Join PRSA Suburban Chicago for our next summer PR After Hours meet up May 24 at Moon Wok in Glenview and meet professional colleagues from the northern suburbs over dinner and drinks. Hosted by PRSA Suburban Chicago, PR After Hours is a chance to leave the computers and smart phones behind, relax and socialize with old and new friends in the Chicago area public relations community.

Moon Wok in Glenview is a favorite restaurant of professionals in the northern Chicago area. Moon Wok focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly, organic, local, fresh food.  Moon Wok uses only all natural ingredients in their freshly prepared dishes with a focus on using as much local, regional & organic foods as seasonally possible.

Visit www.moonwok.com for directions, and join us on Thursday, May 24th.

Moon Wok
5: 30 pm
1615 N. Milwaukee Ave
Glenview

It’s challenging enough to get coverage for your company or client when you have actual newsworthy events happening. Every PR professional has hit a dry spell, when there just isn’t anything newsworthy happening with your company or client, yet you need to maintain your presence in the public discussion.  But what do you do when you hit that dry spell? You need something to talk about – but what? How do you find newsworthy information when there’s nothing much happening?

Join us at our Tuesday, June 12th program and learn how to find or develop news that’s useful and interesting when there just isn’t any with Chicago PR agency president Tom Ciesielka.

Tom Ciesielka, President of TC Public Relations, has worked in public relations, marketing and business development for more than 25 years and enjoys working with clients ranging from law firms to distinguished authors to national and local companies. In its service to the legal community TC Public Relations has handled publicity for litigation cases, medical malpractice cases, government disputes, civil rights and free speech cases. Tom has secured media placements for his clients in outlets such as: CNN, The New York Times, National Public Radio, USA Today and Good Morning America. He has worked directly with such household names as Verizon Wireless, Disney Television and Yale University Press.

In the more than 20 years helping businesses, organizations and individuals with their public relations, Tom has had the opportunity to observe some blunders along the way and some PR stunts that, “make me laugh and angry.” The intersection between comedy and tragedy inspired him to start his blog, PRforLaughs.

A Philadelphia native, Tom currently lives with his wife on Chicago’s Northwest Side in Portage Park. He used to be seen performing stand-up comedy at clubs around the city, but when his daughter was born, he “hung up the microphone” and made her his #1 audience member. However, he still finds time to volunteer as a clown at patient care facilities and add to his “inanimate” audience of Simpson’s collectibles, classic robots and hand-crafted toys that fill his office.

Join us for dinner Tuesday, June 12th – Register Now.

Free parking available onsite:
Sheraton Suites -Elk Grove Village
121 Northwest Point Boulevard at Arlington Heights Road 

Agenda

• 6:00-6:30 p.m. Registration and Networking
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Dinner/Program Follows

Today’s PR professional is expected to do it all, in a 24 hour cycle, with budgets that seem to be constantly shrinking. So how can you deliver the great results that your client or boss expects, with limited resources?

Julie Darling

Julie Darling, principal owner of Julie Darling, Inc., will provide insight into how you can create PR magic out of tight budgets, utilizing readily available resources to product results that will rival the most well-funded campaign.

Julie is a second generation PR professional and the principal owner of Julie Darling, Inc., a marketing agency specializing in the lifestyle and luxury market, providing turnkey event marketing from concept to completion.

Join us for dinner Tuesday, April 10th – Register online. Free parking available onsite.

Agenda

• 6:00-6:30 p.m. Registration and Networking
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Dinner/Program Follows

Register by April 1 and be entered in a drawing for a $25 Visa gift card. Must be present to win.

According to legend, the tapas cuisine began when King Alfonso X of Castile (Spain) recovered from an illness by drinking wine with small dishes between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered that taverns would not be allowed to serve wine to customers unless it was accompanied by a small snack or “tapa.”

It’s also said the original tapas were the slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalusian taverns used to cover their glasses between sips. This was a practical measure meant to prevent fruit flies from hovering over the sweet sherry.

Either way, tapas dining is a the perfect way to meet friends and colleagues – so come join us for our first PR After Hours of the year Thursday, March 29th, at La Roca Tapas, 6 S. Dunton Ave, Arlington Heights, IL. We start at 5:30 pm, and wrap up at 9 pm, for the tastes of Spain!

PRSA Suburban Chicago Presents:

Developed specifically for business professionals, LinkedIn is an great tool for getting introduced to other professionals, generate new contacts and promote your business. But how? At the March 13 chapter program, guest speaker Dee Reinhardt will provide a live demonstration of the most current tools, a drive-through of company pages, an explanation of why you should use signal, tag your contacts and how to embellish your personal profile to get noticed.

Social media guru Dee Reinhardt is the principal of her own company, Time2Mrkt, specializing in digital marketing. “Right-brained” is a good description of Dee Reinhardt. If it has to do with creativity, she is all about that. When social media advanced into the marketplace, Dee embraced it with a passion. Dee is a Type-A personality, energetic, gregarious, and extroverted, a planner and a leader. As a marketing coordinator for a workforce development agency, her “right-brain” kicked in with social media to help her develop new ways to reach out, new avenues to explore and new methods to exercise. Since LinkedIn is one of her passions, it is only natural that she shares her knowledge with the community, teaching LinkedIn sessions for business owners and community members.

You can find out more about Dee at www.linkedin.com/in/deereinhardt. So join us at the Sheraton Suites – Elk Grove Village on March 13th and register now to find out how to make the most out of LinkedIn.

With an increase in obesity and America ranking high on the list of Fattest Countries, American’s are stepping up and making changes. The eating healthy food trend is in full swing but many of us don’t stop to think about who’s involved or how our produce is being processed. PRSA Suburban Chicago decided to ask Don Lipton, the executive director for public relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the nation’s largest agricultural group, shed some light on this issue.  A national conversation is taking place in this country, but it isn’t including farmers and ranchers – the most important source of the nation’s food. Don will shed light on what actions are being taken to get farmers and ranchers heard in this national conversation.

Don Lipton is the Executive Director of Public Relations for the AFBF. His years of experience with the Farmer Bureau has had him oversee major public relations campaigns, numerous opinion research projects and has  given him the opportunity to work with industry coalitions on issues such as international trade, the farm bill, animal care and environmental policy. He currently works with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, a newly formed organization, which AFBF President Bob Stallman Chairs. Lipton has been a part of a recent opinion research project to identify what’s eating at consumers when they think about food and how food producers can address those concerns.

Join PRSA Suburban Chicago on our special date – February 21st – at the Sheraton Suites – Elk Grove Village and register now.

Presenter:

Don Lipton, Executive Director of Public Relations
American Farm Bureau Federation

Don Lipton has served as Executive Director of Public Relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation since 2004. He started his Farm Bureau career with AFBF in 1981 as a writer-editor.  From 1990-2003, he managed all public relations activities in the organization’s Washington, DC office. He also served as the organization’s director of issues management and was AFBF’s media relations director in the late 1980s.

Throughout his Farm Bureau career, Lipton has overseen major public relations campaigns, many public opinion research projects and worked  with industry coalitions on issues such as international trade, the farm bill, animal care and environmental  policy. He currently works extensively with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, which AFBF President Bob Stallman chairs.

A native of Washington, DC, Don is a graduate of the University of Maryland, earning a degree in communications and journalism. He lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Registration:

6:00 p.m. Registration/Networking

6:30 p.m. Dinner/Program Follows

$25 PRSSA Students ~ $30 PRSA Members ~ $40 Non-Members

Register here.

Don’t let the winter vacation we took from meetings and events let you forget about what’s to come in 2012. We’ve got presentations lined up for a number of topics featuring speakers from agencies, associations, corporations and more.

For the ever-changing world of social media where there are always new things to learn, we have Dee Reinhardt of Time2Mrkt scheduled to speak about new changes LinkedIn is making to its popular site and how that will affect the ways we reach users. And if said users are in other parts of the world, you can apply what you’ll learn from Mary Ubrina’s presentation on international public relations. Mary, of Clearly Write LLC, is involved with attracting audiences from all over the world to the annual International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago and will share her knowledge over our usual three course meal. The Internet has made us all international companies, whether we intended to be or not, so this is a program not to be missed.

Other speakers come from all walks of the profession. Ron Culp, formerly the head of Ketchum’s Corporate Practice in North America, will join us at one of our meetings this year. But Ron is just one of two PR pros with a history at Ketchum.  Whether your cap is blue, black or red, Kevin Saghy of the Chicago Cubs will be providing a behind the scenes look at sports PR you’ve probably wondered about while tuned in to watch your favorite baseball team. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s Don Lipton will also be joining us for a meeting this year to address association and nonprofit public relations, as well as Gini Dietrich of Arment Dietrich, famous for her “SpinSucks” blog and for being an ambassador of the famous #HAPPO hashtag on Twitter.

In addition to our regularly scheduled programming, we’ll be keeping up with our After Hours socials. Though not officially a Suburban Chicago event, the Midwest District Conference will be happening in July, something we should all have on our calendars. And to top it off, we’ll be celebrating our chapter’s 20^th Anniversary with a major party on November 13.

But there’s still room for more! Do you have any suggestions? Any speakers you know who would like to present for us? Comment below, or email dcaplick@quicksilveredge.com.

Twenty years ago I was a young professional, fresh out of college, new to Chicago and trying to establish myself in this profession. I was gingerly feeling my way, trying to translate the lessons of my PR instructors at Illinois State University into the realities of the working world. I joined the Chicago chapter, then discovered how nearly impossible it was to get to the lunchtime programs from the suburbs. After a couple of years, I somehow stumbled across the Greater O’Hare chapter, and have never looked back. The smaller, more accessible size of our chapter has allowed me to develop leadership skills I couldn’t have in a larger organization, and introduced me to many incredible people along the way who have been friends and mentors for many years.

Thanks to the opportunity to serve as our chapter’s Assembly delegate, I’ve been privileged to see and have a voice on the direction of our profession. I’ve had the opportunity to see the future as part of Champions for PRSSA and a judge for the Bateman case study competition each April in New York. I’ve met and become friends with many luminaries of our profession, including the legendary Betsy Ann Plank, APR, Fellow PRSA; Sam Waltz, APR, Fellow PRSA, Kathy Larey Lewton, APR, Fellow PRSA, and so many more. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to others in our profession, and have listened – and learned – from the best. It’s trite to say, but what you get out of any organization is only equal to what you put into it, and I’ve gotten so much more than what I’ve contributed.

We’re going to celebrate this milestone all next year with special observances, culminating with a one-of-a-kind celebration next November 13^th, in place of our usual November dinner meeting that you won’t want to miss. We have an extra special guest speaker that normally wouldn’t be speaking to our group, and having heard him speak several times over the past 25 years, I promise you a great experience. We’re going to bring back as many past presidents and as many current former members as we can find for this event, along with colleagues from the other professional communicators’ organizations in the Chicago area. So save the date, watch the newsletter and the website for additional details, and join us throughout the year at our monthly programs and socials.

Debra Bethard-Caplic, APR, MBA
2012 President

Imagine being a college student from a low income family. You’ve had to work since you were of legal age to do so and you have a night job to keep your finances going. It’s tough, but thanks to the Illinois MAP grant, getting an education isn’t just a dream. That is until the state repeals funding for the MAP grant, putting your tuition—and future—in danger.

This was exactly what happened to thousands of students across Illinois in 2009. Worried for both their students and themselves, many universities rallied in opposition of the cuts, seeking repeal. Of these many schools was DePaul University, where November’s speaker Cheryl Procter-Rogers had recently been hired.

Familiar Faces

Cheryl Procter-Rogers, APR Fellow PRSA

Cheryl was not a guest at our chapter meeting; she was an old friend. Having moved to Chicago in 1992, Cheryl was first greeted not with “Welcome to…” but rather, “Welcome back!” She and some of the long-term members recounted fond memories of the chapter’s beginnings, telling jokes and laughing in retrospect of the complications that came with Suburban Chicago’s birth.

It was from thinking back to her earlier days as a professional that brought Cheryl to her first lesson, that peer mentors are often more important than senior mentors. There is value, she said, in growing together with people in your position and being able to rely on one another. Having a friend learn a new lesson is just as good as learning it yourself.

Hitting the Ground Running

When Cheryl started at DePaul, she was told she wouldn’t be expected to do much early on beyond settling in and learning the ropes. That changed days later when her boss asked her to assist with the MAP grant situation. This meant establishing goals and objectives quickly and communicating them to all applicable parties. In this case, “all applicable parties” meant just about everyone.

Cheryl chose three objectives for the school’s campaign. First, the school would create awareness of the issue within the DePaul community while encouraging them to get involved. Next, the school would gain legislator support for the repeal using widespread phone calls and letters. Finally, Cheryl wanted to use this opportunity to get the spotlight on DePaul by positioning the university as being committed to its Vincentian principles of providing and advocating equal educational opportunities for students of all backgrounds.

The latter of these objectives was perhaps the most important. “In any struggle, find your mission and carve out an opportunity to position your institution as a leader in some way.” Though restoring funding to the MAP grants was already necessary on both financial and moral grounds, this third objective gave DePaul the chance to use the unfortunate situation to boost its own image as a student advocate.

With the objectives in place, Cheryl needed some message points to unify everything the school communicated throughout the campaign. “A campaign should have four message points at the most, but usually three,” Cheryl said at our meeting. “This situation was one where four were necessary.”

The first simply stated the campaign’s goal, that DePaul’s “Restore MAP” initiative supported any student who depended on financial aid, regardless of what school they attended. It then had to be made clear that the state’s choice to cut funding to the MAP grant negatively impacted DePaul’s mission. To explain just how bad the situation was, the third message point was that roughly 25% of DePaul’s student base lost tuition money due to the cuts. Finally, to make DePaul’s campaign congruent with the efforts of other universities, the last message point explained that it was not just DePaul taking initiative. Rather, DePaul was working with other universities to change the minds of legislatures.

“All messages must have all message points,”

Though the campaign was about restoring a grant for students, messages would have to reach beyond the school’s dorms in order to meet its goals. Within the DePaul community alone, audience members targeted DePaul’s faculty and staff, the board of trustees and DePaul alumni. As a focus of one of the campaign’s goals, state legislatures were also high on the list. And of course, the school’s Rolodex^TM of media contacts would provide a conduit to all the campaign’s audiences and anyone else willing to listen.

Bold Action

“Advocacy is not for the meek,” Cheryl said firmly when discussing DePaul’s desire to be seen as a leader in the efforts to repeal the MAP cuts. “If you’re afraid of controversy, you won’t be a good advocate. You have to show your teeth sometimes.” Much of what she did reflected this standpoint. “Make your objectives clear,” Cheryl said on communicating objectives to other people involved in the campaign. “Don’t be afraid to turn down ideas.”

Spreading awareness was not to be taken lightly, either. The school employed the use of media relations, on-campus student awareness activities, social media and even its own online newsroom site. They targeted organizations not directly affiliated with DePaul, such as immigrant groups. While no immigrant groups are official partners with DePaul, many recipients of the MAP grants are immigrants.

When audience members were given the message that the MAP grants were being cut, it was made clear to them just how deep the impact was. Often, the messages were blunt: Students who were receiving the grant were outright told exactly how much money they would be losing, should the cuts remain.

Then it came time to win over legislatures, and Cheryl’s methods were as direct as possible. “It’s a numbers game,” Cheryl explained. If a legislature checks her email in the morning to find 1,000 letters giving support to your cause, you will not be ignored. Thanks to DePaul’s awareness efforts along with what other schools had likewise been doing, legislatures were inundated with letters saying the same thing: bring the MAP grants back.

The Results

As you are reading this, those low income students at DePaul are not in classrooms. They are not cramming for their next test, nor are they getting caught up on readings. But come the end of Winter Break, these students will be back to pursuing their dreams, thanks to the State of Illinois’ repeal of the MAP grant cuts. The hard work of DePaul alongside other universities convinced legislatures that student education is too important to compromise.

But DePaul’s success went beyond fulfilling its mission of equal opportunity education. On the day of the rally in Springfield, DePaul brought 200 students to the average 40. And when the funding was restored, DePaul’s Blue Demon mascot was there at the press conference. To anyone watching, it was clear that DePaul was a leader in student advocacy. If you recall the objectives, that last bit should sound a tad familiar.

The campaign even did wonders for Cheryl’s position at DePaul. “At every new place I work, I use the first 100 days to get to know everyone in all departments,” she said at our meeting. “This campaign was a great chance to work with everybody.”

Tricks of the Trade

Despite working with nearly the entire DePaul administration, Cheryl was sure not to bog things down with meeting after meeting. She structured things such that the group only had to meet twice throughout the entire campaign; all other communication was done via email. Part of how this was achieved was by predicting possible outcomes prior to the meeting. Rather than to waste time with the “what ifs,” they were planned ahead of time and merely discussed to bring everyone to the same page.

Such preparedness is always a good idea, according to Cheryl. She recounts times during events she had planned when she would receive compliments for putting together a flawless event. “What they don’t understand is, they were looking at plan C!” By anticipating possible failures, backup plans could be just as successful as the original.

Cheryl is also a heavy advocate of research. Research helps you establish credibility by being able to prove you have an understanding of what you are communicating. In addition, research helps to establish effective numeric objectives by indicating how far you need to go to achieve results. Recall that DePaul brought 200 students to protest the MAP grant cuts, and aimed for 1,000 letters to legislatures. Both of those numbers came from understanding what kind of numbers other schools were bringing to the protests and how many letters legislatures received on an average day.

“Stay true to the tenants of public relations,” Cheryl insisted, summing up the bulk of her advice. Research is PR 101. Always evaluate your work after the fact to improve your work in the future.  Establishing solid, measurable objectives and reasonable, consistent message points to achieve them is just as critical. And last but not least, plan everything with the end in mind.