Happy 2012, fellow PR pros!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and entered the year feeling rested, renewed and energized for all that the next 12 months have in store. Since those of us working in public relations are cut from the same cloth, my guess is that many of you did what I found myself doing as I hung up my new wall calendar: made a to-do list – written or mental – of things I’d like to accomplish before Dec. 31. I also suspect that at least one thing on your to-do list was related to your career. Because I have the honor of serving as PRSA Northeast Wisconsin’s president for the next year, that’s exactly where our to-do lists overlap.

For the Chinese, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. The Mayans believed it’s, well…something even scarier than that. But PRSA Northeast Wisconsin is touting 2012 as the Year of MORE! What does that mean? Simply put, we are enhancing nearly every element of our organization this year, which means YOU get MORE out of your membership and MORE tools to advance yourself professionally.

I’m really proud of the hard, smart work that our committees have been doing to prepare for 2012 over the last few months. They have heard the feedback our members shared during last year’s survey and are executing initiatives designed to give you, our members and future members, MORE of what you need and want to enhance your professional skill set and network.

One example is the first programming meeting of the year, which will be held Tuesday, Jan. 24, over lunch at The Marq in De Pere. We will be doing something we’ve never done before: a PR fire drill. Renowned PR and crisis management guru Evan Zeppos of Zeppos & Associates in Milwaukee (whose firm managed the Miller Stadium Big Blue disaster among many other crises) will lead us through an interactive exercise that both tests and teaches us. Oh, and did I mention that some members of our local media (Rich Ryman and Nathan Phelps of the Green Bay Press-Gazette and Brian Kerhin, news assignment manager at Fox 11) will participate, as well? This glimpse into how media minds work in a crisis will be invaluable to any PR pro! I think we’ll be talking about this meeting for years to come, so don’t miss out – register today!

I promise you’ll be seeing and hearing more about our new initiatives in the weeks and months to come. Until then, keep connected with us by coming to our meetings, reading E-News, and visiting prsanewis.org or our Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin pages! You’ll find MORE of what you’re looking for!