View from the Chair
Welcome to the new PRnews. You will now receive PRnews every month and we have added more content to make it an even better read. Full of hints and tips and best practice case studies it will hopefully help you with the daily challenges you face.
This year we had an election for the committee for the very first time. Many of you voted and elected a fantastic committee who are working to provide all local public services communicators with a voice at a national level. We are committed to making sure that your work is recognised and helping you through the tough challenges ahead.
We have a new editor for PRnews - Yana De Silva. Yana has taken over from Wendy Moran. Wendy worked as deputy editor and then editor for the last five years and moved PRnews from print to the digital magazine we have today. Many thanks to Wendy for her dedication and hard work.
Wendy is now leading on our training and education and will be concentrating on Second Steps 2011. Second Steps launched in 2009 and is the first accredited post graduate PR programme for local government PR practitioners in the UK, delivered by the CIPR LPS and Manchester Metropolitan University.
The programme which is aimed at those who have been in the profession for two years or more has been redeveloped to meet the needs of practitioners across local public services.
First Steps - our course for those new to local public services PR is also being redeveloped and you can find out more about both courses at our annual conference in October.
With challenging times ahead and the public sector faces up to significant cuts we have developed a conference that will guide you through these tricky times. The theme is Navigating Change. We will explore shaping a new model of communications in local public services.
Taking place from 20 -22 October in the amazing city of Brighton and Hove you can now book at an early bird rate. Book before 31 July and get £50 off.
At the conference you will hear from speakers such as Alastair Campbell who will draw on his considerable understanding of the modern media. There will be many opportunities to learn and steal some ideas to take back to the office. Our unique Trade Secrets sessions will look at best practice from across local public services.
The conference ends with our Excellence Awards gala dinner. These are the most hotly contested awards for the local public services. The awards are now open until 30 July. With a new easy way to enter and two new categories its time to shout about your best work. And with the entry fee held at last year's level it is really worth entering.
Let us know what you think of the new style PRnews and how we can help you. This is what we are here to do.
Ashley Wilcox, MCIPR
Chair