Call for Papers Engaging People in a Disengaged World
23rd International Public Relations Symposium BLEDCOM 2016 – July 1-2, 2016
The conference:
BledCom symposium is an annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in public relations and related disciplines to discuss contemporary communication and management problems. So far, eight books and seven special issues of peer-reviewed journals have been published based on previous symposia (www.bledcom.com.)
Location:
Picturesque Alpine Lake Bled in Slovenia
Theme:
In 2008, Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, the largest independent public relations agency in the world, stated that public engagement is the future of public relations. Eight years later, how much of that future has come to life?
Whether as communication management, corporate communication, or strategic communication, public relations is in a phase of renaissance: jobs, budgets, markets and educational programs are growing. But with what societal effect? Are humans today not merely more, but better connected? Are they meaningfully engaged with each other for improved life? What role has, and can, public relations play in such engagement?
The internet has been credited with “enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media” as evidenced in The Cluertain Manifesto (http://www.cluetrain.com/). How much of that optimism has been materialized?
We see the following as some of the topics that are subsumed in BledCom’s 2016 theme: “the engaged”, public engagement, employee engagement, community engagement, media engagement, stakeholder engagement, digital engagement, conversation economy, consumer engagement. engagement marketing, activists and engagement, and all forms of disengagement.
Call for Abstracts and Panels:
Abstract should be between 500 and 800 words (including title and keywords). Please supply the word count at the end of the submission. Please feel free to use the following guidelines to present your abstract.
Introduction and purpose of the study (and research question if there is one) – helps summarize the purpose and rationale of your study. Literature review – Helps place your work in context with the existing body of knowledge. Methodology – Define the main method used for gathering data including sample size, and state the rationale for using this method. Results and conclusions – Helps summarize the answers to the research questions while also outlining the implications of the results. Also summarize the limitations of the study and offer suggestions for future research. Practical and social implications – Offer the potential implications both for practice and society. Also provide us with 3 to 5 keywords that highlight your study