General Meeting August 9, 2011

Minutes, General Meeting, August 9, 2011

Jampro Training Room

19 Trafalgar Road, Kingston

Present

Members

Christopher Benjamin, Consultant - First Vice President

Gerrard "Gerry" McDaniel - Assistant Treasurer

Akilah Maxwell, PIOJ – VP Special Events

Opal Davis, NSWMA - VP Membership

Karelle McCormack, Jamaica 4H Clubs

Gwyneth Davidson, OPM

Alison Christie Binger, Illuminarte, Past President

Patricia Gillings, Books and Events, Past President
Mark Thomas. Jampro, Past President

Visitors

Meeckel Beecher, Consultant

Kawain Fearon, Sub Editor, The Gleaner Company, UTech communications graduate

Kaydian Edwards, HR Technician, UTech communications graduate

Cecelia Bell, journalist, Marketing Manager, The Jamaica Yellow Pages

Apologies

Delmares White, President, ODPEM

Christine Ann Bell, Treasurer, Innovative IDEAS

Cecil Thoms, General Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture

Camille Taylor, Trustee, LIME

Dayner Azzellino, Trustee, Marc Astuta

Guest Speaker, Development Specialist
Fabian Brown

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by VP Benjamin. He welcomed all members and guests. Members were urged to pay their 2011 dues so that the work of the Society could continue. Feedback and material for the monthly newsletters, PR Brief, is welcome.

Corrections to the Minutes

Karelle McCormack is a member of the Society and not a visitor as noted in previous minutes.

New Business

Lyme and Wine Event - PR 'Champion' Awards

The meeting discussed matters around the staging of the social and awards event including the pros and cons of having an awards ceremony as a part of a social event . The meeting agreed that the awards ceremony would honour a few persons who are not practitioners but who, through their national profiles, promote good public relations practices.

The meeting suggested that the fields in which persons will be honored are politics, business, education, entertainment and security. Expertise will be recognised in the areas of speech delivery, strategic development and practicing organisational values.

The event will be held in mid November in the Jampro Training Room. 

The original location kindly offered by VP Bell was at 3 Ardenne Road. The meeting agreed that the Jampro Training Room would communicate the business tone for the event.

The chairman of the organising committee is VP Maxwell. G Davidson is to develop a concept paper for the awards by Friday, August 19 to be shared with executive members and the past president corps.

Calendar Competition 2011

G Davidson said that the plans to stage a Jamaica 2012 calendar competition will go ahead. It was suggested by Past President Christie Binger to invite the Jamaica Observer that used to have a similar competition to be involved. Projected date for launch, September 2011. Members can indicate if they wish to be on the project team.

Editors Forum

G Davidson said that an approach had been made to the Gleaner to host the PRSJ in an Editors Forum to discuss the role of PR in business and governance. Past President Christie Binger suggested that the visit should be made to discuss a topical theme. Themes will be discussed before a letter of request is sent to the Gleaner.

Guest Speaker

Presentation on the Public Sector Modernisation Efforts - Audio link

Director in the National Transformation Programme of the Office of the Prime Minister, Development Specialist, Fabian Brown delivered a presentation on the Public Sector modernisation efforts of the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU). He was introduced by Gwyneth Davidson who highlighted his expertise also in the areas of protocol and protocol training as a director of the company, Value Added Services.

Mr Brown outlined the goals of the modernisation efforts as being informed by developments in the commonwealth and also in the region. The first steps came into effect on July 1 where departments and agencies were reassigned to be better aligned with the core duties of ministries.

He said that the PSTU team in its report tried to answer the questions, "What should government do and pay for; what should government do and not pay for; and what should government pay for and not do?"

In the discussion afterwards, matters relating to the need to have leaders clearly define benchmarks of "improved performance" within each ministry of government.  

VP Maxwell delivered the vote of thanks and made a presentation of a Jablum coffee and mug gift package compliments of Jampro.

AOB
Promotional items were made available to attendees compliments of The Jamaica Yellow Pages.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20p.m. by Opal Davis and seconded by Mark Thomas.