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BUILDING CREDIBILITY, MANAGING REPUTATIO?

HOW DOES ONE MAINTAIN A GOOD REPUTATION AND BUILD CREDIBILITY? WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD REPUTATION? … As recent events have proven, every individual, organisation and country continue to wrestle with these questions all the time.

And on 4 June 04, about 180 policy makers, CEOs, Press Secretaries to Ministers, corporate communications and public affairs leaders, and PR consultancy representatives will come together at the PR Academy’s Third Annual Conference at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel to debate these questions and learn from the experiences of some of the best minds in the field of reputation management.

The conference, which features both local and international experts, will be opened by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang. He will also deliver the keynote address.

Asked why the Academy had chosen reputation management as its conference theme, Ms Sulosana Karthigasu, Managing Director of PR Academy, said, "A solid good reputation and credibility takes a long time to build. And many countries and organisations pay a premium to build and maintain these two intangible, but priceless assets. However, today’s turbulent market place plus our era of bite-sized and real-time news, have made these qualities extremely vulnerable. The SARS and Avian Flu are good recent examples where some countries emerged with their reputations enhanced, while those of some others were dented badly. We thus felt that it was opportune to bring together international and local experts to shed light on how these priceless assets can be maintained.”

The international perspective will be presented by Prof Garth Jowett, co-author of “Propaganda and Persuasion”, the standard introduction to the history and study of propaganda; Ms Nina Hansen, senior communications expert who has written a case study on the 1997 Bird Flu Crisis in Hong Kong; Mr Oliver Stelling, Management Partner of Ogilvy PR Singapore, Mr Mike Holtzman, Special Advisor to the Director of Policy Planning Staff at the US Department of State, and Mr Alan VanderMolen, President of Edelman’s Asia Pacific region.

The highlight of the conference is likely to be the two case studies based on Singapore ’s experiences. In the first, “At Razor’s Edge: The Courageous Story”, Col Bernard Toh, Director of Public Affairs in MINDEF, will share MINDEF’s experiences in dealing with the RSS Courageous incident. The second case study, “Crisis on Your hands – Will you shine or ..?”, will be presented by Dr Choo Li Nah, Deputy Director of Policy and Corporate Communications in the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority. She will discuss how Singapore handled the threat of the Avian Flu.

Pictures speak more than the proverbial 1,000 words in today’s networked and wired world. The collective gasp of global shock that rippled round the world at the recent media coverage of some US soldiers’ ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners, and the beheading of the young American by terrorists say it all.

Ms Karthigasu said, “We felt that the conference will be incomplete without some insights into how the media view such controversial, but newsworthy incidents. And we are very pleased that Ms Jennifer Lewis, editor of Straits Times TV, has kindly agreed to share some perspectives which will ultimately help the newsmakers understand better what the media looks for, and how both newsmakers and the media can work together to meet their respective needs. After all, no media, especially in Singapore , sets out to damage anyone’s reputation.”

The conference, which is opened to both the private and public sectors, is priced at S$820 +GST (public sector) and S$1,000 +GST (private sector participants). A copy of the conference brochure is attached for your information.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

To provide more hands-on practice in reputation management, the Academy has also organised two pre-conference workshops on 3 June 04 at the same venue. Mr Mike Holtzman, Special Advisor to the Director of Policy Planning Staff at the US Department of State, will use real-life examples to illustrate why prompt communication and transparency are vital in managing credibility in an increasingly interconnected world.

Prof Garth Jowett will conduct the second pre-conference workshop. Participants will learn what persuasion is all about and how to gain the public’s attention and win their hearts and minds.

Both workshops will be conducted at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and will be from 1.00pm – 5.30pm . Workshop fees are S$250+GST (public sector) and S$300+GST (private sector). More details are available at: http://www.pracad.com/Conference04.html

ISSUED BY: PR ACADEMY

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

DATE: 20 May 04

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