PRISA hosts 4th World PR Festival in Cape Town

"This is a great honour for South Africa and with our good track record for hosting international events, I am confident that this global public relations festival will be a great success," says GA chairman Sejamothopo Motau, who is also PRISA's ambassador at large.

"The WPRF is an established GA brand and the festival is presented by national associations in various countries around the world. The last festival was hosted by the Brazilian Public Relations Association in Brasilia in 2006. The GA membership consists of over 60 national and specialist associations worldwide, representing over 200 000 public relations and communication practitioners.

"PRISA is a founding member of the GA and since 2000 the global secretariat has been based at PRISA's offices in Johannesburg. This function will be relocating to London later this year," adds Motau. His two-year term as GA chair ends at the end of 2007.

Variety of events

The theme for the 4th WPRF is "Communicating for Sustainability". The festival consists of a variety of events that include a two-day international professional conference, PRISA's Golden Jubilee celebration, GA and PRISA board, council and annual general meetings, and networking.

The conference will feature plenary sessions, panel discussions, breakaways and case studies designed to provide practical knowledge, dialogue and tools to change and improve the communication of issues and events that affect our organisations. The 4th WPRF will bring together senior public relations and communication executives from around the world from business, government, academia, marketing, enterprise and consulting.

Top professionals from the UK, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, South Africa and Nigeria have agreed to participate, with confirmation awaited from Malaysia and India.

Sustainable societies

The theme "Communicating for Sustainability" is not only about the environment, but also about sustainable societies - global, regional and local. These issues will be discussed by, among other experts, a senior World Bank representative. Colleen Pizarev, vice-president of International Distribution for PR Newswire, a global news distribution organisation, will focus on global strategies for public relations and communication, while UK expert on parliamentary lobbying, Lionel Zetter, will share his views on the role of public affairs in a democratic society.

Gerhardt Butchi of Digital Management Switzerland will discuss the latest digital techniques in going global in developing and managing strategy, campaigns and specific events and media plans. A special pre-conference workshop will cover the detail and practical implementation.

In "East meets West", the challenges facing communication for sustainability globally will be discussed by a panel representing USA, UK/Europe, Africa and China. Experts from South Africa and the US will discuss the present education curricula and its relevance in preparing future public relations and communication professionals in "Closing the Gap - Theory and Practice".

PRISA has organised the WPRF so that delegates may attend sessions off-site and benefit from the variety. Environmental communication will take place at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and crisis communication strategy and planning for a sensitive facility at Eskom's Koeberg Nuclear facility. A community development project will be showcased by the City of Cape Town.

A choice of nine case studies will offer practical examples - healthcare, research, local government service, opportunity Africa 2010, community buy-in to sensitive installations have been confirmed so far.

Programme and registration details are available on www.prisa.co.za - click on world public relations festival.