Are we going back to the future?

In 1999, Dr Jon White presented a paper to the Swiss Public Relations Society that stated the future was bright for PR practitioners.

This was dependant on practitioners recognising 'the opportunities presented by the environment and management needs' and taking 'steps to educate and train themselves', as well as making 'full use of communication technology, to provide reliable, if not indispensable, services to managers as they seek to deal with complexity and manage successful businesses'.

Very little has changed.

Here #FuturePRoof editor Sarah Hall speaks to Dr Jon White about what has stopped the majority of PR practitioners making the most of that opportunity - and how we can do that now.

Dr Jon White is a consultant and visiting professor at Henley Business School and Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC). You can follow him on Twitter: @DrJonWhite.

You can read Jon's original paper: Innovation and the future of public relations practice: Beyond integrated marketing communication here.