14th Int'l Conference on Public Relations (ICPR) ICPR 2017 Dec. 10, 2017, Tehran, Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran's 14th International Conference on Public Relations (ICPR) was mounted here in Tehran on December 10, 2017 with its theme "Creativity, Innovation and Distinction" at the IRIB International Center.
The event was held with Nasrallah Jahangard, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Ali Darabi, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Deputy Director, Mehdi Baqarian, Secretary-General of the Conference and Head of the Kargozar Public Relations Institute (KPRI), and Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri, head of the ECO Cultural Institute, in attendance.
ICPR Sec. Gen.: Public Relations should appreciate their Distinguishing Features Mehdi Bagherian, ICPR Secretary-General, in his opening address at the conference, said, "I thank God, who helped me to be with you for the 14th time at the Public Relations Conference".
"First of all, I would like to thank you all for your support and presence here," he told the conference participants. "I also wish to appreciate all the loved ones who exerted every effort to put this event together and mount the conference in such an orderly fashion.
"It has taken me years to learn that if we are to shape a better future for public relations, which I suppose is the main reason for most of us to be here, we have to distance ourselves from our daily lives, rethink our duties and put creativity and innovation at the center of our programs and activities.
"As a member of the public relations community of Iran, Kargozar Public Relations Institute (KPRI) cannot be indifferent to this important matter and, for this reason, has dedicated the theme of the 14th conference to "Creativity, Innovation and Differentiation" to help understand this process.
"As we all know, without creativity and innovation, even our individual and personal lives become boring. That is why we try to distance ourselves from repetitive matters and optimize life with creativity. Even in cooking and dressing, or anything else that relates to our personal lives, we can make a difference and do away with the daily routines of our lives.
"The same goes true for organizational life in which creativity plays the same role it plays in a person's life, with a slight difference. "In effect, if organizations and companies want to survive, they have no choice but to enhance the creativity in their institutions, while simultaneously improving systems and processes.
"But the issue of creativity is a key issue for us as PR professionals. In fact, all public relations sectors must be injected with creativity so that the discipline is revolutionized via creativity.
"One way to save the 8th Art of daily life and help PR reach its real status, is to have a complete rethinking of the various public relations tasks and sectors, both in structures and in processes. Fortunately, three book titles have been released by KPRI's publications, the sole PR specialized publisher in Iran, which can be pretty helpful in this regard.
"Unfortunately, our attitude towards public relations is somewhat similar to that used in a Snakes and Ladders game. When we arrive at the snake's head, we get stung and fall back to its tail. It means that we are always operating in a vicious circle. "In order for us to save ourselves from this conundrum, we have to practice creativity and innovation in our smallest duties and activities, so that we can maximize the influence of what we do and the messages we transmit.
"For example, we shall be more creative in our advertisements. In other words, we got to find our outstanding features in our work. "As an example, what makes this conference different from other conferences? Or what makes a news event or a press release distinct from other similar ones? So, in all our works, we have to find the way to be distinct in what we do. This will undoubtedly bring us the desired outcome.
"That is what I mean by Creative Public Relations: The message you design, the services you offer, the program or campaign you run should be such that attracts the attention of the audience and customers, and if we managed to do so, we would achieve our desired goal.
"I believe that creating a "turning point" is the ultimate goal of all public relations activities. The result of studies back this notion, indicating that creativity, innovation and differentiation leading to a "turning point" are an important element in the process of planning and operation in public relations activities. Therefore, organizations that provide services to the people need to enjoy creative public relations; formation of creative public relations requires a creative, innovative director.
"In summary, our activities should be such that if they stopped one day, people would be able to understand it. So, we have to operate in such a fashion that our works remains as a valuable "heritage" for our audience and customers, which we called "the turning point". "To conclude my remarks, I would like to add that PR is in need of creativity and innovation more than ever. For this reason, PR professionals should devote a great deal of their time to creativity. Conference Speakers - Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri, Director of the ECO Institute: Creativity and innovation should be practiced in all PR activities.
- Nasrollah Jahangard, Deputy Minister of Communications and Head of Iran's Information Technology Organization: Using new communication tools requires creativity, especially in public relations.
- Ali Darabi, Deputy Director IRIB for Provincial Affairs: Intelligent PR requires a creative director.
- Mahdi Naderi Manesh, Researcher, UCLA, Washington State, Idaho: A knowledge-based world needs creative, innovative and distinctive PR.
- Mohammad Reza Najafi Emami, director and active in the field of visual effects: PR can exploit creative video communications for exerting more influence on the audience.
- Ali Mohammadi, professor of communications at the University of Nottingham Trent, UK, lectured on political public relations and innovation.
- Mohammad Hassan Tawfiqi, founder of the Iranian Design Academy: Design thinking in PR is an innovative, problem-solving and pragmatic approach.
- Shahab Esfandiari, IRIB University Chancellor: Image management of a nation is no longer limited to national media.
- Saeed Reza Ameli, Member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace: Double-space PR is classified based on the actions of a creative organization.
- Hassan Bashir, Secretary of the Scientific Committee of the Conference: Message of the 14th PR Conference is "The creative solution to issues and the need for public relations to highlight its distinguishing features." Compilation and Publication of the PR Creativity and Innovation Charter Creative public relations is a very effective way of attracting attentions, supporting and developing cooperation and participation of people in resolving an issue, as well as re-looking and finally generating satisfaction.
The emergence of innovation requires a creative structure, a creative environment, a creative PR director and creative PR staff who encourage exploration and promotion of new ideas and new methods to manage affairs and activities.
An important feature of creative PR is flexibility in dealing with crises caused by specialized and communicative activities. Public relations with an uncompromising structure often keep away from creativity and innovation, and prevent the emergence and flourishing of innovation and generation of novel ideas.
Appreciating its unique role, the PR society of Iran, in seeking satisfaction and providing quantitative and qualitative services to the people in accordance with their needs and demands, commits itself the fulfillment of the three principles of creativity, innovation and distinction as a priority in its activities; and pledges to stand its ground on these principles; Some other ICPR 2017 Programs - Unveiling of Volume 3 of "Public Relations Standards" by Mahdi Bagherian
- Unveiling of "Knowledge-based Public Relations and Content Management" by Hasan Bashir and Mehdi Bagherian. The title entails 11 scholarly research papers submitted to the 13th ICPR
- Honoring 10 active PRs with the Creativity Cup
- Honoring the Top Articles of the 14th ICPR
- Awarding the 3rd Iran PR Medal to Mr. Reza Taheri, head of public relations of the National South Oil Company
- Releasing the Special Issue of the 14th ICPR
