A pat on the back

By Matter

At Matter we were honored this week to receive a Bell Ringer award from the Publicity Club of New England for business press coverage for our client Altman Vilandrie & Company. It’s always nice to receive a pat on the back from the experts in your own industry.

The award event, held at a nice hotel outside Boston, was an amusing snapshot of the PR industry – 300 people who talk for a living gathered in one room. If there was a single moment’s pause in conversation all night, I didn’t hear it!

In large PR gatherings I’m always reminded of the predominance of women in our industry – more than 70 percent by some estimates. It wasn’t always this way. In 1981, as this New York Times article points out, female membership in the Public Relations Society of America had risen sharply – to 33 percent!

PR events are always a good excuse to step back from the fast pace of the day-to-day and think about the work we do. One speaker mentioned a Facebook page that had the whole place laughing: “I work in PR and my family and friends have no idea what I do.” I can definitely relate – after years in PR my family still thinks I work in advertising.

“You must love that show ‘Mad Men,’” they say.