Season's greetings from the IPRA president 2013
(Comments)
10 years, 11 months ago
I can't appreciate if I have been a great president or not but I have done my best to serve the organization, to protect its legacy and to make its voice heard.
The time has come now to finish my year as IPRA President and to welcome my successor, Zehra Güngör from Turkey to handle this responsibility from January 1st 2014.
I can't find the words to express my feelings when I look back at this fantastic year. It has been an amazing journey. I wanted to raise the voice of Public Relations all over the world and to represent IPRA as much as I could.
I have traveled on duty to China, United Kingdom, Senegal, Peru, Qatar, Latvia, Egypt, Uganda, Germany, Russia, Iran, Morocco, Bulgaria, Serbia, and in every conference, I have tried to promote the importance of Public Relations in modern societies. More than a President, I have tried to become the humble ambassador of smart and modern Public Relations worldwide.
As I often said, Public Relations is not just another communication technique. Public Relations is an agent of change and it is instrumental in a digital and always-on world.
I can't appreciate if I have been a great president or not but I have done my best to serve the organization, to protect its legacy and to make its voice heard.
Nearly 60 years ago, when the founders of IPRA decided to create this organization, they wanted to raise the level of PR to make sure that the world would change and leave the dark years far behind. They believed that better public relations practitioners would be instrumental to make these society changes happen. And they were absolutely right! Their vision was inspiring.
Still today, the world is changing thanks to the digital revolution. We have entered a new world where conversations are always on and noisy, where citizens make themselves heard by governments, organizations and brands, where traditional media has lost pieces of influence, where social media is mainstream and where the crowds have themselves become a media.
In this new world, Public Relations practitioners have again huge responsibilities. They still have to help the audience to be properly informed but they also need to protect the organizations they are working for against manipulation, info-war and activism.
Public Relations has never been so important and so complex at the same time. Our job has changed dramatically and what we are facing now is fantastic.!
We are at the crossroad of the influence, we are in the middle of the conversations and again, we are helping the society to change. Public Relations has not become digital, it has become social and we are the heart of the social engine.
IPRA has a major role to play again. Because IPRA is a worldwide organization with members in all emerging countries, because it is an individuals' organization and not an agency one, IPRA has to show the road and stay at the forefront of what is happening in the world of communications. I am confident that my successors will be keen to do it, next year and the years after and I can't wait to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our organization in South Africa (September 2015).
Thank you very much for all your enthusiastic support.
I am wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy 2014 that we will kick-off with the ReputationWar (www.reputationwar.com) conference in Paris on January 17th, 2014.
Yours,
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