Shelley Spector

Using Public Relations for the Public Good: activating positive change through communications

Have you ever dreamed of changing the world? Or even just one part of it...whether your workplace, your industry, or your favorite cause? By learning a few basic communications concepts, you and your company can begin the journey of creating positive change.

Attendee Results:

• To understand Freud's concepts about "crowd psychology" and how to manage it
• To recognize the power of making news and using it to affect public opinion
• To use history's social movements as lessons for today

Throughout history, nearly every social movement has been launched with the same three things: conviction, community and persuasive communications. Whether it's Frederick Douglass' North Star newspaper; Alice Paul's interview in the Suffragist; or Betty Friedan's earth-shattering Feminine Mystique, all these communications managed to spark a social movement and fire up thousands. You can look even further back to examine the impact of Thomas Paine's Common Sense; or reports from the Gold Rush; or the turn-of-the century movement to join labor unions.

While these are all distinct milestones in US history, they were all successful because of
a profound communications strategy designed especially for the public good. Interestingly, these campaigns used the same public relations strategies that professionals use today-- without the technology, of course.