Strategic Communications Consultants

Walton VP of International PR Team

WHAM principal Trevor Walton has been elected vice-president of the International Public Relations Team, a global network of independent public relations consultancies. The new president is Karen Tinkler of Partners Group, York, England.

At the team's 2-yearly conference held in October at Vagator Resort, Goa, delegates discussed how new e-comms technologies could be used to provide clients with improved services -- along with member case-studies of best-practice communications strategies and tactics.

Werner Fernandes, Pink & White Consultancy, Mumbai, India, gave delegates a detailed presentation on providing PR services for the burgeoning Indian IT industry. Ulrica Griffiths, Griffiths Consulting, Munich, Germany, outlined her award-winning campaign for the promotion of a series of books for children.

Past-president Sarah Hawthorn, of Pinque Consultancy, Sydney, Australia, put delegates through a Key Messages Workshop, a technique which can be a useful tool for getting senior executives to focus on communications priorities for their organisation.

WHAM principal Angie Fussell says the technique is useful in situations where a client lacks either the time or resources to do a full PR audit. "It provides a formal structure for getting busy executives to focus on communications priorities and messages. I can see myself using it, while being mindful that there are risks in the process.

"Unlike a PR audit, where tentative conclusions and messages are tested on different groups, the outcomes of a KMW could be swayed by the views of a dominant individual or be influenced by 'group-think'. Careful facilitation of these workshops is therefore essential."

The next IPR-Team conference will be held in San Francisco in April 2009.

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