Spring is the Season for the IPRRC and New Answers to Old Questions

The Paine of Measurement, April 2021

It’s Spring—I think. Us Granite Staters can’t help but have our doubts, as we look out onto snow-covered fields and stoke our wood stoves. But then I’m reassured by the words of Sarah Pellerin (a master gardener who taught me everything I know): “Never was there a year when Mother Nature forgot to bring us Spring!”

As always, she is right. The snowdrops and crocuses are inching their way up through the snow. That photo up above is from my front yard.

The PR research version of that Sarah quote is, “Never was there a year that Dr. Don Stacks forgot to bring us the IPRRC!” The annual International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC) does to my brain what snowdrops do for my soul. It fills me with hope and ideas and energy about where our industry is going.

A year ago we IPRRC conference-goers were in Orlando, doing something almost inconceivable today: crowding around tables, sharing ideas, and hugging friends like crazy. It was the last live event any of us have attended since then.

2021 brought the first ever virtual IPRRC. While nothing can replace the hugs, the ideas and inspiration were just as satisfying.

The data and research presented by this year’s 108 academic papers provide more than interesting new ideas. They provide the foundation of much of the advice I give my clients. In fact, during this year’s conference I was downloading papers and sending excerpts to clients at the same time as I was hanging out in the Zoom room.

This month’s issue of The Measurement Advisor is devoted to covering the new research presented at this year’s IPRRC. Here is what you will find:

• Every year always brings an abundance of data and insights on crises. This year we had a follow-up to the paper we presented last year on the use of AI in a crisis:
  AI Is Now Your Corporate Crisis Superpower.
  And there is lots more useful new crisis research:
  New Research on Crisis Communication from IPRRC 2021.

• There was new news about fighting fake news:
  New PR Research Brings Hope for a Disinformation Vaccine
  

• There was a welcome new emphasis on startups:
  New Research on Startup Communications: Charisma and Character are Vital.

• Additionally, we welcomed a new emphasis on internal communications research:
  New Research on Internal Communications Provides Advice on Employee Engagement.

• Here is a handful of fascinating PR questions answered:
  New PR Research Answers 5 Intriguing Questions.

• Finally, a variety of papers sought to clarify and define agility, one of the most-used words of the year:
  New Research: Agility is Major Driver of Organizational Strength.

• And, as ever, we have our regular columns:
  Jennifer Jarrell Is Measurement Maven of the Month
  Dr. Phil Schubert Is Measurement Menace of the Month
  Your April 2021 Communications Measurement Reading List
  and Daphne Gray-Grant’s Rapid Writing:
  3 Techniques to Pick Yourself Up After a Writing Fall