I was not expecting to see social media covered as a topic at the Festival, rather my point was about the fact that it was not being used to report more widely the PR issues debated, including those that are of primary interest and concern in Africa.

There may well be a further report in the CIPR Profile magazine, but that is unlikely to devote much space to the actual conference topics and, unlike social media, will not enable the global PR community (including those in Africa, and non-CIPR members) to engage in discussion and development of the issues.

I believe it is reasonable as CIPR is a democratic organisation, to question the cost of sending a four-person delegation to the event and on other global travels. As members, we should not be averse to debating financial matters – and at least getting wider consensus of the value of global outreach for the Institute.

When it is members’ money that is being spent, it is even more important to ensure that the important discussions taking place at conferences (and other events where we are being represented), are widely reported and that members are able to participate and engage through developments such as social media.

Globalisation of PR is surely more than sending representatives to conferences. Given the importance of the themes and Africa itself, including its lack of digital access, the Festival unfortunately missed the opportunity to enable a wider audience to understand and participate in reflecting on such challenges.

I work with many distance learning students in countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and so on, and know they, as much as myself, would have loved to have heard much more from participants “about what it means to be a PR person in a less developed part of the world”. I don’t think that is being mean spirited at all.