Louis C. Williams, ABC, APR, a leader in applying social sciences research to the practice of public relations, was awarded the Jackson Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize by the PRSA Foundation at the Public Relations Society of America ( PRSA) 2009 International Conference.

Lou was a great boss, and is a renowned pioneer in the public relations industry — namely in using qualitative research to drive strategic PR campaigns.  I treasured the time I spent while working for Lou (and the entire team) at L.C. Williams & Associates — learning skills I still utilize in my work today.

Thorough research.  Smart, strategic campaigns.  That’s the hallmark of Lou Williams.

Congrats, Lou.

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.

The first thing I recognize — just by looking at the agenda — is that the industry has realized that it must embrace online tools — and is ideally suited to be the driver of the online communications efforts within the organizations it serves.  There are numerous panels (I’m attending most of them) on social media tools, as well as the changing face of the “journalists” traditionally pitched by PR professionals.

I’ve written and spoken extensively about how I believe the PR departments within organizations need to be the owners of online communications programs — simply because it is absolutely, 100% within their job description.  140-character Tweets of today are akin to the 400-word press release of yesterday.  Sometimes a short Facebook status update is as powerful as a 5-minute media call.

That being said, I can certainly tell (from some audience questions) that there are some public relations professionals who are stuck in the PR mold of yesteryear.  You know — the old press release-and-pitch-the-traditional-media mold.

I also have been troubled (although not surprised) that, in all the discussions of social media tools — email (the first and largest social media tool) — was never mentioned.  Twitter and Facebook may be hot — by email is the solid, steady tool.  Embrace it.

In addition, the keynote speaker on the first day was Arianna Huffington — publisher of the successful online publication The Huffington Post.  Her politics aside, Huffington provided a great discussion about the changing face of the media — taking a few overt swipes at the MSM — and how PR professionals need to adapt to the changing environment.  My favorite quote from her presentation:

“You consume old media sitting on the couch.  You consume new media galloping on the horse.  You engage.”

That quote about sums up the challenges — and opportunities — facing the PR industry in the changing media climate.

How do we engage the media — and, more important, how can we use new tools to actually become the media and engage consumers directly?

Get on the horse…

More updates tomorrow.

You can follow our tweets in the right column of this site — or directly by clicking here.