Public Relations Summit 2011

Dear friends,

We thank you! Your abundant and especially active participation at PR Summit 2011 has helped to “push a bit” the sector of public relations and to emphasize its benefits for companies and organizations

This year’s summit can be characterized by a record number of two hundred participants, with very variable structure across sectors, and especially by elevation of public relations matters from the level of Communications Managers to interest of CEOs.

At the start of the morning session moderated by Libuše Bautzová from Czech television, participants were pleased by the performance of Denisa Kasl Kollmannová, Head of the Department of Communication and PR at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University. Her presentation, focused on the influence of the CEO on company reputation, brought interesting comparison of data about trends of communication within companies and their top managers both abroad and in the Czech Republic. This was a good entry for the following presentation and discussion of CEOs on the topic “The boss wants PR – why and for whom?”.

Francois Vleugels, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bochemie and expert in company transformations, emphasized the necessity of coordination of efficient communication towards all target groups – customers, employees and share holders especially in the time of rapid company changes. At the same time he emphasized that if a CEO starts to consider and discuss PR only when there are troubles, it can mean the company will always be in trouble. Robert Chvátal, CEO of T-Mobile Austria, outlined the differences of the role of CEO in PR communication between Austria and CR and he documented them on specific examples of PR activities. Especially his recommendations in relation to work on social networks were interesting, as well as 'Chvátal’s Five' best practices in public relations from the view of CEO. Dan Ťok, CEO of Skanska provided an interesting example of crisis communication during open conflict with a representative of the Czech government. His presentation also showed specifics of the Czech market in general, especially the difficulty to succeed in business in ČR without corruption. All presentations from the first session were, inspirational and their ranking was very balanced so there was no clear 'winning speaker' of this conference (according to the expressions of participants in the questionnaire).

However, there was a winner of the award PR Manager of the year 2011 who was, for the first time in history of the conference, voted directly using voting machines given to all participants in the auditory. Among seven nominated candidates the winner, Zdeněk Mikulášek from Family Brewery Bernard, received votes of one third of present participants.

OThe afternoon discussion panel, perfectly led by Marek Hlavica, dealt also with the question, "Besides the CEO and Communicaitons Manager, what does other company management expect from PR?" Participants appreciated a passionate, open and sometimes funny discussion enabled by an especially good preparation by the moderator and the choice of panelists.

The closing competitive discipline - a creative and powerful presentation in six minutes - was completely different this year. Not only because it was newly namedRIC PIC! or because it was moderated by Jan Kraus. The difference was mainly the seriousness of the topic which was 'Corruption in ČR and how to fight against it using PR'. Not only communication experts, but also personalities who are trying to fight the corruption actively were registered in the contest. The evaluating auditory discussed intensively whether to prioritize the form or the presentation content in evaluating individual contestants. The winner was David Holman from the company Media Age, who pleasantly amused the auditorium using the presentation form of “devil’s advocate” and he gained them with his civil stand of active councilor of the city Kuřim.

We believe thoughts on how to battle the corruption mentioned at the conference will continue to resonate in the minds of participants. As well as the idea that the most efficient PR is a reflection of shared values and dreams expressed in true stories. Let’s hope that the conclusion of the CEOs discussion about the fact that in this time of fast changes it is necessary to strengthen the continuous investments into company PR was not just an inappropriate optimism.

We are looking forward to receiving your ideas for the next conference before we meet again at the PR Summit on 24th October 2012.

On behalf of co- organizers


Antonín Parma
General Manager
Blue Events