Free Webinar to Help NGOs Strategy

I have been working for a number of non-profits recently and one thing is true of all of them - they are very budget conscious. Sometimes you find the program you are working on has to be self sufficient.

You may find yourself having to raise the funds to pay yourself. Despite the budget challenges, working with non-profits is always morally fulfilling.

Just got this email from PR Newswire and I thought I would share it for all of you who are working with non profits.

Register its free!


Great Marketing and PR Strategies on a Non-Profit Budget

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
10:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM Mountain, 12:00 PM Central, 1:00 PM Eastern
Duration: Approximately 45 minutes

You don't need to have deep pockets to execute a successful marketing or PR campaign, but you do need to have a great strategy. Even big businesses with huge marketing budgets will fail if they don't have effective strategies backing up their campaigns.

Join PR Newswire for a FREE webinar and find out how you can use your resources and creativity to come up with great communications strategies that will help you get results and leave you with money to spare in your marketing and PR budget.

Guest Presenter: Kelley Weir, American Humane Association

IABC Barbados Host Its First Panel Discussion

IABC Barbados is gathering momentum. Members are trickling in and the organisation will host its first event since its launch this September.

It will be a panel discussion on What Is PR's real function and Who should it report to. Yours truly is on the panel which also features Sara Odle of Cable and Wireless, Debra King of First Caribbean International Bank and Greg Hoyos of GHA DDB.

My take on the matter is that PR is a strategic function which informs organisations decision making process with regards to its relationships. It therefore must report to the most senior executive if it is to be effective. Of course a lot of organisations devalues or undervalues relationships as they cannot or refuse to see the correlation between the relationships they have with their various stakeholders and their success.

Not having a pr strategy is like having cancer. You go along oblivious thinking that everything is fine and then a serious crisis come along and your dead.

Come to the Panel Discussion and here more on this, or check out my paper on the topic later on this blog.

No Time To Blog

Since the launch of IABC Barbados I have been too busy to blog. Sacrilege, according to Christal Mc Intosh, President of the Chapter who has recently made a commitment to blog every day.

Wow!

My PR world is wonderful and my client list is growing. I am working on a number of very public projects, including Caribbean Wellness Day which is in Bridgetown on Saturday, September 13. Cannot promise to blog every day by I will try for at least once a week, especially since I have part two of an earlier blog to complete.

Check out the ad below on Caribbean Wellness Day. Hope to see some of you in Bridgetown

IABC Barbados Launch

The Barbados Chapter of IABC was formally launched last Thursday at Herbert House, the home of the Cricket Legends of Barbados .

The majestic old building, beautifully renovated was an auspicious setting for the occasion. The ceremony was simple. Vice President Development, Richard Thomas was the Master of Ceremonies and he provided the forty plus audience with enough humor mixed with the business at hand to keep this session lively and excited.

President of the Association Christal Mc Intosh gave an address which listed the five main goals of the Association as:
1. To create meaningful opportunities for networking while bringing an end to the isolation in which professionals currently work;

2. To create genuine opportunities for professional development;

3. To create a local community of professionals whose members are committed to a single code of ethics;

4. To create a platform in which business communications speak with a single united, credible voice; and

5. To demonstrate to business leaders how public relations and corporate communications practiced professionally, can enhanced all those desirables such as corporate reputation, stakeholder trust, productivity and profits.

The featured speaker was the Corporate Communications and Marketing Manager of the Barbados Light and Power, Stephen Worme. Stephen took an unusual route towards heading the communications area at Barbados' monopoly power company. An engineer by profession, he has become respected as a honest voice for all the island's power crisis. Stephen gave an excellent speech about his experience, his relationship with the media, and his dream for the profession locally.


A delightful wine and cheese cocktail followed the speeches.