19
March
2020
|
07:50
Europe/Amsterdam

MEPRA COVID Statement

Dear MEPRA Community,

As communications professionals, we are all well aware of the ongoing concerns surrounding the spread and impact of COVID-19.

We understand that our members will have increased responsibilities to communicate with stakeholders, clients and staff on activities and policies for their own organisations.

Our priorities at this time as your association is the health of our staff, our members and their families and to support you in your professional lives. We have developed a Resource Hub to keep our industry connected, which will include information developed by your board, MEPRA members and partners to support the profession at a time when the importance of clear and ethical communication is vital. We encourage all members to share and contribute ways in which they are communicating and supporting stakeholders at this time.

Due to the uncertainty about the continued trajectory of the virus, we made the decision to postpone a few of our key events scheduled for the first half of the year, this includes the Abu Dhabi Majlis, CARMA Measurement Workshop, Student Pitch Challenge and our MEPRA Academy training sessions. We are hoping to host these events in the second half of the year and we will continue to be guided by the UAE and regional governments on these decisions.

We are offering MEPRA Academy training online, with our first webinar on IGTV Strategy and Content to take place on the 25th March. You can sign up for our webinars here.

MEPRA's 'The Brief' podcast, will include an episode next week with representatives from agencies and in-house teams discussing how they are navigating these unprecedented circumstances and sharing their thoughts and advice for the industry.

At this difficult time, we are focused more than ever on bringing people together and supporting each other. We are inviting you to share relevant resources or best practice guides to include in the resource hub which can support the wider industry so we can get through this together. Part of MEPRA's mission is to promote industry standards, share knowledge and build the capabilities of professionals in the region. Together we will weather this storm.

If you would like to contribute resources, tips or guides on communicating through this time to support our industry, please email Sabrina at sabrina@mepra.org. You can view our resources hub here.

From all of us in the MEPRA team, we wish you, your families and all your clients strong health at this time.