This week on Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley interview Abbie Fink about the PRSA Counselors Academy Conference and what makes it special.

If you run a PR agency, you know that it can be hard to find expert advice that relates directly to our business. One conference fills this gap. The PRSA Counselors Academy Conference brings together owners and managers of public realtions agencies across North America for two days of sessions focusing on the business of PR.

Abbie says the Counselors Academy conference is about “being a better owner, a better manager, discovering new ways to do business development and revenue streams … the management side of running a public relations practice.” The magic of this gathering, according to Abbie, is that business owners come together and share their experiences and knowledge freely with one another on business issues. How do they set billable hours? How do they determine when to bring on another employee? How do they deal with problematic clients? Under what circumstances would they fire a client?

At Counselors Academy, business leaders set aside their status as competitors in order to advance the collective whole, the public relations consulting industry. Says Abbie, “If I can help another PR agency owner look at or do something in a different way and they become better at what they do, that’s good for our industry as a whole.”

The next Counselors Academy Conference will take place May 6 to 8, 2012 in New Orleans. And Inside PR’s Martin Waxman is co-chairing this year’s conference with Dana Hughens. You can be sure that I’ll be there along with the senior leaders of my company.