PR Pros As Translators

One issue that is frequently overlooked in the rush to proclaim PR "dead" is the role that professional communicators play in helping others write or speak effectively.

When geek is blogging to geek, all is well. Both sides of the conversation can understand each other, and there is true dialog.

But have you ever seen engineers, programmers, accountants, doctors or other technical professionals try to communicate with a lay audience?

Aside from a few special cases (and yes I know there are some out there), many technical people really struggle when they are asked to communicate with regular folks.

And that's the role that many PR people play.

We're translators.

I consider myself a PR person and I rarely deal with the media. The majority of my work involves helping people communicate their message effectively.

It's not about spin, or manipulation or puffery.

It's about explaining something in a straight-forward, easy to understand way.

Who will do that when PR is dead, and the only people communicating are the folks in engineering?

And if they are spending their time communicating, who will handle the engineering?

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