Our team has created a wonderful promotional video for the public relations department as well as why someone would want to major in public relations.  Through interviews with professors and visual tours we have captured an overall experience for individuals who are unfamiliar with the program.  We hope that our video will be able to help someone choose the University of Alabama’s Public Relations Department.  We believe our video will encourage prospective students to enroll in the Public Relations Department from all over the United States.  Please check out the link below for the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyO-QZiyA3A

“Nunca te quejes del ambiente o de los que te rodean, hay quienes en tu mismo ambiente supieron vencer, las circunstancias son buenas o malas según la voluntad o fortaleza de tu corazón.“

The Apache Portable Runtime (APR) is a library that provides a common interface across multiple platforms for low-level memory management, file IO, concurrency, data structures and more.  It’s used by projects such as Apache and Subversion. APR-util adds functionality such as parsing and DB access.

Building APR for the iPhone is not straightforward since the configure script requires some inconspicuous flags. Thankfully, Michael Safyan found how to do it and made his build scripts available here. With APR working, building APR-util has its own caveats. The following was tested with Snow Leopard using SDK 3.1.2 and GCC 4.2 to build APR-util 1.3.9.

Building APR-util

First, as you may have guessed, you need APR to build APR-util. I used version 1.3.8. The other required dependency is expat, which is distributed with APR-util; you just need to set --with-expat=builtin. All the necessary options for ./configure are included in a script below.

If you run make with this configuration you may notice a expected expression before ’struct’ error in apr_brigade.c. After unwinding all the macros this error can be traced to the APR_OFFSET definition. To fix this you need to edit apr_general.h located in “/include/apr-1/”.

--- apr_general.h    2009-11-19 23:11:33.000000000 +0000
+++ /Users/pedro/Downloads/apr-1.3.8/include/apr_general.h    2006-08-03 11:55:31.000000000 +0100
@@ -76,11 +76,6 @@
 * @return offset
 */

-#ifndef _Offsetof
-#include <stddef.h>
-#define _Offsetof(p_type,field) offsetof(p_type,field)
-#endif
-
 #if defined(CRAY) || (defined(__arm) && !defined(LINUX))
 #ifdef __STDC__
 #define APR_OFFSET(p_type,field) _Offsetof(p_type,field)

Now you can build APR-util. Here’s the script to build it for the device and simulator. Make sure you change the value of USER_LIB before running the script. By default the device build includes $USER_LIB/armv6 and the simulator $USER_LIB/x86_64. You should also edit INSTALL_FAT.

#!/bin/sh

# Build static libraries for iPhone (armv6) and iPhone simulator.
#
# Based on
# http://latenitesoft.blogspot.com/2008/10/
#    iphone-programming-tips-building-unix.html
#
# Last update Nov 2009. Pedro Fonseca.

# The lib name, e.g. "libz" or "libapr-1".
LIB="libaprutil-1"

# Configure default location for the build results (.libs,lib./libs,objs/,...).
LIBPATH_PATH=".libs"

# User include paths, e.g. /usr/local/lib, /opt...
USERLIB=""

# Install path for make install
CONFIG_PREFIX="--prefix=$USERLIB/armv6"

# Options used by configure for both architectures
CONFIG_ARGS="--disable-shared --enable-static"

# Flags required to build for arm
ARM_ARGS="$CONFIG_ARGS --host=arm-apple-darwin9"

# Copy the intermediate libraries to here
DEST="_fatbuild_"
rm -rfv "`pwd`/$DEST"

# Universal binary final location
INSTALL_FAT="$USERLIB/fat/lib"

# The current sdk version
SDK_="3.1.2"

export DEVROOT=/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer
export SDKROOT=$DEVROOT/SDKs/iPhoneOS$SDK_.sdk
export PATH="$DEVROOT/usr/bin:/Developer/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

# Static library path
LIBPATH_static=$LIBPATH_PATH/$LIB.a
LIBNAME_static=`basename $LIBPATH_static`

# iphone_make(arch)
iphone_make () {
if ! make
then
 echo "Build ($1): make failed with status $?. Exiting..."
 exit 1
else
 echo "Build ($1): no errors."
fi
}

# Device
export CFLAGS="-arch armv6 -pipe -no-cpp-precomp \
 --sysroot='$SDKROOT' \
 -isystem $SDKROOT/usr/lib/gcc/arm-apple-darwin9/4.2.1/include/ \
 -isystem $SDKROOT/usr/include \
 -isystem $DEVROOT/usr/include \
 -I$USERLIB/armv6/include"
export CPPFLAGS="-arch armv6 -isysroot $SDKROOT \
 -isystem $SDKROOT/usr/lib/gcc/arm-apple-darwin9/4.2.1/include/ \
 -isystem $SDKROOT/usr/include/ \
 -isystem $DEVROOT/usr/include \
 -I$USERLIB/armv6/include"
export LDFLAGS="-arch armv6 --sysroot='$SDKROOT' \
 -L$SDKROOT/usr/lib -L$DEVROOT/usr/lib -L$USERLIB/armv6/lib"

./configure CC="$DEVROOT/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 -Os" \
 CPP="$DEVROOT/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 -E" \
 CXXCPP="$DEVROOT/usr/bin/g++-4.2 -E" \
 LD="$DEVROOT/usr/bin/ld" $ARM_ARGS $CONFIG_PREFIX \
 --with-apr="$USERLIB/armv6" --with-expat=builtin

iphone_make "armv6"

mkdir -p $DEST
cp $LIBPATH_static $DEST/$LIBNAME_static.arm
if [[ "$1" = "--install" ]]; then
 make install
fi
make distclean

# Simulator
export PATH="/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/usr/bin:/Developer/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

CONFIG_PREFIX="--prefix=$USERLIB/x86_64"
unset CFLAGS LDFLAGS CPPFLAGS

./configure $CONFIG_ARGS $CONFIG_PREFIX --with-apr="$USERLIB/x86_64"

iphone_make "x86_64"
cp $LIBPATH_static $DEST/$LIBNAME_static.x86_64
if [[ "$1" = "--install" ]]; then
 make install
fi

# Universal
echo "Build (all): creating universal binary..."
$DEVROOT/usr/bin/lipo -arch arm $DEST/$LIBNAME_static.arm \
 -arch x86_64 $DEST/$LIBNAME_static.x86_64 \
 -create -output $DEST/$LIBNAME_static
$DEVROOT/usr/bin/lipo -info $DEST/*

if [ $? -eq 0 ] && [[ "$1" = "--install" ]]
then
 cp -v $DEST/$LIBNAME_static $INSTALL_FAT/$LIBNAME_static
fi

Testing APR-util

APR-util includes a test suite. For the simulator you just need to change directory to apr-util-1.3.9/test/, make, ./testall. To run on the device I wrapped the test suite in an iPhone App. This requires a few changes in the test code, mainly due to the application sandbox. Note that this is not the proper way to test an iPhone application; to learn about unit testing with the iPhone SDK 3.0 you should read this. In this case, I wanted to check if the library was working as expected on the device.

In Xcode create a new project. I called it TestAprUtil.

Add test/ to the project. Make sure data/billion-laughs.xml is in Targets > TestAprUtil > Copy Bundle Resources > billion_laughs.xml.

Remove dbd.c.

In TestAprUtilAppDelegate.m include abts.h and add the following code to applicationDidFinishLaunching:

// Run apr-util tests. Some tests require the existence of a "data" directory.
NSString *path = [NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"data"];
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] createDirectoryAtPath:path
                          withIntermediateDirectories:NO
                                           attributes:nil
                                                error:nil];
run_tests();

run_tests() doesn’t exist yet. In abts.c replace main() with

int run_tests(void) {
    int i;
    int rv;
    abts_suite *suite = NULL;

    initialize();

    verbose = 1;
    quiet = 1;

    char *theTests[] = {
        "teststrmatch",
        "testuri",
        "testuuid",
        "testbuckets",
        "testpass",
        "testmd4",
        "testmd5",
        "testdbd",
        "testdate",
        "testmemcache",
        "testxml",
        "testxlate",
        "testrmm",
        "testdbm",
        "testqueue",
        "testreslist"
    };

    int nTests = 16;
    testlist = calloc(nTests + 1, sizeof(char *));
    for (i = 1; i < nTests; i++) {
        testlist[i - 1] = theTests[i];
    }

    for (i = 0; i < (sizeof(alltests) / sizeof(struct testlist *)); i++) {
        suite = alltests[i].func(suite);
        apr_pool_clear(p);
    }

    rv = report(suite);
    return rv;
}

Don’t forget to add run_tests() prototype to the header.

Running the test at this point would crash the app because it attempts to create some files outside the application sandbox. The offending functions are located in testxml.c, testbuckets.c, testdbd.c and testdbm.c. To get the correct paths to read/write files create fs_wrapper.c and the respective header

/*
 *  fs_wrapper.c
 *  TestAprUtil
 *
 *  Created by Pedro Fonseca on 11/20/09.
 */
#include <CoreFoundation/CoreFoundation.h>

#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "fs_wrapper.h"

#define STRSIZE 255

char* fs_sane_fname(const char *fname)
{
    char *tmp_path = (char *)calloc(STRSIZE, sizeof(char));
    int len = confstr(_CS_DARWIN_USER_TEMP_DIR, tmp_path, STRSIZE);
    if (!len)
        fprintf(stderr, "error getting temp path\n");
    else
        *(tmp_path+len-1) = '/';

    strcpy(tmp_path+len, fname);
    return tmp_path;
}

char* fs_sane_resource(const char *fname)
{
    CFStringRef cfFname = CFStringCreateWithCString(NULL, fname, kCFStringEncodingUTF8);
    CFURLRef url = CFBundleCopyResourceURL(CFBundleGetMainBundle(), cfFname, NULL, NULL);
    char *c_fs_path = (char *)calloc(STRSIZE, sizeof(char));
    CFURLGetFileSystemRepresentation(url, TRUE, (UInt8*)c_fs_path, STRSIZE);

    CFRelease(url);
    CFRelease(cfFname);
    return c_fs_path;
}

Include fs_wrapper.h in testxml.c, testbuckets.c, testdbd.c and testdbm.c (or just in testutil.h). Below, for simplicity’s sake, assume that strings created with fs_sane_* don’t need to be freed.

In testxml.c replace

rv = apr_file_open(&fd, "data/billion-laughs.xml", APR_FOPEN_READ, 0, p);

with

rv = apr_file_open(&fd, fs_sane_resource("billion-laughs.xml"), APR_FOPEN_READ, 0, p);

Still in testxml.c replace

rv = apr_file_mktemp(fd, template, APR_CREATE | APR_TRUNCATE | APR_DELONCLOSE | APR_READ | APR_WRITE | APR_EXCL, p);

with

rv = apr_file_mktemp(fd,  fs_sane_fname(template), APR_CREATE | APR_TRUNCATE | APR_DELONCLOSE | APR_READ | APR_WRITE | APR_EXCL, p);

In testbuckets.c, for calls to apr_file_open(), apr_file_remove() and make_test_file(), replace the filename argument with fs_sane_fname(filename); do the same for calls to apr_dbd_open() in testdbd.c and for apr_pstrcat() in testdbm.c.

The test suite should be ready to run. You may want to redirect stdout to stderr. Here are my test results

run
Running…
[Switching to thread 11779]
[Switching to thread 11779]
sharedlibrary apply-load-rules all
(gdb) continue
testuri              :  SUCCESS
testuuid             :  SUCCESS
testbuckets          :  Line 326: Skipped:  could not create large file
SUCCESS
testpass             :  SUCCESS
testmd4              :  SUCCESS
testmd5              :  SUCCESS
testdbd              :  SUCCESS
testdate             :  SUCCESS
testmemcache         :  SUCCESS
testxml              :  SUCCESS
testxlate            :  SUCCESS
testrmm              :  SUCCESS
testdbm              :  SUCCESS
testqueue            :  SUCCESS
testreslist          :  SUCCESS
All tests passed.

Resources:

The APR pools are some big tables which contain references to consecutive
memory areas which are used by the application. Once the application releases
such an area, the pool marks the memory area as available, but it doesn’t give
it back to the OS.

Let’s take an example which better illustrates this situation:
We have 100 memory areas in the pool, each of 10 K RAM . Some of them are used,
some of them not.
10 consecutive objects are released, so we have a block of 100K of continuous
memory (in the pool and in the RAM).
If there comes a request to reserve 80K of RAM, a big part of this block will
be used (8 out of 10 areas). This is reutilization of the pool and from the
outside, there will be no memory increase seen.

But, if there comes a request to allocate 200K of RAM, the pool doesn’t have
enough consecutive areas to allocate 20 blocks of 10K RAM so, it has to
allocate 20 new blocks of 10 K. This means from outside, that the pool has been
enlarged and this amount of RAM will NOT be released until the end of the
program or until the application decides to flush the pool.

Some time later, if the application requests 80K of RAM, the old 10 Blocks will
be used, but at this moment, the pool has been enlarged.
AFAIK, there is no limit until which size can such a pool grow.
I’ll check this…

As a buyer, you may have several questions about which APR (annual percentage rate) is best for you.  Should you go with adjustable or fixed?  How do you know which way to go?  There are a few points regarding APR you may want to consider before purchasing your Summerwood real estate.  Since the APR is for the full cost of your mortgage over 30 years, you might want to decide if this is the home you are going to live in for a long period of time or if you plan on only living in it for a few years and then selling it for something else.  If you are going to be living in your Eagle Springs home for a long period of time and the interest rates are low, you may want to consider a fixed rate.  However, if you plan on selling your home in the next few years, an adjustable rate may be just right for you.

Another thing to think about is how much money you will be putting towards your down payment and how many points you are going to pay.  Your monthly mortgage payment can vary considerably depending on how much money you put down, how many points you are paying and whether you are going with a fixed or adjustable APR.  You definitely need to talk these things out with your West Lake Houston real estate agent before deciding which APR is best for you.  Let me know what I can do to help make your home purchase easier.

Cliff Collins, 3C Realty – a Keller Williams Team

FNMA 30-YR 4.5%

Previous close 101.781

Opened down 0.09BPs @ 101.688

Key Economic Data:

EUR / USD 1.4928 Up 0.0051
USD / JPY 89.280 Up 0.0262
GBP / USD 1.6790 Down 0.0022

OIL 79.60 Up 0.46
Gold 1,145.90 Up 6.50

Key Economic News:

CPI and housing, Geithner and Bullard.

8:30: Consumer pirce index for Oct…a moderate report? On headline, median forecast (of 78): +0.2%, ranging from -0.2% to +0.5%; last +0.2%. On core, median forecast (of 77): +0.1%, ranging from -0.2% to +0.2%; last +0.2%. We made some modest adjustments to our forecast after PPI, but basic nature of the forecast has not changed. As was the case wthe PPI, we expect the CPI to feature a benign core reading with food and energy pulling the headline up, though not nearly as much as in the PPI. Within the core index, the rental components should continue to be flat or slighly negative, and apparel prices should also be off a bit. Medical and lodging away from home are the higher components of our forecast. Price increases for tobacco took effect late in the month to show up materially in this report; they’ll be an issue for November.

8:30: Housing starts and permits for Oct…look for a small increase. On starts, median forecast (of 77) +1.7%, ranging from -3.4% to +8.2%; last -1.2% (since revised to -0.9%). With sales of new homes and builder sentiment both stalling of late, we expect gains in housing starts will be limited.

9:00: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hosts a small business financing forum at the US Treasury Department…

9:15: St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard speaks on the US economic outlook…Bullard has surprised us in both directions since he’s been on the job, so hard to know what to expect. He rotates onto the voting membership of the FOMC next year.

Advice:

CPI – Gas and cars vs Everything Else in the CPI; Starts Down surprisingly.

Bottom Line:
A highly skewed report on consumer prices, with vehicles accounting for more than 80% of the core increase and energy driving most of the rest. Housing starts weaken as high vacancies weigh on new construction, especially of multifamily projects.

Key Numbers:
CPI +0.27% in Oct (mom, -0.2% yoy) vs median forecast +0.2%.
ex food and energy +0.18% (mom, +1.7% yoy) vs median forecast +0.1%.
Housing starts -10.6% in Oct (mom, -7.2% yoy) vs median forecast +1.7%.

Based on CPI and Housing Starts, I see today following in yesterdays footsteps. With all this uncertainty I would lock today.

One of the reasons I love going to the PRSA International Conference is that I — a lone PR guy among a bunch of people who have a variety of wrong ideas about what I do to assure that they are putting their best foot forward — am surrounded by enthusiatic PR practitioners including some of the best minds in the business. And while I’m proud of my APR, not all of those “best minds” have their APR.

One of the things I don’t like about representing my colleagues at the Assembly, the governing body of PRSA, is the continued discussions that link the APR with governance…but that’s another post.

I often try to convince those without the APR that it’s worth pursuing. Many tell me it isn’t worth the time or that it doesn’t garner enough recognition outside of the industry.  It’s frustrating. I did my APR at a time when I decided I needed to commit 100 percent to public relations as a career or move on. Nobody in my office understands why my APR is important, but it’s important to me. I think I’m a better practitioner because of some things I learned and because it enhanced my understanding of and commitment to the profession. I don’t understand how something that stands for a commitment to continued professional development and a high ethical stance can be unworthy of someone’s time.

But I was never a great salesman.

Mary Barber, APR, apparently is a better sales person. Ari Adler, a public relations practitioner who attended the conference in San Diego (I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet, Ari!) talked with Mary about APR and was so impressed, he blogged about it. See his post and Mary’s explanation of the APR at http://bit.ly/2otXB.

Ari also talks about APRs having “an attitude.” Man, I hope I’m not one of those. I’ll be trying to do better when I talk about APR in the future!

What is a recent Washington Post article (which I was hipped to by The Gen X Files blog) saying about GenXer attitudes in light of the current recession?

They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement.

Huh. Doesn’t sound all that different than before the recession or during the last recession or before that one too. But there is something that’s different compared to when GenX workers were the age that Millennials are now. And that is this:

A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too.

That’s right. Screw loyalty! To any company anyway. Because we’ve learned the hard way that such loyalty will get you nothing in the end.

I learned it long before I entered the work force, when I was witness to General Motors attempts to force my father out of his job as an engineer before he was ready. He worked for GM for 35 years but that mattered little because it was cheaper to higher a younger person who would work for less.  I say attempts because my old man is stubborn as hell and he wouldn’t budge until he got a good retirement package, even when they demoted him to a basically a data entry clerk. Of course, years later GM reneged on their deal to provide health coverage to my father and mother for the rest of their lives.

I learned it again when, in my first foray into the corporate world, I (along with others) was booted in order to balance a budget. Of course, it wasn’t put that way but it didn’t need to be said.

More recently, I learned that there is no loyalty in the economic world when CitiCard arbitrarily hiked my APR from 12.24% to 17.99%. No real reason was given for this increase, although later I was reminded of the bill that goes into effect in Feb. 2010 that cracks down on the credit card companies; they’re all uping their rates before that law goes into effect. Fuckers! And it didn’t matter that I’d had a CitiCard for 17 years, that I’ve always paid my bill on time, that my wife also has a CitiCard, that our mortgage is through CitiBank or Citigroup or whatever the fuck they call themselves. And this is a company that was given government bailout funds.

But enough ranting. Because this whole situation has me wondering. What will come of GenXers being put out of work and not being afford the oppor5tunity to return to the same level again. Perhaps a resurgence in creative endeavors, not just technology-driven but in terms of  art and Literature, music and movies, poetry etc. Certainly family cohesiveness will become stronger. Which is to say, as the article notes, Generation X is tought, resiliant, creative, and we’ve been here before. So bring it!

The PRSA International Conference was held this past week in San Diego, Calif. It’s a time that many PR professionals look forward to because of the pre-conference seminars, keynote speakers, networking and general sessions. By the way, the weather, food and entertainment only add to the excitement.

Of the nearly 25,000 PRSA members, a select group of us (about 325) have the opportunity to represent our local chapters as Assembly Delegates in the National Assembly – a day-long event akin to a session of congress. This marathon day typically entails review of PRSA bylaws, including amendments and resolutions to enhance the structure of our society.

Akron Area Chapter Delegates: Ralph J. Davila and Tom Duke, APR, Fellow PRSA at Assembly

But this year was different. We were tasked with reviewing and finalizing a complete rewrite of the society bylaws, which would constitute the most significant change in the PRSA since its inception in 1947.

Many thought it would be impossible to achieve such a feat. But after about 10 hours of laboring, conversing, amending, compromising and sometimes arguing, we made it happen.

At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, a majority vote of two-thirds was reached.

What changes were made to the bylaws?
The Assembly made vast changes, but  a few major ones should be mentioned. I will touch on them without going into too much detail since they are still in legal review.

APR Accreditation
The first major change that was debated for quite some time was the APR accreditation among membership and the National Board of Directors. According to a 2009 Membership Satisfaction Survey, 63 percent of the respondents stated that the APR was one of the most important programs offered by PRSA. With that said, the Assembly moved to require that any candidate for National Board have an APR to be eligible.

This amendment makes a critical statement to the profession. It says that we, as PR pros, must work to achieve a higher standard of excellence by attaining an APR status.  The APR sends a strong message that PR is a true profession, and that we hold a stake in all levels of communication and at the management table.

I’d like to add that it’s not all about using your APR accreditation as a sales tool or getting a job. It’s about grounding yourself in the theory and practice of public relations, as well as the confidence you gain.

Membership Criteria
The other main issue discussed at length was how we, as a society, can increase PRSA’s value among the profession. There are approximately 250,000 people practicing PR in the United States, and only about 10 percent, or 25,000 of them, are PRSA members. Additional terminology was added within the language of the criteria that would have allowed other related professions to become members. After much debate, we as an Assembly voted to keep the language focused on public relations professionals as the membership target.

We have worked, since the start of the PRSA, to make our society the pre-eminent organization for PR pros. And to make sure that PR is taken seriously among others, we agreed that targeting our efforts on the other 90 percent of practicing PR practitioners would be best, and only strengthen our society and profession.

So, many members and PR pros asked why bylaw changes were made and how it would benefit them. Dave Rickey, APR, chair of the Bylaws Rewrite Task Force said:

The primary objective of the bylaws rewrite is to enable a flexible, nimble governance structure to support the best possible PRSA for members, leaders and the profession.

Final Thoughts
I believe that the rewrite will allow all of us to have a greater voice in decision-making and the direction we take PR and the society. It’s about inclusion, and we are in an age of both traditional and non-traditional communication, which makes this change both critical and timely.

We all have a voice in our society and profession, and need to come together to enhance PR’s reputation and understanding among the masses. Only then will we be appreciated and valued like we should be.

I’ve been struggling lately with whether I should advance my education with a formal training program — either by going for a master’s degree or earning an APR (Accredited in Public Relations).

The master’s is very far out of reach, as I see it, based on the cost and the time commitment involved.  The APR, however, is much closer. In the past I just haven’t been convinced that I need it. The accreditation standard seems to mean a lot to people in the profession, but I’m not sure how much it means to clients and employers outside the profession.

That discrepancy aside, I can see where there is value to the APR initials after your name. However, one of the reasons I’ve shied away from trying for my APR  is that I’ve been rebelling against those trying to tell me I need it. I’ve been turned away by some of the attitudes involved. Sometimes I get the feeling that people with an APR are looking down their noses at those of us who haven’t got it. They tend to make new grads think that without their APR, their college education in the PR field is a nice start but doesn’t really amount to much. And they tend to ignore the idea that accreditation through the School of Hard Knocks and the experience a person can gain after doing the job for nearly 15 years (in my case) just doesn’t hold any real value.

I’m sure I’ve just been too sensitive sometimes, but when it comes to the APR, those who want to promote it could use a bit of PR for themselves and those fancy initials after their name.

I attended the Public Relations Society of America International Conference in San Diego recently, where I finally — finally! — heard a good explanation of why a person should consider getting their APR. It was given at a meeting being led by Mary Barber, a PR pro from Alaska. After hearing her explanation, I actually felt like I had a solid reason to get my APR. The way Mary explains it, earning your APR looks good to others, but she primarily did it for herself.

I recorded Mary giving the explanation again so I could share it here with you. I thought it was good enough that I couldn’t do it justice trying to put it into words. So, below is Mary, explaining her position. After you watch the video, I’m betting you’ll want to check out what it takes to actually earn your APR. You can do that at this link.

I’ll see you there.

APR ha desarrollado un nuevo material para el lotus Exige. Aparte del aleron GTC especifico para el lotusm, APR ha desarrollado un air front dam para evitar el lift que ocurre a altas velocidades. Desarrollado en dry carbon con todas las garantias de calidad de acabado y dureza. El nuevo front air dam (Part FA-200311) tiene un precio de $645 y estara empezando a estar disponible para su envio apartir de diciembre del 2009

I attended part of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) international conference in San Diego this past weekend. It was an interesting compilation of traditional PR practitioners and those who focus more on new media channels for communicating messages.

One thing I found quite interesting was the discussion held on Saturday during the Assembly regarding APR and whether or not the PRSA national board members should be required to hold this certification.

I’m a big proponent of the APR and serve as co-chair on the Tulsa chapter’s accreditation committee. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating a program that has led to approximately a dozen new APRs over the past four or five years. For a chapter of about 100 people, we have a disproportionately high percentage of APRs with nearly 30 individuals who have passed the exam.

For an organization like PRSA to even question whether or not the APR should be required bothered me. If we as PR professionals expect for the APR to be considered credible in the business world, then we have to lead the way in encouraging our members to earn the certification. The APR process is not about making someone a better leader or giving them the ability to govern an association, but it is about creating a strategically minded PR professional who can represent our industry well at the local, regional or national level. If PRSA as a whole cannot support its’ members in the APR process by requiring the certification of its’ highest leadership then why should we expect anyone outside the industry to respect or find credibility in what an APR can bring to the PR world.

I’ve said this before, but the APR process is not necessarily about earning more money or creating a veil of mystery around what we do. Instead it’s about personal growth and professional development. The exam steps provide a great deal of learning than anyone truly understands until they have gone through the process. As an accreditation leader at the chapter level, I find that APR candidates come into the process expecting one thing but always leave with a new appreciation for the PR industry as a whole and a more defined understanding of the business world, which translates into making them smart PR practitioners.

What do you think?

I’ve discussed this question with friends and colleagues, and it was brought up again on twitter (a tweet from someone at the PRSSA National Conference #prssnc): Should PR professionals have to go through some sort of licensing before they can practice PR?

My opinion is YES.

Here’s why:

1. The PR profession is in need of a MAJOR face lift. Case in point: When I told my mom I was no longer going to aspire to be a lawyer, but a PR practitioner instead, her response was “Oh, so you’re going to make white lies sound like the truth?” I think a lot of people have that same misconception about the PR function.
2. There are too many bad PR people who call themselves professionals that ruin it for the rest of us. Have you read the Bad Pitch Blog lately? If you have, you will know how many stupid PR people there are out there: and this blog only exposes a few of them! There needs to be a way to regulate who can practice PR and who cannot.
3. APR and PRSA are not enough. There already is an accreditation test available, but it’s a common opinion today that an APR is useless since you don’t “really” have to have it to practice PR. And I would have to agree, ANYONE with a suit and a smile can call themselves a PR pro these days. Most CEOs or clients don’t know what the hell an APR even is or what it stands for. Another form of an attempt to keep PR pros in check are the PRSA ethical guidelines. However, this deals with the same dilemma. What happens when that so-called PR person is not a PRSA member? More importantly, what happens to the CEO or client that doesn’t understand the point of PRSA and hires bad PR? Both APR and PRSA may be important to (some) good PR people, but the point is that it’s not about us, it’s about them: the client.

This leads to my conclusion:

There needs to be an identifiable (aka PUBLICIZED) form of licensing or accreditation that is mandatory for all PR practitioners. PR practitioners should have to EARN the right to practice PR. But more importantly, publics must be made aware, as well as educated, about the formal requirement to practice PR in order for PR to earn credibility and trust.

Lawyers have to attend law school and pass the BAR exam in order to practice law. They can also be dismembered from the BAR and banned from practicing law if they cross the fine line of ethical standards. In my mind, a PR pro’s function – dare I say it? — can be as important as a lawyer’s (I DID just go there!). Therefore, PR practitioners, like Lawyers, should be held to some sort of standard that produces serious consequences when trodden upon.

Times Online has an interesting counterpoint to my opinion about PR people and Lawyers that I suggest you all read. The Times Online viewpoint, and others like it, proves that we need to do something to be taken more seriously as professionals.

I get really irritated by unsolicited credit card ‘approvals’ that drop through our door. They don’t come too often, thankfully, but one came through recently – essentially saying ‘apply now and we can offer you a mere 18.9% APR’. NO THANKS.

I’m of the opinion that this kind of unsolicited approach to people going about their normal lives should be completely banned. For one it’s thoroughly irritating, and secondly it’s just hooking people into yet more debt – usually at a ridiculous APR if you read the small print (our record is 50% APR; how would you ever pay that off??). Finally, it also wrecks your credit record because half the time (in my experience) if you do try to apply you get refused anyway, and this gets marked on your credit record. Grrr.

In fact, I got so irate by this unsolicited letter, which even included a mocked-up credit card in an attempt to catch my eye that merely contributes to the UK’s landfill problem, that I added my thoughts to the UK government’s credit and store card consultation (http://www.bis.gov.uk/creditconsultation) - immediately I felt my rant ease my wrath, and I’ve done my bit for democracy!

APR saca al mercado nuevos productos para el Corvette, Mustang y Lotus. Como siempre realizado en Dry carbon con las maximas garantias.

Para el Corvette tenemos los nuevos Side Rocker Extensions (Part Numbers: FS-208008) con un precio oficial de $1400. Todo el material necesario para su montaje esta incluido.

Tambien para el Corvette tenemos el rear spoiler (Part Numbers: AS-105806) con un precio oficial de $675, esta pieza estara disponible para su envio apartir de este mes de Noviembre

Para el Ford Mustang tenemos los Side Rocker Extensions (part: FS-204018) a un precio de $725 y los Rear Skirts (ref FS-204028) y un precio venta al publico de $350

your test ads or mini banner for only $1/month www.online-trader.cc.cc

your test ads or mini banner for only $1/month www.online-trader.cc.cc

your test ads or mini banner for only $1/month www.online-trader.cc.cc

CPRS-VI promises an impressive line-up of speakers along with hands-on learning at its fall conference “Beyond the Hype II – Turning Crisis into Opportunity”. Learn about crisis and issues management from keynote speaker Dr. Terry Flynn, attend case study sessions with Roy Wadia, Director of Communications for the BC Centre for Disease Control, or a high-level tourism panel; brush up on social media and your media evaluation skills, and lastly, laugh-out-loud with stand-up comic, web pioneer and communications veteran Rob Cottingham.

The date is Friday the 13th – of November, that is, and the location is once again Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. Check out the details at www.beyondthehype.ca.
Early Bird registrations accepted now.”

Friends, Citibank Credit Card Rate Increases! If like me, you received a notice of increase to 29.99% or more, write directly to:

KEN STORK, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, CITIBANK (South Dakota), PO BOX 6000, Sioux Falls, SC 57117-6148.

Complain now! Loudly! Congress has legislation before it now to STOP these usurious tactics by “your” longtime friendly credit card issuer. However these should-be felonious banks have run to “South Dakota,” the last state in the US to permit NO CAP to interest rates. Let Mr. Stork know his clientele is going to “deliver” an ugly baby to him via Congress. If he doesn’t clean up his act and that of Citibank’s now, Congress and “We the People” will clean it up for him.