Tag Archives: Blogs

WPRF Guest Post: Transparent public relations – do your publics see into you or through you?

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Metaphors are always trouble. Take transparency, a bedrock metaphor of ethical communication. Transparent communication opens the window to your organization and suggests honest engagement with publics. For this reason, many annual reports trumpet transparency. But, what if your publics can see right through you? Then you’re in trouble.

Transparent public relations is often thought of in terms of its opposite – namely an opaqueness that obscures unpleasant truths. Certainly, the ability to see into the workings of an organization is one dimension of transparent communication. But there are others which, I believe, are far more important.

The other dimensions of transparent communication all rest on engagement. Your willingness to actively engage with publics and meet their information needs, will determine whether your publics see into your organization or just through it.

Rawlins (2009) provocative piece, “Give the Emperor a mirror,” suggests the key questions for public relations professionals are:

  • Do I ask my key publics what they want to know about my organization?
  • Do I provide the information my publics ask for in ways that they are able to understand?
  • Does the information I provide enable my publics to understand my organization?

Only by answering yes to all three questions can you lay claim to the practice of transparent public relations. However, research suggests that very few organizations are in a position to make this claim.

The main reason is an unwillingness to move into an engagement paradigm for fear of losing control. Control has always been an illusion and, in the age of web 2.0, is fast becoming a dangerous delusion. Communication is a stream, not a destination.

Your organization and your clients are relying on you to navigate through it, not build a dam.

About Professor Shirley Leitch
Professor Shirley Leitch is a member of the Institute of Social Research at Swinburne University. She is a strong advocate of digital communication technologies and in 2011 was named as one of the top ten social media influencers in Australian higher education by the UK Guardian (#ShirleyLeitch). Professor Leitch and her co-researchers have received more than $4M in national competitive grants in Australia and New Zealand and produced over 100 refereed publications. For the past decade she has also held senior leadership roles in the university sector, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Pro Vice-Chancellor of Public Affairs and Dean of Commerce. She also has significant experience working in public-private partnerships, most recently in her role as the founding chair of Online Education Services Ltd, a joint venture with SEEK Ltd.

Written by Professor Shirley Leitch, Swinburne University of Technology

 

One of Western Australia’s Best and Brightest to speak at the WPRF

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Michael Sheldrick is a campaigner, commentator, blogger and speaker on global issues. With a combination of expertise and passion, he has created campaigns that have made a significant difference to the lives of others.

It was on his first day of university in 2006, when he volunteered for The Oaktree Foundation and the Make Poverty History Coalition that his direction in life changed. Michael says this opened a whole new chapter for him and that before he knew it, he was the Assistant National Campaigns Director and involved in creating high impact campaigns such as last year’s hugely successful The End of Polio campaign, which raised more than $100 million in support of global polio eradication efforts.

Michael describes being introduced to the Prime Minister and other world leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) as one of his career highlights. It was then he understood that his campaigns had gained real momentum through the communication of some of the accounts of incredible feats of the human spirit he’d witnessed.

Michael is degreed qualified in Political Science and International Relations as well as Law. He has previously held roles with the Department of Premier and Cabinet as a Research Assistant and a tutor in political science and international relations.

He is currently the Manager of Global Policy and Campaigns at the Global Poverty Project and a Fellow with the UWA Religion and Globalisation Initiative.

One of Michael’s latest achievements is being recognized as one of Western Australia’s 50 Best and Brightest by The Sunday Times.

Undeniably Michael’s career to date is an impressive and enviable one. He feels this work has largely been impacted on by working “with some of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met”.

Keep up-to-date with Michael and his tales by following him on Twitter.

Industry ‘Rising Star’ Paull Young to join speaker line-up

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Named 2011’s industry ‘Rising Star’ by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, the Director of Digital at charity: water adds another exciting accolade to his portfolio by joining the speaker line-up at the World Public Relations Forum at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Victoria.

Charity: water is a non-profit organisation devoted to bringing clean and safe drinking water to over one billion individuals around the globe. Nominated as one of the leading digital non-profits, charity: water is the first non-profit organisation to have one million Twitter followers and achieve 75 per cent of its fundraising through dedicated digital channels.

In only five years charity: water raised over $60 million and provided clean and safe drinking water to more than two million people.

Previously Paull has led award winning campaigns for 500 clients including Graco, Kohler, Telstra and Citrix as the Senior Account Director at Converseon, an Award winning international social media agency.

Paull moved from Sydney to New York in 2007 sharing his expertise as a well-known PR and Marketing blogger and commentator with an international audience. He initiated Australia’s third PR and Marketing Blog “Young PR” in 2006 and is now an influential blogger at paullyoung.com. His work has been featured on FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, Sydney Morning Herald, CNN.com, NY1 and the Australian Financial Review. You can follow Paull on Twitter @paullyoung.

The World PR Forum is a global gathering connecting public relations and communications professionals from all around the world. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased until 30 June 2012 to receive $400 off the standard ticket price. A fulltime registration entitles you to:

  • Entrance to all forum sessions;
  • Entrance to the WPRF Marketplace;
  • Daily catering throughout the forum including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea;
  • One ticket to the welcome reception;
  • One ticket to the PRIA Golden Target Awards and forum gala dinner;
  • One ticket to the closing drinks and
  • One Forum gift with a handbook and supporting materials.

Register now or follow the World Public Relations Forum on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.