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20 July 2020
Call for Papers: Public Risk and Crisis Communication at BledCom 2021

BledCom is an annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in public relations and related disciplines to discuss contemporary communication and management problems. Organized annually since 1994, it is the oldest conference in our field that is not affiliated with a professional or academic association. So far, eight books and nine special issues or sections of peer-reviewed journals have been published based on previous symposia.

Conference Dates and Venue

The 28thInternational Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom) will be held on July 2-3, 2021 in Rikli Balance Hotel, Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Conference Theme: Public Relations and Public Risk and Crisis Communication

Perhaps now more than ever, risk and crisis communication have been thrust into the limelight.  Individuals, organizations, and nations have all become the sources as well as recipients of information intended to alter their behavior owing to Covid-19 and its debilitating impact on everyday life globally. Some nations have been lauded for their ability to manage the spread of the virus through effective communication whereas others have been targeted for performing poorly. National performance has certainly hinged on the ability of the leaders of these nations to communicate effectively about the pandemic.

Deadline

Paper abstracts and panel proposals should be submitted via email to bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si no later than February 1, 2021. Decisions will be made by March 4, 2021 after peer review. Full papers not exceeding 6.000 words will be due by September 16, 2021. The organizing committee plans an edited book on the conference theme to be published by Routledge in 2022. A separate publication of the conference proceedings will feature the remaining papers.

Go to
BledCom website
8 July 2020
BledCom 2020 succeeded despite COVID-19

The 27th International Public Relations Research Conference BledCom 2020 has reached over 9,000 viewers on Facebook where it moved due to travel restrictions around the world. Videos of the live opening, the keynote, a panel and the closing session that were transmitted live on Friday, 3 July and available at the BledCom website: www.bledcom.com .

The keynote ”Connecting Humans, Changing Lives” was delivered by Alice Clements, General Manager of Stakeholder Engagement and Communications for Brisbane South PHN (Australia).   ”COVID-19 and its nexus with public relations around the world” was discussed by Cara Alaimo (Hofstra University, USA), Sun Sun Lim (Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore), Stephen Waddington (Wadds Inc. And Newcastle University, UK), and moderated by Dejan Verčič (University of Ljubljana and Herman & partners, Slovenia).

Abstracts and video presentations of papers
presented at the 27th BledCom are also published on
www.bledcom.com
15 May 2020
BledCom 2020 will be digital, open and free

BledCom 2020 will be the most unique of the 27 editions as it will be delivered only in digital format! Here are a few details about the “digital conference” with more details to follow in the next couple of weeks:

  • All presentations will be delivered asynchronously (via videos recorded by authors) on YouTube. These presentations will be available to you on YouTube after the opening session on Friday, July 3.
  • There will be a 2-hour live streaming of the opening of the conference on Facebook on Friday, July 3, 2020 at 3 pm CET to cater to as many time zones as possible.
  • This live Facebook session will consist of conference opening, keynote, a panel. Once this live session ends, all the other presentations will become available on YouTube for interested people to access at their convenience.
  • Participation in BledCom 2020 will be open and free to all and so you’re welcomed to participate in the live session and view the other presentations at your convenience on YouTube.
BledCom website
8 April 2020
BledCom: (digital) participation in Covid-19 times

A message from the BledCom symposium organisers we are happy to share with you: the Covid-19 emergence could force some of you to stay in your country, but you will be able to attend the symposium virtually with a special discounted fee.

Dear BledCom friends and authors of BledCom 2020 abstracts,

We are in early April and the COVID-19 pandemic is still making international travel nearly impossible, although the good news is that in parts of Asia the worst seems to be over. In Europe the situation is varying from a country to a country (in Slovenia we expect the peak in the mid-April, which would enable us to lower travel restrictions from May on – but these are still projections. Unfortunately, the situation in countries like Italy and Spain are not yet under control and we send out best wishes to our colleagues in these countries hoping that everything goes well in the near future. As we write, the US is entering into a virus storm with over 5,000 deaths already, while other parts of the world may see an increase in infections. These are VUCA circumstances under which we plan BledCom 2020 symposium.

It looks more likely that we will be forced to make BledCom 2020 digilogue with some participants presenting and participating digitally (on-line) while others who can travel may do so in person (analogue). It will be a special event for those of us who will be in Bled, but we will also do our best to make it as meaningful as possible for on-line participants.

Similar to other organisations (ICA is but one example), we will make digital participation asynchronous. We have received abstracts from authors in over 30 countries and five continents and will need to cater to various time-zones. We had announced that our program would be online in March. But given the uncertainties before us, we think it is most prudent for us to publish the names of all authors (and the titles of their presentations) in alphabetical order for now.  As we get more clarity on the travel bans, etc., we will publish a more definitive program taking into account who will be in Bled in person and who will participate digitally. In the program section of the BledCom website you can see a list of the accepted papers and panels.

As we have already announced, we intend to offer a 75% discount on the registration fees for authors who will be unable to attend in person and are thus forced to make digital presentations. Please note that we will still have conference expenses beyond coffee/snacks and lunch. Given the fluidity of the situation, we will provide you with regular updates as things warrant.

We are hopeful that this situation returns to normalcy soon and we can all come to Bled in July for BledCom’s 27th edition. However, we also realize that this situation is beyond our control and so we will monitor things and keep you informed. We also welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Please send them to: bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si

We wish all the best,
Dejan Verčič, Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Ana Tkalac Verčič

18 December 2019
Call for Papers: BledCom 2020, abstracts by Feb. 1

The 27th International Public Relations Research Symposium BledCom will be held on July 3-4 in Bled, Slovenia, on the theme The impact of public relations on organizations and society. Please note that as has been the norm in the past, BledCom welcomes ALL papers that are relevant to public relations and communication management and not just papers that discuss the conference theme.

Abstracts and panel proposals have to be submitted no later than February 1. The organizing committee will serve as guest editors of a special issue of Corporate Communications: An International Journal, based on papers presented at BledCom. A separate publication of the conference proceedings will feature the remaining papers.

Go to
Call for Papers
BledCom website
5 August 2019
BledCom Call for Papers: The impact of public relations on organizations and society

The 27th International Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom) will be held on July 3-4, 2020 in Rikli Balance Hotel (formerly Hotel Golf) Lake Bled, Slovenia.

The impact of public relations on organizations and society

We take our cue from an allied discipline – mass communication/mass media – that has a stream of “media effects” theories dating back at least to the 1980s assessing the various dimensions of mass media effects on individuals, organizations (including families), and society. We feel that our field has not adequately addressed this aspect of our existence, which has led to reputational issues such as public relations being construed mostly as “spin doctoring” on behalf of corporate or similar interests. The Bell Pottinger debacle is a case in point. Our field will benefit from reflection including an assessment of the varied purposes for which public relations has been, and can be, used. Examples are public information campaigns to build societies and nations engaged by NGOs and IGOs (intergovernmental organizations).

Submissions

Abstracts and panel proposals submission deadline is February 1, 2020.

We invite abstracts that are between 500 and 800 words (including title and keywords) with up to 5 references. Please note that as has been the norm in the past, BledCom welcomes ALL papers that are relevant to public relations and communication management and not just papers that discuss the conference theme. We also welcome panel proposals.

Paper abstracts and panel proposals should be submitted via email to bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si no later than February 1, 2020. Decisions will be made by March 4, 2020 after peer review. Full papers not exceeding 6.000 words will be due by September 16, 2020.

The organizing committee will serve as guest editors of a special issue of Corporate Communications: An International Journal, based on papers presented at BledCom 2019. A separate publication of the conference proceedings will feature the remaining papers.

Go to
Call for Papers
11 July 2019
Trust and Reputation: highlights from BledCom 2019

by Dejan Verčič
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Trust seems to be a Holy Grail of public relations, something to search for and aspire to in all relationships. If only would stakeholders trust organizations, employees their management, customers their brands, buyers their suppliers, financiers and investors their recipients, voters their representatives and so on and so forth; what a wonderful world it would be. Or, would it?

The whole modernity has been obsessed with a question: how can an individualised society be held together, what is a social glue that keeps us from falling apart? Trust was the answer, and that is why everybody seems to be so concerned with studies indicating trust in all institutions steadily declining worldwide (well, not everywhere and not equally, but that is already a whole another story).

Good relationships are trusted relationships, and they are the backbone of excellent organizations and great societies alike. But: what if the opposite is true?

Perfect trust is certainty, but creativity and freedom presuppose doubt, criticism and, yes, healthy distrust. Maybe we as humanity wouldn’t be in the environmental mess, rising social inequalities and political demagoguery today if we doubted and distrusted a little more yesterday.

Organizations shouldn’t be obsessed with chasing trust in all their relationships; what they should develops is an ability to navigate in the wide sea between trust and distrust as unstable equilibria. There are no final answers to eternal questions, there is no Holy Grail.

These are some of the issues that were discussed at the 26th International Public Relations Research Symposium BledCom 2019, that took place on July 4-6 2019 in Bled, and was attended by 146 academics and practitioners from 26 different countries on 5 continents.

The next BledCom will be on July 3-4, 2020, in Bled. The theme for 2020 BledCom is:
The impact of public relations on organizations and society.
CfP is available here

14 April 2019
BledCom symposium registration

The 26th BledCom symposium, this year on the theme “Trust and Reputation” on July 4-6, will feature a keynote speech, 10 parallel paper sessions, 3 panels, an open session and more. The early bird registration is available until May 24, with a further special discount for EUPRERA members.

BledCom 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.

More info
9 October 2018
Call for Papers: Trust and Reputation – International symposium BledCom 2019

BledCom is an annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in public relations and related disciplines to discuss contemporary communication and management problems. Organized annually since 1994, it is the oldest conference in our field that is not affiliated with a professional or academic association.
So far, eight books and nine special issues or sections of peer-reviewed journals have been published based on previous symposia (www.bledcom.com). The organizers attribute this success to the hundreds of colleagues who have participated over these years and of course our sponsors, and thank you all for sustaining this boutique conference for a quarter of a century.
Conference dates
The 26th International Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom) will be held on July 4, 5, & 6, 2019 in Rikli Balance Hotel (formerly Hotel Golf) Lake Bled, Slovenia.
Location
Picturesque Alpine Lake Bled in Slovenia
Conference Theme: Trust and Reputation
Trust is a foundation of social (and organizational) order and also serves as the underpinning of healthy relationships, exchanges and transactions. There is a growing concern globally that social and organizational trust is eroding, and that it has become harder for organizations to build and protect relationships with stakeholders many of whom themselves seem to be in conflict. Digitalization and globalization have contributed significantly to changing the world order, leaving many people confused, disoriented and perhaps even scared. This has also contributed to people’s lack of trust in basic social institutions. Conspiracy theories are on the rise on a variety of topics. The ultra-rich are preparing for an apocalypse and building bunker-homes in New Zealand. In many countries there appears to be increasing support for authoritarian leaders because of their promise to protect against a disruptive future. In this respect, one is reminded of Bob Dylan’s song: ”The times they are a changin’.”
In such a challenging environment, how does/should public relations (re)build trust and reputation to help us function as social beings operatying in harmonious societies?
The following are a few of the many topics subsumed in this theme:

  • What is trust and what is reputation?
  • How does (should) communication and relationship management help individuals and organizations build trust and reputation?
  • How do different stakeholders (such as employees to investors) experience, and perceive, trust and reputation in organizational settings?
  • How relevant is it for us to talk about engagementin a world with diminishing trust?
  • How do trust and reputation affect organizational and social success, or decline?
  • How are 21stcenturey social processes such as digitalization and globalization affecting trust and reputation?
  • How are media affecting trust and reputation?
  • What benefits can organizations and the society get because of higher trust and reputation?
  • How can communication management help us build reputation in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world?
  • How is the rising inequality, within and between, societies affecting trust and reputation within and between societies, and with what effects?
  • Are there similarities in the problem of lack of trust and reputation globally, or do they differ from one part of the world to another?

Call for Abstracts and Panels
We invite abstracts that are between 500 and 800 words (including title and keywords) with up to 5 references. Please use the following guidelines to present your abstract and kindly supply the word count at the end of the submission.
We also welcome panel and poster proposals.
Please note that as has been the norm in the past, BledCom welcomes ALL papers that are relevant to public relations and communication management beyond papers that discuss the conference theme.
Format for the Abstract
Please note that the chances of your abstract being accepted are enhanced if you observe the following format in preparing it:
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. Abstracts should come as blind copies without author names and affiliations, who are to be identified on on a separate cover page. Please use the suggested headings to structure the abstract. A list of literature is not necessary, but if it is provided it is included into the word count.
Panel proposal are also welcome. The proposal should describe the title and focus of the panel, name of the chair of the panel, and names of every member of the panel and title or focus of each presentation.
Deadline
Paper abstracts and panel proposals should be submitted via email to bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si no later than 14 January 2019. Decisions will be made by 4 March 2019 after peer review. Full papers not exceeding 6.000 words will be due by 16 September 2019. The organizing committee will serve as guest editors of a special issue of Corporate Communications: An International Journal, based on papers presented at BledCom 2019. A separate conference proceedings will publish the remaining papers.

Go to BlecCom website

11 July 2018
A World in Crisis: The Role of Public Relations

by Prof. Dr. Dejan Verčič
organizer of BledCom,
Chair of Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
The world in which we live is a world in crisis. I don’t expect it to end, and there is no need for a collective suicide because there is no future. On the contrary, there are many futures in front of us. We, also we in public relations, are responsible for their selections and enactments, and here is what I believe are our key challenges and responsibilities.
We have contributed to some of the world’s worse problems. We have a role to play in finding solutions.
We in public relations have to take full responsibility for contributing to culturally induced doubt in scientific evidence against smoking (causing cancer), ignorance of climate change (causing drought, melting of polar ice caps, weird weather around the globe), panic about vaccination of children against communicable diseases (causing reappearance of what were eradicated viruses like measles); dehumanization and sanitization of warefare (every war starts and ends with communication and hybrid warefare is nothing but communicative warefare: we are at the forefront of every military conflict and we have to acknowledge that); normalization of rising social inequalities that are for the first time in the recent history making it probable for the majority of population that their children will be poorer than their parents were; thus contributing to migrations and the global refugee crisis that became a business in itself (caused by drought, violent conflicts, poverty, and enabled by smart phone technology); and a general oversight for revolutionary changes brought by digitalization and the emergence of artificial intelligence – it is only now that we are really leaving the Gutenberg Galaxy (traditional media are more or less gone and new media is different; we face the breakdown of privacy, while looking for solutions from the 20th century for 21st century, like the recent GDPR directive in Europe). But we are also essential for the betterment of the world, as we have overtaken the public discourse (by some calculations, in the US there are five public relations practitioners to every journalist, with the difference increasing and the same trend evident across the globe).
What are our key responsibilities? The first one is knowledge. It is amazing how far we came from 1994 when we started BledCom, an annual international public relations research symposium. Twenty-five years ago there were practically no academic programs in public relations in Europe. Now we are nearly everywhere, although often as cash cows for schools of social sciences. There is also a lot of proprietary research done in agencies, governments and corporations, and we have to employ it (also) for the public good.
The second one is power. We attract power and we are attracted by it. The current violent crisis in the Middle East has been fundamentally enabled by us. Promotion of illiberal democracies and autocracies in Europe and around the world is largely our product. Cambridge Analytica and Bell Pottinger belong(ed) to us; they are gone, but if we look closer, they are around. And while in 2015 American Psychological Association (APA) sacked its chief executive officer, its deputy CEO and its communications chief for their endorsement of torture in the USA, nothing similar has ever happened in public relations community. We have power and we have to take responsibility.
And there is beauty. The world is black and white and all colors in between since its inception. The ways in which it reveals itself to us is in many ways of our doing and seeing. We in public relations are uniquely positioned for the betterment of reality. We have to protect the beauty of the world: life is good.
These are some thoughts from my keynote speech to the 25th annual international public relations research symposium – BledCom, delivered on 6th July 2018 to 175 academics and practitioners from 30 countries by Lake Bled, Slovenia.

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