Blog & Event Recaps

There's a version of the Gen Z conversation that communicators have been having for years. Edelman's Gen Z Lab brought a different one to PRSA Austin last month.

Elizabeth Birdsong and Olivia Tompkins walked a room full of Austin PR professionals through their special report on how Gen Z is evolving — and why treating this generation as a single, predictable audience is a mistake communicators can't afford to keep making.

Their central argument: there are effectively two Gen Zs. Gen Z 1.0 (ages 23–29) came of age during progressive movements and still believes brands and institutions can do good — they're trusting until proven wrong. Gen Z 2.0 (ages 13–22) grew up in a pandemic, content overload, and political chaos — and they're skeptical until proven credible. Same generation on paper. Very different audiences in practice.

A few numbers that landed in the room: 79% of Gen Z trust brands to do the right thing — significantly more than they trust media (56%) or government (19%). That's an opportunity, but also a responsibility. The same research found that 70% will fact-check what brands say, and 65% have boycotted a brand over silence on a societal issue.

The session also touched on what Gen Z actually wants from brands — not new platforms or flashy campaigns, but presence in the spaces they already occupy, experiences that feel personal rather than performative, and a sense of community. That last finding — 58% say they want brands to provide it — felt particularly relevant for a room full of people who run communications programs and member organizations for a living.

Thanks to Elizabeth and Olivia for a genuinely useful session. If you'd like to dig into the full report, reach out to info@prsaaustin.org and we'll get it to you.

No panels. No presentations. Just people in a room, guided by a format designed to make conversation feel less like work and more like, well, actually connecting. That was PRSA with Heart, a structured networking mixer that sold out before the night arrived, held on Feb. 24 at Love, Tito's.

Every single attendee who responded to our post-event survey said the event met their expectations. Nearly 90% gave top marks to the structure and flow, and several specifically called out the guided networking as the reason conversations felt natural instead of forced. A few asked us to do more of it, including mentorship-focused formats.

PRSA Austin has always been about more than professional development checkboxes. It's about finding your people. They're the ones who understand the craft and who've navigated the same challenges. PRSA With Heart was a reminder that those connections don't happen by accident. They happen when someone creates the right room.

We're grateful to everyone who came out, and to the board members who helped make the night happen.

If you weren't there this time, we hope you'll join us for what's next. And if you're not yet a member of PRSA Austin, there's no better time to get involved.

Learn more about membership

Read what some of our accredited PRSA Austin members have to say about the process — in their own words. Our APR blog is a great first stop if you're considering accreditation and want an honest look at what the journey actually involves.

Future accreditation posts will appear here on the main blog, so stay tuned.

The Texas State University PRSSA chapter has once again been named a PRSSA Star Chapter — the fourth year in a row it has earned this prestigious honor. Out of more than 300 chapters nationwide, only 44 received this recognition in 2025.

At the heart of this success is our very own board member, Paul Villagran, who serves as Austin PRSA’s Director-at-Large, Membership and as Assistant Professor and PRSSA Faculty Advisor at Texas State University. Paul’s mentorship and guidance have been key in helping the chapter consistently achieve excellence and national distinction.

This year also brought individual honors for Texas State. Emma Vega, immediate past president of the chapter, was one of just 44 students nationwide to receive the PRSSA National Gold Key Award, the highest individual recognition for PRSSA members.

We’re proud to celebrate Paul’s leadership and the continued success of the Texas State PRSSA chapter — a shining example of how Austin PRSA members are shaping the future of the profession.

In today's media landscape, the impact of food influencers is undeniable—a topic that generated significant buzz at our recent PRocktails event, Savoring the Story. While our expert panel featuring Allison Beadle of Wild Hive, Sara Hoing of Giant Noise, and Olivia Levada of Edelman dished out invaluable insights, the conversation left a lingering question: How can PR professionals strategically navigate the complex influencer ecosystem?

The discussion was too important to leave at the table. That's why we're grateful to panelist Allison Beadle for providing a comprehensive white paper to continue the conversation.

When it comes to influencer marketing, success starts with strategy — not stunts. This white paper from Wild Hive, The Ultimate Guide to Food and Nutrition Influencer Marketing, unpacks how to build an authentic, results-driven influencer program that aligns with brand goals and connects with target audiences in meaningful ways.

https://www.wildhive.com/food-marketers-influencer-marketing-guide/

If you are currently experiencing an unexpected job loss or transition, PRSA wants you to know that we're here for you now and as you move into your next career chapter.

To ensure that you have useful resources and information at your disposal, PRSA has collaborated with our Public Affairs and Government Section to develop a Displaced Professionals Portal. It features a one-stop shop to access a variety of tools to help you manage this transition. From hardship plans to enable you to maintain your PRSA dues, access to the PRSA Jobcenter, and articles and webinars to retool your skill set, this portal focuses on your needs.

Review these resources

Learn more about the book, Latinas in Public Relations: Shaping Communications, Communities and Culture, and the stories behind some familiar PR pros’ career paths. 

Fifteen public relations and communication professionals share their lived experiences and advice in this collection of narratives curated to help inspire and encourage others to persist and advance toward their vision of success. 

The project is led by Melissa Vela-Williamson, APR, Fellow PRSA, a former San Antonio Chapter president, and features essays by an Austin chapter member and former Austin Chapter president, Amelia Taurel Folkes, APR.

They joined authors from across the country to share relatable challenges, courageous moments, and actionable advice on how to beat the odds in this competitive industry.

How to download your free copy :

· Click here for the Amazon link. 

· Make sure you are viewing the "Kindle (eBook)" version

· Go to the right-hand side of the screen to the button that says "Buy Now with One-Click"

· Free eBook will download into your Amazon account

 Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/5k7F0ID

Dear PRSA members and the Communications community overall:

We are pleased that the search for our next CEO successfully concludes today with the announcement that Matthew Marcial, CAE, CMP has been named PRSA’s new Chief Executive Officer. He begins Monday, March 3, 2025.

Matt brings extensive experience in association leadership, professional development and member engagement. He most recently provided strategic consulting to a variety of associations and nonprofits – helping them drive new revenue and growth. Prior to consulting, he served as CEO of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services. Additionally, he served in senior executive roles with The Institute of Internal Auditors, Meeting Professionals International, NAFA Fleet Management Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

A Certified Association Executive (CAE) and Certified Meeting Professional (CMP), Matt has a bachelor’s degree in management and marketing from Saint Leo University and a master’s in business administration from Florida International University. He intends to complete the process to receive his Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).

Matt succeeds Philip Bonaventura, who has served as interim CEO since January 1, 2025. We are grateful for Phil’s dedication and steady leadership during this time, as he resumes his full-time role as PRSA’s Chief Financial Officer,.

Matt’s appointment is the result of a thoughtful and rigorous search process led by our CEO Search Committee and the PRSA Board of Directors. Interest in the search – which began in mid-November – was very strong, and we are grateful for such a diverse field of finalists.

A copy of today’s announcement is available in the PRSA Newsroom, and you can read more about Matt in a feature on PRsay.

We value your continued support of and membership in PRSA – and are excited about all we will achieve together in the months and years ahead.

Ray Day, APR

CEO Search Committee Chair

2025 PRSA Chair

In June, PRSA Austin hosted an informative and engaging conversation with Chis Ferris, Ph.D., senior vice president of digital strategy for Pierpont Communications about the intersection between public relations (PR) and digital marketing. 

Digital marketing involves leveraging digital channels such as social media, search engines, email, and websites to connect with current and potential customers to our brands. It includes a spectrum of tactics like content marketing, SEO, social media marketing and paid advertising. Communication professionals have all had to learn this space and ensure alignment with their public relations planning. This intersection demands a unified brand message. A seamless integration ensures that the story told by PR aligns with the content produced by digital marketing. This consistency fosters brand trust and recognition across diverse channels. Ferris discussed strategies for success and shared insights from his years of experience. 

A recap of those insights are below as well as his powerful presentation which he graciously  provided. This is a definite read! 

To stay up to date on new trends, be sure to use reliable resources such as data from Pew Research and YouGov.com’s Trustworthiness Report. These reports reveal data about where Americans are getting their news. In a current trend report, we see it is Instagram and TikTok but we also note that they trust those channels less and less. No surprise here but X is no longer a trusted or used source as before. 

Important points from Ferris’ presentation: 

• Earned media and PR still matter – maybe more than ever because of AI 
• • As PR pros, we are the ones developing messaging for our leadership
  • Media train your spokespeople
• Track your website’s traffic sources and impact on digital channels
• • Tracking the impact of digital channels - there is a correlation with earned media and the sustained web traffic on a page that you can show value of your media relations efforts
• Measure and report the online reach and impact of your PR successes to your leadership
• Follow and engage with journalists online 
• Be sure to plan and manage for a crisis, as they are inevitable. 
• • Monitor and contain crises online.
  • Plan and prepare for PR crises to spill over into social media 
• Use online tools to listen for emerging trends 
• Amplify your earned media successes through shared and owned channels
• Explore paid options, like contextual ads, sponsored content, OpEds and influencer marketing
• Invest time in learning about generative AI 

Download Dr. Ferris Presentation

As PR pros we need to be aware of the issue of fake news and stories. PR practitioners can play a vital and important role in managing any fake news crisis. If your C-suite or a major announcement is produced by a deep fake, have a crisis plan in place. 

When you do the job right and ethically, as a PR professional you are helping journalists do their job well. Earned media is great for SEO and also used to power openAI.

Tools to Use:

• Google Trends for analytics of your website traffic, 

• PR tech stack such as media monitoring software

• Using UTMs to your outbound links

For all our members and frequent attendees, you may begin to see a trend in our sessions. From the great discussion of SEO and Wikipedia strategy from John Green at The Mather Group, to our amazing panel in May who discussed using data for storytelling. They all weave an important thread across the spectrum of our profession. Don’t miss these opportunities to keep your skills up to date and in the know with trends. Become a member and attend our events! 

In May PRSA Austin and AAF Austin hosted a dynamic panel on data and storytelling. Our panelists from the advertising and communication industry,  Chris Boyle, Senior Director, Data & Insights at Hero Digital and Talan Tyminski, Senior VP at Mach 1 Group, joined our guest speaker Tony Cheevers from Researchscape to discuss how to tell strong data backed stories using research and data.

The panel discussed the tools used to capture the data, where the data can be sourced and how surveys help to inform campaigns when there is data missing. 

Key Competencies for Data-Driven Storytelling/Campaign Building:

• Ability to derive strategic insights from data/Data interpretation skills
• Explaining complex data simply to reporters and stakeholders
• Utilizing public opinion polling research
• Ensure your organization is equipped with the tools to derive the data

Content marketers, publicists, and lead-generation specialists are increasingly turning to survey research to generate credible data to support their storytelling and more accurately target customers while providing metrics to their leadership team. Business leaders need feedback from their customers to make key decisions. 

We know that measurement and analytics are key for telling the story. What measurement and analytics are you using? The panel mentioned the importance of  sales data, social media data, open rates in your outbound marketing, website optimisation and more. We recap some of the highlights from the event below. 

Using research from surveys can help to shape or build a story or find the data points to tell that story, but shouldn’t be the sole purpose of a story. The research and data should be what supports your story. Data informs and validates why your campaign will be successful. It gives you the tools to segment an audience or shift when necessary. But to understand how and when to shift you must have the tools built to get the data.  Our panel shared some key tools that should be used:

• Importance of Tagging/Website Optimization — Tagging elements on your website can tell the story of what people are looking at/for to help form the response to your marketing or PR campaigns; not what you can do in the moment but using it as a learning experience and the data can build a playbook. 

• Segmentation and personalization — Building out personas using research tools; leverage google analytics to help you determine if a page or button is popular (needs to be tagged properly) and gives you insights on a customers journey on your website and allow you to customize your site.

• Customer acquisition journey — can you observe their journey to help get more info on telling the story/predict their behavior? This is where tagging, segmentation, surveys can help you as well as tools like GA4, SEO, and more. Challenging assumptions about customer demographics using surveys which can allow you to build Customer Personas. This is especially useful during a crisis. Auditing your audience's perceptions of a crisis using surveys can help determine your brand's response. 

• Story validation— When building strong stories, developing and testing headlines, ensuring story coherence and relevance, implementing UTM (Universal Tracking Metric) for better analytics and evaluation of the story will lead to more accurate measurement and evaluation for your KPIs. 

Lastly, the panel shared some skill sets important for professionals and students coming into the profession should have or build to be successful. They are numerous. Below is a general list shared by all the panelists. 

Data skills/software recommendation for new job candidates 

• Google Analytics (GA4)
• Google Ads
• SQL
• Python
• YouTube
• SEO/YOAST
• MOZ
• PR and MAR TECH STACKs (CRMs and Media Monitoring software)
• Wordpress, Website developer software
• Social planners ie Sprout, Sprinklr, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc. 
• Brandwatch for social listening 
• Know the lingo for the programs 
• YouTube 
• Certifications of any software even just online certs are always good 
• Google ads 
• SQL
• EXCEL
• Python
• Ability to interpret data - basically, why do we care about the data points?