Are you a member of the Public Affairs Council? I joined the PAC’s Membership Committee, headed up by Greg Crist from AdvaMed and, in all honesty, was shocked at the companies who are not members.

Consider this column your invitation to join.

As a busy public affairs executive, you have a lot to manage – issues, priorities, expectations, staff – while remaining abreast of political and economic trends which affect your business.  The Public Affairs Council is always there to help by providing the education, expertise, and a professional community you and your colleagues need to meet your goals. Though its diverse membership of more than 700 companies, associations, advocacy organizations, and consulting firms do not always agree on the issues, they are united by a desire for ideas that work.  They help them achieve success through:

• Free, individualized counsel and advice. Need help with strategic planning, measuring the impact of your work, engaging your CEO, or getting a new hire up to speed?  The staff experts in Washington and Brussels can answer these questions and more.
• Research and information sharing. Want to know how your program stacks up against your competitors?  Looking for data to help you justify additional staff or budget?  Curious to see how other companies structure their departments?  It has hundreds of resources, including benchmarking and trend studies, and sample materials from org charts to social media policies.
• More than 100 training events each year (have you seen our company calendar?)– from multi-day conferences to concise and focused teleconferences – on a variety of topics and for everyone from entry-level to seasoned veterans.  Members receive discounted or free registration to all Council events, plus all policy issue and best practice webinars are included with the membership.
• Connections to more than 10,000 individual members who understand your challenges and share your drive for results.

Yes, there are others, but only the Public Affairs Council offers expertise in lobbying, corporate social responsibility, issues management in addition to PACs, international markets, digital advocacy, corporate communications, and everything in between.  One annual membership fee gives you – and every employee of your company – access to a host of valuable benefits.

Simply put, the Council offers an excellent return on your investment. You can learn more on the Council’s website, at www.pac.org.

Connect with Doug Pinkham, dpinkham@pac.org, and he will give you more specifics on the benefits of membership…and pick up the cost of a cup of coffee.

The Public Affairs Council was the first association I was introduced to when I joined State and Federal Associates in 1983 and the first association I joined when I bought my department and started State and Federal Communications almost 30 years ago. I never think about whether it is worth it…because it always is!