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2021 APR Readiness Review Now Turbo-Charged

PRSA Hoosier > APR > 2021 APR Readiness Review Now Turbo-Charged

2021 APR Readiness Review Now Turbo-Charged

  • February 9, 2021

Fresh off a fall 2020 APR Readiness Review course that broke records for attendance and participation, the Accreditation Committee has revamped the traditionally 10-week series of classes. Changes were based on student surveys, as well as experience and feedback from prior sessions.

A quick overview:

  • Classes will be offered, again at no cost, over a five-week semester starting March 15 rather than the traditional 10 weeks, which we determined is an intimidating length of time, especially for those juggling full-time jobs and families, especially during COVID. Classes will combine similar topics and last two hours rather than 90 minutes. The session will end April 12.
  • Instructors have been hand-selected. Student surveys and performance ratings were used to guide recruitment of our new instructors, which will be APRs Vanessa Stiles, Marilyn Shank, Tammy Sander, Molly Zentz and Katherine Coble.
  • Slides will be streamlined and modernized to provide students with a clear blueprint for success with the panel presentation and exam.
  • New sample quizzes are being developed to assess progress after each module. Students responded well to the addition of a 5-question quiz after each class. We are taking the quiz concept to the next level with short, sample tests that follow the format of the APR exam.
  • After several test runs with different platforms, we’ve landed on Zoom as the spring virtual environment.
  • The mentorship program will continue, and we will continue to match students who request mentors with veteran APRs.

We would appreciate your help in encouraging fellow practitioners to take their PR careers to the next level by achieving their Accreditation in Public Relations and earning those three letters, APR, to place behind their name.

Led by PR Pros Leslie Galbreath of Magenta Marketing Communications, and Cheryl Reed of ReedRight Communications, this course will help students hone their PR skills, reinforce their knowledge of best PR practices, network with peers, meet and learn from APR veterans and, most importantly, prepare for the APR exam.

“The APR Readiness course, led by Cheryl and Leslie, was incredibly insightful and valuable whether you’re ready to go after the APR or not,” said Lauren Gaudion, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations for Republic Airways, who took the fall 2020 course. 

“The course covers PR basics that many of us have not revisited since working toward our college degrees, but it also refreshes and validates the work that we do each and every day. The guest presenters are knowledgeable and explain the theories they relate to current issues. If all that doesn’t convince you, talking to, learning from or commiserating with other Hoosier PR professionals every Monday night for a few weeks is just good for your PR soul!” she added.

Register here to sign up for the course. Address questions to: accreditation@prsahoosier.org