Preparing to Address 'a World Disrupted'

At PRSA, we’re continuing to prepare for ICON 2020, themed “Strategic Communications: Navigating a World Disrupted,” held over four days starting on Oct. 26.

Visit the PRSA website for details on all the virtual offerings, including the first Section Symposia, which will feature thought leaders in different industries addressing the impact of this year’s societal, economic and public health challenges.

To date, I’ve had the chance to talk with several of our keynote speakers. Look for these previews on the PRsay blog. I saved some bonus content from the first two interviews to share with you here:

Nina Jankowicz, author and Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., on how people can protect themselves from disinformation in an election year:

Understand that disinformation runs on emotion. If you feel yourself getting emotional when encountering information, then you’re being manipulated. And that manipulation might be for malicious purposes. So distance yourself from that manipulation and consider the news source.

If it’s a source that you don’t know — which is the case for a lot of content that gets shared on Facebook these days, especially unsourced memes and things like that — learn where it came from. You can do a reverse-image search on Google or a number of other platforms to learn about the provenance of images.

If it’s a website, is it legitimate? Does it have contact information? Does it seem like the reporters are actual people? Is the story being reported anywhere else? If it’s a big, salacious, breaking-news story, and it’s only on other shady websites, there’s a good chance that it is not verifiable information.

For better or worse, whether you trust them or not, mainstream news outlets are still the gatekeepers of the news industry, and they have processes and protocols in place for verifying information.

Carolynn Johnson, CEO of DiversityInc Media LLC, on how can people channel their frustrations and anger into sustainable action on racial equity in their workplace or community:

Every person has power. The CEO has power. Coordinators have power. Interns have power. We can each use our powers of influence to support each other. To deal with the anger and not let it make the situation worse, let’s draw from the positives and recognize our positive positions of influence.

Managing Editor Amy Jacques and I will be covering ICON 2020. Follow @PRSAtactics for insights throughout the four days of the Conference. We’ll have recaps of the major speeches at PRsay. There’ll be further coverage in the November-December issue of Strategies & Tactics.

We hope that you enjoy this year’s virtual gathering, and we look forward to seeing you online!

A D&I Celebration

PRSA is celebrating Diversity & Inclusion Month this October, featuring programs from our D&I Committee. This year’s theme is “Transforming the Landscape.” Look for a package of articles in this issue. Our print edition and flipbook includes a list of the Chapter D&I liaisons.

In addition, check out our D&I-related blog posts, webinars and Twitter Chats throughout the month. Highlights include the latest Diverse Dialogues webinar, “Communicators: Helping Americans Vote in 2020,” on Oct 6 at 3 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 22, there is a Twitter chat titled “Supporting Diversity & Inclusion Through Mentorship” at 3 p.m. ET. You can follow the #PRDiversity discussion @PRSADiversity.