Middle East PR Industry comes of age with PR Congress in Dubai in December

After two decades of development the Middle East public relations industry has come of age with a major conference on public relations designed to address specific regional and local on-the-ground issues and practices as they relate to one of the Arab world's fastest growing communications sectors. The Public Relations Congress, organised by IIR to be held 10-13 December 2005 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Deira, Dubai, is positioned as the Middle East's premier conference for public relations professionals.

According to Jennie Bishop, IIR's Conference Director for the Public Relations Congress, 'The PR industry has reached a level of growth and maturity in our region that merits a conference focused on the specific situation and professional needs of the Middle East market. We will be providing a forum that will address the issues and practices most relevant to the regional communications environment. The Middle East Public Relations Congress will aim to fill this vacuum.'

The Public Relations Congress has been designed for senior public relations professionals from both the private and public sectors and aims to cover a wide range of region-specific issues from the growth potential for public relations in the Middle East, the current perception of PR in the region, raising the standards and practices of the local industry, to the often conflicted but symbiotic relationship between public relations practices and the press in the Arab world.

'The intention is for delegates to come away from the Middle East Public Relations Congress with knowledge they can take directly into their daily practice,' Bishop said. 'There will be sessions on a wide range of practical applications and skills transfers.' Bishop added that the conference places a strong emphasis on the journalistic underpinnings of PR and the relationship between the PR profession and the media.

The conference includes sessions on PR fundamentals, creative campaign planning and execution, how to work within small budgets, criteria for outsourcing PR services, the actual impact of CSR programmes on corporate reputation, press conference dynamics, building a superior PR team, measuring PR and how to make the media an ally.

In addition, the PR Congress features four practical workshops for delegates including master classes on writing skills, measurement, crisis management and facing the camera. The workshops are led by internationally recognised experts in their fields including CNN International's Alison Bell, who also serves as Conference Chairperson, Richard Bagnell, Managing Director of Metrica, one of the world's leading media evaluation agencies, crisis communications expert Chris Kinsville-Heyne, and experienced broadcast journalist Fiona Ross, who was recently made OBE for her services to journalism.

The Public Relations Congress is sponsored by ASDA'A Public Relations, one of the Middle East's leading PR practices and LG Electronics. Trans-Arabian Creative Communications Services (TRACCS), one of the fastest growing and widest reaching practices in the Middle East, is the official public relations partner with Arab Ad, Campaign Middle East and Communicate as official media partners. The Public Relations Congress is being organised in association with MEPRA (Middle East Public Relations Association).