Southern Public Relations Federation Conference

The Southern Public Relations Federation will bring PR professionals and students from around its four-state region to Sandestin, Fla., Oct. 7-9, for its 2017 conference, Destined for Greatness. Attendees will hear from nationally acclaimed speakers, learn tangible tools to get results, examine best practices and get on camera with interactive media training. 

            The three-day conference will feature a variety of nationally renowned speakers, information-packed breakout sessions on topics ranging from developing a digital communications plan to the skills the PR Pro of 2022 must have to communicating across cultural barriers. There will also be a number of student-focused activities which will let them show off their skills and sessions that will help them learn how to translate those skills as they enter the workforce. The event will be held at the Village of Baytowne Wharf at Sandestin in Sandestin, Fla.  

Registration rates are $375 for members, $425 for non-members and $250 for students through September 10. After September 10, registration rates are $425 for members and $475 for non-members. Single day conference rates are also available. Day rates are $250 per day for members and $300 per day for non-members. Tickets to the Lantern Awards Banquet are $125 for members and $150 for non-members.

Full conference registration includes Sunday’s opening reception, Monday’s Chapter Recognition Breakfast and Hall of Fame Luncheon, Tuesday’s Professional Excellence Luncheon and Tuesday evening’s Lantern Awards Banquet.

Peter Shankman, Angel Investor, Founder of HARO, World Traveler, Ironman Triathlete, and Cat father. will be the headliner speaker for the conference.  Peter Shankman blames ADHD for most of his success. A serial entrepreneur, Peter is best known for founding Help A Reporter Out (HARO), the social media website that redefined how journalism and PR works by connecting millions of sources with hundreds of thousands of journalists around the world each day, for free. HARO was acquired by Vocus in 2010.

Peter sits on the advisory board of NASA, is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dell, and is a successful angel investor with multiple start-up companies in his portfolio. 2011 marked his entry into Hollywood, when he became Executive Producer on Right Next Door, a new film premiering soon. When he's not spending 90 percent of his time running through airports to catch a connecting flight, Peter is based in Times Square, New York.

He currently lives in New York City with an overweight psychotic cat and a beautiful wife, and in his little spare time, is a sub-4 marathon runner, an Ironman, and B-licensed skydiver. And in classic ADHD fashion, in 2011, a tweet of his was voted one of the top 10 Tweets of the year by ABC News and Twitter.

A popular workshop leader and mentor to many SPRF members, Joe Trahan III, PhD, APR, Fellow PRSA, returns to the SPRF conference to offer “Lights, Camera, Action,” a pre-conference workshop featuring on-camera media training.  Dr. Trahan has nearly 30 years of public relations/affairs experience in governmental, association, and educational and non-profit public relations. Dr. Trahan is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) and a former Commander of the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center located in Birmingham, Ala.  Since 1998, he has trained more than 3,500 people yearly in media relations throughout almost all of the United States, England, Norway, France, Belgium, Paraguay, Mexico and the Netherlands. The cost to attend the pre-conference workshop is $115.

Mandy Schumaker, president of Higher Performing People will be the Hall of Fame Luncheon Speaker. A business mentor and mindset coach, she works with talented, high-energy entrepreneurs who struggle to market themselves effectively, want to stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. It's her passion to help people grow, and reach their full potential in their lives and businesses. Mandy lives in South Portland, Maine, with her husband and two sons.

In addition to speaking at the general sessions, Trahan and Schumaker will join a host of experts who will lead break-out sessions to help conference attendees further hone your skills:

• Joe Trahan III, PhD, APR: Strategic Communications & Gumbo Leadership for the Next Century
• Mandy Schumaker: Effective Communication
• Nicole Scott & Lee Glaser: Developing the Digital PR Plan for the Emerald Coast
• Arik Hanson: Skills the PR Pro of 2022 Must Have & 24 Ways to Generate Content that Clicks
• Lori Kesserman: Building a Social Media Strategy & Inside Story: How to Use Internal-Only Social Media
• Laura Walton, Ph.D., APR: Effective Evaluation
• Danny Blanton: From Afghanistan to Oxford, Communicating Across Cultural Barriers
• Diane W. Hodgins: DIY Research

For a full list of conference events and to register online, visit http://sprf.org/annual-conference/

Also, onnect with the association on Facebook for regular updates and to interact with fellow conference participants.

Sponsorships and exhibit opportunities are still available and offer organizations a perfect opportunity to network, share products and services with public relations professionals from across a four-state region.

For more information, visit http://sprf.org.