Enjoy a Statewide Network
With TPRA, you tap into a statewide network of public relations professionals with varied experiences and backgrounds. When you're stumped, you're only a telephone call away from peers who can offer advice and serve as sounding boards. Attend Top-Notch Conferences and Seminars
Once a year, you can meet your fellow members for a weekend of professional interchange and growth at the annual conference. Plus, several hard-hitting, one-day workshops are scheduled around the state throughout the year. We share our successes and problems, exchange ideas and learn from each other's experiences. We learn new skills and update established practices. We hear about trends and listen to outstanding speakers who offer ways to meet the ever-changing demands of our jobs.
Win Statewide Recognition
TPRA hosts Texas' only statewide public relations awards program. The Silver Spur Awards honor outstanding public relations programs, and the Best of Texas Awards recognize the best in specific public relations activities. TPRA also recognizes individual practitioners who make exceptional contributions to TPRA and the profession through its special awards. These awards include: Golden Spur, Outstanding PR Practitioner, Alan Scott Rising Star, New Member Achievement, Silver Spur Media, Lone Star and new to the awards, the PRFT Educator of the Year award..
Be Listed Among Your Colleagues
When you join TPRA, you'll be listed among your colleagues in the "Who's Who in Texas Public Relations" membership directory. The directory includes member photographs, biographies and honors, as well as information about TPRA and publication of its Code of Ethics. The directory is a source of information to public relations agencies, executive search firms and media, and serves as a valuable networking tool.
Invest in Your Future
Now is the time to make a commitment to your public relations future by joining TPRA if you haven't already done so. You'll discover advantages that you haven't experienced before and find a new family of Texas professionals ready to welcome you.
Take Advantage of the Best Bargain in Texas Public Relations
Your membership dues provide these benefits:
- Statewide professional contacts
- An outstanding annual conference and professional development workshops
- Texas' only statewide public relations awards program
- Picture and biography in "Who's Who in Texas Public Relations" membership directory
- Member discounts on TPRA conferences and sponsored events
- Subscription to TPRA Talk newsletter
- TPRA Tip Sheets
- Statewide publicity for members' achievements
- Monographs on pertinent topics from the Public Relations Foundation of Texas
- Professional achievement awards program
- Opportunities to add to your professional experience by participating in TPRA leadership and on TPRA committees
- A Code of Ethics
Group Memberships
Many firms are presently planning their budgets, so please let your employer know he or she can save real money on TPRA's new Group Membership Plan, "Four-Or-More". If you work in a shop with four or more communications professionals, Four-Or-More is for you, and dues of only $150 per person should be budgeted.
This program waives the $30 per person initiation fee and reduces the annual dues from $180 to $150 for all members. The savings can be significant. For example, an employer adding four new members would have paid $180 each for dues and $30 each for the initiation fee, a total of $840. Under the new Four-Or-More Plan, that cost would be $600, a savings of $240. Members will get this discount whether their employer pays the dues or whether they pay themselves. You just have to have four or more members from the same organization.
A secondary benefit is that if the employer pays the dues directly, the employer may name a replacement member (subject to the usual TPRA review and approval) should that member leave the employer during the year. The membership stays with who paid - but only if they've got four or more members.
"The reason this all works is that with a greater membership base, our costs are spread over a larger number of members," said Graham Painter, TPRA Chair. "The board is always looking for ways to bring in extra funds to continue to enrich our programs and other benefits. Taking our organization to the next level in membership will produce additional funds, even with this discount. That's why we can offer these volume discounts to larger employers and still come out ahead." So budget for four or more members and reap the discount.
