Terry Hemeyer presents at PRSA Houston’s PR Day 2021

In his session, Terry outlined the current PR landscape and critical skills today’s PR practitioners need to manage crises at warp speed.

Terry Hemeyer has over 40 years of communications experience and currently serves as Executive Council at Pierpont Communications. He has advised two U.S. presidents on communications strategies and has worked for several high-profile companies. He also serves as a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, teaching public relations and communications.

Hemeyer’s presentation centered around the current landscape of the PR industry and the political and social environments makes good PR critical, including factors like the spread of disinformation, the disappearance of news media, and cancel culture.

He focused on the critical skills needed to succeed in communications as well as how to communicate with C-suite officials to manage a crisis. He spoke about understanding a company’s vulnerabilities as well as what makes them run in order to prevent a crisis. He went on to talk about how a typical CEO handles around 15 crises each day and how important it is for public relations professionals to be in the room when these crises are discussed.

Hemeyer also highlighted the importance of engaging with one’s community. He explained, “A company just making a profit is no longer enough. These days companies need to be involved in the community. And when they do this, all employees need to buy in, not just the CEO.”

PR Day is an annual gathering of public relations and communications professionals hosted by PRSA Houston. This year’s conference was virtual and featured several prominent speakers across the industry. Terry’s full session is viewable on the PRSA Houston YouTube page.