Diverse Perspectives: Unleashing the Power of Culturally Competent Communications

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In an era when politicians play to the extremes and verbal slights can lead to fatal conflicts, can we as professional communicators help shape more civil discourse? Can diversity and inclusivity in our campaigns better connect our messages with their intended audiences?

Please join the Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, October 5, at Ridglea Country Club for a conversation with communications leaders about why cultural competency matters and how we can leverage inclusivity to achieve more powerful campaigns.

This session is being held in conjunction with PRSA’s national Diversity & Inclusion Month and will be moderated by Winifred “Wini” King, Diversity Chair for Greater Fort Worth PRSA and Senior Vice President and Chief of Communications, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Cook Children’s Health Care System.

Our panelists are:

Estela Martinez-Stuart, Director of Leisure Sales and Hispanic Partnerships, Visit Fort Worth

Bob Ray Sanders, Director of Communications, Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce; former Associate Editor and Senior Columnist, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Dr. Monica Zhan, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, The University of Texas at Arlington

Interview Practice – Speed-Dating Style

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Join us for a chance to practice your job interview skills. Dress business casual and bring your resume, personal elevator pitch, and your “A” game! Sign up by Friday, September 9 here

Details:
5-6:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 13
2805 S. University Drive. Fort Worth, 76129
Check in Is In Moudy South Lobby on TCU campus
Parking is available at the corner of W. Cantey and University Drive

In the Hot Seat: An Exercise in Emergency Communications

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Hone your crisis communications skills and learn from experts who manage emergency scenarios every day

About this event

Could you handle being “in the hot seat” of a major event or catastrophe? When your client or organization is facing adversity, how should you manage the many demands coming in at once?

Greater Fort Worth PRSA is offering a half-day professional development seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, September 15, 2022, in Ridglea Country Club’s Garden Room. The seminar features a tabletop emergency exercise led by members of the Dallas Office of Emergency Managementfollowed by a luncheon featuring Sparkle Bell, Communications Division director for the Harris County Flood Control District.

During the tabletop exercise, you and a team of other professionals will be confronted with a series of realistic, escalating emergencies for which you must provide communications support.

You will devise strategy and tactics in real time and gain valuable experience, including conducting a mock press conference and drafting social media responses in real-time. Tabletop excercise participants are encouraged to bring a fully-charged laptop for use throughout the session.

Our facilitators are:

  • Catherine Cuellar, director of communications, outreach and marketing, City of Dallas. Catherine is a two-time TEDx speaker and award-winning journalist with experience at NPR affiliates in Los Angeles and Dallas and at The Dallas Morning News. She has spoken about smart cities and creative placemaking at conferences including South by Southwest, the New Cities Summit, ULI and Rail~Volution.
  • John Patterson, senior emergency management specialist, City of Dallas. John has more than 25 years in public and private sector emergency management experience and has held positions in Caddo-Bossier, L.A., Fort Worth, Coppell, Ellis County, and at Lockheed Martin as a contractor with FEMA Region VI.
  • Jennifer Moreno, emergency management specialist/public information officer for the Dallas Office of Emergency Management. Jennifer holds an undergraduate degree from West Texas A&M University in Emergency Management Administration.

Sparkle Bell, our luncheon speaker, holds her APR certification and is a seasoned, strategic communications and marketing leader. She has served in various communications roles throughout Houston’s biggest hurricanes — as assignment editor at a local television station during Katrina, at a local utility service provider during Ike and at the city of Pearland during Hurricane Harvey.

Bell will share her perspective on working with the media, including discussion of how reporters and producers think and work. She’ll also share techniques for conveying information to the media before, during, and after a crisis, as well as public communications strategies and tactics for addressing opportunities and challenges that may arise during a crisis.

This event is generously sponsored by Electro Acoustics, a Fort Worth-based video, audio and theatrical lighting company.

Buy tickets for the full-day seminar with lunch, the morning program only or the luncheon only.

  • 8:30 a.m. to noon – Tabletop Emergency Exercise
  • Noon-1 p.m. – Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter luncheon featuring Sparkle Bell, Communications Division director, Harris County Flood Control District

Mindfulness and Messaging: Mental Health, Youth and the Content We Create

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Join Greater Fort Worth PRSA at Ridglea Country Club in Fort Worth from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, for a conversation focused on mental health, young people and how both are affected by the communications content we create.

Speakers include Laura Van Hoosier, APR, Fellow PRSA, Assistant Vice President for Public Relations at Cook Children’s, and Kim Brown, APR, Public Relations Manager at Cook Children’s. Both helped produce the Joy Campaign and its related podcast, Raising Joy. The campaign launched in April 2021 as a suicide prevention initiative aimed at reaching parents through honest conversations about the mental wellbeing of children and teens. The podcast followed in 2022 to further empower parents with tools and strategies they can use to support their children and themselves.

Two experts in behavioral health will further explore the impact of messaging on mental health:
Cynthia Powell is an assistant professor of Lifestyle Health Sciences at UNT HSC and founder of Cynergy Wellness Group LLC. Powell also provides coaching and training in a variety of areas including mindfulness, resilience, self-care and stress management.

Kristi Wiley has served as program director for the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation since 2018. The foundation works to prevent suicide, eliminate stigma and provide hope to people struggling with depression. Previously, Wiley served as development director for the AIDS Outreach Center in Fort Worth and as Development Manager for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth.

This event is generously sponsored by The Center for Children’s Health led by Cook Children’s

The deadline to buy tickets is 11:59 p.m. Thursday, July 28, to meet our venue’s catering count deadline. Purchase here.

We look forward to seeing you!