President's Message: February 2016

2016 is well underway and I hope it has been a great start for all of our members. Your PRSA Colorado chapter is focused on bringing value in a variety of areas. January and February specifically have brought a keen focus on four key areas both locally and nationally.

•          Support: As a chapter, we are committed to supporting our members through every stage of the profession. In addition to general membership, we have several groups that allow for more targeted connections. Our Young Professionals Group continues to thrive, our Master Practitioners Group just finished it’s first event focused on learning from T.R. Reid and sharing thoughtful discussion amongst peers. Our annual Student Shadow Day is March 16 in conjunction with our media roundtable, connecting students from all across Colorado and South Dakota with our members for a day of learning what a day in public relations is all about.
•          Collaboration: As public relations professionals, collaboration is key in many aspects of our day-to-day work and makes sense for PRSA Colorado as well. We have been exploring many different ways to collaborate with other like-minded communications, marketing and business associations and are pleased to partner with the Colorado Healthcare Communicators for our March 16 media roundtable. Members of both groups will not only have the opportunity to meet and learn from key media, but they will also have the chance to make new connections.
•          Celebration: PRSA Colorado’s awards program is moving forward and deadlines to submit outstanding work from 2015 are quickly approaching for our Gold Pick awards. Don’t miss your opportunity to gain recognition for your work and submit today. This Friday, Feb. 26 is the early bird deadline and the final deadline is March 4. We also received a solid number of diverse entries for our Special Awards, which include categories like PR Team of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Chapter Service Award and more. Those winners will be announced in March, so stay tuned to PRSA Colorado communication channels for this exciting announcement.
•          Leadership/Advocacy: We are always keeping a pulse on national public relations industry trends and news. At the national level, PRSA recently expressed its opposition to the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics’ (JCOPE) advisory opinion that would expand the definition of lobbying to cover activities of public relations and communications professionals that are in no way “lobbying” and require people who are not lobbyists to register as lobbyists. While this isn’t happening locally, it is a sign of what is happening in our industry at a broader level and it is important to know that PRSA is committed to advocating for our profession. We encourage you to read the details from PRSA and stay informed.

These are just a few things we have been working on for you, our members and potential members. Please feel free to reach out to me or any PRSA Colorado board member with any questions or ideas. And if you are ready to volunteer, please let us know. We have many opportunities for you to get more involved.
Warmly,
Nicole Yost, PRSA Colorado President
Chief Communicator, Fyn Public Relations
[email protected]
@NicoleFynPR