July 2025 PRSA Dallas Letter from the President
Posted by admin on Jul. 8, 2025 / Subscribe 0
My term as the PRSA Dallas chapter president is halfway done, so this feels like the perfect time to pull back the curtain a bit.
Serving as president for our chapter is a three-year commitment on the board (one-year terms as president-elect, president, and immediate past-president) and a lifetime commitment as a consultant. Each year begins with a past presidents’ dinner, which helps to rally the troops and reinforce the fact there is a network of support available.
Advice provided by my predecessors this past January included focusing on one or two main goals during the year so that I always have a lighthouse guiding the way. The art of delegation was also mentioned by a few past presidents, as was the philosophy of ABR: always be recruiting.
Based on that advice, my two goals for the year were to stabilize and retain.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way our chapter operates, and we are still trying to find our path forward. For those who were members of PRSA Dallas pre-pandemic, you may remember monthly luncheons with guest speakers and the Pegasus Awards at the Brookhaven Country Club. I joined the chapter in 2018 and attended a few luncheons that were always packed with members.
We are still working to find the right rhythm to our programming by trying new things and listening to your feedback. The pandemic changed the way we work, our schedules, and even where we live. This is why we are providing a variety of in-person and virtual programs; a combination of morning, afternoon, and evening events; and scheduling meetups at locations across the DFW area.
The impact of inflation over the last five years means our board is also trying to find the right balance of reducing expenses and increasing costs to ensure we are good financial stewards. We take your annual investment in the chapter seriously, and we want to ensure you find value in the money you spend.
Throughout the first half of the year, our board has been evaluating the value we provide you to ensure we have a stable foundation in place from which to improve and grow the chapter. This is the first year of our current four-year strategic plan, and it’s my hope the next three years will allow us to dream big.
Retention was my other goal. Our chapter is the third largest in the country. We have flirted with 400 members since before the pandemic, but every time we reach the milestone through new members, we lose some existing members and drop back under. While I greatly value new members joining the chapter and a desire to become the largest chapter in the country, we need to first fix the leaky bucket.
Dating back to last year, our board has done a great job of working to re-engage organizations and agencies regarding group renewals and asking what the chapter could do for them. In January, I started sending welcome emails to all new members and welcome-back emails to all reinstated members, and I’ve loved the replies I’ve received. Even this monthly update was started as a way to provide more connection and community, which I believe are the most valuable things the chapter can offer.
If you’re unsure whether to renew your membership when it’s time this year, I hope you’ll consider sending me an email at [email protected] to discuss any challenges or concerns you might have. While I hope I can provide you with enough reasons to renew, I also value your feedback and ideas to improve the member experience for all.
These first six months have reinforced how incredibly blessed I feel to work with a fantastic board of PR professionals. I’m constantly impressed with their commitment to excellence and the time they devote to serving the chapter.
The process for assembling next year’s board has already started. If you would like to help shape the direction of our chapter as an officer or director, I invite you to apply: https://prsadallas.submittable.com/submit. We will also open up the call for 2026 committee volunteers this fall.
For those of you who may be a future president of the chapter, I look forward to supporting you during your 12-month presidency and the full three years of service. I already know you’ll be an outstanding addition to our chapter (and that concludes my ABR).
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