2011-12 PRSA-St. Louis Strategic Plan

Vision
The St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America serves a diverse community of professionals, empowering them to excel in effective, ethical and respectful communications on behalf of their organizations they represent and the constituencies they serve.

Mission
The St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America strives to be the region’s pre-eminent advocate for advancing the public relations profession and the public relations professional.

Goals

1. Providing Thought Leadership and Knowledge Sharing
   Advance our members’ strategic and tactical capabilities by serving as the region’s leading source of ideas and techniques as well as being a clearinghouse for best practices and innovative research.
2. Connecting the Professional Community
   Build a growing community of public relations professionals through outstanding member services and by providing value to members.
3. Delivering Operational Excellence
   Enable the St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America to provide services for members by strengthening the chapter’s operations and being good stewards of chapter resources.

Objectives

1.     Providing Thought Leadership and Knowledge Sharing

Objective #1-1 – Advance member’s professional skills by facilitating the exchange of new ideas, techniques and innovative research

• Offer professional development programs, luncheon programs, informational resources and networking opportunities that facilitate the transfer of cutting-edge knowledge.
• Provide members a competitive advantage by monitoring current business and leadership dialogues in order to share the ways our field’s professionals can help solve the problems and challenges facing today’s leaders.
• Support and share research that encourages knowledge transfer between theory and practical application. Bridge the gaps between students, researchers, educators and practitioners.

• Number of luncheons, training events and young/seasoned professional activities focused on thought leadership and knowledge sharing

Objective #1-2 – Use the accreditation process to ensure members have a comprehensive understanding of public relations knowledge, skills and practices

• Compile APR training materials that represent our field and provide educational resources and links to national and university resources that maintain our profession’s knowledge base.
• Make accreditation preparation a comprehensive review of the profession’s knowledge-base and promote the value of it so that members seek the knowledge and employers seek professionals with this level of competence.

• Number of accredited members and number accredited this year
• Number of improvements in accreditation preparation and changes to keep the materials up to date
• Development of a place to keep the information and a way to transfer the knowledge that must be taught between chairs each year

Objective #1-3 – Strengthen relationships with local PRSSA chapters and explore opportunities to add more PRSSA chapters in the region

• Educate the next generation of public relations professionals and PRSA members and leaders by providing mentorship to those considering careers in public relations.
• Provide student activities and leadership training to strengthen and sustain our chapter for the future.
• Develop a working relationship with PRSSA faculty advisors so that their knowledge of research and theory reaches members and members’ front line challenges reach educators.

• Number of PRSSA chapter
• Number of students attending chapter programs
• Number of academic professionals attending chapter programs and participating in committees and chapter leadership

Objective #1-4 – Participate in national efforts to establish a distinguished forum for industry thought leadership and advocacy

• Use the website and social media to share current and relevant papers and presentations and to promote national forums that encourage idea exchange and debate.
• Seek out the national templates being created to promote chapter thought leadership.
• Monitor the national professional resource center and the counselor’s academy and share their insight with members.
  

• Number of resources identified on our website
• Number of national events and ideas promoted through local social media
  
  

2.   Connecting the Professional Community

Objective #2-1 – Create a welcoming community for public relations professionals to engage, connect and build relationships

• Acknowledge the increased interest in relationship building and its expansion into the digital arena by offering multiple and varied opportunities to connect.

• Chapter membership
• New members recruited
• Membership retention rate
• Meeting attendance
• Member knowledge of PRSA membership benefits and services
• Networking opportunities
• Member perception of networking opportunities available
• Number of members involved in committee activities
• Frequency and quality of member communications
• Usage of special services (e.g., Job Bank)

Objective #2-2 – Explore opportunities to partner with other organizations both inside and outside of public relations industry

• Expose members to the broader community beyond PRSA and create mutually beneficial synergies with other organizations (e.g., The Social Media Club of St. Louis, IABC, CSPRC, Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis, business leadership organizations, etc.).

• Jointly sponsored programs and events

3.   Delivering Operational Excellence

Objective #3-1 – Maintain effective business operations and provide excellent stewardship of chapter resources

• A strong operations function is the foundation for achieving the chapter’s long- and short-term goals. We must ensure operations processes and policies are structured to support committee activities and member services.

• Maintain chapter’s fiscal strength by ensuring that  income meets or exceeds expenses
• Bills paid on time and monthly financial reports made to board; timely year-end report to incoming board
• Chapter board holds regular meetings and provides effective oversight
• Required reports to PRSA national completed on time
• Annual election and chapter business meeting held
• Active committees maintained
• Processes and Procedures updated and communicated
• Bylaws updated as needed
• Minutes and records maintained with functional backup
• Continuous process improvement to streamline operations

• Strategic planning efforts should provide an overall vision along with committee accountability. The strategic plan should be reviewed annually and updated as necessary to incorporate member input and provide multi-year strategic direction for the chapter, and annual committee activities should align with the plan. Additionally, the local chapter must ensure alignment with the national chapter’s strategic plan.

• Strategic plan reviewed annually and updated as necessary to ensure continued clear focus for the organization
• Committee plans reflect strategic plan objectives
  

Objective #3-3 – Ensure that chapter decision-making is fact-based and reflects member input

• PR practitioners understand the value of utilizing research and benchmarking as a key factor in planning success. Where possible, the chapter should expand the use of research in long and short-term planning.

• Conduct member surveys year-over-year to ensure that planning reflects the needs of the membership

• Strong leadership fosters strong organizations. Intentional and regular leadership development should become a standard component of board operations.

Measures:

• Development programs for chapter leaders
• Develop opportunities for members to serve in smaller capacities to build leadership skills and to move into chapter leadership roles          

* Presented by the Strategic Planning Committee for approval and voted upon and passed by PRSA-St. Louis Chapter members in attendance at the announced Annual Meeting, part of the Oct. 20 monthly luncheon, Ces & Judy’s, Frontenac, Mo.  Also see 2011 Leadership.