Public Relations Congress 2006 opens in Dubai

The four-day event has brought together leading regional and international PR experts and professionals who will deliberate on the latest thinking and best practice.

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 to best practice PR and 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, '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.'

The event, being organised by IIR Middle East in association with the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) will see the launch of the Public Relations Excellence Award for the 'PR Professional of the Year'. The Award, to be announced at a gala dinner tonight (September 17), seeks to showcase the best PR talent in the Middle East by honouring PR professionals for their outstanding contribution to the growth of the regional industry.

Some of the prominent participants at Public Relations Congress 2006 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; Paul Charles, Director of Corporate Communications, Virgin Atlantic Airways, UK; Mike Seymour, International Director for Crisis Management at Edelman PR Worldwide, UK; Nima Abu-Wardeh, Presenter, BBC World and Brandy Scott, Features Editor, Emirates Today.

The event is sponsored by LG Electronics Inc. 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.