Thank you and happy holidays!
Message from PRINZ Board Chair
2020 certainly didn’t turn out to be the year we expected however COVID-19 has provided PRINZ with the opportunity to reflect on our offerings and reset on a new plan.
This year, we have increased the frequency of our monthly webinars covering a wide range of topics ranging from ‘Understanding Outrage Culture’, ‘Internal Comms – mini case studies to prepare you for COVID recovery’ and ‘Iwi Engagement’ through to ‘AI and the challenge of digital relations’. These webinars proved immensely popular and we saw member engagement triple.
We moved our training courses to an online environment. This has proved popular and it is our intention to continue to provide a mix of online and in-person courses on an ongoing basis. These changes were supported by the launch of our new website and backend IT platform.
We did a membership survey on what a professional organisation should provide and why they belonged to PRINZ. As a result of the findings, PRINZ has already refreshed its annual PRINZ Awards, established a Diversity and Inclusion work-stream as well as new peer support and special interest groups to further build a sense of community within the local public relations and communications landscape.
We also have developed a number of new initiatives to extend the advocacy work PRINZ does with a focus on ensuring our voice is heard. The first was our response to the Safety Warehouses’ stunt.
The Board and the PRINZ team have worked hard and I am proud of all that has been achieved this year and planning for next year is already underway.
PRINZ Awards are open 13 January 2021 and save the date for our 2021 conference in Auckland, Thursday 27 and Friday 28 May.
I would like to take this chance to say thank you.
Thank you to the Auckland-based PRINZ team – Elaine, Rheanna, Alice, Violet and Rosa – for all the work you do for us.
Thanks to all our members who volunteer their time and share with us their knowledge and expertise – board members, divisional and regional committees, trainers, presenters – ngā mihi koutou.
Finally thank you to each and every one of you for your ongoing commitment to PRINZ.
There is no doubt that this has been a challenging year for everyone but the COVID crisis has given people a renewed appreciation of the value of good public relations and given us here at PRINZ an opportunity to reflect on how we can better support our members and the wider public relations industry.
Stay safe, Meri Kirihimete me nga mihi mo te tau hou (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)
“He aha te kai a te rangatira – He kōrero, he kōrero, he korēro: What is the food of the leaders? It is communication.
Ngā mihi mahana
Fiona Cassidy APR, LPRINZ
Message from PRINZ Chief Executive
As the year draws to a close, I’d like to thank you for your continued support over the last 12 months. This year, having a sense of being part of a supportive community has been immensely helpful in helping people to navigate the challenges brought by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Certainly, I believe there has been widespread appreciation of the critical importance and value of good communication.
It’s fair to say that 2020 certainly hasn’t been the year we all expected! In my wrap up for the year, I thought that we’d be celebrating hosting the Word Public Relations Forum in October. Yet while we were disappointed not to be able to welcome our overseas guests to New Zealand, the pandemic provided an opportunity to turn our focus to our local community of public relations and communications professionals.
We asked you what your expectations of a professional association are – and whether PRINZ delivers against these. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Consequently, we are making a few changes – and will continue to make further improvements that will be communicated in the new year.
As you no doubt will have seen, we announced new categories and changes to the format and judging structure of the annual PRINZ Awards, now celebrating 47 years. The 2021 PRINZ Awards will open for entry on 13 January 2021. Plus for the first time, there are opportunities to sponsor an award category.
I’d like to thank participants and facilitators for adapting to the online environment for the CPD courses. We appreciate that the online environment suits some of you better and it is our intention to continue to offer a mix of online and in-person courses in 2021. We’ll have our 2021 CPD courses online in the new year and, in the meantime, there are a few courses on the calendar already. Register now and you’ll get a 10% discount on our standard courses.
I’d also like to commend all the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) candidates who managed to complete the programme despite the significant disruptions and challenges of working virtually. To anyone who is thinking about the year ahead – something that often happens when your relaxing at the beach – perhaps consider adding APR to your achievements in 2021. The programme is a great opportunity to demonstrate and verify the breadth and scope of your professional knowledge, experience and ethical judgement across the entire body of knowledge of public relations and communications practice. 
While we haven’t had the same opportunities to see you in person, its been amazing to see that our community has been able to stay connected and keep learning mainly through digital platforms. More people than ever tuned into our webinars and I’m pleased to say that our local divisions managed to host a few in person events in the last quarter. Personally, I particularly enjoyed the Dr Ashley Bloomfield event – and the man deserves a medal for posing for selfies with almost everyone who attended!
PRINZ also launched a new website and backend technology platform. The new platform sets PRINZ up well for the future and has additional functionality that we’ll turn on in 2021.
Thank you to everyone for your support and playing a part in advancing our profession, and an extra thank you to all our volunteers – our Divisional committee members, PRINZ Awards judges, mentors, APR examiners, special interest group members and the PRINZ Board. Thank you for kindly giving your time and expertise. We greatly appreciate the contribution you all make to our profession!
Stay safe, be kind and I hope you enjoy a relaxing holiday season!
See you in 2021.
Elaine Koller APR
