The packed rooms for each of the social media panels I attended today (which far exceeded attendance at other sessions) is further proof that PR professionals have the desire to engage with these new tools — even if all of them aren’t quite certain how to do it.  (Although I will say that the large quantities of attendees live tweeting all proceedings today shows that many are already engaging quite aggressively.)

The big themes in all of the sessions I attended today were authenticity and engagement.

We live in a time when (as we’ve written about here before) submitting a press release and putting it out on the “blast fax” does not suffice for a successful communications program.  We need to engage in a variety of new realms, using a number of new tools.  And, whereas the PR relationship model used to be engagement with the media — PR pros now must re-learn to engage directly with thousands of people.

We can no longer just be bystanders who throw out pitches and press releases.  We have to be actively involved in the conversation.

Solid, crisp, journalistic writing skills are as important as ever — but we have to learn to make our content fit a variety of new media, and be “sharable” and “re-tweetable.”  Rather than mere broadcasters, PR professionals must become storytellers — but always allowing the audience to become involved and, yes, even to become part of the story.

In one of our sessions today, Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund, social media guru for the U.S. Army Reserves, shared some great case studies of how they are reaching a wide audience and having a real impact by a) telling stories through the eyes of their soldiers, b) doing it with a budget of almost $0 and, c) showing the power of a simple flip cam.

Ostlund is one of the many presenters today who showcased the importance of authenticity.  Using raw, unedited online video to tell stories.  Staying away from “slick” in favor of quick, dirty, and real.  As Ostlund said:

“There is a place for polished video, but it isn’t in social media.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

The PR profession is at a crossroads.  It must adapt its decades old model to fit the new media environment — including not only how media is consumed, but how we deliver it directly to consumers, voters, employers, et. al.

As Daryl McCullough, CEO of PainePR said today … quoting the great Jedi prophet Yoda:

“Your must unlearn what you have learned.”

With that, I leave you with the following video interview with Brian Solis, editor of PR 2.0 and president of FutureWorks, who also presented at today’s conference.  Thanks to Mike Smith for conducting this interview:

Click here for Part II of this interview with Brian.