ECD Chair’s Sept. 2026 Message

SEPTEMBER IS ECD CONFERENCE MONTH

OUR WORK & OUR DISTRICT ARE ‘BUILT ON HUSTLE’

What does a chart-topping disco song from 1975 have in common with the Sept. 17-18 Built on Hustle: Communicating in the Age of Change East Central District Conference?  “The Hustle” wasn’t just a hit; it inspired people to get up and dance.  You could stay home and hear about ECDC 2026, or you can hit the road for Detroit, meet up with fellow PR pros at the old Tiger Stadium, “The Corner Ballpark,” and help make history the way history is always made – by doing something worth remembering.

Detroit is a town “built on hustle” because of its willpower for reinvention when times are tough and change is hard. We love that theme and have unabashedly co-opted it for our conference. Our lives, our business, our world are in a time of great change. We can stay home, stare at screens, and gaze out the window, or we can join the hustle.

In Detroit, we’ll talk about how PRSA is hustling to grow membership and remain relevant. The hustle to stay ahead of AI in crisis communications, integrated marketing, the evolution in news media, and what’s next for PR. How we stand up for our values in politically polarized times, and how we manage all this hustle for the sake of our sanity.

When PR pro Mike Crisp posted a letter to MyPRSA Community Open Forum about “PRSA offering fewer and fewer networking opportunities” due to canceled or virtual conferences, I took it to heart. I immediately shared it with members of our ECD board as affirmation that we are doing the right thing by staying the course with our annual, in-person district conference. 

Blame it on our humble, practical midwestern mindset, but we have been persistent about holding a no-frills, tight-budget, IN-PERSON board retreat and QuickStart conference annually in Columbus, Ohio. 

Last year we made history by expanding to a full-fledged East Central District Conference, and this year we make the historic leap from Ohio to Detroit.

When I say tight budget, I mean carefully laced shoestrings. We had hoped to bring in a speaker from outside the region who was brilliant at ICON last year and perfect for the topic. He was willing to speak for free, but travel expenses were beyond our budget. He was gracious in applauding our efforts at keeping the event live and specifically pointed to the Open Forum post about in-person events.

As I have said before in my Chair Message, PRSA is right to promote the ROI of career growth, but in this new era the true value of membership is the authenticity of community. Our highest value is “us.” Events like chapter award gatherings and our district conference are rare opportunities to gather face-to-face. Everyone has that same odd déjà vu of seeing someone in person for the first time after only knowing them on screens. How did that become normal?

We understand the challenges. Our in-person conference budget may be modest, but the number of volunteer hours contributed by our ECDC Chair Kim Skeltis and her conference committee members, including the generous hustle from our PRSA Detroit partners, is practically incalculable, and we’re not there yet.

We also understand the contradictions. Surveys will tell us members want in-person events; attendance may say otherwise. Sponsors are cautious, especially when you are asking for their backing when you can only estimate your audience.

But we also believe value is a certainty. The work that has gone into our conference is producing a value-packed agenda. Yes, the budget is modest, but so is the cost of attending. Here’s the final irony: with a robust agenda of speakers, the challenge becomes including networking and socializing time during a jam-packed day.  But we must, because that “us” time is the payoff for hustling to Detroit, and it is our promise.