New Media Methods Aimed at Reaching Dramatic Audience Diversity to Headline PRSA Health Academy Conference

NEW YORK (March 10, 2008) – Engaging new media tools and tactics to reach changing audiences in today’s “Cross-Generational/Cross-Cultural Landscape” will be the focus of the annual conference of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Health Academy. The conference will explore both sides of the equation — fundamental changes in target audiences as well as in the media vehicles used to reach them. “Health Care Communications Strategy: Boomers, Xers and Nexters” will be held at the Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile in Chicago on April 2-4.

“Today’s practitioners have to be sharper and more sophisticated about their audiences and the means to reach them than ever before,” said Garland Stansell, conference chair. “The media environment is evolving as fast, if not faster, than the rapidly changing field of health care. How and where you say something is becoming nearly as important as what you say,” he added.

More information and registration available at www.healthacademy.prsa.org.

Intensive Programming
Like the technologies driving the changes, this three-day conference will deliver vast amounts of information in a short time. Sessions will include:

Communicating About Health Care Reform in a Web 2.0 World:
How the fragmentation and proliferation of media will shape the debate about national health care reform, and how this change in the media landscape, in turn, will affect institutions and organizations and those who communicate their messages.

Running Multicultural Pharma Campaigns:
How to identify when a multicultural program becomes a “must have” instead of an “add on,” what makes good business sense and what steps will effectively execute and measure these results.

Social Media in Health Care:
Internet communities have sprung up to serve visitors seeking to share stories, answer concerns and offer support. Attendees will hear how practitioners ethically penetrate these communities to build relationships and get health care messages out, and the critical importance of transparency and disclosure in all interactions.

Understanding Boomers and Matures:
Exploration of research results among 30,000 Boomers and Matures and a comprehensive overview of these demographics’ thoughts, attitudes and behaviors as they relate to health care.

Media Ageism:
An examination of television as a social marketing medium for older adults, and how to identify key communications strategies for reaching them.

Plenary Sessions
Plenary sessions will feature presentations by Jane Brody, longtime New York Times personal health columnist, and Jonathan Karl, ABC News senior national security correspondent. On Thursday, April 3, Brody will share her perspective and personal focus on a healthy lifestyle and relate her experiences to the state of health care in America. On April 4, Karl will draw from his experiences as a congressional correspondent for CNN covering Capitol Hill, the White House and the Pentagon to discuss the upcoming political elections and the candidates’ potential impact on health care.

About the Health Academy
Tracing its roots to focused health-care-related activities within PRSA as early as the 1970s, the Health Academy was formed in 1989 to promote excellence in communications and an educational dialogue across the entire health care industry for the professional enhancement of its members. The Academy is not an advocate for any medical or medically related industry position, issue or focus, but offers its members an opportunity to address the latest issues facing health care public relations and the health care industry. Members of the Health Academy represent organizations across the widest spectrum of health-care-related activities.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
The Public Relations Society of America, headquartered in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals with nearly 32,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 109 Chapters nationwide and 19 Professional Interest Sections and Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 291 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States and one Chapter in Argentina.

Contact(s):

Joseph DeRupo
212-460-1495