PR to take centre-stage in Dubai in September with Public Relations Congress 2006

The first two days of the Congress will feature keynote addresses and panel discussions where an impressive line-up of 30 leading international and regional PR, media and corporate marketing communications professionals will share their forward thinking approaches and best practices in PR and marketing communications. The discussions will highlight issues such as trends, influences, challenges and development of the regional PR industry, media relations, campaign strategies, crisis management, corporate social responsibility and winning and retaining clients.

The following two days will host four informative and interactive workshops on the highly relevant and practical topics such as, 'Writing Skills Masterclass-Making your news releases work for you', 'Facing The Camera: First Impressions Always Count', 'How To Effectively Measure, Evaluate and Analyse Your PR Performance', 'Pitching To Win: Powerful Business Speaking Skills.'

Some of the prominent participants include Sadri Barrage, Chairman, MEPRA; Loula Zaklama, President of International Public Relations Association (IPRA), Egypt; Michael Pirrie, International Media Advisor, London Organising Committee Of The Olympic Games, UK; Muhammed A. Tahlawi, Senior Member Research Group and Advisory Group, Saudi Aramco, KSA; Paul Charles, Director of Corporate Communications, Virgin Atlantic Airways, UK; Mike Seymour, International Director for Crisis Management at Edelman PR Worldwide, UK; Dave Robinson, CEO Middle East for Hill & Knowlton, UAE; Mohamed A. Al Ayed, President and CEO, TRACCS/SACCS, KSA; Nima Abu-Wardeh, Presenter, BBC World; Brandy Scott, Features Editor, Emirates Today and Fiona Ross OBE, Presenter, Scottish TV.

The event, being organised by IIR Middle East in association with the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) will witness the launch of the Public Relations Excellence Award for the 'PR Professional of the Year'. The Award will be announced at a gala dinner to be held on September 17.

The new Award seeks to showcase the best PR talent in the Middle East by honoring PR professionals for their outstanding contribution to the growth of the industry in the region, and provide them a platform to celebrate their achievements in creating, developing and managing effective PR strategies. Entries for the award are invited through online registration forms that can be accessed at www.prcongress.com.

The event is sponsored by LG Electronics Inc, one of the leading consumer electronics and mobile communications companies while the Award is sponsored by Mediastow, the Dubai-based media monitoring and Intelligence Company. Orient Planet, a leading regional PR and marketing communications consultancy firm is the official PR Partner for the Congress, which also enjoys the support of MZone, specialist provider of English and Arabic communication services from Dubai.