If you have been thinking about joining PRSA, now is a good time – you have one more week to get a free local PRSA Colorado membership. National PRSA will pay the chapter dues for a year for any new member who joins in September. More details are here.

With “only 904 Society members hav(ing) become APR in the past six years, which represents a decline of more than 50% in participation by members over the two previous six-year periods,” it would appear it is headed toward irrelevancy.

Those numbers don’t surprise me. National PRSA’s attempts to gin up relevancy for the APR by requiring it to serve on its board only serves to underscores the situation. I’m perfectly fine with a CPA-like certification that requires a rigorous path and a corresponding level of respect within the public relations and broader marketing communities. But the APR credential isn’t that, and the most dictatorial holders of the certification should stop acting as though it is.

I have no doubt that my 15 years of public relations experience working with and for some of the most recognizable companies in the world has given me the knowledge and expertise I need to become credentialed. And as a PRSA Colorado board member, I more than meet the various requirements to remain credentialed. But I am not an APR. And the only explanation that I can give is to explain that when someone asks me to go jump through hoops for no reason, I just smile politely and say, “No thanks.”

(Note: If Gina, Jeff, Sydney, Sarah, Jon, Jane or any other APRs would like equal time, I’m happy to post it).

Congratulations to Linhart PR and Pure Brand, who placed 1-2 in PRSA Colorado’s trivia night last night at Scruffy Murphy’s.