Mickey Nall, head of Ogilvy PR Worldwide/Atlanta, has been nominated as chair-elect of PR Society of America.

He and other nominees can be opposed from the floor of the Assembly until Sept. 15, 30 days before the Assembly in Orlando Oct. 15.

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Nall
Nall is an ardent fan of “tradigital,” meaning the elevation of the “common man” to the top of the opinion-forming totem pole, as he told the University of Oregon May 4.

Coverage of the talk by blogger Jenna Passalacqua said he feels that “people want to hear from the man on the street before they hear from the leaders of society…the common man has taken their place.”

The tape of his talk is not available on the U of O website and Nall has not responded to a request for a copy of it. He is “Executive-in-Residence” at U of O.

Adweek had an extensive discussion of tradigital last year, saying it is the “future of marketing” because it gives people a chance to do things “on their own terms…if they sense you’re trying to push them towards any sort of conclusion, they pull away.”

“Today’s best brand websites speak in their customers’ voice, allowing the customer to speak, too,” wrote April Donovan. Tradigital is best at “adapting to fit the consumer’s ever-evolving demands,” she wrote. “A tradigital agency is the model of efficiency and efficacy. Imagine taking all that’s right about traditional models—and they’re still doing plenty right, by the way—and combining it with the savvy of digital experts.”

Murray Likes “Leadership Rally”


COO Bill "Blackball" Murray, discussing ways PRS can cut spending on the a.m. dues teleconference July 27, seemed to rule out any cuts in the annual “Leadership Rally” each June that now brings to New York 110 chapter presidents, 14 section heads and ten district heads.

Attendees get a $550 stipend plus five free meals including dinner on the Friday night of the weekend meeting. Total cost is estimated at upwards of $150,000.

Murray, discussing budget cuts, noted that spending on in-person board of director meetings has been cut.

There may be no more in-person meetings since the 2009 bylaws say all of PRS’s meetings are legal as long as participants can hear each other and can talk via a teleconference.

In the 1990s, the board usually met at resort destinations such as Lake Tahoe, Vancouver, Sante Fe and San Antonio. The entire board went to London in 2000.

While noting that board expenses can be cut and there is almost nothing to cut in ethics spending ($2,649 in 2010 and $2,891 in 2009), Murray spoke highly of the Leadership Rally and the difficulty of cutting it at all.

Rally “Enormously Important”


He called it “enormously important” to the Society “But the money that goes into it,” he said, “is very discrete. By that I mean it goes to support the travel stipend and the overhead costs directly associated with that event. So we need to look at both the benefits themselves, the extent to which their value is being used—and we have a lot of information on that, we collect it regularly.

“But also what I call the separateness, the discreteness of the expenses. Just because we eliminate a program that is not widely used doesn’t necessarily translate into a reduction in our budget. These things the committee has to look at as we go more deeply into the budget.”

West May Have Five on Board


Kathy Barbour, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, was nominated as treasurer, and Dave Rickey of the Birmingham Business Alliance as secretary. Gerard Corbett of San Bruno, Calif., will move from chair-elect to chair.

Nominated as directors-at-large were Jane Dvorak of JDK & Co., Lakewood, Colo.; Diane Lofgren of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Oakland, Calif.; Elizabeth Pecsi, Unisys Corp., El Cajon, Calif., and Mark McClennan, Schwartz Communications, Waltham, Mass.

The creation of three new at-large posts and the nomination of three candidates from the West, left the South East and South West without representation on the board (unless members run from the floor).

The West and North Pacific, meanwhile, will have six directors on the 2012 board (Corbett, Dvorak, Lofgren, and Pecsi and incumbents Marisa Vallbona of Cim Inc., La Jolla, Calif., and Susan Walton of Brigham Young University, Utah.

Four of the five top posts in 2012 will be held by those from the South--Rosanna Fiske as immediate past chair; Nall as chair, Barbour as treasurer and Rickey as secretary.