Unspun

It must be the season. In the first week of September the International Public Relations Association is holding its Regional Conference in Bali. In the last week of November the PR Society of Indonesia is holding its “Annual International PR and Communications Conference” in Jakarta followed with a workshop in Bandung.

Why not just one super duper PR conference where everyone gets into the act instead of two conferences so close to each other. One might interpret it as competition between different PR camps in Indonesia and different PR associations.

Pertinent questions to ask about these conferences: Apart from the schmoozing and potential business leads for the hopeful, what would you get out of these conferences? Who are the speakers and what’s their caliber? (IPRA’s conference has james Riady speaking even though he cannot get Kabelvision working well to deliver good service and reliable internet connections, for instance) Are they known for achievements in PR or for just talking about PR? Apart from the tired old topics like internal communications and change communications, CSR CSR and more CSR, Going Glocal or its variations and PR ethics, are they saying anything new or examining in-depth how th whole bloody profession might be changed by New Media?