Minnesota PR Professionals - Are you going to the Alphabet Bash?

I got the email today, the Alphabet Bash is returning again this year.

Here's where I'd like to get some input from my fellow colleagues with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA): do you feel this event is helpful or detrimental?

I've been the last couple years; and the venue is a nice place. As long as I can remember, the event has been at the Epic club in downtown Minneapolis. But, I've found some problems.

First, there are so many organizations that come to this event. I know last year, it was hard for me to find colleagues within the PRSA. Not to say I didn't find any, but they were hard to come by. When you're networking, it gets to be hard when you're a PR professional, and you run into lots of advertising and marketing people.

A colleague of mine told me last year that the PRSA typically has one of the lowest attendances of all the organizations at the ABC Bash.

Second, it seems to me to be a tad loud for quality networking. More than once I've almost felt like I had to yell at the people I was talking to, just to be heard. Well, "yell" might be a little harsh, but you get the idea.

I know that our chapter of the PRSA has semi-monthly networking events, but when I found out about the ABC Bash a few years back, I thought that it might be much more fruitful with a large event to find even more people in the PR industry. I don't think that's the case. Maybe that's just me.

Finally, the cost seems to be a bit high. MNPRSA events are a fraction of the cost of the ABC Bash.

It's nice to meet lots of people, but, when you're looking to get connections with public relations people, I found that the ABC Bash just wasn't the right fit. I will probably find myself at more of the MNPRSA networking events in the future.