Engaging & Empowering People Wirelessly
U.S. wireless subscribers are now 250 million strong. We’re ranked first in the consumption of mobile content. The number of SMS messages we send will double by the end of this year from 12 billion to 24 billion. Similar wireless growth is occurring worldwide.
Today’s winning campaigns, from product launches to public service, not only need but require a wireless strategy as part of their execution. Successful tactics with the competitive edge involve dialogue, marketing, and public relations that go beyond conventional mobile talk, text and images.
Looking at cogent cases and cool tactics, this session will deliver ideas and insights that take wireless communication to the next level – wireless engagement and empowerment. Most important, this session will suggest new and dynamic ways for changing the relationships of senders and receivers in business, government and not-for-profit organizations. The implications for the growth and prosperity of enterprises, large and small, are profound.
Chair: Don Bates - Director, Master’s Degree
Program in Strategic Public Relations, and Instructor, The George Washington University
Graduate School of Political Management, Washington, DC.
Don
Bates is a public relations and public affairs educator and a senior
public relations and public affairs executive. Don entered management
communications after two years as a byline reporter for The Patriot
Ledger, a suburban Boston daily newspaper.
He has worked for leading corporations
and associations. For more than 10 years, he owned a New York-based
marketing and public relations firm.
Don
has an in-depth knowledge of new media and use of the Internet for public
relations purposes. He is a Fellow and Accredited member of the Public
Relations Society of America (PRSA), and a member of its educators and
new technology sections.
Don
is the author of many professional articles, book chapters and guides
that address organizational communications. His mini-history of public
relations is free from the Institute for Public Relations (www.instituteforpr.org). He was project director and
editor for two seminal books published in 1989 and 1991 by the Institute
-- New Technology & Public Relations, and Public Relations
& The Law. He was co-author with John Pavlik, Rutgers University,
of PR Pro, first software for public relations planning.
For
several years, Don taught graduate courses in public relations, marketing
and media relations at New School for Social Research, the New York
Institute of Technology, and more recently for five years at Columbia
University. At the GSPM, he teaches advanced writing.
Robert Mesirow - CTIA
Robert is responsible for the strategic planning, development and oversight of CTIA’s award-winning trade events and related activities (its premier event, CTIA WIRELESS, is the largest wireless event in the world). He is also responsible for CTIA's certification, membership and technology programs, which include industry interoperability initiatives, Common Short Code registration services, and all business development activities. Prior to CTIA, Robert was director of strategic planning for the Personal Communications Association (PCIA). Recently, he was named one of the Top 25 Association Executives by Tradeshow Week, and both CTIA tradeshows have achieved the “Fastest 50” distinction from the tradeshow industry.
Jeffrey J. Simmons - CTIA
Jeff is responsible for the industry’s Wireless Internet Caucus (WIC) initiatives, and for leading CTIA’s business development opportunities. He directs administration of the Common Short Code (CSCA) program in the U.S., promotes CTIA’s interest in providing spectrum clearinghouse support under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and handles oversight for off-portal issues. Before CTIA, Jeff was involved with MCI, Verizon and other telecommunications companies. His experience includes management of “The Neighborhood by MCI” (a bundled local and long distance product) and development at Verizon of a centralized repository for 411 data. Jeff earned his MBA degree from Wake Forest University and a his BS degree in accounting from Montana State University.
Sara Parker - Vice President of Technology and Public Affairs, Edelman
Sara Parker is a vice
president on the technology and public affairs team with Edelman in Washington,
D.C. where she has been part of the team behind the groundbreaking MySpace and
MTV Presidential Dialogue series.
Previously, Sara ran the
content team for Vodafone in London as part of the pan-European launch of
Vodafone Live!, Vodafone’s pioneering wireless portal. She also led the
development of the UK SMS content delivery engine contributing 40 percent of UK
data revenues and managed the wireless assets for the first Pop Idol, the UK
predecessor to American Idol. Sara began her digital media experience working
with Reuters in Brussels, Belgium as well as Bloomberg and Dialog in London,
England. Sara began her career publishing an arts and lifestyle magazine in
Boston which was acquired by The Phoenix Media Communications Group, parent
company of The Boston Phoenix.
Upon returning to the
United States in 2003, Sara consulted to U.S. telecom carriers and wireless
partners on mobile media strategy and to UK content groups looking to extend
their content distribution to the American market. During the 2004 presidential
election, Sara acted as a press secretary in central Virginia on behalf of the
Kerry campaign.
Sara has a bachelor’s
degree in mass communications and public relations from Boston University and a
master’s degree in international relations from Boston University,
Brussels.
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