Back from the IPRA congress

Back in Paris after a very long journey. Flight from Lima to Madrid had one hour delay so I missed the connection flight to Paris. I had to run to catch another plane and they had lost my suitcase. I has just been delivered at my home.

I had a great time in Lima. It was my very first time in South America and I guess it will not be the last one. I loved it. Organization was just perfect and all staff members did an outstanding job.

Unlike speakers that arrive 15 minutes before their speech and leave immediately afterwards, I have attended the whole conference. I was really curious to discover what people had to say about the different topics on the agenda.

The first thing that impressed me was the importance of the audience: nearly 600 people in the great hotel ballroom. Then I was impressed by the quality of the attention. Attendees were listening silent to the numerous presentations, taking notes and sharing their enthusiasm at every coffee break.

Considering the content, I realized that two topics had raised: the reputation management and the social responsibility. In nearly all presentations, speakers were more talking about reputation than image and it was more and more obvious that it had become the “new” key word for PR professionals. Then, a lot of emphasis was put on social responsibilities throughout the various presentations. Maybe the “BP effect” (a lot of presenters have commented the management of the crisis by BP in the Gulf of Mexico). The clear conscious to have a responsibility when informing the audience was everywhere. Talking about the role of PR professionals, a speaker even said : “we are the consciousness of the organizations we are working for”. I like this.

On my side, I gave a presentation on the new powers of citizens (you can download the presentation by clicking on the link below). I was delighted with the comments that people made afterwards. I had tried to demonstrate that our job was changing thanks to the new freedom of expression of the citizens. I talked about complexity and diversity and I am glad that people liked it.

That was a great week. I expect to come back one day to Lima and spend more time there and I want to send a kiss to all the great people I have met.

Hope to keep in touch.