Euprera 2013 in Barcelona

The European PR Research Association, Euprera, has just completed its 2013 conference in Barcelona. Great location and great networking event and appeared to be much more international than two years ago when I last attended.  Highlights on the presentations and events I attended included:

                                              (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/45068230)

• A very impressive opening speech from Robert Heath, Emeritus Professor at University of Houston placing organisational agendas at heart of PR practice.  Some good lines such as "organisation is product of communicative events" and "legitimacy is prerequisite for institutionalisation."  Encouraged PR as a discipline to think of what it has to offer other disciplines not just draw on them.  
• Professor Ralph Tench at Leeds Metropolitan University has led important pan-European research programme to assess competences and skills of European PR practitioners.  This will enhance the professionalisation of the industry over time and provide very useful insights for academic teams running PR programmes.  There is also a new site being developed for practitioners and students to assess their own competences.  
• Social media is now being supported by some major research into how organisations are using it and the answer is not very well particularly when it comes to using the interactive potential of the media. Dr Uta Russman at the University of Applied Sciences for Management and Communication in Vienna presented data on the top 500 companies in Austria and use of social media.  This was similar to data from German companies presented by researchers from University of Leipzig.  Don't be fooled by social media leaders, many companies are happy using it as a form of one way communication. 
• Attended the opening meeting of the European Public Relations History Network, a development of Professor Tom Watson's successful History of PR Conference at Bournemouth.  This is opening up important new avenues of research and links with other academic disciplines.  Currently reading The Sleepwalkers - How Europe went to war in 1914 by Christopher Clark, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge and it is interesting to note the author's focus on  public opinion and media coverage in the lead up to war, reflecting the potential opportunities for this new initiative as both historians and PR historians focus on the role of communications.  In fact the book is a fascinating resource and argument for the role of public diplomacy in the modern age - something significantly lacking in 1913/14 as the author highights.