It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

If you’re like me and are a fan of the holidays, it truly is the most wonderful time of year! It’s an excellent time to take a moment and reflect on what a constructive year it’s been both personally and professionally and really take in all of our achievements before we look ahead to the incredible year 2019 is shaping up to be. For CPRS members, whether it’s through your membership dollars or your active volunteer activities, you’ve made a significant contribution to our growth and achievements this year so please accept my profound gratitude for all you’ve done to contribute to our success.


2018 Year in Review
  • We kicked off 2018 by releasing the results of the 2017 discussions regarding the Future of CPRS, which informed a newly proposed strategic framework. Early in the year, significant efforts were made to refine this framework further by incorporating even more of your feedback, until the final version was presented at the National Conference in May. Since then, using this strategic framework, we’ve been working hard at developing our new strategic plan and realizing the four Cs of our strategic goals – Community, Collaboration, Careers and Conscience. 
  • This summer we launched our new cprs.ca website, which was truly a reinvention of our original online Community and now all of our members have easy access to a multitude of tools and resources.  A few of the new core features included a new job board, enhanced networking features and, of course, the new Bill Rees Learning Centre, offering the best online learning to help all of our members regardless of where they are in their Careers.
  • This fall it was back to school when we announced two exciting Collaborations that will provide even more opportunities for aspiring public relations practitioners. First, in September, the new “Senior Fellow in Residence” program at Humber College welcomed Eileen Tobey, APR, FCPRS to help introduce students to CPRS’ vision from the very beginning of their careers. This is the first time we’ve had a Senior CPRS Fellow in Residence at a Canadian institution and hope to identify other opportunities to do the same at other institutions across Canada. In October, Mount Saint Vincent University launched its own “first” in student support by providing student memberships to all BPR students, thanks to the incredible gift left to the Mount from the estate of Neil and Ivy Oakley.  
  • Throughout late fall we’ve been continuing work on our strategic plan under development and considerable efforts in establishing our Atlantic Pilot and newly formed Advocacy committee in support of our FCPRS recommendations and strategic framework. With the leadership of the Advocacy committee, we’ll be striving to increase the visibility of CPRS by actively participating in important conversations taking place and strategically sharing our Conscience while continuing to advocate for the highest standards of practice and professional ethics. 
  • Amidst it all, on behalf of the Board we are happy to congratulate our newest Fellow Marc Angers, APR, FCPRS as our newest member of the CPRS College of Fellows. I’ve had the pleasure of serving with Marc on the National Board for more than a year now, and I’m very excited to welcome him officially into the College of Fellows in Edmonton this June at Evolving Expectations 2019.  If you’d like to join us, make sure to register by this Friday’s Extra Early Bird deadline!
We’re really looking forward to 2019 and hope you are, too.  Here’s wishing you all the best for a wonderful holiday season and may the new year be your best one yet!  Cheers everyone!

Dana Dean, APR, FCPRS LM