I was sifting through email back in April when I came across a plea for help. John Clemons, ABC, APR, a communications graduate student at Syracuse, wanted to interview senior communicators in three of IABC largest chapters–Houston, Washington D.C. and Chicago. His research would satisfy the final assignment in his Public Relations and Public Opinion Research Course while at the same time helping IABC learn what senior communicators really want. About 15 of our Houston communicators took part in the survey.
So what do senior communicators really want? Here are a couple of highlights or read the full report SU PR Research paper, IABC, 5-09. By the way, John earned an “A” on the project.
When asked how interested respondents are in preferred areas or categories of programming, several choices were listed: Skills-based/How-to, Best Practices, Communications Theory, Breaking News/Topical, and Other. Best practices and breaking news/topical received the highest responses, 76.1 percent and 61.9 percent respectively. It should be noted that skills-based/how-to category received a low 29.2 percent which indicates that timely, “in the moment” and successful examples of effective communications are preferred by respondents.
Survey participants were also given the opportunity to suggest one-to-three program ideas for senior communicators. Two were repeatedly mentioned: social media and crisis communications, followed by ideas that leaned toward staff management and development, case studies, demonstrating the value of communications/return on investment, and a variety of other suggestions. Among them: “maintaining enthusiasm toward the end of your career, latest trends so I can keep up, and forming professional networks that last.”
