Pub­lic­ity Club of Chicago Panel to Dis­cuss State of Chicago PR Industry

CHICAGO (Jan. 3, 2013) – The Pub­lic­ity Club of Chicago (PCC) will host a dis­cus­sion by the lead­ers of some of Chicago’s largest, most pres­ti­gious pub­lic relations/public affairs agen­cies on Wednes­day, Jan. 9. The con­ver­sa­tion will focus on the lat­est devel­op­ments, cur­rent trends and pos­si­ble future direc­tion of the PR indus­try and its prac­ti­tion­ers. The PCC monthly lun­cheon pro­gram will be held at Maggiano’s Lit­tle Italy, 516 N. Clark St., Chicago.

The pro­gram, “The State of the Chicago PR Indus­try,” fea­tures exec­u­tives from some of the most influ­en­tial PR firms in the city.  Pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als will walk away from this event armed with pro­jec­tions of what’s to come in the New Year.

“Chicago’s pub­lic and media rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als are faced with excit­ing chal­lenges – and changes – as we step boldly into a brand new year,” said Sue Mark­graf, founder and pres­i­dent of Green­Mark Pub­lic Rela­tions and a past pres­i­dent of the PCC.  “We’ll wel­come the best of the best from our town’s lead­ing PR firms as we together take out the crys­tal ball and project a bit on what may lie ahead for our indus­try, and the clients and busi­nesses we rep­re­sent. This panel promises to be excit­ing, thought-provoking and fun – just right to set the tone for our indus­try in 2013.”

Con­firmed pan­elists for are:

• Erica Swerd­low, EVP & Mid­west Mar­ket Leader, Bur­son Marsteller

• Rick Mur­ray, Pres­i­dent, Edel­man Chicago

• Max­ine Winer, Senior Part­ner & Gen­eral Man­ager, Fleishman-Hillard Chicago

• Patti Tem­ple Rocks, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor, Golin­Har­ris Chicago

• Claire Koen­e­man, EVP & Gen­eral Man­ager, Hill + Knowl­ton Strate­gies Chicago

• Susan Howe, Pres­i­dent, Weber Shand­wick Chicago

Mark­graf will mod­er­ate the discussion.

“PR pro­fes­sion­als at every level will ben­e­fit from the exper­tise, insights and analy­ses they will offer on the cur­rent state of the indus­try, career devel­op­ment and the trends that will define our work in 2013 and beyond,” said Jon Kaplan, direc­tor of mar­ket­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tions for the Safer Foun­da­tion and PCC board member.

The pro­gram begins with reg­is­tra­tion and net­work­ing among Chicago com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­fes­sion­als at 11:30 a.m., fol­lowed by a family-style lunch at noon. The pro­gram begins at 12:30 p.m., and con­cludes at 1:30 p.m. Audi­ence mem­bers will be able to engage pan­elists dur­ing a question-and-answer period. Reg­is­tra­tion is at http://www.publicity.org. Early reg­is­tra­tion rates are avail­able through 5 p.m., Jan. 4. Late reg­is­tra­tion rates apply through 3 p.m., Jan. 8.  Walk-in rates apply the day of the program.

The PCC monthly lun­cheon series matches experts in com­mu­ni­ca­tion fields with pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als to dis­cuss top­ics of sig­nif­i­cant inter­est. Recent PCC pro­grams have fea­tured experts in tele­vi­sion news, cri­sis com­mu­ni­ca­tion, social media and the mag­a­zine indus­try. The next PCC lun­cheon will be held on Feb. 13, 2013.

About the Pub­lic­ity Club of Chicago

The Pub­lic­ity Club of Chicago, founded in 1941, is the nation’s largest inde­pen­dent pub­lic rela­tions mem­ber­ship orga­ni­za­tion, pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tion and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to Chicago’s out­stand­ing pub­lic rela­tions prac­ti­tion­ers. Through monthly lun­cheons, pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment sem­i­nars, a pre­mier awards pro­gram and addi­tional events, the PCC is a prac­ti­cal resource for pro­vid­ing the tools, tech­nol­ogy and tac­tics Chicago-area pro­fes­sional com­mu­ni­ca­tors need to imple­ment high-quality pro­grams and excel in pub­lic rela­tions. Con­tact the PCC for infor­ma­tion about mem­ber­ship, com­mit­tees, adver­tis­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and a com­plete sched­ule of events. Web: http://www.publicity.org. Email: office@publicity.org. Office phone: 773–463-5560.

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