The PR issue we're not ready to talk about
(c) DKassnoff, 2008 Next week (Sept. 18-19), hundreds of public relations pros will visit Rochester for the Public Relations Society of America's northeast regional conference. They'll talk about social media, SEO, media relations, and many other hot PR topics. They'll drink coffee. They'll multitask. They'll swap and lose business cards. But they won't talk about communicating with diverse audiences, or hiring diverse account executives. A colleague invited six diversity PR experts (including me) for a panel discussion. But it isn't taking place. Just one attendee registered for the panel, so it's been cancelled. That's disheartening for PRSA's Rochester chapter, which has had a very active diversity committee for about five years. A committee that has earned national recognition for a pioneering "Diversity Apprentice" initiative introducing high school students to public relations. That just one PR practitioner si...