PRSA Western District
Contact:
Mary Davis
Western District Delegate
mdavis@tucsonairport.org
(520) 573-4840
Visit PRSA Western District News and Views for news, discussion, events, and shared wisdom for the members and leaders of the Public Relations Society of America’s Western District.
The Public Relations Society of America organizes its membership into ten regions, called districts. The purpose in creating regions is that these groupings of chapters would provide helpful support, shared resources, and leadership cultivation for the next generation of professionals to head the association and be voices for the PR industry.
The Western District includes ten chapters from four states:
California Inland Empire
Colorado
Hawaii
Las Vegas Valley
Los Angeles
Orange County
Phoenix
Pikes Peak
San Diego and Imperial Valley
Southern Arizona
The Board
The Western District is managed by its own Board, which elects officers each year at the PRSA International Conference. The remaining Board members are representatives of the ten member chapters within the District.
In many cases, the representatives are current or past presidents. In other cases, chapters opt to have presidents-elect participate. In addition to the designated representative, all Assembly Delegates and PRSA members within the District are invited to participate, although each chapter receives one vote.
The Board meets monthly by conference call with the exception of two in-person meetings each year - one at the PRSA Western District Conference (traditionally held in April or May) and one at the PRSA International Conference (traditionally held in October or November).
Western District Events
PRSA 2012 Western District Conference
Monday & Tuesday, March 12-13, 2012 | Denver, CO
Mary Davis attended the Western District board meeting and
conference on behalf of the board.
Western District board report:
National is moving towards adopting District Policies and
Procedures for district governance, which has not been done in the past. A draft
of this document was circulated throughout the membership and to District
leadership and review and comments are underway. The draft clarifies the role of
the district, board and its officers; calls for the board to approve the
district policies and procedures; outlines operating responsibilities, etc. It
also establishes minimum standards and a call for Districts to develop clear
policies and procedures to build a unified structure upon which National can
layer resources and training that connect National to Chapter and ultimately to
members.
There is no firm timeline on the review process. National
has sent information out to members regarding the draft. Contact Mary if you
want to learn more at mdavis@tucsonairport.org
Save the Date!
Phoenix will be hosting next year's Western District
conference April 18-20th at the Fire Sky Resort in Scottsdale. In 2007, Phoenix
was a partner in helping Tucson host its most successful conference--and one of
the more successful for the District. Tucson members are asked to support the
conference by planning on attending. Mary Davis will serve on the conference
planning committee, but anyone who is interested in participating in any role
can contact her directly.
It is worth noting that the budget surplus that the
Southern Arizona chapter has enjoyed during this recession is due in very large
part to our success at hosting this conference. We could not have done that
without the cooperation of the Phoenix chapter. We encourage all of our
membership to plan on attending the conference next year, and if you have ideas
for topics, speakers or sponsors, please send them to Mary.
District Blog Update
Did you know the Western District had a blog??? Check it
out! Each month chapters will post topics on what is hot in their chapters,
tools for webinars, case studies and other items that chapters can bring home.
Southern Arizona is scheduled for the December post--ideas for the post are
welcome! Just email them to...you guessed it...Mary at mdavis@tucsonairport.org
Conference News - Denver
There were approximately 120 attendees at the conference,
which was held in Denver's arts district. The programming was top notch, and
included national speakers including Carl Kassell from NPR; political analyst
and communications guru Dan Schner; and Rob Biesenbach, author of Act Like You
Mean Business. No. 1 Takeaway? Buy the book from Rob...It will remind/teach you
how to frame communications in a whole new way!
