0
0
Facebook
0
0
Buffer
Arment Dietrich

PRSA Says Stop the Spin!

By: Arment Dietrich | November 30, 2006 | 
0

As the incoming president of the Chicago chapter of PRSA, I attended the Delegate Assembly in Salt Lake City last month.

 

Thinking that sticking needles in my eyeballs would have been more fun, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Rhoda Weiss, incoming president of national PRSA, discuss spin.

 

She began her speech with, “Spin is a four letter word!”

 

Yeah, Rhoda!

 

But that was just the beginning.  The conference, itself, was a call-to-action to STOP THE SPIN.

 

Cheryl Procter-Rogers, current PRSA national president, set the tone for the opening session, according to Daily Dog.  

 

Procter-Rogers emphasized the challenges facing the industry and the mission of the conference is to be a forum for discussion of these challenges. She revved up the crowd with her message that “every person sitting there needs to be the moral compass of your company.”

 

The general session continued with guest speaker, Tavis Smiley, who spoke on the topic of what Americans want.

 

Smiley says what Americans want is simple: “They want to live in a nation that is as good as its promise.” And PR professionals have a role in that process to make America as good as its promise. For that to happen, though, he says it’s time to “stop the spin.”

 

Jon Meacham, editor at Newsweek, delivered the closing keynote.  During his remarks, he focused on the changing political climate in the United States.

 

“In this country, it’s time that we all, the media, the strategists, the candidates and those doing the ‘spin’ need to think beyond viewing this country in terms of red and blue states.”

 

Moral of the story?  We’re not the only ones who think spin sucks.

1 comments
  Livefyre
Newest | Oldest