By Geoff Livingston, Capitol Communicator Media Strategist
Next week, from Oct. 12-14, the International PRSA Conference rolls into D.C. Some of the industry’s brightest minds will attend a three-day event that promises many new insights and good conversations across a wide variety of topics.
Quite a few local leaders will be speaking, and I know that the PRSA National Capital Chapter (NCC) has been gearing up for this moment for some time. Kudos to NCC for helping to bring this event to D.C. Capitol Communicator will be there, too, with a booth.
Many people say New York is the country’s advertising capital. In my mind, D.C. is the nation’s PR capital.
The NCC boasts the nation’s largest membership for PRSA. It only makes sense given how important media and public advocacy are for the region’s many government and nonprofit organizations.
Say what you will about politics, but the brightest minds in the PR business are on Capitol Hill and K Street. The brilliance in the political workforce can be felt in the nonprofit and sizeable technology sectors, which often benefit from those who have had political experiences. When the talent does not reside here, there is enough power and resources to purchase it. Most of the biggest international PR agencies build or acquire Washington offices, from Ogilvy to Publicis.
There is always room to grow, as university communications programs are not always well ranked. American and Maryland’s communications programs have a strong reputation locally, as does GW. Georgetown’s communications programs recently received a top ranking from GraduatePrograms.com, though a U.S. list that does not include Newhouse, Northwestern, or either Annenberg program in its top-10 is highly suspect.
But say what you will about the region’s communications industry, next week, D.C. will be unequivocal center of the PR universe.
Geoff Livingston is Capitol Communicator’s Media Strategist. He also is an author, photographer and founder of Tenacity5.
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