Yay for June and all things summer! The older I get, the more I appreciate this time of year. I cherish the long days and warm nights and hearing life happen outside my window. From cookouts and camping, to fireworks and the farmer’s market, there isn’t much not to love about this season – except maybe mosquito bites.  I can’t stand those.

Given the fact that we live in a climate where summers fade quickly, it’s my hope that you all take some time to get out and make the most of it. Our chapter will be taking a break, too. While our leadership team will meet for our annual strategic planning session, our next event won’t take place until August when we host an agency crawl in the Fox Valley. And then we’ll jump back into our jam-packed fall lineup of programming.

Until then, soak up the sun and make some memories while enjoying everything Northeast Wisconsin has to offer this season.

Regards,

Kate

Join us in July:

Midwest District Conference

Omaha, Nebraska

Wednesday, July 24, 2013  to Thursday, July 26, 2013 

Join other PR leaders from around the Midwest for cutting-edge news, best practices, and professional development!

It is expected that more than 150 PR professionals from around the region will attend the 2013 PRSA Midwest District Conference. Attendees include owners or partners of small to mid-size firms, independent practitioners, corporate communicators, public relations practitioners working in government and with non-profit organizations and young professionals, all of whom come to the Conference to connect with colleagues and get new ideas and share best practices that can immediately be implemented in the workplace. Our theme is: Defining the Expanding Role of Public Relations.

The 2013 conference will be held in Omaha, NE.  Centrally located, the Omaha area is easily accessible to all district members.  Constantly growing, the city is home to the College World Series, the 2008 & 2012 US Swim Trials, TripAdvisor’s #1 zoo – Omaha’sHenry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and 32 bars and restaurants located in the Old Market District which is steps from the conference site. 

PRSA is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals. Its membership is organized into 10 regions, called districts. The Midwest District is composed of 15 chapters:

• Cedar Valley
• Central Illinois
• Central Iowa
• Chicago
• Kansas City
• Madison
• Mid-Missouri
• Minnesota
• Nebraska
• Northeast Wisconsin
• Quad Cities
• Southeastern Wisconsin
• Southwest Missouri
• St. Louis
• Suburban Chicago

The District is managed by its own board, which leads efforts within the District to provide helpful support, share resources, and cultivate leadership for the next generation of professionals to head the association and be voices for the PR industry. More information about the PRSA Midwest District and its programs can be found on the PRSA Midwest District blog.

Join us in August:

Summer Social: Agency Crawl in Appleton

Catch an after-hours glimpse into the inner workings of three area agencies. (Start time and location TBD)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Would you like your agency or firm to be included on our agency crawl? Contact Erin Elliott for more information.

Take 5 with Ragan Cheney, JD, of Associated Financial Group

In case you missed it, Regan shared five takeaways from our May meeting, "Social Media Policies, Pitfalls and Possibilities." 

• The lines between personal and professional lives are blurred with social networking sites, posing risks for unprepared employers.
• Technology is moving faster than the legal system can keep pace. Accordingly, it is best to work with your legal and tax professionals when evaluating potential risks posed by technology in the workplace.
• When building a policy, be aware of company culture and potential risks and build policies around it.
• Some of the best practices for social networking for the workplace include: blocking access or limiting use during company time, training employees on proper and improper uses of social networking and monitoring compliance.
• Exercise caution when taking adverse action against employees for postings on social networking websites or blogs where the post concerns “terms and conditions of employment.” 

2013 PRemier Awards

With summer underway, it’s time to start thinking about the 2013 PRemier Awards!

New this year:

• The 2013 PRemier Awards Committee will present a PRemier Communicator of the Year 2013 award to an individual from the area who has demonstrated communications excellence. This award will honor a person whose contributions have occurred in part, or in whole, because of particularly effective communications, marketing, media relations or public relations. There will not be a cost to nominate individuals for this award.
• All award entries will be submitted electronically via Dropbox. We are hoping this will help streamline the judging process and will save on shipping costs.

All other award categories will remain the same including, media relations, integrated communications, issue communications, internal communications, special events, branding / reputation management and miscellaneous.

All awards will be presented to the winners during a lunch ceremony in November.

The deadline for submitting award entries this year will be Friday, September 20 at 5:00 p.m.

Look for more information coming soon!

Directions Marketing Hires Public Relations Manager — PRSA Member Tom Schoffelman

NEENAH, Wis., May 13, 2013—Directions Marketing, an integrated marketing communications and packaging agency based in Neenah, Wis., has hired Tom Schoffelman, APR, as public relations manager. Tom is a director-at-large for our Northeast Wisconsin Chapter. 

They are responsible for planning, recommending and implementing external and internal public relations campaigns, as well as developing and maintaining media relations strategies on behalf of clients.

Tom, from Green Bay, has 25 years of experience in the public relations and communications industry and holds the Accredited in Public Relations (APR) designation, a professional certification held by 5,000 public relations professionals worldwide. 

Prior to joining Directions Marketing, he was an independent communications consultant based in Green Bay and worked with clients in the banking, leadership development, safety education and video production industries.  He is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications/public relations with a minor in journalism.

“Tom brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to our agency, and we are excited about the contributions He will make to the clients who are served by our PR team,” said Tom Lyons, public relations senior manager at Directions Marketing.

On the Move?

Does your company have big news to share? Send it to the editor to share in the next newsletter.

June Anniversary Shout-Outs! 

We asked your fellow PRSA Northeast Wisconsin members with June anniversaries to give us their thoughts on the following—

"What is your biggest bad grammar pet peeve?" 

One of my biggest bad grammar pet peeves is the misuse of the words your and you’re. One of the main reasons I think people get them mixed up is for the simple reason: they sound the same.

YOUR is a possessive pronoun; it is the possessive form of you.

• Your blog is my favorite.
• What is your e-mail address?

YOU’RE is a contraction, or combination, of two words: you are. An apostrophe can stand in for missing letters, and in this case it stands in for the missing letter “a.”

• You’re a great friend.
• Do you know where you’re going?

—Krista Knabenbauer, Faith Technologies, Inc.,  member 5 years

Other June anniversaries include:

2 years:

Jeff Rice,  Skyward, Inc.

4 years:

Thomas Lyons,  Directions Marketing

9 years:

Todd Weber,  Kohler Co.

16 years:

Janet Bonkowski,  Schneider National Inc.