Let’s face it, bylaws will probably never end up as one of the top trending topics on Twitter or as a focus of the next PRSA luncheon, but nevertheless, they do serve an important role in helping to govern an organization. As you may be aware, the national office of PRSA is currently proposing a significant rewrite of its bylaws. The original PRSA bylaws were drafted by the Society’s founders over 60 years ago and while there have been amendments over the years, the association feels that the new proposed changes will serve to “modernize” the Society’s governance structure.
As an Assembly Delegate to the PRSA Colorado Chapter, my role is to “exercise all the powers, rights and privileges of members at an annual meeting.” Each PRSA chapter has its own Delegates who represent it at the annual meeting and locally, we have five Assembly Delegates representing our chapter. This year, the focus of the Assembly meeting will be on the PRSA bylaws rewrite and over the last several weeks, we’ve participated in conference calls to discuss each of the issues.
While there are several changes being proposed, I’d like to focus on two that pertain specifically to membership:
Membership Classes: The recommendation is to redefine membership classes to allow a broader scope of practitioners to become members, opening it up to anyone engaged in the practice of public relations/communications. This would include other communications professionals, including those involved in social media, strategic planning, marketing, business development, etc. This change would accommodate a dynamic profession that evolves with technological and other changes. The intention is to strengthen PRSA as a professional society and create a more diverse network of professional communicators.
Popular Vote vs. Delegate Vote: Currently the Delegates vote to elect the PRSA National Board of Directors and Officers every year at our annual meeting which takes place right before the PRSA International Conference. The recommendation is to have the membership directly elect the PRSA National Board of Directors and Officers each year through electronic voting. This is a common practice among many associations and it will empower our membership to be more involved in selecting the Society’s leadership from year to year.
Unless we are directly involved at the board level of an association, I don’t think many of us take the time to worry about how the organizations we belong to are being governed. There are several people who have put a lot of time and effort into this PRSA bylaws rewrite process in order to make PRSA a better organization and bring it inline with association best practices. I have found this process to be quite fascinating over the last several months.
I, along with the other Assembly Delegates from the PRSA Colorado Chapter, will be attending the PRSA Assembly meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 to vote on the PRSA bylaws rewrite. If you are interested in learning more about the new proposed bylaws, visit: http://www.prsa.org/aboutUs/Bylaws/index.html.
By Meredith Bagnulo, APR