PRSA Partners with Hispanic Public Relations Association and Hispanic PR Blog, Sponsors 2010 Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference

NEW YORK, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is partnering with the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) and Hispanic PR Blog to sponsor the 2010 Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference. PRSA, as part of its "Advancing Diversity" initiative, supports the conference's goals of furthering multicultural communications and achieving greater diversity in the public relations industry.

Through the partnership, PRSA members are entitled to a discounted conference registration rate of $425, a $50 savings off the regular conference fee. Those PRSA members who are Accredited in Public Relations (APR) also may earn maintenance of accreditation points for attending conference sessions.

Co-presented by the Hispanic Public Relations Association and the Hispanic PR Blog, the conference will feature more than 22 professional development opportunities, keynote presentations and panels focused on best practices in Hispanic public relations and social marketing, including sessions on social networking, marketing to next-generation Latinos and achieving and maintaining corporate diversity.

Conference presenters, who represent multicultural public relations agencies, corporations, government institutions and non-profit organizations, are scheduled to include:

• Bill Whitman, vice president U.S. Communications for McDonald's (keynoter)
• Mike Fernandez, vice president of public affairs, State Farm (keynoter)
• Russell Bennett, vice president of Latino Health Solutions for UnitedHealthcare
• Lorenzo Lopez, director of corporate communications, Walmart
• Jose Pinero, director of communications, TV, Video and Music Division of Microsoft
• Paul Rand, chair, Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and president/CEO, the Zocalo Group
• Olga Romero, manager of Hispanic and multicultural public relations, Southwest Airlines
• Saskia Sorrosa, senior director of marketing, National Basketball Association (NBA)

"With a stellar conference program and the collective involvement of HPRA and PRSA, our conference is now the definitive showcase for best practices in Hispanic public relations and diversity," said Manny Ruiz, conference organizer and co-publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog. "PRSA's sponsorship is a tribute to their commitment to multicultural communications and to advancing diversity within the public relations industry."

The conference schedule can be viewed at http://www.hispanicprconference.com/conference-agenda/schedule.

During the conference, the results of the national Hispanic PR Census will be unveiled. The survey, which seeks to count every public relations and communications professional who spends 30 percent or more of his or her time on Hispanic public relations and/or social media work, can be accessed at www.tinyurl.com/HPRCensus.  The Hispanic PR Census is sponsored by RL Public Relations.

"With strong support from our Board of Directors, PRSA entered 2010 with a plan to be more proactive and inclusive in the areas of diversity and multicultural communications," says PRSA President and Chief Operating Officer William M. Murray, CAE. "We started by reorganizing our resources and plotting a defined course to involve more of our community, and we're continuing by looking for targeted opportunities, such as the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, that will complement our efforts in these areas."

For more information on the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, visit www.hispanicprconference.com or contact show director, Ray Bianchi, at [email protected]  or 305-600-4878. You also may subscribe to conference-related "Tweets"; the Twitter hash-tag for the conference is #HPRConf.

About the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA)

HPRA was founded in 1984 as a non-profit organization to establish a network of Hispanics employed in the public relations profession. HPRA has more than 250 members representing public relations, marketing and advertising professionals from agencies, government, non-profit and corporate companies. HPRA is dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic professionals and provides educational seminars and workshops throughout the year. The organization has awarded more than $220,000 in scholarships to Latino students pursuing a career in communications during the last 25 years. HPRA strives to be a resource for communications professionals and for those seeking insights into the Hispanic market.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 16 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.

About the Hispanic Public Relations Blog

Founded by multicultural public relations veterans Manny Ruiz, former CEO of Hispanic PRWire, and Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, formerly of Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC, the Hispanic PR Blog is the public relations industry's premier source for news and views focused on Hispanic public relations and social media marketing. The blog and its accompanying daily newsletter, Hispanicize, feature columns, stories, white papers, job postings, calendar events and more.  Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC, is also the parent company of the Hispanic Public Relations & Social Marketing Conference.

SOURCE Hispanic Public Relations Association