PRSA Georgia 2015 Annual Conference

PRSA Georgia’s 2015 Annual Conference has an all-star lineup with some fresh twists on the format. Be sure to check in here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for program updates and additions. #PRSAGA10

Opening Keynote

Keynote Conversation: Tips and Tales from the PR Front

Instead of hearing from one PR Pro, you’ll get to listen in on the conversation between two media powerhouses as they talk on the changing media and entertainment business, branding the weather, tackling a crisis and lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Shirley Powell: Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, The Weather Company

With more than 20 years in the media industry, Shirley Powell’s understanding and broad experience play a critical role in taking messages to key constituencies. As executive vice president of marketing and communications for The Weather Company, Shirley Powell has executive oversight of all marketing and communications strategies including internal and external public relations for The Weather Channel, its digital properties weather.com and wunderground.com, mobile apps, and its professional division,which includes Weather Services International and Weather Central. She previously served as senior vice president of corporate communications for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and senior vice president of media relations for NBC, where she oversaw publicity, corporate communications and talent relations for its entertainment divisions in Burbank, Calif. Powell has led publicity and helped launch large projects, such as the launch of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon Studios, and Universal Studios Florida.

James Anderson: Senior Vice President of Communications, Turner Broadcasting

James Anderson is senior vice president of communications at Turner Broadcasting where he serves as chief spokesperson and is part of the executive leadership team that works closely with the President/General Manager for the Kids and Young Adults Business where he leads the internal and external communications strategies for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang and its studios, digital and ancillary businesses. He also has oversight of the communications teams for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Sports.

Prior to joining Turner, he was senior vice president of publicity for theCarsey-Werner Company in Los Angeles, Ca. and supervised the launches and ongoing campaigns for over thirty-five series including: That ’70s Show, 3rd Rock From The Sun, Roseanne, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cybill and Grace Under Fire.

Breakout Sessions

Establishing a Crisis Communications Philosophy

The Home Depot’s Director of Corporate Communications Stephen Holmes

The midst of a crisis is no time for a PR team to determine what its core communications and crisis philosophies are. This session will outline an approach to establishing a foundation ahead of time, providing all stakeholders a roadmap for identifying and navigating reputational threats.

Executive Presence and Delivering Compelling Messages

Sally Williamson & Associates’ President and Founder Sally Williamson

This session will raise your awareness of “presence” and how to use it to engage your audience. Williamson will talk about the impressions and expectations of any audience and how to deliver those qualities or attributes that people think of when they describe executive presence. Finally, Williams will reveal how to create a compelling message to engage listeners.

Building Positive Sentiment Through Integrated Channels

UPS’ Vice President of Public Relations Steve Gaut

Gaut will discuss integrated communications strategies and tactics UPS used for the 2014 Peak Season to address rebuilding customer confidence and public goodwill in light of the reputational damage from the company’s 2013 service problems.

Change is the Constant

Veritiv’s Vice President of Corporate Communications Ed Patterson

How do you communicate when change is the only constant? From merging corporate cultures to going public to announcing a new HQ location, find out how communications played a front and center role in Veritiv’s year of change.

The Art of Visual Storytelling

Nakita Pope: Instructor at Creative Circus and Chief Chick at Branding Chicks

Whether you consider yourself or your audience to be visual people, our brains love pictures. Being able to tell a story with images that captivate, educate, inspire or create a call to action is an art form that is often overlooked but engages people on a different level. This session will help you do that. Attract and keep your audience’s attention so they not only receive your message but keep coming back for more.

Building An Online Reputation

Ty Collins, Senior Digital Producer at BrandFever

Reputation management has grown increasingly complex. With so many different channels and multitudes of content, it’s important to understand how to build an online reputation. This session will share action-oriented tips that will help build your company’s online reputation and make sure the content you want is what people are seeing.

Media Panel: Staying in Tune with Radio

This year’s panel features a cross-section of Atlanta stations and formats. Speakers will share tips on working with reporters and the relevance radio can bring to your communications strategies. Panelists include:

· WABE’s Jim Burress

· B98.5’s Melissa Carter

· SME Showcase of Atlanta’s Heather Thompson

Networking to Build Business Connections in a Digital World

Dale Carnegie of Georgia’s Senior Business Consultant Rod Eckard

The fastest way that you can expand your network is to connect with someone else’s network. In addition to expanding your own network, you can benefit others by connecting your network to theirs. In other words, it isn’t just who you know, it is who wants to know you, and who wants to know the people you know.

PRx Talks

Our “PRx Talks” were such a hit when we introduced them last year that we’ve brought them back to round out the afternoon once again. Modeled after TED Talks, the “PRx Talks” format delivers the latest information and trends to public relations and communications professionals with 20-minute, back-to-back presentations.

Making the Most of a Second Chance: How GDOT Cleared the Storm

Georgia Department of Transportation’s Director of Communications Karlene Barron

Atlanta made national headlines for what was termed “Snowmaggedon 2014.” While many crises only happen once, GDOT received a second chance to get it right when hazardous conditions hit a few weeks later. Find out what lessons were learned, how the communications were altered and how the organization turned critics into supporters.

Taking On the Ice Bucket Challenge

ALS Association, Georgia Chapter Executive Director Sarah Embro

Last summer’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge inspired millions to dump freezing water over their heads, post videos of the experience on YouTube and give more than $20 million to find a cure for a previously little known disease. What causes such a phenomenon? How can it be replicated? While no one has figured out how to engineer a viral sensation, in this talk you’ll find out how to create an environment that encourages social media sharing, how to recognize a budding trend – and most importantly how to keep the love alive after the hashtag goes into hibernation. You’ll hear the story of how this global sensation impacted a small local chapter of the national ALS Association, and what it means for the future.

Becoming the Subject Matter Expert

Chintan Talati, Senior Director of Public Relations at Kelley Blue Book

Thought leaders shape their own story, and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) is no different. Learn how a nearly 100-year old company transformed its reputation from a print product to a dynamic digital resource. From lists to awards to analysts, find out tactics the company used along the way to becoming one of the automotive industry’s most sought-after subject matter experts.