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Today I received my weekly delivery of PR Week (still finding this bizarre as I haven’t paid a subscription) and in it, there’s a pull out brochure for the up-and-coming PR and the Media: A One-Day Conference, which is taking place on 22 February 2006 at the Dorchester in London.

Looks like a great event. There’s some great media companies attending and presenting, including The Times, BBC, the Guardian, Nuts magazine, MSN, Nokia, O2 and others. And some fantastic topics for discussion:

9.05 If it’s not newsworthy it’s not going in.

9.25 Grab the media’s attention.

09.55 Broadcasting live on the airwaves.

11.10 Harnessing the power of the pen. (consumer, tabloid and broadsheet perspective.)

13.25 Managing your reputation in a 24-hour digital world.

14.10 So you want to be on TV.

14.40 Read all about it.

15.40 Opening the doors of communication.

The 13.25 slot seems very interesting, but I do have a few issues with it. It says:

Managing Your Reputation In A 24 Hour Digital World
Blogs, MMS, SMS, Bluetooth, Digital Radio And Podcasting: Take A Look At The Transforming Patterns Of Media Consumption And Their Cost Benefits For PR.

What about the dangers blogs possess? Should that not get addressed at the conference?

· Examining how new technologies are changing the face and rate of PR
consumption
· Harnessing the influence of blogs in your PR activity while still remaining ethical
· Evaluating reach with the proliferation of each channel – how cost-effective are these new methods of communication?

Harnessing blogs while still remaining ethical? What does that mean? Is it suggesting that bloggers are unethical?

The people presenting this segment of the conference are: Cripin Manners (PRCA chairman), Phil Riley (Chrysalis Radio), Glenn Manoff (o2 UK), Michael Steckler (MSN UK), and Claire Backhurst (Nokia UK & Ireland).

Now, after a quick Googling of these names, I can’t find any of them with a blog or podcast. Whether they track blogs and podcasting I don’t know, but I’m sure I’d rather have one of the speakers from last week’s blogging conference presenting.

Real bloggers and podcasters who can talk about the mediums first-hand would have a better argument and understanding than those that simply observe.

For the conference only, tickets are £645! That’s me certainly not going then!

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