PRFest 2018 is underway and announces new collaboration

The world’s only festival dedicated to public relations kicked off today and announced a collaboration with CodeClan.

Headline sponsor, PRCA once again supports the two-day event being held in Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation and this year, The PR Cavalry has also supported the event, as it gears up to attract freelance practitioners to its network.

It’s another sell-out event with a programme set to help senior practitioners learn, share, collaborate and network with industry peers and other areas of business.

The collaboration with CodeClan starts with a teaser event on 20 September, in Glasgow, which will give practitioners a hands-on experience using code to help them in their jobs. PRFest attendees are given the opportunity for discounted tickets (£30).

The PRFest theme, “Putting the Human Back into Public Relations”, attracted a number of pitches from across the UK and the final programme was developed to discuss industry and practitioners challenges and opportunities to get ahead.

A mixture of workshops, speaker presentations and ‘unconference’ style sessions, cover off; what happens after the main event in a crisis; internationalising public relations as a business/service; sprints using different data tools; link building; ethics; harness people power; communicating sustainability and two thought-provoking sessions include entrepreneurial mindset and design thinking.

See the full programme here and speaker biographies here.

A dinner to being held on the first evening where speakers, sponsors and attendees have the chance to informally meet and get to know each other.

In addition to a jam-packed programme, PRFest was delighted to welcome four trainees from the first Taylor Bennett Foundation Scotland programme. The students will help out with the event coordination and have the chance to listen to the speakers and network with potential employers.

Laura Sutherland, founder of PRFest and Chartered PR Consultant who runs Aura, said: “I am thrilled to once again have had the opportunity to develop such a worthwhile event, allowing senior PR and comms practitioners develop their professional knowledge and skills. PRFest is a very practical event, so attendees can go away and implement what they have learned.

“It’s so important to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. Our jobs are high pressure and it isn’t all sweetness and light and yes, things don’t always go our way. It’s important we can learn from other’s experiences. Equally, I think it’s important we learn from other areas of business – for example, Entrepreneurial Spark has been invited to talk about mindset. There’s a big link between mindset and the work PR practitioners carry out, protecting reputation, changing behaviour and managing challenging situations in the board room.

“My thanks to all the wonderful PRFest community; sponsors; attendees; students and those who continue to support in other ways. Of course, I’m also pleased to have another sell-out event.”

Dates for PRFest 2019 will be announced soon and limited early bird tickets will go on sales in January 2019.

For any enquiries, please contact Laura Sutherland.

PRFest is an Aura concept and event.