The industry continued to grow in 2022 but challenges to “business as usual” grew, as well. Given the opportunity and threats, the PR Council focused on helping agency leaders work smarter by convening leaders to share experiences, learning and insight and providing intelligence and best practices. Below is a recap of our programming. Miss something? Please reach out because we can likely provide you with a report, recording, or notes. 

Convening 

  • Hosted 30 Community Meetings for HR leaders (monthly), and CFOs, COOs, DE&I, Digital and Sales & Marketing leaders (quarterly), many featuring guest speakers including legal and accounting experts, agency search consultants, talent specialists, tech platform representatives, digital thought leaders and more. Meetings often featured flash polls to arm participants with actionable data. 
  • Coordinated several series of Agency Leader Roundtables, some organized by agency size and some by geography, to allow leaders to discuss the most pressing issues in the business including talent shortages, DE&I best practices, pricing and procurement, COVID protocols and return-to-office policies. 

Providing intelligence 

  • Four comprehensive studies provided critical benchmarks to help leaders make smart decisions: employee benefits, analysis of agency costs, employee salaries and bonuses, and a condensed labor bill rate report.
  • We continued to educate members around pricing transformation. Your Revenue = Your Retention workshop with pricing expert Tim Williams explained value-based pricing as a critical strategy to improve profitability and therefore attract and retain the best talent.
  • In response to two years of remote work challenges, the PRC created the Magnet Manager series featuring seven key sessions led by industry experts including Patrice Tanaka, Allyns Melendez, David Bosses, Mark Riggs, Melody Wilding, Ken Jacobs and Johna Burke. Topics included leadership purpose, onboarding, agency financials, consultative selling, delegation, feedback, and analytics and measurement.
  • Led by the Prosper Group, the four-part Next Stage Series offered advice to guide leaders through stages of growth: transitioning from the start-up phase, fueling growth and diversification, creating reward and incentive programs to retain critical talent, and transferring ownership.
  • Checklist of Three for Success in ’23 highlighted important steps to set up your agency for success in the coming year and featured incremental growth consultancy, Pemberton, consumer and health procurement leaders and legal partner Davis+Gilbert.
  • A four-part UN BIAS series examined opportunities to create belonging in our agencies: creating environments to support authenticity, honing empathy to deliver inclusivity and habits of inclusive teams. Prominent DE&I consultants Chelsea Williams, Empathy Lab and Jennifer Brown Consulting led the educational sessions.
  • To provide a safe educational space for CEOs, a four-part CEO Discussion Series featured expert-led conversations on ageism, conflict negotiation, disability representation and intersectionality. 
  • Positively reviewed smaller group training opportunities focused on solving critical agency issues including: 
  • Cross-agency ERGs for Black professionals and LGBTQIA+ professionals created safe spaces for diverse talent to share experiences and hear from experts in digital agility, effective communication, policy-making and legislation and more.
  • Year three of our popular Agency-Ready Certificate program graduated 200 agency enthusiasts, all of whom were added to our proprietary career portal for Members to post jobs and search for entry-level candidates. 
Experienced marketing and communications professional with a demonstrated history of working in the public relations and communications industry. Skilled in event management, project management, digital media, marketing, and marketing strategy. Bachelor of Arts focused in Communication – Corporate and Public Relations and a Masters of Science – Technical Communications from Drexel University. Currently enrolled in an MBA program at the RH Smith School - University of Maryland.

Published by Eva Seidl Chodosh

Experienced marketing and communications professional with a demonstrated history of working in the public relations and communications industry. Skilled in event management, project management, digital media, marketing, and marketing strategy. Bachelor of Arts focused in Communication – Corporate and Public Relations and a Masters of Science – Technical Communications from Drexel University. Currently enrolled in an MBA program at the RH Smith School - University of Maryland.