It’s so true, as Lana del Rey sings in Margaret, that when you know, you know. For her, it was about relationships ending, but for me, the sentiment applies in a wholly positive way to something recently begun: our PRmoment Leaders learning and networking programme.

When Ben Smith started talking with me about the PRmoment Leaders proposition last year, I quickly agreed with him that it was a no brainer. The idea of building a bespoke subscription-based programme for senior people in PR and comms to enable peer-to-peer networking while anchoring their training in masterclasses delivered by high profile experts felt smart.

But was the need we thought we saw, really there? We engaged Censuswide to survey our target audience and find out. The research results, which I covered in this post, confirmed we were on the right track. Senior PR and comms professionals rated themselves as great practitioners and team leaders but ill-equipped for the business leadership roles they were keen to prepare for.

And so we built out PRmoment Leaders and launched the first agency-side programme. Our first semester is now underway, with masterclasses running on a fortnightly basis.

It’s been gratifying to bring together an impressive cohort of students, including MDs of challenger agencies alongside mostly director-level people from some of the most famous consumer and b2b agencies in the UK. All of them are excited to be learning and are embracing the opportunity to raise their heads above the parapets of their own agencies to hear fresh perspectives and network with peers across the industry within a safe space.

I’m grateful to the agency leaders who have seen the value in our cost-effective proposition and signed up some of their best people to participate. I’m enjoying building relationships with both the leaders and their people on the programme to ensure that it’s win-win proposition for the individuals and the agencies.

Indeed, as I reflect on where we’ve got to so far, I have to say I’m loving becoming an educator. We’ve put together a high end training programme here that includes one-on-one coaching and guidance alongside the masterclasses and other elements of the programme. It feels right, and definitely rewarding.

We’re 100% focused on helping to make the future of the PR industry bright. And we’re really still only just getting started. In response to the interest we’ve received, we’re launching the PRmoment Leaders In-house programme to sit alongside our agency one. The first semester starts in September.

So agency-side people interested in joining can do so at any time. In-house people can register now for that September start.

Contact me directly for more information on will@prmoment.com.