleague to many.

The professional and student members of FPRA mourn Karen’s passing and will forever remember her contributions to the Association and to the profession she loved.

Thanks for your good work and wisdom, Karen Plunkett. We miss you already.

UPDATE:
Karen Plunkett’s family has scheduled a memorial service for 11 a.m. this Saturday, July 24 at the Knowles Memorial Chapel on the Rollins College campus in Winter Park. It will be a non-traditional service with the contemporary and classical music she loved, and a few people who will speak about Karen. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to:

The Kelberman Center for Autism
1020 Mary Street
Utica, New York 13501
www.kelbermancenter.org

or

American Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Northern & Central Florida Chapter
3319 Maguire Blvd.
Orlando, Florida 32803
(407) 898-0733

2010 Central Florida Media Roundtable & Luncheon

Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sonesta Hotel Orlando Downtown
60 S. Ivanhoe Blvd., Orlando

Event Schedule
Registration/Light Breakfast – 8 – 8:30 a.m.
Media Roundtables – 8:30 – 11 a.m.
Break/Registration – 11 – 11:30 a.m.
Luncheon – 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Wouldn’t it be great to question the reporter for a change? Here’s your chance …

Please join the Orlando chapters of the Florida Public Relations Association and the Public Relations Society of America to meet top reporters, editors, producers and bloggers from local, regional and national media outlets. Attendees will be given the opportunity to meet in small, casual group settings with media to gain insight, advice and tips on reaching the right people for future story development.

Media Roundtable Guests*
CBS Radio • People Magazine • The Daily Buzz • Florida Trend • WKMG Local 6 • Central Florida News 13 • Orlando Sentinel • Orlando Business Journal • Winter Park Magazine • First Monday • Southwest Bulletin • West Orlando News Online• Growing Bolder TV Show • The Media Doctor • The Daily City • Central Florida Top 5 • Orange Appeal.

*Media Guests Subject to Change

Luncheon Speaker
Jason Sadler
Creator of http://www.iwearyourshirt.com/

Dubbed the “Entrepreneur of the Century” by Fox Business, Jason is literally a walking billboard. For the past year and a half he has sold ad space on his chest to everyone from Peter Shankman to Pizza Hut – making approximately $83,000 in 2009. Jason utilizes a variety of social media platforms to share advertisers’ messages with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 fans, friends, and other online connections.

Jason Sadler hasn’t always been wearing T-shirts for a living, but he has always been creative, from drawing on walls with crayons to eventually graduating college with a degree in graphic design. Jason has worked with professional sports organizations, advertising agencies, online retailers and most recently co-owned his own Web design company. Jason lives in Florida, enjoys the challenge of putting on a T-shirt every morning and also does private social media consulting.

Advanced registration is required by visiting www.fpra-orlando.org. Registration deadline is Monday, July 12. Sorry, no cancellations will be accepted less than 48 hours prior to the event.

Chris Gent, a 23-year public relations veteran of Central Florida, has been named the 2010 Central Florida Public Relations Professional of the Year by the Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association.

The award is the chapter’s highest individual honor. It is considered to be a lifetime achievement award and is presented to a public relations practitioner whose accomplishments have made a major contribution to the profession.

Gent is vice president of corporate communications for Kissimmee Utility Authority, Florida’s sixth largest municipally-owned electric utility. He serves as chief media spokesman for KUA and is responsible for internal and external corporate communications, including marketing and advertising, media and public relations, employee communications, special events and corporate philanthropy.

Gent serves as FPRA’s statewide vice president of technology, communications and public relations. He also holds the position of vice president of online communications for FPRA’s Orlando Area Chapter, a chapter he led as president in 2002-2003.

Gent earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Central Florida and is currently a graduate student at The George Washington University.

Earlier this month, Gent was inducted into UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication Hall of Fame. Inductees are alumni who have excelled in their careers and have made significant contributions to the mission of the university.

Come meet the best and brightest students at the 27th annual Intern Pursuit, hosted by FPRA’s Quotes Student Chapter at UCF.
 
The semi-annual event will be held from 6-8pm on Monday, March 22 at the Orlando Sentinel, 633 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, Fla. 32801
 
To RSVP for this semester’s Intern Pursuit, send your contact name, title, organization, phone number, e-mail, and a brief description of the internship opportunity to ucfinternpursuit@gmail.com by Monday, March 15. Please keep in mind that placement priority inside the Orlando Sentinel will be given to those who RSVP early.
 
Employers should plan to arrive for set-up between 5:00-5:30 p.m. Also, please consider the venue space and number of employers, and limit booth displays to simple table toppers. Handouts are strongly recommended.
 
For more information, please address all questions to ucfinternpursuit@gmail.com or to Quotes President, Michelle Khouri, at mkhourim@yahoo.com or (786) 282-2161.

How would you know if you’re turning people off? The way people perceive you can mean the difference between success and failure in business and your personal life. The risk of being misunderstood puts your reputation, business, job and relationships on the line. You CAN develop the ability to appear confident, comfortable and in control in front of an audience and behind a microphone. Develop the ability to stay “on message.” Learn the inside secrets to managing the energy in the room so you’re not boring people to death. Presentation skills coaching helps you read the room, and know if you’re connecting.

Annetta Wilson, a certified mastery coach and certified trainer, is a business strategist specializing in presentation skills coaching, communication skills coaching and media training for public figures, entrepreneurs and executives.

Thursday, February 25
University Club, 150 E. Central Blvd., Orlando
$15 members, $20 non-members, $10 students

Registration/Buffet Breakfast: 8 a.m.
Presentation: 8:30 a.m.

Register at www.fpra-orlando.org

This month the Orlando chapters of FPRA and PRSA present a joint luncheon to celebrate Ethics Awareness Month. The luncheon will feature a presentation by Mary Beth West, APR and the presentation of the Frank R. Stansberry Ethics Award.

Advocating for the Public Relations Profession
With the advent of social media, the escalation of highly sophisticated (and oftentimes controversial) issues campaigns and the partisan nature of so much of our daily national dialogue, the public relations profession faces rising challenges, given a constant barrage of ethics and professionalism issues. Mary Beth West, APR, has worked in the trenches of advocating for the profession, having served as PRSA’s national chair of advocacy (2007) and as a senior counsel to the PRSA national board for advocacy issues (2008). She will share strategies that both chapter and local-level public relations organizations and individual professionals can implement to “take back” our profession from those prominent voices who cast public relations inaccurately and counterproductively, relative to the profession’s true potential as a force for good in a democratic society. Mary Beth will also discuss PRSA’s role in the advocacy case study from late 2007 involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Mary Beth is principal of Mary Beth West Consulting, a public relations and reputation management firm based in the Greater Knoxville, Tennessee, area. Her team’s background includes previous public relations and marketing communications posts working in-house with such companies as General Motors, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, Eastman Kodak, Champion Products, Corrections Corporation of America and the former Union Planters Bank.  Mary Beth is a member of PRSA’s Counselors Academy and has held a variety of national leadership roles in the Society for the past 10 years.

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Networking/Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., Luncheon starts at Noon
Citrus Club, Downtown Orlando
Cost: $25 PRSA/FPRA members, $40 non-members, $15 students

Click here to register online.

Sponsored by Orlando Health and Grand Bohemian Hotel.