By John F. Budd, Jr.

When I learned that the Seminar (a.k.a. PR Seminar) was holding its annual clambake at the elegant Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel, Calif., complete with spa, pool, golf course and rooms at $449 per, I was reminded of Oscar Wilde's quip, " Really, if the lower orders don't set a good example, what on earth is the use of them?"

As a former member of this group of senior PR executives (10 years, mostly on the program committee) I respect their honest intent to grow intellectually by exposing themselves to some of the best thought leaders extant.

But as self-styled experts in the management of perceptions -- which, in essence, is really what PR is all about -- is it not painfully obvious that this smacks of the sort of hubris for which their CEOs have been accused ... an arrogant demonstration of tone deafness in light of the public's and the media's immediate outrage when "retreats" at posh resorts are reported?

Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel

And reported it will be -- make no mistake about that despite the attempts at running the event like a Star Chamber's secret meeting.

What is wrong, by exercising some reality and "street smarts" and moving the event to a New York hotel or private club -- or the same in Washington D.C.?

Yes, some deposits may be lost and fees paid to some speakers already booked, but the protection of PR's already thin credibility makes a change of venue a sound investment.

I, myself, would, be very uncomfortable in expensing my costs for this event, especially noting that it would run some $6,300 per couple and cost the group, overall, nearly one million dollars to stage.

That is minuscule in the context of the millions and billions being cast about these days.

But if I represented AIG, GM, American Express and some others whose senior officers are on the Seminar board, I'd hesitate before I exposed my CEO to further media blasts. How could I, in good conscious, advise them to be careful about public perceptions? I'd be a hypocrite.

Further, a priceless opportunity is being squandered to demonstrate that they, senior PR officers, "get it."

Seminar Should Keep PR

While I have the podium, may I unburden myself of a couple of issues troubling me?

I cannot fathom why the "Seminar" dropped the prefix "PR"? What management discipline do they represent? Is this some sort of affectation that presumes some policy role unknown to chief executives?

Finally, and of greater materiality, where have the senior PR folks, who boast of their access to the CEO, been as CEO after CEO has, through boneheaded conduct, significantly increased the trust deficit?

Never mind, for now, the financial shenanigans; think only of the personal behavior. One doesn't have to be a lawyer or have degrees in finance to realize that lobbying for a $10 million bonus (John Thain, Merrill Lynch) or scheduling half-million-dollar retreats at millionaire watering holes (AIG) or rationalizing them as retention devices as the executives leave (again, AIG) or putting a bridge tourney ahead of shareholder interests (Jimmy Cayne, Bear Stearns) is catnip to an already angry and furious public and raw meat for headline hunting media . 

This is not the best of times for those who brag of their closeness to their CEOs. From Enron forward, public relations has racked up a miserable track record.

Their collective impotence in persuading iconic CEOs to exercise common sense in dealing with the public exposes, sadly, their pretense of counseling limiting whatever leverage they have to the mechanics of communications, notable, but limited, exceptions notwithstanding.

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John Budd is founder/chairman of The Omega Group and was vice chairman of Carl Byoir & Associates in a 30-year career there. He recently wrote "Too Many Geese; Too Few Swans: The Past, Present and Future of PR."

Bill Huey, Strategic Communications, Atlanta (3/19):
Excellent suggestion, John, and might I recommend one of the excellent airport hotels around Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson? I was out there yesterday, and it's very fine in the spring.

Wes Pedersen (3/19):
John, you have it right about the Seminar needing to avoid the country club confer-while- you-golf gatherings. But New York? Why, for heaven's sake? Washington is where the action is these days.

Make it at least a yearly habit to hold meetings here and get to hear from those who are making policies clients and country. (No PR-connected organization has had a sitting president as its guest; it's time that changed, certainly.

Obama is pretty much about image, and, John, I am pleased to see that you and I agree: PR is about image.

Ron Levy, NAPS Research Director (3/19):
The more your time is worth to your company, the more sense it makes to take a taxi instead of a bus, have a quiet office instead of working in a cubicle, and lunch with fellow executives at a quiet table in a great restaurant instead of pretending a false common-man facade by eating at a hot dog stand or in a cheap restaurant.

Hard working executives need not apologize for having milions, nor live and work as if they had less. By Seminarians meeting at a Ritz-Carlton or at another great hotel, the Seminarians are better able to work, safer, happier and even healthier if they can use special diets that fancy restaurants provide and others may not. The BIG cost of an annual meeting is executive time and transportation, not the hotel which-- even a Ritz-Carlton--is relatively trivial. Seminarian spouses, who must often endure the late-at-night work, out-of-town trips, tensions and sometimes temptations common to executives, are damn well entitled to the comforts of a Ritz-Carlton.

When John Budd did his PR magic at the eminent Carl Byoir & Associates, then by far the greatest-ever PR firm, CB&A could have had much cheaper space than the entire seventh and eighth floors at the then-new 800 Second Avenue, and the lofty 38th floor (with a CB&A-only elevator to a CB&A war room) at 10 East 40th Street, and MUCH less costly executives, by well over 50% less, than John Budd and the other top-of-the-profession PR experts. CB&A unappologetically spent to employ two world-class editors with no account responsibilities whatever--Charlie McVarish and John Stahr.

But giving management benefit of the world's best PR talent--which CB&A people were and Seminarians are--is not extravagant nor a shame if the cost is not concealed, and people like this amply deserve America's best hotels and restaurants. And then some.

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (3/23):
A note to Ron Levy: an old musician said it long years ago: It ain't what you do; it's the way that you do it. Check the calendar, Ron, it's 2009, and "stuff" is going on and has been for some time.

Rene A. Henry, author of "Communicating In A Crisis" (3/19):
An excellent piece and well stated. Leaders in PR should be setting the example, but not this type of example. Where have the people responsible been? Are they completely tuned out from what is happening? This appears to be a crisis waiting to happen.

Olde Pharte, APR, Fellow PRSA (3/19):
Following up on Bill Huey's excellent suggestion, why doesn't "The Seminar" (sans "P.R.") have a July meeting in Yuma? Or Duluth in January? Or the Newark Airport hotels any time of year, since they'd be near a major airline hub, and also doing away with costly ground transportation? Just a thought.