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Lois Marsh

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Call for nominations for CEO Award of Excellence in Public Relations
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Does your Chief Executive Officer create and communicate a vision for your organization? Has he/she demonstrated significant achievements in strategic communications and stakeholder relations in the past 18 months? If so, he/she might be eligible for the CPRS Toronto CEO Award of Excellence in Public Relations.

Please submit a current resume for your CEO, along with a written submission on how he/she has shown excellence in the various public relations disciplines that we consider for this distinction. For further information on the Award and eligibility and evaluation criteria, please visit our website.

Full submissions can be sent electronically to Lois Marsh at marshl@marsh-executive.com

Nominations are now open until August 16, 2013.

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LIFE MEMBERSHIP RECIPIENTS 2013
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Congratulations to this year’s Life Membership Recipients:

John R. Elliott, APR

Karen Dalton, APR

Life membership is granted by a Member Society to Voting Members who made made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the National Society in particular and to public relations in general and have 30+ years membership.

 

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Doris Whiteside Award Recipients 2013
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Each year, the Toronto society presents the Doris Whiteside Award (biography below) to a graduating student at each of
the community colleges which offer public relations courses recognized by CPRS Toronto.

This year’s recipients are:

Seneca College – Elena Dvoirin

Humber College – Trevor Speechly

Centennial College – Hannah Sunderani

 

BIOGRAPHY

DORIS WHITESIDE 

 Doris began her public relations career in the 1960’s as a part-time secretary with the Girl Guides of Canada.  While there she met Ruth Hammond who sparked Doris’s interest in public relations. 

From the Girl Guides, Doris joined Hilda Wilson at Investor Relations.  Subsequent career moves took her to Berger and Associates and the Metro Toronto and Ontario Lung Associations where she acted as Director, Public Relations.  There, Doris implemented many strategic public relations programs. 

Doris’s many public relations accomplishments included a successful strategy that allowed chiropractors to achieve professional status in Ontario.  And she was one of the first public relations practitioners to bring the concepts of public relations to not-for-profit organizations.  She pioneered the concept of joint sponsorship programs between not-for-profit organizations and corporate sponsors.  Doris also developed the Lung Association’s first public relations manual and provided training programs for volunteers and staff. 

Doris began CPRS’s first speakers bureau in the 1970’s and was a member of the Board of Directors.  She was always an advocate for raising the profile and status of public relations practitioners. 

Doris gladly gave advice to anyone interested in public relations.  She taught public relations and enjoyed various workshops. 

Doris died in 1989.

 

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2013-2014
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Executive Committee:

President – MaryJane Martin, APR

1st Vice President – Diane Bégin, APR

2nd Vice President – Jilda Lazer, APR

Secretary – Danielle Kelly, APR

Treasurer – Ginny Snow

Past President – Vincent Power, APR

Directors:

Jaclyn Atwood-Powell

AJ Goodman

Vivienne McCuaig

Lauren More

Jeff Rohrer, APR

Ian Ross, APR

Carolyn Schulz

Student Representative:

Jennifer Hayes

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REVISED REPORT OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE
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 CANADIAN PUBLIC RELATIONS SOCIETY TORONTO INC. 

The Nominating Committee proposed the following slate for the CPRS Toronto Inc. Board of Directors for 2013-2014:

DIRECTORS

ATWOOD-POWELL, Jaclyn (Shaw Media)

BÉGIN, Diane APR (Thornley Fallis) 

GOODMAN, AJ (FTI Consulting) 

HAYES, Jennifer (Student Representative – Humber College) 

KELLY, Danielle APR (Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) 

LAZER, Jilda APR (Environics Communications Inc.) 

MARTIN, MaryJane APR (MJ Martin & Company) 

McCUAIG, Vivienne (Vividthinking Communications) 

MORE, Lauren (Ford Motor Company of Canada) 

ROHRER, Jeff APR (TVO) 

ROSS, Ian APR (Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Government of Ontario) 

SCHULZ, Carolyn (Edelman) 

SNOW, Ginny (RBC Group Insurance Services)  

Immediate Past President

POWER, Vincent APR (Sears Canada Inc.)

Nominating Committee:

Chairperson:

Susan McDougall, APR

Members:

Mark LaVigne, APR, FCPRS

Christina A. Marshall, APR

If you cannot attend the AGM, please fill out and return the proxy form before May 6.

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Call for Nominations for 2013-2014 Board
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CPRS Toronto members interested in serving on the board for the 2013-14 term should contact Lois Marsh at 416-360-1988 or marshl@marsh-executive.com.

Participating on the board enables you to enhance your corporate governance skills, contribute to our profession in a meaningful way, and interact with and learn from your industry peers.   

The term starts after the Annual General Meeting in May. All members are invited to apply. Having an APR, more than five years of communications experience or being an active volunteer are assets. 

The deadline is February 17.

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CPRS Toronto immediate opening for board position – ACE Chair
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One of the CPRS Toronto Board positions, the ACE Chair, is currently vacant and the Board is looking for a candidate to immediately fill the position.

ACE (Achievement in Communication Excellence) is a celebration of the highest calibre of communication programs in the Toronto area.  The awards are decided based upon submissions from the organizations that produced the original work following a stringent judging process and are distributed at a gala event held around the end of April every year.  The Chair of the ACE committee oversees and guides the team of dedicated individuals who conduct the submission and judging processes, as well as the preparation and execution of the gala.

CPRS Toronto members interested should provide their resume to Lois Marsh at marshl@marsh-executive.com

Participating on the board enables you to enhance your corporate governance skills, contribute to our profession in a meaningful way, and interact with and learn from your industry peers.

All members are invited to apply. Having an APR, more than five years of communications experience or being an active volunteer are assets.

Please reply by November 30th.

ACE Summary

The ACE chair position requires a firm commitment until May and involves the following key tasks:

  • Coordinating a team of volunteers, coordinating roles and overseeing event progress including everything from judging to logistics
  • Attending regular board meetings, facilitating necessary approvals and updating other board members of the progress of the event
  • Managing the ACE Awards budget and volunteer team meetings

The time estimates provided below are estimates and may increase if issues arise. While there are lots of team meetings, the new chair should be aware that this role involves a lot of email correspondence, most of which takes place throughout the work day. Because of this, being accessible throughout the day is an asset.

September (~5 hours for the month)

  • Book venue
  • Begin recruiting volunteers

October (10 hours for the month)

  • Finalize team and begin monthly meetings
  • Finalize critical path with dates from committee
  • Start working on contracts for the program, trophies and AV requirements
  • Find judges to act as judging chairs
  • Marketing plan completed and approved by ACE chair
  • Approved updates made to entries package

November (10 hours for the month)

  • Begin recruiting for MC
  • Marketing for entries/event begins, continues until April
  • Theme selection
  • Ensure all sponsor requirements are in hand – ongoing management of sponsor’s needs

December (10 hours for the month)

  • Judging panel finalized (with 50 per cent APR)
  • Staging plan from AV company, theme for PowerPoint presentation

January (5-10 hours per week)

  • Entries deadline – deal with escalations from entries and judging team
  • First draft of program complete
  • PD event on how to write a good submission (if doing again this year)
  • Menus finalized for venue

February (5-10 hours per week)

  • Executive summary judging and related issues
  • Begin working on script and PowerPoint presentation
  • Event survey approvals

March (~10 hours per week)

  • Increase meeting frequency to every other week
  • Full submission and best of show judging takes place, must be on site for both events to deal with related issues
  • Media materials approved by board
  • Florist finalized
  • Media list complete
  • Trophies ordered
  • Finalize music selection

 April (~10 hours per week)

  • Program approved by board members
  • Script approved
  • Event takes place – day of issues management
  • Lots of last minute emails!May (~5 hours for the month)
  • Follow up media requests and photos
  • Regroup with team to determine what worked, what didn’t
  •  Reconcile budget and create wrap report for AGM
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President’s message: Make your choice
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What is it about that 11th hole on our PR golf course!  It’s a long Par 5, and it’s straight.  From the teebox, it looks like there’s nothing to worry about so you just swing your best straight shot off the tee.  As you walk towards the spot where your ball landed, you can now see that just before the green, there’s a creek that runs across the fairway bounded by tall reeds.  

This is decision time. 

There are two basic choices to consider as you take your second shot.  You can go for the green in two shots if you feel like you can clear the creek.  This will allow you to get on or near the hole in two shots (your original tee shot and the one you are about to make).  This means that you have the potential to take just two more strokes including your putts to get the ball into the hole.  If successful, you could score a 4 and birdie the hole.  Even a par score of 5 would be a good result.  Of course if you don’t clear the creek and land in it, then you have to take a penalty stroke and that’s not good.  This will mean extra strokes (bad in golf) plus…you likely lost a ball in the process.

Alternatively, rather than going for the green in two shots, you can “lay up”, which means that instead of taking your second shot over the creek, you can make a shorter shot and land just before the creek. Now you avoid trouble altogether. You can follow that up with a short shot that will easily clear the creek and land on the green. You may not make a birdie, but you could still make par, and, in the process, you removed the risk of losing your ball in the creek and really adding to your stroke count. 

Two choices that allow you to weigh risk vs. reward.    

We all face decisions like this in our day to day work. The important thing is this: once you’ve made a decision on an action, commit to it and execute it to the best of your ability. 

I hope our experienced practitioners will make the decision to volunteer as a mentor for someone new to the profession. Having been a mentor myself a couple of times, I found it to be a worthwhile experience for myself.  I learned from the protégé assigned to me, and I hope the feeling was mutual. 

I think sometimes mentoring can be viewed as one-way…mentor imparting information to protégé. Certainly, that is the purest intent of the relationship.  Experienced practitioners have so much to offer…insight, guidance, connecting, listening, reassurance, encouragement, feedback…the list goes on.  That said, it’s fascinating how much experienced practitioners can gain from the relationship.  

Another bonus about the mentorship program is how flexible it is from a scheduling and timing point of view. So many of our time commitments in our roles in public relations are determined by someone else. Finally!…we can make a schedule that suits both mentor and protégé and we get to determine the timing. How cool is that! 

I hope you will make a decision today to give some of your time and expertise to make a meaningful difference in the career development of our young professionals or those new to public relations.  

Believe me, it’s a much easier decision than determining whether you should go for the green in two or lay up. It’s also more fruitful and a lot less frustrating!  

For more information, please email: mentorship@cprstoronto.com

Vincent Power, APR

 

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Immediate opening for Volunteer Chair
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One of the CPRS Toronto Board positions, the Volunteer Chair, is currently vacant and the Board is looking for a candidate to immediately fill the position.

CPRS Toronto members interested should contact Lois Marsh at 416-360-1988 or marshl@marsh-executive.com

Participating on the board enables you to enhance your corporate governance skills, contribute to our profession in a meaningful way, and interact with and learn from your industry peers.

All members are invited to apply. Having an APR, more than five years of communications experience or being an active volunteer are assets.

Please reply by August 31.

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