MEETINGS
No meeting this month, but stay tuned — website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn — for info on the next meeting, June 18.
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Speed Mentoring: Some Things Lend Themselves to Fast
The focus of the next luncheon meeting is you. Members voiced a desire for more interaction and exchange of professional
knowledge. Result: the chapter’s first-ever speed mentoring event.
You know the drill, but instead of meeting potential dates, participants will
visit with mentors, proteges, allies — resources to help make the most of a PR career. To get things started, TCU
students will present their award-winning VITALS campaign.
Those who RSVP in advance will receive additional preparation materials. For
anyone feeling shy, topics will be provided to keep the conversation flowing.
From event planning and crisis preparation to cost-effective research methods,
organizers say everyone should walk away with a new idea or best practice.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, May 8
Place: Colonial Country Club, 3735 Country Club Circle, Fort Worth
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No meeting this month. Watch for renewed intellectual merriment in June.
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Often the things we write are not the things that are understood because of our
(writers’) assumptions about the audience. UT Dallas aesthetic studies doctoral candidate
Kim Jackson will examine the disconnect between what is written and what is read and how
assumptions hinder communication at the next Writers’ Guild of Texas meeting, 7 p.m. Monday, May 20, at the Richardson Public
Library. Jackson has more than 15 years of teaching experience and maintains a
career as a performance artist, dancer, choreographer, poet, motivational
speaker and creative consultant. She’s also good at naming programs, this one being “The Gumption of Assumption: Dissolving the Barriers between Writers and
Audiences.” • More on the Writers’ Guild of Texas from membership coordinator
John Vance, john.vance1@gmail.com, or critique group coordinator Liz Klein, wgtcritiquegroup@gmail.com.
IABC local update: American Heart Association/American Stroke Association communications executive
VP Matt Bannister will discuss “Internal Communications — The Evolution to Brand Journalism, Inside and Out” at the IABC Dallas meeting Tuesday, May 21. Info here.
PRSA local update: Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price was named Communicator of the Year at the second annual Worthy Awards gala April 25. Greater Fort Worth PRSA selected Price for the honor sponsored
by the Fort Worth Business Press. Master of ceremonies (and Star-Telegram
columnist) Bud Kennedy kept things rolling as 150 people gathered at the Fort Worth Club to honor
Price and area leaders in strategic communications. • In individual and corporate recognitions, Balcom Agency earned the most awards
while J.O. swept the media event category. For the second year Gigi Westerman of Strategic Image took Best of Show. She and Tarrant County Public Health staff
were honored for an internal campaign designed to train supervisors, educate
expectant parents and families, and generate support for a new Tarrant County
Public Health worksite lactation policy. • Entries more than doubled to 88 — from videography and website content to crisis communication and media
relations — in only the competition’s second year. Senior professionals from the PRSA Las Vegas Valley Chapter
served as judges as the Fort Worth chapter handed out 23 Worthy Awards, 20
Awards of Excellence and 18 Awards of Achievement. Faculty in the Gaylord
School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Oklahoma
judged the academic contributions category.
PRSA local update II: SIGnificant happenings. Two cornerstones of civilized activity — socializing and friendship — will imbue the next PRSA social Thursday, May 23, at Live Oak on Magnolia.
Bring $5 to cover appetizers; the cash bar will have drink specials. RSVP to Lisa Albert at l.albert@tcu.edu by May 20. ... Recent college graduates will have a chance to network and learn
about joining PRSA at a jolly-up sponsored by the NuPros SIG on Tuesday, May
21, at Brewed in Fort Worth. There’s no cost to attend; pay for what you eat and drink. More from Shannon Listorti at shannon.listorti@freese.com.
PRSA local update III: The Local Accreditation Mentorship Program (LAMP), introduced at last month’s meeting, continues to gain traction, led by accreditation committee co-chairs Sandra Brodnicki, APR, and Linda Jacobson, APR. Brodnicki and Jacobson, aided and abetted by Chip Hanna, Richie Escovedo and Chris Bryan; Margaret Ritsch, APR; Bill Lawrence, APR, Fellow PRSA; and Andra Bennett-House, APR, presented their case at the meeting via a “Saturday Night Live”-inspired presentation, the Accreditation News Network. Roxo student LyTer Green from TCU provided the much-need b-roll that answered the question, “What is an APR?” The mentorship will continue through at least 2014, the 50th anniversary of the
profession’s only national postgraduate certification program. More from sandra@brodnickipr.com or ljacobson@ctcinc.com.
PRSA local update IV: Greater Fort Worth PRSA has signed on as an association partner for the 33rd
Annual DFW Philanthropy in Action Conference, hosted June 7 at the Irving
Convention Center by the Greater Dallas and Fort Worth chapters of the
Association of Fundraising Professionals. Beth Lamb, along with other board members, will represent
GFW PRSA. The conference introduces the services of PR professionals to hundreds
of area nonprofit leaders.
PRSA local update V: As if being in the Texas capital wasn’t reason enough to go, the PRSA Southwest District Conference, June 5-7 at the
Omni Hotel Austin Downtown, promises a vigorous ideas exchange. A panoply of
fresh perspectives. Put yet another way, a flagon of fun! Visit prsaswconf.org for registration info and a detailed schedule. Join the conversation on Twitter.
