Mideast Region Chapter Reports March 2016 Prepared by: NSPRA Staff Kentucky School Public Relations Association (KYSPRA) Chapter well-being The KYSPRA Board of Directors has met on the following dates: April 23, 2015, September 2, 2015 and November 4, 2015. All meetings have had a quorum of Board Members present. As of the November 4, 2015 meeting, the Association had 140 members and a total fund balance of $19,854.61 Chapter projects/collaboration efforts As reported in the Spring 2015: KYSPRA began trying to engage members and districts on social media including Twitter (@kyschoolpr) and an organizational blog (kyspra.blogspot.com). A committee was in place to plan and re-design the KYSPRA website, www.kyspra.org with the goal of streamlining KYSPRA communication resources and offering more member recognition opportunities. This plan has been completed. KYSPRA continues to work with the Kentucky School Boards Association to refine recognition opportunities for KYSPRA members, including plans to travel to local school district Board of Education meetings for presentation of annual PR awards to professionals with school district colleagues. Professional development programs/activities The KYSPRA Fall Conference was held November 5 and 6, 2015 in Bardstown, Kentucky. Our blog posts at kyspra.blogspot.org continues to allow and encourage members to share ideas and tips and videos with members and interested school districts. Major chapter issues or concerns Membership involvement continues to be a challenge. We are continuing to ask and listen to our membership and willing to change if necessary. We feel that our social media outreach approaches will help build interest and membership as well. Issues or areas that could use NSPRA regional or national support As stated in the Spring 2015 report, involvement continues to be a challenge at the state level and is even more minimal at the national level. If KYSPRA struggles to increase membership at $35 per year dues and conference fees of $180; NSPRA membership is simply not an option for most school PR professionals in Kentucky. We are very appreciative to the Kentucky districts that support KYSPRA and NSPRA. State or local issues that NSPRA should keep an eye on As public school communication professionals, our budgets are extremely tight. Within the KYSPRA family, we remain very conservative with travel and professional development funds and are able to do this by sharing from neighboring districts and fellow KYSPRA members. Networking and communicating with one another is essential in helping our school PR be and remain successful as we are. We rely on each other when funds are not available. Many of us use social media, drive a short distance and simply pick up the telephone to network with colleagues.
Additional items of note The Kentucky School Public Relations Association takes great pride in our association, members and potential members. We are working diligently, each and every day in our districts to promote school public relations/communications. Many of us are not only in the forefront of what is going on in our districts, but also working behind the scenes. Michigan School Public Relations Association (MSPRA) Chapter well-being MSPRA membership has seen a drop of approximately 40 members since August. We have noticed several people who are moving out of their positions and we need to have a member campaign to find public relations professionals in our school districts statewide. Our fund balance is healthy with revenue exceeding expenses. Our part-time Executive Director, Gerri Allen, is working with other state associations and with our membership to accomplish MSPRA s short-term and long-term goals and has provided significant support to our Board. We have just signed an additional one-year contract with Gerri due to her work supporting MSPRA and the value she is bringing to our membership. The MSPRA Board meets monthly to discuss the work of the association and different ways to provide more value to our membership. We are consistent with our monthly meetings and always have a quorum to conduct business and review our financial health. We continue to receive administrative support from the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA). Their support is valuable from both a productivity and partnership standpoint and they handle our accounting and provide support for our conference, membership and contest. We are pleased to report that one of our At-Large Board members, Tom Scheidel, was named as the 2015-16 Front Runner for the Mideast Region. We are very proud of Tom s accomplishments and the leadership he continues to show as a public relations professional in our state. Collaborations Gerri Allen is actively working with other state associations and is our liaison to those groups. As reported in the fall, MSPRA has a few collaborations that are continuing this year. Both have taken a shift in their direction, but that happens on occasion. We continue to contribute from both a financial and a talent perspective to a new online statewide magazine focused on positive stories happening in Michigan s schools. InspirED is designed to share stories of innovation, inspiration and hope in today s education setting. This online publication can be found at www.inspiredmichigan.com. MSPRA s Advisor, Dianne Litzenburger, is working directly with this group to promote public education statewide. Each month Dianne distributes a schedule of topics to our membership to encourage participation in this publication about current stories. MSPRA members with expertise in Career and Technical Education (CTE) are continuing to partner with CTE directors from across the state of Michigan to change the conversation and
perceptions around CTE programs. Many states suffer from the skills gap; Michigan is one of those states. Our Governor and the Michigan Department of Education are very supportive of CTE and are also working on changing perceptions and rebranding skilled trades. As communication professionals, MSPRA is very pleased to see this shift take place and have our residents and legislators see CTE in a different light. MSPRA acquired two smaller projects this year with the assistance of Gerri Allen. She provided expertise to one of our intermediate school districts in the way of professional training and a small group of MSPRA leaders are working with our State on a technology initiative, providing marketing and public relations support. The professional training was completed and the group was pleased with the outcome. Our statewide technology initiative work continues, but we expect this will end June 2017 due to budget constraints. Professional Development Each year we usually have three professional development sessions. This year we will only have two professional development trainings and urge our membership to attend the NSPRA conference in Chicago. Our drive-in session on social Media on October 29 with national speaker Shane Haggerty was well received by our members. Our survey results were all positive with respondents indicating they learned a lot of practical ideas from a fun presenter. Our annual meeting will take place on March 17 & 18 including keynote speaker Brian Woodland, APR, with a country-western theme. In addition to our keynote, we have many practical sessions planned such as Leveraging Small Town Resources for Big City Impact, Tips to Make Your PR Program Sing, ADA Website Compliance and Making & Posting Movie Clips that Rock. We are excited to see what response we get from our members. We have nearly 50 participants registered and we still have a month to go. We are also encouraging our members to attend the NSPRA conference in Chicago this year and not offering an additional summer professional development option. In addition, we offer support for those who are interested in earning their APR certification. This support will continue in 2016-17, as it has in the past. Chapter Concerns Our chapter is currently struggling with Board member commitments and having enough time to add more value for our members. We are all busy volunteers who wish we had more time to spend on building value to members. We are blessed with a part-time executive director, who we believe is keeping our organization on track. We are also concerned about our membership decrease and have started discussing how we can address it. Additional Items of Note This year we have surveyed our members in two areas and we are developing some action plans based on the results. We surveyed members and asked about our current offerings, what they felt was most important to their membership and what they would like to see from MSPRA to help in their daily work. We also collected years of service in public education, in PR, their titles and reporting structure to get an idea of targeted supports.
We also sent out a professional development survey that asked our members what they need from a professional development standpoint. Those results are being looked at for future training opportunities and some ideas were rolled into our MSPRA Annual Conference that takes place next month in Ann Arbor. NSPRA Regional or National Support We are struggling with membership and would welcome suggestions and ideas from NSPRA to increase outreach. Ohio School Public Relations Association (OHSPRA) Chapter well-being Membership: To date we have 159 members for the 2015-16 membership year. Mining old member lists will continue so that we can bring some people back from several years ago will continue. Participating in NSPRA Membership Incentive program. Comparing rates to other PR associations to make sure we are competitive but remain operational: Central Ohio International Association of Business Communicators - $359 PRSA central Ohio national $320 + local $55 Current OHSPRA Dues $75 individual (early bird $65) $175 Institutional (early bird $150) New OHSPRA membership dues structure for 2016-17 $90 Individual $200 Institutional (3 members) Major incentive to go Institutional Continue early bird at old rate Chapter projects/collaboration efforts: On behalf of OHSPRA, the past president has met OASBO (Ohio Association of School Business Officials) in the past and continues to work to form a partnership with that association. OHSPRA has continued a desirable and strategic partnership with OSBA on the Capital Conference and joint workshops see more under PD. During 2016, the OHSRPA President Elect plan to reach out to BASA (Buckeye Association of School Administrators) and the Ohio Department of Education to inquire about building a stronger relationship between these organizations and OHSPRA. Sponsors: OHSPRA is honored to have financial and PD support from the following vendors/organizations:
Sponsor Name Amount MyVRSpot $2,500.00 Sandy Hook Promise $500.00 Peachjar $250.00 On Scene Productions $1,000.00 SCoPE $250.00 Agreement signed in 2014, includes new School Messenger website Professional development programs/activities: The director of professional development position changed mid-year 2015-16 due to a job change from the person holding the position. Susanna Max, Wyoming City Schools, now holds the position. Awards: In 2015, the director of contests and awards, put all OHSPRA Achievement Award entry forms were online for the first time in the 30+ year history of our organization. This helped streamline the process for the entrants, the judges and the OHSPRA board. This online process also allowed for judging forms to be placed online and merged with the matching entries. The collection, organization and judging of the entries became much more efficient, less prone to errors, and more data rich. In developing the online format, OHSPRA spoke with several vendors but chose to create its own online awards set up through Google Forms. Over the past year, OHSPRA has reached out to several other NSPRA Chapters to share ideas on the various awards processes. OHSPRA has also discussed award processes with other organizations such as the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), and National Academy of Television Arts and Science (Emmys). OHSPRA also assisted NSPRA s Illinois Chapter (INSPRA) with the judging of their annual awards. Judges from OHSPRA included both OHSPRA members and Board members. The majority of judges for the annual OHSPRA Achievement Awards include school public relations professionals from across the State that represent districts of various sizes and makeups. Professionals in marketing, public relations and video production have also been utilized in recent years including a high ranking Marketing Executive from the Cleveland Clinic, a public relations agency representative and a video production educator. We have approximately 90 entries in the 2016 OHSPRA Achievement Awards. Judging will occur in February with awards presented at the Spring Conference in April. Fall Workshop: OHSPRA and OSBA held a joint fall workshop in October focused on social media. Approximately 30 people attended. Brian Hoyt s expertise in social media and online communications makes him a widely sought-after speaker. OSBA and OHSPRA members had the opportunity to meet Hoyt and learn his along with two Ohio school district communication pros secrets to social media success. Hoyt, the management supervisor of public relations for SBC Advertising, a Columbus-based agency that boasts Elmer s, AAA and Bob Evans among its
list of clients, is the former public information officer for the City of Gahanna, director of communications for the Ohio Department of Commerce, and public and media relations manager for the Central Ohio Transit Authority. Hoyt is also on the board of the Central Ohio Public Information Network an organization that created a group to work with area agencies and first responders to provide public information functions and media support in response to disasters and public emergencies. In addition to Hoyt, Tracey Carson, public information officer for Mason City Schools, shared stories and tips designed to help strategically decide when and when not to employ social media during and after a crisis. Carson, the communications chief at Mason City Schools for nearly 10 years, discussed the 5 C s of effective social media crisis strategy: compassion, concern, commitment, control and communication. To wrap up the day-long, information-packed workshop, 20-year school PR veteran Debbie Alberico, communications consultant for West Clermont Local Schools, talked about how to use social media platforms to show that you re doing your best to provide students, parents, and staff with as much after crisis cleanup as possible. OHSPRA at OSBA Capital Conference: OSBA generously provides a booth free of charge to OHSPRA during the November 2015 OSBA Capital Conference and Trade Show in Columbus, OH. OHSPRA uses a booth to offer an Idea Exchange, gathering materials and publications from school districts across the state and making them available for conference attendees to take home. OHSPRA members also participate in the PR Doctor to provide districts with one-onone PR consultations and help advocate for PR positions in schools. At this year s Capital Conference, OHSPRA offered members and non-members an opportunity to relax and network over food and drink at a local venue near the conference center. OHSPRA also presented two workshops during capital conference: one on crisis communication and one on social media. Spring Conference: OHSPRA will host a 2-day spring conference on April 14-15 in Columbus, Ohio. A draft agenda is below: THURSDAY Session Presenter 9am-10am Registration 9am-10am Light Breakfast served 10am-11:15am Opening Session: Creating a positive culture and anticipating a crisis Sandy Hook Promise 11:30am-12:45pm Lunch served 11:30am-12:45pm Awards Luncheon Lou DeVincentis 1pm-1:40pm Keynote Session: Telling your story to the media Maria Durant 1:40pm-2:00pm Room Change/Beverage break 2:00pm-2:45pm Breakout session 1: Telling Eric Leslie, On Scene Productions
2:00pm-2:45pm 2:00pm-2:45pm 2:45pm-3pm 3:00pm-3:45pm 3:45pm-4:30pm 5:30pm-7:30pm your story through video content Breakout session 2: Got game? Take your school district to the next level Breakout session 3: Campus Suite Room Change/Beverage break Managing Up with your Superintendent Ending Session: Recovering from a Crisis: Telling a new story Networking Social and Dinner provided Carol Greentree, Battelle for Kids Steve Williams, Campus Suite Sandy Cokeley, SCoPE Ellen Ondrey, Chardon Local Schools FRIDAY Session Presenter 9:30am-10:00am Registration 10:00am-11:00am Breakfast served 10am-11:00am OHSPRA Board Meeting OHSPRA Board 11:00am-11:15am Room Change/Beverage break 11:15am-12:00pm Breakout session 1: Building and managing your district brand 11:15am-12:00pm 11:15am-12:00pm 12:00pm-12:15pm 12:15pm-1:00pm 1:00pm-2:00pm 1:00pm-2:00pm Breakout session 2: Telling your story through engagement methods Breakout session 3: Peachjar Room Change/Beverage break/snack Afternoon session: Communicating sensitive issues, FERPA Law, Race and Ethics Lunch served Lunch and learn: Movie and a message Shara Clark, Miami University/Erika Daggett Forest Hills School District Tarek Kamil, Cerkl Ryan Ta, Peachjar Erin Wessendorf Wortman, ennis, Britton Co., L.P.A. On Scene Productions Presents: "The story of Content Rise of the New Marketing" Eric Leslie, On Scene Productions Closing workshop: Media 2:00pm-2:45pm Training Crystal Davis, OSBA 2:45pm-3:00pm Closure Susanna Max, Wyoming City Schools
Conference Scholarship: The Ohio School Public Relations Association offers OHSPRA members the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to the 2016 OHSPRA Spring Conference, to be held on April 14 and 15. The scholarship will cover the recipient s registration fee, as well as one night s lodging at the Hilton Polaris on April 14. The OHSPRA Spring Conference Scholarship is intended to assist an OHSPRA member who might otherwise not be able to attend the two-day conference by covering the cost of registration and the hotel fee. Information about the Spring Conference Scholarship Program is publicized through the chapter s online newsletter, Snapshot, on the chapter s website and via email blasts to OHSPRA members. Applications for the scholarship are due by Friday, February 29, and the Scholarship Selection Committee consisting of OHSPRA s past- president, president-elect and treasurer will make a recommendation of the recipient of the scholarship to the OHSPRA Board of Directors at its March 11 meeting. Other Workshops: Crystal Davis (OSBA), Erika Daggett (Forest Hills) and Kari Basson (Kettering) all OHSPRA Board members, will present Communicating with Diverse Audiences in Cleveland, Ohio in March. Mary Beddell (Plain Local Schools) will present Taking Your Nutrition Department Into the Next Generation at the Supervisors and Nutrition Directors of Ohio Chapter 43 conference in March. Additional items of note: Communications Newsletters: The quarterly Snapshot newsletter was delivered on Nov. 4 to 133 members. 64.3% opened it, with only 2 bounces, and 1.5% click rate. 2015-16 future newsletter s deadlines and schedule are as follows: Jan 22 for Feb., April 22 for May. Example of our newsletter; http://us9.campaignarchive2.com/?u=ccabeeca50395cb945609e3e9&id=de03a25d18&e=d10f96faf0 Mass Email: Industry rates for Education and Training are 14.9% open rate and 1.6% click rate. Contest and awards promotional email to members Jan 4. Sent 151, 58% open rate, 16.8% click rate. Contest and awards promotional email to members Jan 21. Sent 151, 40% open rate, 9.4% click rate. Contest and awards promotional email to members Jan 25. Sent 151, 36% open rate, 8% click rate.38 Contest and awards promotional email to non-members Jan 26. Sent 34, 38% open rate, 3.2% click rate Contest and awards promotional email to Superintendents Jan 26. Sent 562, 35.3% open rate, 2% click rate Contest and awards promotional email to members Jan 28. Sent 151, 36% open rate, 4% click rate
Social media: Twitter: We have added 110 followers since the last report (Sept. 7, 2015), with a total of 1041 followers on Twitter (as of Jan 26, 2016). Facebook: We have added 20 friends since Sept 7 2015, with a total of 220 likes as of Jan 26, 2016. Website: We ve been working to redesign our website. Our goal is to create a site that has a cleaner, more modern look; is mobile responsive; easier to use; and, has more functionality for members, including an online payment system, and an interactive networking bulletin board. The website will be provided for free through a trade sponsorship with SchoolMessenger. We are in the final design stage and should launch in March / April. Elections: Five positions on the Ohio School Public Relations Association Board of Directors will be up for election in April of 2016. Nominations will be accepted for the positons of President-Elect, Director of Contests and Awards, Director of Communications, Director of Professional Development and Director of Partnerships. A call for nominations will go out via an email blast to all members in late February, with a reminder for a call for nominations included in the March edition of the chapter s monthly enewsletter, Snapshot. The chapter past-president will prepare a ballot that will be sent to all OHSPRA Members on March 25. Voting will remain open to chapter members through Wednesday, April 13. The past-president will convene an election review committee that will review the results of the election before they are presented to membership. The results of the election will be announced during the OHSPRA Board of Directors meeting that will be held on April 15 during Spring Conference and will also be shared with OHSPRA members via an email blast on April 18. Procedure Manual: As per the June 11, 2015 OHSPRA Retreat, the Policy and Procedure Manual is complete and has been approved by the board. This was a huge undertaking by the President-Elect who tackled it over the past year. However, revisions and additions are still possible and will continue to happen as needed and approved by the board. Chesapeake School Public Relations Association (Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia & West Virginia) (CHESPRA) No report submitted. Indiana School Public Relations Association (InSPRA) No report submitted.