HM's former communications secretary speaks at third annual IIRME PR Congress

But delegates attending the third annual IIRME PR Congress 2007 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel from October 28-November 1 will be able to get an insight into the general thinking of the man who was communications secretary at Buckingham Palace around that time.

While Simon Walker will naturally be tight-lipped about his involvement with Buckingham Palace, he will be more forthcoming about his corporate communications experiences as a panelist at the congress and as Senior Advisor to the Chairman & CEO at Reuters.

Prior to joining Reuters, Walker was Communication Secretary at Buckingham Palace, a former policy advisor at No 10 Downing St, and a previous Director of Communications at British Airways.

His experience has been mirrored by another congress panelist, Colleen Harris, who held a senior communications position at No 10 Downing Street before being appointed Press Secretary to HRH the Prince of Wales, Prince William and Prince Harry.

Completing the line-up of advisers to British Prime Ministers at the PR Congress will be Tony Blair's former right hand man Alastair Campbell, who will be presenting a special pre-Congress day on October 28.

The main congress line-up also includes The Honorable Mary Jo Jacobi, who has provided communications advice to American Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan.

IIR Middle East senior conference manager Jennie Bishop says, as well as these internationally recognised political public relations experts, the congress has a solid line-up of corporate PR speakers from around the Gulf.

"This is the best line-up we have been able to put together for a PR Congress to date, and makes this year's event a 'non-miss' for anybody with an interest in best practice public relations," she said.

Programme topics include case studies on newly emerging disciplines like new media (Web 2.0) and Community and Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, as well as mainstream PR like effective media relations, internal communications, crisis/issues management, reputation management and campaign strategy.

The two-day congress will be preceded by the Cicero & Bernay - sponsored "A Day With Alastair Campbell", and followed by two days of interactive workshops.

IIR Middle East's Public Relations Congress 2007 has established itself as a highly strategic and informative event and is the region's premier annual conference for PR professionals. This year the event has two Gold Sponsors, Asda'a Public Relations and Cicero & Bernay.