It’s hard to believe that the first quarter of 2005, our 40th anniversary year, has gone by already.  I am very proud of how much the chapter has accomplished in that short time. 

Our first candidates are participating in the new accreditation process and we wish them well as they pursue their APRs.  Thanks to Julie Marranca, APR, chair of the accreditation committee, for her leadership, to the confidential accredited members who serve on the readiness review panel, and to Ron Smith, APR, for leading the prep course.

After formalizing our sponsorship committee and sponsorship process, we also procured our first year-long Gold-level chapter sponsor, PR Newswire.  Board treasurer Mike Barone led this effort and the sponsorship subcommittee, which continues to look for other opportunities that will benefit our chapter.

Programming continues to be strong as well.  In addition to bringing you ever-popular topics such as media relations (the Feb. 24 Gatekeepers Gone Wild program), we’re responding to requests for more senior-level offerings.  The first was the “Inside the Mind of the CEO” program held March 30, which an impressive 50 people attended and gave rave reviews.  And this month, we look forward to another in-depth session called “Ethics:  The Best PR Money Can’t Buy.”  If you haven’t already signed up, please do so now here.

Finally, I would just like to remind you that the chapter web site is the primary method of communicating with you, and that program e-mail notifications now contain a link to the registration form, which enables you to sign up immediately.  The web site also features the password-protected member directory, news and announcements, anniversary information and professional resources.  I hope you take advantage of all the site has to offer!

Save The Date To Celebrate
Be sure to reserve the evening of Thursday, July 21, to attend PRSA Buffalo/Niagara’s 40th anniversary party at the Buffalo Launch Club, located on the shores of the scenic Niagara River. 

The event will include cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a champagne toast, giveaways, a special guest speaker and a representative from PRSA National.  Past presidents will also be recognized, and memorabilia from the chapter’s four decades will be on display. 

“We’re really looking forward to celebrating our 40 years, and hope that most of our 150 members will be able to attend,” said Chapter President Barb Byers, APR.  “We’re also contacting past presidents and former members, and hope to see many of them there.  It will be a wonderful evening for all; this is a real milestone and deserves a big celebration.”

If you know any former members or past presidents who may have moved out of the area, please ask them to contact Brenda Schwamborn at 716-829-2608 or b_schwamborn@msn.com to be included on the invitation database.

Save-the-date postcards have been mailed, and a formal invitation will also be sent as the date draws near.  In the meantime, please check the web site for additional details and updates.

APR Prep Course Set
PRSA Buffalo Niagara offers a six-week preparation course for the APR exam, taught by Ron Smith. The classes cover all aspects of the exam and focus on the four-step process. The next APR prep course series will be held 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays, April 19-May 24, at Child and Family Services, 330 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

If you would like to take the course, please call Julie Marranca by April 12 at (716) 856-2932, ext. 238.

CPRS National Conference
The Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) will hold its 2006 CPRS National Conference June 11-14 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The “Beyond Borders” conference will examine and celebrate the growing influence internationally of public relations and its practitioners. The program will feature renowned speakers, as well as educational workshops highlighting new ideas and practices in our industry.
 
Events will include a gala event, a trip to the famous falls, and a wine tasting tour. The conference committee is also developing a package to provide guests of delegates terrific options for sightseeing and recreation.

The conference will be held at the Sheraton on the Falls, in the heart of the tourist district.
If you are interested in volunteering for the CPRS Conference, please contact Kandis Fuller at 857-4410 or visit CPRS – Hamilton at info@cprs-hamilton.ca.

Make Your Mark
It’s not too late to prepare and turn in your winning Excalibur Award entry!  Each year, the Buffalo/Niagara Chapter’s awards program honors the best and brightest that the area’s public relations field has to offer. 

This year, we’ve added two more weeks of preparation time, a third deadline (to save you/your organization some money), and two entry categories.  There has never been a better time to submit!  And, don’t forget to send in your Special Honors nominations for the coveted Outstanding Executive, Rising Star and Outstanding Practitioner awards.  A few dates to remember:

Second Deadline
Friday, April 8th - $55/entry for members, $70/entry for non-members

Final Deadline
Monday, April 25th - $65/entry for members, $80/entry for non-members

Special Honors Deadline
Monday, April 25th – no charge to nominate

The icing on the cake comes on Thursday, June 23, with the 16th Annual Excalibur Awards Dinner.  This year’s event will feature a new (cheese bread-less) venue, as the “chapter’s biggest night out” will take to Shanghai Red’s on the waterfront.  It’s bound to be an excellent evening of saluting WNY’s finest.  We hope to see you there!

For more information on the 2005 Excalibur Awards Program, contact co-chairs Tom Lucia at 857-7625 or Kathryn Good at 743-8336. 

A Silver Anvil Finalist Among Us
The PRSA/Buffalo Niagara Chapter will be represented at the 2005 PRSA Silver Anvil awards.  A campaign submitted by Travers Collins & Company is one of three finalists in the integrated communications category.  Chapter members Bill Collins, A.P.R. and Beth Kelly, A.P.R. will attend the awards dinner on June 9, where they will learn if their program is the recipient of the prestigious Silver Anvil or one of the two Awards of Excellence in the category. 

More than 660 entries were submitted overall for the 2005 Silver Anvils, 25 of them in the integrated communications category.  The Silver Anvil judges, a panel of 121 senior practitioners from across the United States, narrowed the field to just 100 finalists including American Battle Monuments Commission, American Standard, Eastman Kodak, FAO Schwarz, Gerber, GlaxoSmithKline, The Home Depot, Kleenex, P&G, Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Travers Collins entered “Break a Treaty, Break the Law,” a campaign they developed in 2003/2004 to help the Seneca Nation of Indians forestall a plan to collect taxes on Indian territory.  The account team  led by Kelly and also including Tara Erwin, Peter Cutler and Hadley Pawlak  designed an approach that took everyone by surprise.  Most observers assumed the Senecas would resort to violent protests as they had done in previous tax battles; no one expected a sophisticated communications campaign.  Travers Collins’ integrated program captured the moral high ground of the issue; blocked a $100 million hit to the Seneca economy; protected priceless sovereignty; and prevented violent protests.

Online Dues Renewal Is Here!
Online dues renewal is now available. This new member service makes renewal quick and easy at any time day or night. You may renew all of your memberships - National, Chapters, Professional Interest Sections and/or Affinity Groups, as well as adding or changing any of these options - with just a few clicks. To start, visit MemberNet, our secure, members-only Web site at http://members.prsa.org, and select "My Billing" from the left menu and proceed to renew. Online renewal is available for credit card payments only.

If your contact information has changed, you can update that easily too. Select "My Profile" from the menu. Don't know your MemberNet login or password? Click the option to have it e-mailed to you. Have questions or problems with MemberNet? E-mail our help desk at membernet@prsa.org.

PRSA Health Academy
If you are in the health care communications field, you should consider joining the PRSA Health Academy.  In addition to networking opportunities with members from PR agencies, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, hospitals and professional organizations, membership to the PRSA Health Academy allows access to the following resources and opportunities:

Health Academy Annual Spring Conference
Rebuilding Public Confidence in the Health Care Industry
May 5-6 in Washington, D.C. (pre-conference session May 4)
The health care industry today finds itself in the midst of a crisis of reputation.  Our industry now “enjoys” a level of confidence in the eyes of the American public akin to the tobacco, oil and firearms industries. The repercussions of this perception are having an adverse psychological and financial impact on the way we do business.

Keynote speaker: Dr. Bernadine Healy, former director of the National Institutes of Health and head of the American Red Cross. For a copy of the conference brochure and to register, click here.

Health Academy Teleseminars
Combining telephone and internet presentations, the teleseminars bring professional development into your office in an efficient, stimulating and cost-effective manner for you and your team.

Publishing and Leadership Opportunities
The Health Academy Press is available to help professionals like you publish books and monographs of interest to the health care field.

Health Academy Annual Awards Competition
Showcase your skills in health care communications and receive important recognition from your peers.  The annual awards competition recognizes excellence and best practices in our field.

If you have any questions regarding membership with the Health Academy, please contact Alissa Marisch, PD manager, Professional Interest Sections, who provides staff assistance to the Health Academy at 212-460-1461 or alissa.marisch@prsa.org. The Health Academy maintains a Web site at www.healthacademy.prsa.org

Professional Resource Center News
Announcing PRC Search: A New And Exciting Member Benefit

Access to PRSA's knowledge repository is just a click away!  Now you can search and retrieve answers to your most challenging public relations research questions from PRSA's award-winning publications, Tactics and Strategist, and hundreds of summaries for Silver Anvil winners, through PRC Search, our proprietary online database of full-text articles. This database will expand to include historical case studies and articles from other PRSA resources.

Simply sign on to MemberNet and start searching for:

• Full-text articles from Tactics and Strategist from 1996 to the present
• Two-page outlines of Silver Anvil Award entries that summarize research, planning, execution and evaluation of previously conducted public relations campaigns from 1996 to the present.

Answers to your research challenges are at your fingertips.  You can easily identify articles and cases:

• By practice area: crisis management,  internal communications
• By industry: food/beverage, sports
• By communications channel: press releases, internet
• By searching any word or phrase, locate information on a company, product or person.
• Or use the powerful search engine to combine a category and a free text search

For assistance using PRC Search or for other research/reference inquiries, contact us by e-mail or phone. Not a PRSA member? PRC staff will conduct searches for you for a fee ($50 minimum).  Contact us by phone or e-mail: 212-460-1459; fax 212-995-5024; resources@prsa.org

PRSA Adds Evening Hours In 2005
To accommodate our members in other time zones as well as those who call after close of business, PRSA now has someone available to answer your questions until 8 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday. Please call our general number after 5 p.m.: 212-460-1400. Regular PRSA business hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; our receptionist starts at 8:30 a.m.

Entry Level Positions And Internships
There is a new site for finding entry-level and intern positions in public relations and communications: http://www.entrylevelpr.com/index.html. Posting entry-level jobs (0-2 years of experience required) on the site is free; postings remain on the site for two weeks.