13thIPRN INTERNATIONAL PR NETWORK ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS NETWORK
Annual General Meeting to be held on Sunday, April 27th , 2008 at 9.00am
Hotel Al Manzil , Burj Dubai Boulevard, The Old Down, Downtown Burj Dubai, UAE .
MEMBERS ATTENDING
The Chairman: Sadri Barrage , , Headline PR , Dubai , UAE .
General Secretary: Jonathan Choat Nexus Communications Group, London, U.K.
Members attending ;
Maggi Bonner Fox, The Maggi Fox Consultancy, UK
Anne Harkonsalo, HarkonsaloVesa, Finland
Jonathan Choat, Nexus Communications Group, London, UK
Claude Sauber, Oxygen, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Luis G. Canomanuel, LUCA Comunicacion Corporativia, Madrid, Spain
Gary Wells, Dix & Eaton , Cleveland, USA
Steve Mangold, PRx Inc, San Jose, USA
Trude Holte Moll, Communicator, Norway
Roar Moll , Communicator , Norway
Annekathrin Koch , Pentacom , Germany
Ales Langr , Crest Communications , CzechRepublic
Fabio Raineri ,Twister Group Milan , Italy
Alberte Santos Ledo, C& IC Comunicacion , Madrid Spain
Chantal Carrere Cuny , Passerelles, France
Karen Ponten VarPr Byra Sweden
Alex Mendes , Mendes Group , Mexico
Mico Ohtaka Ohtaka Jimusho Japan
Christiane Mariotto Item Comunicacao Brasil
Wolfgang Weber Thedy , Weber Thedy , Switzerland.
1: Opening and Welcome (Chairman Sadri Barrage )
2: New members welcome : Karen Ponten VarPr Byra Sweden ; Christina Bonnevier Visible PR Sweden ; Jim James , East West PR Singapore and Beijing; Fabian Sprengl , Sprengl & Partner Germany ; Pinar Cakmak , Sirius Communication Turkey; Susanne Senft Senft & partner , Austria ; Chantal Carrere Cuny , Passerelles, France .
3: Apologies for absence received from ; Mary Crotty, Ireland ; Larry Weiss USA , Marilyn Short , Jeff Weis, Canada ; Geoff and Inge Drucker Australia ; Gert Trager , Morten Korsgaard, Denmark; Barbara Fleetwood , Sweden ; Christina Bonnevier , Visible PR Sweden ; Donovan Hawker , Charlotte Benoit , Paris France : Keith Webb,UK: Michael Stringer, U.S.A ; Pinar Cakmak , Sirius Communication Turkey; Fabian Sprengl , Sprengl & Partner Germany;
Peter Richter (Germany), Guido Minerbi/ Carmen Silveira (Argentina) ; Olivier Delrue /PhilipHoremans Belgium; Pim Haasdijk Netherlands; Andre Bruggerman Germany; Karri Vesa Finland ; Laura Goncalves / Celina Barros Brasil; Claude Sauber Luxembourg ( AGM only) ; Wolfgang Weber Thedy Switzerland ( AGM only ) .
4: Votes registered by proxy: Peter Richter ; Guido Minerbi.; Jeff Weis ; Keith Webb; Mike Stringer : Donovan Hawker ; Gert Trager
5: Minutes of the AGM held in Zurich Switzerland 2007 : Approved unanimously and signed by the Chairman.
6. Financial Matters
6.1 Audited accounts for Year ending December 2007: Approved unanimously and signed by Chairman
6.2 Approval of budget and membership fees for year 2008 : approvedand signed by Chairman
6.3 Discussion of any items to consider for 2008 and 2009:
Estimate £4,000 for website maintenance and a further £1250 for further work as needed. . Proposal for web site optimization covered in a later session cf item 16.2
7. General Secretary’s Report
During this last year 2007 , the Network has run smoothly and there have been no problems .
I have worked with the Admin Committee, the Executive Council , the Chairman and Inge Drucker who manages the web site for us .
Again as both General Secretary and a member of IPRN I have been parsimonious with the budget to keep expenditure well within our income and the reserves are now around the same as the previous year and kept at a sufficient level to maintain liquidity –but without building unnecessary reserves –around £4k .
In terms of membership we have grown our membership again during 2007 by eight new member agencies and, interestingly , a number of these strengthened our representation in countries where we were already represented. For example
C & IC Comunicacion y Relaciones Publicas in Madrid who joined in March with the generous approval of Luis Canomanuel of Luca Corporativa also in Madrid . In Sweden we had two new agencies , with different specialist skills - VarPr Byra and Karen Ponten who are consumer , B to B and corporate and Visible PR with Christina Bonnevier who are IT , telecom and technology specialists –both with the kind approval of our original Swedish agency, Information and Communication and Barbara Fleetwood. This has strengthened our Nordic network considerably. . East West with their Beijing and Singapore offices joined in June and again strengthened our Far east representation . In July, Fabian Sprengl of Sprengl & Partner - another IT and technology specialist in Nisterau Germany joined again with the approval of our other 3 German agencies. Also in June , Pinar Cakmak and Sirius Comminication joined from Turkey – where we have been unrepresented for some years . Susan Senft at Senft & Partner in Vienna , Austria – again where we have not been properly represented for some years , joined in August .
Finally , Passerelles and their MD Chantal Carrere Cuny , in Paris and Bordeaux joined in November with the blessing of OpinionValley even though they operate in similar areas of the market.
We have just agreed the membership of a very new agency PSO Servicos de Consultoria and their MD Paulo Oliveira in LisbonPortugal who joins from May.
I must thank all those members who have helped , recommended and agreed new members . This is a very good way to find agencies which are compatible with the IPRN ethos of help , co-operation and reliable professionalism .
We are now lacking representation in the middle European countries of Hungary and Poland in particular and Russia –from where we receive regular emails of interest , but who seem to want absolute guarantees of referral business in return for what is a very modest membership subscription for such a well connected and spread network . We also need South Africa and India in particular .
I receive interest from agencies in joining IPRN throughout the year to whom I respond immediately. Some are recommended by members and I always chase their initial interest but from most of these I do not hear again .
Considering the spread and size of the IPR network now and the increasingly prompt and valuable responses everyone seems to be making to queries and referrals from other members , some of which I am glad to say results in business being done between us .
Each year I provide a report of the time I have spent administering the IPRN and a report of the detail has been given to the Admin committee. In summary I have spent 152.50hours on IPRN in 2007 , equivalent to 21.78 days . We actually budget for 20 days at an indigently low rate for me of £500 a day which gives a budget of £10k per annum .So IPRN made up the shortfall of previous years by £890. I would recommend that the General Secretary’s budget stays the same .
It is a pleasure dealing with all members as always ; everyone seems responsive to queries from other members but may I ask you all to remember to copy me in on any emails with queries or referrals so that I can keep a record .
It is a pleasure to see the IPRN in robust health and , you might like to note, that we are one of the largest and best spread PR networks in the world with 40 members , in 27 countries employing nearly 500 PR professionals and with a combined fee income of $46 million .
8. Referrals of business
JC presented a spread sheet showing referrals of business between members agencies over the last year of which he had been informed . To be forwarded to all members for information.
9. Election of officers:
9.1 General Secretary
Jonathan Choat re appointed as General Secretary ;: Approved and passed unanimously.
9.2 External auditors: Proposed as Carringtons by J. Choat. Approved Carringtons unanimously .
9.3 Admin Committee: J . Choat, (as General Secretary); Maggi Fox, Keith Webb, 2008/9 Chairman ( Fabio Raineri ) Approved unanimously
9.4 Chairman for the year 2008-2009: Fabio Raineri , Perego e Solera /Twister Group , Milan, proposed; approved unanimously.
10. Location of 2009 Conference/ AGM .
Milan , Italy (dates in second week in April to be agreed ) Approved unanimously
11. Project of the Year
Luis Canomanuel reported on the current rules. Projects of the year should be entered as titles and a brief description onto the IPRN web site immediately after the conference for public access . Each case study to be summarized in 100/200 words max including client logo and agency logo
The inclusion of the entire compressed case histories to be included on the web site members only area, to be investigated by JC with Inge Drucker
12 New Members
Noted that we need new members in India, Poland , Hungary , Russia, Greece, S. Africa .
.
13.Election of Vice-Chairman and conference location 2009/10
Vice Chairman ; Alex Mendes proposed ; Unanimous approval
Conference location proposed : Mexico ; Unanimous approval .
14. Motions received
No motions received from members:
. 15. Date and place of next meeting
Exact location tbc but Milan Italy April/May 2009.
16: AOB ;
16.1 PRCA Consultancy standard for international networks ; Presented by Alberte Santos Ledo ; proposed that IPRN should set standards for client handling and reporting . Agreed that the PRCA standards did not fit IPRN needs but that the form of campaign measurement and evaluation should be examined and reviewed by the next conference to see if this could present a common format for measurement and client satisfaction surveys.
Action : Alberte Santos Ledo / J . Choat to report back to members
16.2 Web Site optimization ; Jonathan Choat presented a proposal for the optimization of the IPRN web site . This was reviewed and it was agreed that ;
An English only version be adopted –for cost as much as usage
The proposal would be sent to all members immediately after the conference
All members would be asked to submit alternative proposals to Gen Sec by 31.5.2008. These would then be circulated to all members to compare with the original proposal and a decision reached as to which proposal would be adopted within a month . JC to consider budget restrictions on all proposals .
16.3 Web site ; Agreed ;
a)Common password to log in for all members ; Action Inge Drucker
b ) Categories of business areas to be decided ( as per the categories indicated on all agency details ) and included on the web site as a section for ‘find an agency’ then showing a list of agencies offering that market expertise. This list to have an indication next to those where a case study is available on the web site . Action Inge Drucker /JC
c) Add locations of other offices on IPRN presentation map : Barcelona , Spain
( C& IC Madrid ) ;Rome Italy ( Twister group / Perego e Solera ) ; Action Inge Drucker
d) IPRN Presentation to be included on the web site for general access. Action Inge Drucker /JC
e) members intranet section to include a section on measurement and client satisfaction methods for all members to submit and review . Action :all members to submit details of their methods to Inge Drucker
16. Project of the Year Entries ;
Nexus CommunicationsUK – Sushi Matsuri Fortnight Event –promoting Sushi in UK
PRX USA ; OSHSchool Gardens 75th Anniversary promotion
CrestCommunicationsCzechRepublic : PlzenskyPrazdroj Launch of Master Beer
Senft& Partners Austria : Valetta Blind systems marketing
VarPR Byra Sweden; Point 65 Kayaks campaign .
East West PR Singapore ; Global Enterprises @ Singapore
Passerelles France ; French Paediatricians Assoc – French National Day against Child Obesity
C&IC Comunicacion Spain ; Castile Leon Environmentally friendly new town
The overall winner of the Project of the Year Ellis Kopel Award wasPRX , San JoseCaliforniaUSA with OSH75thAnniversarySchool Gardens
The B to B Sector winner was C&IC Comunicacion, Madrid , Spain ; Castile Leon Environmentally friendly new town
The Consumer sector winner was CrestCommunicationsCzechRepublic : PlzenskyPrazdroj and the launch of Master Beer
17. Presentations
Two presentations were made to the delegates ;
Valerie Tan Communications Director of Emirates Airlines about the astonishing growth and success of the airline
Mazen Nahawi of media Watch Middle East about the population profile , the media and reach in the middle east area .
END OF AGM