THE PUBLIC RELATIONS SOCIETY OF AMERICA has a Philadelphia chapter that is one of its largest, with more than 450 members. The group has a code of ethics and offers professional development (via podcasts, tele-seminars and standard panel discussions) as well as mentoring, networking and a job bank. Its leaders could discuss trends in this fast-changing field.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS has a Department of Strategic and Organizational Communication that educates students in public communication and public relations. The faculty teaches not only p.r. but "Strategic Communications Planning," "Crisis Communications" and "Reputation Management." Their professional articles include "Chaos Theory as a Model for Managing Issues and Crises" and "How 'Bad' PR Decisions Get Made: A Roster of Faulty Judgment Heuristics."

VISTA MARKETING STRATEGIES is a representative p.r. firm that says it provides "out of the box" strategies to clients.

THE ZADEH GROUP says it caters to "the unique needs of smaller businesses that want a la carte public relations services without the high costs typically quoted by large agencies."