PRSA has announced the 2021 PRSA Health Academy Conference will be held in a virtual format from April 21-22, enabling healthcare public relations professionals from across the U.S. to explore lessons learned from the past year’s extraordinary circumstances and discuss best practices moving forward.
With the theme, “You’re Not On Mute! Evolving To The Next Normal,” the conference will be filled with two days of learning and allow healthcare communicators to examine continued challenges, explore innovative approaches to key issues. share insights and also network with colleagues in the profession.
“It’s clear we’re living in unprecedented times,” said Ken Inchausti, 2021 PRSA Health Academy Conference Chair. “The past year has forced us to adapt to new ways of thinking about how we serve our stakeholders, our leaders and each other. Our conference planning team has once again arranged a variety of high-quality sessions that will provide significant value and benefit to attendees.”
The conference will begin with an interactive keynote presentation by Nadia Bilchik, president of Greater Impact Communications and former CNN anchor, on “Building Relationships to Create a More Diverse Business Environment.” A keynote on “The Art of Wellness” will be presented by Kevin Hines, who survived a jump off the Golden Gate Bridge and is now a mental health advocate and best-selling author. The conference will wrap up with a keynote by David Sheff, best-selling author of Beautiful Boy, who will discuss how COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders affected the state of mental health and addiction in American society.
Sessions during the two-day event will include such topics as:
- local media relations and issues management.
- excelling at digital communications and podcasting.
- enhancing client/agency relationships.
- and a “how we did it” session with leaders from companies and organizations at the center of the pandemic.
“Healthcare PR professionals have played a critical role in communicating with their patients, employees, the media and people throughout their communities during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Dennis Wilson, Jr., 2021 Chair of the PRSA Health Academy. “Whether we work at hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, public health agencies or other organizations, we had to adapt rapidly to the changes and pivot in many ways. During the conference, we will explore how to use those best practices moving forward.”
The 2021 PRSA Health Academy Conference will present sessions from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT, with scheduled breaks throughout the day. For more information and to register, visit the conference page on the PRSA website.