A packed program resulted in no time being left for a “Town Hall” at the PR Society Assembly in Detroit Oct. 25. The same thing had happened at the 2007 Assembly.
A good part of the meeting was taken up with hundreds of slides being shown for the Blake Lewis leadership development program, a report on member attitudes by Ketchum, and a training session in issue analysis conducted by an outside consultant.
There was almost no mention of the current economic crisis. At one point chair Jeff Julin said PRS has about 20% of a year’s revenues in net assets although ideally this should be 50%.
He added that the assets are being built up at the rate of one percent a year in case of a “rainy day.” He then added: “It’s raining.”
Treasurer Rosanna Fiske, asked how much of the $3.5 million in “investments” is in securities, replied 60%.
Since the stock market is down about 40%, this would indicate a possible decline of $800,000 in the investment portfolio.
However, Fiske would not provide any dollar amount for the possible decline. Julin, asked for a figure during a break in the Assembly, also declined to provide a figure, saying that the stock market goes up and down.
PRS is cash-heavy at this time because much of the income for the national conference has been received but the bills have not yet come in.
“Registration” income totaled $2.7 million for the first nine months, up from $2.3 million. Cash/grew to $1.82M from $1.68M and investments grew to $3.5M from $3.27M. Total cash/investments were $5.3M.
Some Won't Pay 'Own' Dues
Delegates were concerned with a part of the Ketchum report that said a quarter of those who get their dues paid by their organizations would not remain in the Society if they had to pay their own dues.
A PRS treasurer in a previous year had said that about 80% of the members get their dues paid by employers.
There was no town hall at last year’s Assembly in Philadelphia as Julin, then chair-elect, spent the last 35 minutes reading power point slides.
Delegates this year voted 53% in favor and then 51% in favor of extending the meeting beyond 5 p.m. but Julin noted that Robert’s Rules requires a two-thirds majority for such a vote.
One Minor Bylaw Passed
The meeting this year passed only one minor bylaw change relating to the international Assembly delegate although the 2007 Assembly had been promised it would be given a complete re-write of the bylaws to act upon.
Bylaws chair Dave Rickey said the committee, after discussing the bylaw changes, decided that more input was needed from the Assembly, which he described as the voice of the membership.
A number of delegates were angered that the financial report and minutes of the 2007 Assembly were not given to them until the day of the Assembly.
A resolution demanding the timely distribution of these reports was passed with 64% voting “yes” on electronic voting devices.
Present for the meeting were 300 of the 329 authorized delegates. Forty-one votes were represented by proxy.
Because electronic voting devices were used, there is no published record of how any delegate voted, whether in person or by proxy.
The data was captured but could only be released if a roll-call vote had been passed. No such motion was made. The only time a roll call vote was published in the ten years the devices have been in use by PRS was in 2004 when decoupling APR from Assembly membership was passed by a six-vote margin.
APR Viability Questioned
A delegate, noting the small number of PRS members who have become accredited in the first five years of the new multiple-choice test (550 or 110 per year) questioned whether it is a viable program any more and worthy of the Society’s continued support.
Julin refused to allow a discussion of the remark to take place, saying that there would be an opportunity for such issues in the afternoon.
The topic was never raised again. It might have been raised in a town hall but there was no such session.
Delegates Were Tasked by Consultant
Part of the morning and afternoon sessions were turned over to Jean Frankel of Tecker Consultants, whose job was to train the delegates to think critically about governance decisions, thus preparing them to vote on bylaw changes in 2009.
They were to receive training in creating a “knowledge-based strategic dialogue.”
Since delegates are limited to three years of service, it’s probable that because of that and other reasons such as job changing and ability to attend, half or more of this year’s delegates will not be present in 2009.
The troubled economy could also impact the likelihood of 2008 delegates returning in 2009.
Frankel and an assistant went up and down the aisles with mikes so that delegates could provide their observations after thinking about a series of questions for 15-minute periods.
The main topic for purposes of the discussion was “A Call for Professional Licensing” such as APR, government licensing of PR pros as is being started in Puerto Rico, and professional certification in specialties.
A question to be addressed was “What should PRS’ role be in establishing formal practice standards for the PR profession?”
A six-page paper provided to the delegates said that “Strategic ‘mega issues’ are broad topics of strategic importance.”
Steps involved in a “knowledge-based dialogue were said to include:
- Defining what is known about an issue.
- Determining what strategic choices this knowledge suggests.
- Assessing the relative opportunities and challenges of the choices.
- Coming to a consensus on a choice of strategies or actions.
Delegates were asked to ponder “What attributes describe the ideal PR Society?”