News Group International organises third annual summit as PR measurement gains momentum

The summit, now in its third year, attracts leading public relations and communications experts from around the world. This year the focus will be on how to evaluate the success of public affairs and government PR in the region, with a view to introducing the latest concepts, methodologies and technologies needed to measure campaigns effectively.

"Governments are heavily involved in public relations for several reasons. Increasing appreciation for PR by public officials, the need for government to better reach out to their stakeholders, increased accountability and an increasingly challenging media environment, all make it necessary for the public sector to measure and evaluate the success of their communications campaigns."

explained Mazen Nahawi, president of News Group International, organisers of the event.

The three-day event includes a full day workshop for industry professionals who will be involved in simulated analyses and actual case studies. The panel sessions include topics such as: "Can government affairs be measured?" and "Measuring government PR in times of crisis."

Other panels include measurement discussions on public health care communications, public diplomacy and evaluating the success of public-private partnerships as well as a special session on how to measure social networking for governmental associations.

"Many governments are increasingly looking at developing effective and impactful PR campaigns," explained Nahawi. "The UAE's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is one of the most active governments in PR with an extensive effort to reach out to the public and promote the use of alternative transportation and its goal of quality, safe transport services.

"Abu Dhabi's international campaigns to position the emirate as a hub for culture, education and alternative energy, Kuwait's parliamentary elections, Jordan's nuclear programme and Saudi Arabia's education reforms are some of the many other examples of PR campaigns that will be discussed from a measurement and evaluation perspective."

International experts Sandra McLeod of Echo Research, Barry Leggetter from Amec and Richard Bagnall from Metrica, as well as, regional speakers including Dave Robinson from Hill & Knowlton, Rebecca Hill from MEPRA, Hania Tabet from TBWA/RAAD, Karim Seif Al Deen from Citibank, Sunil John from Asda'a, Carrington Malin and Alexander Mcnabb from Spot On PR, will join other key government officials to discuss how communication executives' can better position public relations programmes and demonstrate the value of PR to an organisation's bottom line.

Additionally, the Summit will be recognising and honouring those in the PR industry who have already taken the lead in establishing measurement as an integral part of their PR practice with 'Agency of the year' and 'PR measurement professional of the year' awards.

This summit is enjoying its widest corporate, association and sponsor support so far; newly-established measurement company Salience Research is the platinum sponsor and the Middle East PR Association (MEPRA) and the Association of Media and Evaluation Companies (AMEC) represent the PR and evaluation industries respectively.

Media Watch, the leading Middle East media monitoring and analysis, Jiwin Public Relations, a member of Dubai Holding's Tecom group, and leading PR consultants Action Global Communications are sponsors. Media partners include AMEinfo.com, Media Source and the Arab Youth Media Forum. Interactive Limited are the technology partners.