A new approach to in-person events in 2022

To Our Valued Members and Friends:

It is now spring, and we are happy to celebrate the return of in-person events. The move back to holding in-person meetings coincides with our new approach to programming to meet new consumer preferences and marketplace realities.

After more than two years of only online events, the chapter held its first in-person event last week. Our signature Association and Nonprofit Issues of the Day roundtable event, now in its 12th year, was held at YOTEL Washington on Capitol Hill and drew 40 attendees.

I hope you will consider attending our Spring happy hour reception at Atlas Brew Works on May 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Looking forward to the second half of the year, we will host several other in-person social networking events, including our annual Hall of Fame cocktail reception and a major September happy hour event that will be announced in the coming weeks.

What the re-introduction of in-person symbolizes is a new approach to how our chapter will host events in the long-term: hybrid programming. By hybrid programming, we mean an approach that blends fully online events AND fully in-person events.

During the past two years, we learned a great deal about the attendee experience, the needs of our membership, and who wasn’t served well before we began online-only events. When we launched online events in 2020, it expanded online professional development opportunities for our colleagues across the region who once had logistical challenges attending in-person events.

Even with our Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) courses that we converted to online, it provided professional growth opportunities for PRSA members in other states with chapters that did not offer APR programming. Stories like these in expanding accessibility to learning opportunities are what drives me, and the reason why I co-chaired the chapter’s Professional Development Committee for four years and continue to teach online professional graduate students.

This recognition of the convenience and wide reach of online education and professional development events is the reason you’ll continue to see online-only events on our chapter calendar.

As we enter April and begin finalizing our spring and summer plans, I look forward to reconnecting with you or meeting you for the first time at our in-person social gatherings. If you are interested in sponsoring any of our upcoming events or have ideas for programming, please send us an email at info@prsancc.org.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the Chapter and see you at our next event!

Sincerely,

Robert Krueger
President, PRSA NCC