what do you do when the whistle is blown

in my first week in Princess Marina Hospital i was briefed of the daily cores,which centered around handling patients complaints.i familiarized my self with the procedure of doing so and the forms that are used for record of those complaints as i was guided by my intern colleague.i would say these were the very things that stirred the issues surrounding the bad publicity of the Hospital that i raging in all media houses in Botswana.to begin with it was not easy handling very emotional patients,some having to confine very confidential matters with me,and i had to abide by the Ethics and do my job despite the fact that some were elderly people whom i had to listen in respect and advice them on any matters they came in with.

well i knew i was in for it in that very same week when i picked up a phone call and it was from the national Radio,to my surprise after the courtesy of phone answering,my caller responded "you are live on air".i had to swallow the fright that captured me,the first thing of its kind hei.the issue that he handed me was that there is a patient who launched a complaint to the radio station concerning how they were mistreated in Marina,the patient was a foreigner,what happened was she had to pay consultation fee of BWP 100,which is according to the national law of Botswana thereafter she dint get medication because the Hospital was running short of that specific medication but then she was asked to check the medication.on second visit she was asked to pay another fees for that consultation,the question that was posed to me was what do we do on a matter like this one as the PRO? i sincerely answered,we abide by the law that's drafted by the state regarding foreign patients,but for this patient's case,if she was ordered to come collect the medication,she needed not to pay another fees unless the person who consulted her cheated on her or she was seeking consultation for another problem and having to collect the medication as ordered,and it would be an honor if she could have visited our office upon the day of this incident,we could have helped her on it and i kindly asked the reporter to forward the patient to us so we re-asses the matter for her benefit.even though he somehow felt i didn't handle the issue/answer him properly,we agreed on getting the patients names and contacts off-air.

i was caught off guard by i still had to act my role as a PR person,thank God my supervisor who was not in the office then came back to give me a high five because she was listening to the Radio,i was afraid maybe i blew it out of proportion, didn't address it the way they handle things in their office but she was happy with the response i gave.

i would be happy to hear sincere opinions from you guys if i did it well and how you would have acted in that scenario.

THANK YOU!!

GO INTERNATIONAL GROUP WAS MY HEART BEAT

I am now on my last week at Go International Group. I have learnt a lot here and will not regret ever coming here. This was the most important and challenging moment of my life. I like my colleagues so much more so that we have already bonded it wont be easy leaving them, I really had a loving family at work. One thing that I like most is the relationship we had, staying together at lunch, passing jokes in the office and laughing that really made me feel at home. That is what made me effective because I was not nervous to do anything. But when we get back to business we become serious and we always produced good results, that is one of our tactics doing the right things at the right time. When it is time for jokes we have fun and when it is time for work we work. Is that interesting?

This a solution company where people and clients are their asset. We consider our clients needs before ours. We act as a bridge between the company and the public. An organization that also take care of the community and the unleashing the talents of the up coming music bands and individuals.

During my internship there is something that I have learnt and held so dear, GO INTERNATIONAL GROUP WAS PART OF ME. This is what helped me to contribute and be more effective in my organization. I loved it like I loved myself, when I put on make up I also applied make up to it. I believe when you make your organization your heart beat the organization will be successful. That is what I believe in, can we discuss on your experiences and what you think about making your organization your heart beat?

Passion is Everything

Hello once again!

The past week was my fourth week in Bluedale Group of Companies.Well, in terms of tasks I had to complete there was not a lot to do.I had to provide additional information for the website content for the Malaysia Cocoa & Chocolate Day 2010.The event will be on the 15^th-17^th October 2010 in Midvalley Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

It was also an exciting week for the company as their latest Travel 4 Locals latest edition was released, which provide locals with comprehensive information about what to do in and around Klang Valley.(The picture above shows the excerpts from the travel guide).

This week raised an important issue for discussion...Passion. In Bluedale Group of Companies it is amazing to witness their work ethic and energy in doing their work.Then; this raised a conversation with my colleagues about what is the motivation that keeps them going. One of my colleagues said that passion is the motivation behind work, because work alone cannot motivate you to do the best of your ability.However, when you have passion in your job, you give it the best of your ability and it is reflected in your results. This is quite true because there are many challenges to overcome in the industry but when you have passion, it keeps you going. Passion is an important quality if not asset in PR because when you enjoy your work, it will leverage the communication level with all the involved stakeholders.

So what do you think about Passion in the workplace, is it important?

The event does not end on the day of the event

I have always thought that after the event has finished we are done with it. I was totally wrong for having that thought. After preparations before the event and carrying out of the things which were planned there was still more to do. We had an extraordinary event on the 11 July 2010. The bands were rocking Padang Timur, one thing interesting about the event was that we took the upcoming bands to perform to make them popular. This was what Ms Elizabeth Wong said during the Press Conference that through the whole events of Selangor Musical Extavaganza they are going to unleash the talents. There was the performance of the the dance by the Diski dancers, were performing the international song that was chosen for the WORLD CUP WAKA WAKA by SHAKIRA as their main performance song. They performed the other song where they were dancing freestyle that was amazing as they showed the talent they have without being limited by anything. They were allowed to dance however they want as long as they were on tune. There lots of prize to be won through lucky draws and quizzes. I enjoyed the quizzes session as it was interesting, they asked the questions which I knew all the answers but I did not participate as I was one of the organizers because I work for Go International Group. I was responsible for welcoming media, giving them their package and asking them to register. It was not difficult as I am now used to the job because during the past events I did the same work. I have befriended some of them and the work is much easier. I was also responsible for taking some snap photos for the events which were happening on stage. I know felt like a journalist taking everything which may help us to make the report of the event. Through the use of internet technology we are able to show people what was happening even when they were not there. After taking the photo I then upload them to our flicker account. In our flicker account we share photos with the public and the media. For more information visit; http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegogroup/4798328391/ Though it was raining before the event, which affected us because we were in an open stadium our event was a success. After it stopped raining people came and attended the event. This was so awesome as it was the day when there was finals for the world cup. The game was shown on big screens and so many people turned up to watch the match. I also liked this part as it people were cheering the teams that they support. I found it exciting as I was used to watching the world cup matches at home with my family which was not that exciting like at the field with so many people. When the World Cup Finalswere over we had to pack our things and go. After the event we had to write a post mortem analysis. This is were you analysis the mistakes and how you can overcome them and what you have learnt. Acknowledging media is a very crucial thing, I had to email them and theank them for attending the event. Lets discuss, do you think the event end on the day of the event? Thank you very much.

Thrid week at Bluedale Group of Companies

Hello once again!this is my third week at Bluedale and I have learnt quite a lot.I am confident that after 6 weeks I would have a wealth of experience.It is such a great experience that we get to work hands on about what we were taught in class.

This week I was involved in updating the website content for KL-The Guide,which is a travel guide published by the Bluedale Publishing.Basically,the guide helps tourist to be able to navigate around Kuala Lumpur easily,it gives them insightful and comprehensive information about tourist attractions,restaurants to eat in,shopping etc.This task involved in a lot of researching and my supervisor constantly emphasized the need to credit my sources which we have learnt in PR.

Also i had the chance to take the minutes for the general meeting,which helped me understand the importance of a company to constantly discuss issues with their employees.Another important factor the CEO mentioned that it is important for the company to constantly keep in touch with employees,as the basis of a successful company is having effective communication with the employees. Employee relations is one of the contributing factors in the success of the company.It is evident that when employees work in a conducive and nurturing environment they are motivated to produce quality results.

Additionally,professionalism and time management in the real world is not a joke,just like in campus late submission means deduction of marks,in the industry failure to meet deadlines disrupts the operation of the company and may even cost the company money.Most importantly,during my three weeks i have learnt the importance of respecting clients and ensuring that they are given the best service.This is pretty much PR,in that PR is all about maintaining a symmetrical communication with all the relevant stake holders which builds a positive image about the company.Maybe to end my post,i would like to leave something to think about:

What do you think about the role of employee relations in a company?

Cheers!!

Boniface Badubi,LUCT

Life time experience, "Press Conference"

Hellow guys, on my first post I told you about the awesome experience that I'm gaining over here. Now I want to tell you about my awesome company. I'm working at Go International Group situated in Damansara Kim. Its a very busy company and it has weekend events almost every week. I do like event management theory as it is imaginary, you can write whatever you want as long as it makes sense. I remember the exercises we used to do in class and how I used to pass them. I really don't know what has happened now because I see it difficult to plan for the upcoming event, "SELANGOR MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA"

Please help me and tell me how you tackle event planning in the real companies. We went for a press conference in Subang, Grand Dorsett Hotel. The VIP was Elizabeth Wong, Minister of Tourism, Consumer and Environment Committee Chairman. The main reason for the Press Conference was to promote Selangor as a place for Tourism attraction.

She was informing people why they should hold their concerts in Selangor. The theme of the conference was SELANGOR SHINES. The main reason is for the conference was to create awareness of Selangor and the interesting tourism products in the State. This was a good way of informing media about the upcoming event that will be held on the 26^th June to 18^th July 2010. Then the media will let the public to know.

Media list was updated so that media can be invited. As I already told you in the last blog about all the challenges I faced when updating he media list I still faced the same problems. We also prepared press releases, media advisory and the fact sheets to be issued to the media during the conference. Media releases, fact sheets and media advisories where prepared both in Malay and English to cater for all.

During the press conference I was in charge of the media. I asked them to register, gave them their package and showed them where to seat. It was an interesting press conference because it was not that formal. That is when I discovered that formal press conferences are boring and not interesting. The informal Press Conference is interesting and grasps more people’s attention. Music bands were also invited to entertain guests and media.

All I can say is that I had a great time in my first encounter with Press conference. Here are some of the photos of the Press Conference.

Ms Elizabeth Wong- Minister of Tourism, Consumer and Environment Committee Chairman.

One of the band which entertained guests

Second Week at Bluedale Group of Companies

Hi once again!

This had been the second week at Bluedale Group of Companies,and it has been quite a productive and busy week.I was assigned to write a pre press release and media questions and answers for an upcoming event in October.It was an eye opening experience to learn the practical side of the logistics of organizing event,more especially the preparations before the event.Even though the event is not near,the company is serious about the preparations to ensure the success of the event. Furthermore,I am so excited to contribute towards making the event a reality.

This week also I had a chance of putting all the writing and research skills are learnt from my PR modules into practice. Surprisingly,my supervisor emphasized about the important of research and referencing which has been like our daily bread throughout our course.I guess this shows that theory is important and relevant into helping you transition into practical work.

I am so happy for the opportunity to be able to put into practice what i have learnt,and waiting to gain a whole lot more.

Cheers

Boniface Badubi,LUCT

First Week at Bluedale Group of Companies

Hello Everyone!

After the challenging process of finding an internship, I finally secured an internship in Bluedale Group of Companies located in Petaling Jaya. Bluedale is a growing media company which was established in 2000, and it has become a reputable media specialist company in Malaysia. It has four major units, Bluedale Integrated which deals with media planning for clients, Bluedale Media which deals with outdoor media such as billboards, Bluedale Events and Consultants which organizes events on behalf of clients and finally there is Bluedale Publishing which has published the popular free KL guide and another local KL guide edition. In short, Bluedale provides all media solutions under one roof to clients.

The reality of working is a big shift from the flexibility of being a student and studying PR as a subject. In Bluedale they have a very high standard of work ethic, but at the same time being fun and friendly to make a conducive working environment. Everyone was willing to assist me wherever I had difficulty, which has been a motivation for me to gain as much experience as possible during my placement.

Since the company is a group of companies, currently I am working under Bluedale Integrated which handles client’s media planning especially booking for advertising space and time. To begin with, I was assigned to check the library and list all the newspapers and other publications for each country. Then I had to update the overseas rate card which shows the advertising rates for different overseas media outlets. The most interesting task was requesting for the rate cards from the overseas media outlets, this was putting to test my theory of writing and communicating with people. During this task I learned the value of professionalism when communicating with clients, such as keeping the e-mail professional by including your designation and company information.Furthermore,professionalism is not only to the external environment but it was demonstrated through the communication of staff with each other.

Additionally, I had the chance of attending a staff meeting where I was introduced and had a chance to experience how a meeting in the real work field is conducted. Another task that I was assigned was to write a pre press release for an upcoming event which is handled by the Bluedale Event & Consultants.

Internship is such a great experience and it is also challenging because it is the first time having the feel of PR in the field.

I am looking forward for the coming weeks and making the most of the experience. Bluedale is the right platform for me to explore how the media industry and Public Relations operate.

Cheers!!!

Boniface Badubi, LUCT

Play a bunch of flutes 'doos? nope Men in Tutus

21st December 2009

Hey everyone, this will make my second entry for the blog and I have been assigned to which show to do.

The show is mainly targeted for adults, ages 24+ in particular.

The part where it completely caught me off-guard was the show itself I was making an acknowledgment to.

The upcoming show will be called Men In Tutus.


....wait what? Yeah, exactly what I said and without hesitation,
Men In Tutus.
The group is called Les Ballet Grandiva,

of course the title itself will have ideas going through your minds; whether it's guys in ballerina tutus, pointy shoes, bright-pink colored outfits, feminity involved in their personality and etc.

Well half of it might be true, but it's definitely more than that.

Les Ballet Grandiva consist male comedy ballet with both male and female roles being performed in classical and contemporary ballets.

They were formed by a promotional Japanese company, ZAK Corporation in 1996 by president Kyoichi Miyazaki whom had Suguru Saito chosen to be company manager and Victor Trevino to be artistic director. Afterwards, the company grew and widely grew throughout Australia, China, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States.

These ballerinO's are fully dedicated to their craft with no slacking and we can only go so far without giving any type of acknowledgement towards these performers ahead from our common-stereotypical mentality. Well, they can sure demonstrate it through the outcome of the shows they've performed so far, one in particular on last year's performance.

Take my word, they shattered pretty much every one of my expectation regarding this show being only full of humorous-comedic joke, instead they got out and performed with full dedication and passion on stage.
Performing in different groups, different ethnicity's, different personalities and just a complete mix of styles yet done professionally. Having to do a second performance clearly states where their reputations stand now and where much of their success lies in, the fans.

Les Ballets Grandiva's main objective is to maintain the integrity and increase the male quality of comedy ballet in efforts to establish as a legit, valid and respectable art form.

My underestimation vanished pretty quick, 0__O ... wild huh?? I'm guessing I wouldn't be the first to have the same type of reaction towards this show and the performers, but much credit for them to prove me along with everyone else absolutely wrong.


I had the chance to checkout the stage the performers were going to take place in, located at the KLPAC and much thanks to my supervisor for giving the opportunity to take a quick tour of the whole stage.

Very spacious for the performers to work with because this is the first time I've seen a stage with a platform same-leveled as the audience sitting at the nearest to the stage. So it's almost like having a 3D real-life performance that you're watching on your comfortable chair, which is very interesting to know.

My tasks so far are:

• Getting to know each of the performers background
• Acknowledge the Les Ballets Grandiva company
• Coordinate each of the performers layouts for their e-Newsletters
• To take time to fully recognize and remember which performers are which, because their normal look and their ballet performer look are waaaay beyond comparison, trust me.

As time goes by, getting the hang of knowing each of the dancers profile and checking their video performances impresses me about how these performers really are and made me learn my lesson:

No matter who you are or what you are, when it's time to work whatever type of
job you have, you will strive to success with no excuses holding you
back.


To close out the entry ...

Something that came across outside of the KLPAC theatre that I found interesting. It seems to be a sculptured furniture made from wire mash bench made for anyone who wants to take a seat and have a sight see of the beautiful KLPAC lake behind at the same time, plus it was my very first time seeing this type of sculptured furniture! :D

Well that's all for my second entry guys, thanks for reading and hope to hear feedback from everyone!

Until next time!

-Rui

if you're interested in finding out more about Men In Tutus and KLPAC check these sites out:

Les Ballets Grandiva

http://www.grandivaonline.com/index.html

Men In Tutus
http://www.gardnerandwife.com/09_menintutus.asp

KLPAC (Location Map shown):
http://www.klpac.com/

celebration of Chinese New Year

The 2 weeks before had been uneventful. Owing to the celebration of Chinese New Year. So this week was my second last week and I spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday completing press releases and handling the particulars of a charity event, "The World Boold Donor Day." The event was to be held on the 14th of June 2010 but I wont be around at that time. I was simply given the task of market research and figuring out what was appealing to the public. I had the responsibility of designing a gifts for the donors and had come to the conclusion that an armband would suffice. Several charities use rubber armbands to represent certain movements (Lance Armstrong had "Live Strong", a yellow armband that signified the fight against testicular cancer) and I planned to make a red armband to promote the donation of blood for world blood doner day. Most of the week was spent meeting up with designers and companies that produced supplies.

TAP signing

This week had been a pretty hectic week, especially near the end. There were 2 events that were the highlights of my week. Namely the TAP signing on Wednesday 27th of January 2010 held at the Rizqun Hotel and the Consumer Fair held from Friday 29th January until the 31st.

The TAP signing came first. I was given the responsiblity to handle more than I did than in the previous weeks and for that I realized that my role as strategist changed to both strategist and practitioner. On Tuesday, I had made the preparations for the event; creating Press Releases, Preparing the neccessary documents and materials for the event, booking the venue, getting the momento (which is like a plaque to commemorate the event, presented to the guest of honor) and evenn preparing the door gifts. It was refreshing, to know that my supervisors thought that I was capable of handling more. The guest of honor was the Minister of Energy from the Prime Minister's office and although the idea seemed daunting, I had to push myself to do it. There was even a tiny hiccup during the event where the momento had not arrived, even when the guest of honor had but luckily the problem was resolved before any of the guests had any idea. Overall, my supervisors thought that it was quite a success. She mentioned that the faster the event goes, the more successful it is. I both agree and disagree with her comment. Agree because as far as conventional wisdom goes, the sooner an event ends, the less likely there are to be hitches. Yet i disagree, owing to the fact that measuring the success of an event through the speed of execution alone would not garner a specific data that can be used for future references.

For the weekend, it was the Consumer fair. The exhibition allowed me to network with various individuals in the private sector of Brunei. I was asked to handle the Baiduri Booth and the aim of our booth was to promote financial responsibilty amongst the public. I had to study certain financial theories (which is quite an experience since I have no background in Finance in my entire academic career) to be prepared to let the public know how to manage money responsibly. By this time, I realized that my role was now not a strategist but more of a practitioner.

Journal Entry

Hi everyone. This would be my second official blog entry. As you can tell, I havent been able to post any blogs during my internship but i've managed to compile a journal. There have been a few instances during my internship that have been uneventful; I was asked to help do some light administrative work during these time. So the focus of my upcoming blog entries would revolve around weeks where there has been any activities.

So here we go...

18th January 2010 to 24th January 2010
The beginning of this week was spent following up on a few designs for an upcoming brochure. However the highlight of this week was the i - Banking Prize presentation held at our Baiduri Bank Branch in Kiarong.

The event was held on Wednesday 20th January 2010. I spent most of Tuesday writing and amending the Press Release to be given out for the event. After many write ups, an approved Press Release was finally obtained.

The Prizes for the event was presented to the winners by Baiduri's GM, Mr Pierre Imhof. It was a bit of a disappointment though when on the day itself, the press had not decided to come so we had to resort to faxing the Press Releases. This is when I learned that things dont always go 'by the book' but there you go. Still, I managed to get to know the various contacts of the Bruneian Media and for that I was quite pleased.

THE LAST CHAPTER:PR POWER

HI ALL

Finally, its the end of a long journey that I took to experience the power of public relations field. I tell you it has been a great time with challenges and new things to learn. Thanks to technology, we don't have to go to quite the same exhausting lengths to get our messages across, but we must still grapple with the complexities of human interaction in seeking to be heard and understood. Getting the tone, language, approach and timing of how an important piece of news is passed on from one person to the next remains as relevant a process now,as it was in 400 BC.

I would like to say we are more accountable, more accessible, more vulnerable than ever before, and managing how we interact with the outside world can no longer be left to chance. In our organizations I have really learned that god PR doesn't merely rely on somebody else to provide the expertise:it also depends upon you. It's true that companies that use PR uses to the greatest effect are those that take it into the very heart of organizations. They think, breathe and live PR as an inextricable part of their businesses, just tto mention a few; our department of waste management, pollution and control is one of those.

Well, I would also like to say I gave my recommnedations on the department; on how they can improve their activities and programs and I was able to recommend new ones to enhance their brand profile as well as to portray good iconic status their Deartment as well as to the ministry level. I have nothing more to say, I just want to thank you all who contributed and shared their experiences with me during their internship period. I really wish you the best of luck and blessings.Thank you.
Regards

Linchwe

What’s good on the inside shows on the outside

Quite frequently (approx. twice a week, in fact) the Guest Relations department have their regular motivational sessions at the meeting room nearby my department. These meetings would include mini-prizes, motivational talks, etc. They’re probably more flamboyant than we are; and I thought the communications department was the noisiest.

If we remember our lessons on the importance of internal relations as a part of PR, this company acknowledges the importance of raising employee morale through so many methods. For instance, I’m very much allowed to come to work in my hoodie, jeans, and sneakers because there’s no mandatory dress code that says you have to dress like you’re going to a job interview (unless you’re attending a formal event).
So you can imagine I looked quite odd on my first day of work but managed to adapt by day 2.

Companies that work closely with customers will deal with all kinds of clients and users. This includes having to handle the daily stresses of being yelled at, complained to, demanded of impossible things, etc. But, as the saying goes, “The customer is always right”.

Do you think regular motivational activities increase productivity?
Does comfort and casual dressing make work more fun?

Fatiha - LUCT

INTERNAL RELATIONS COMMUNICATION ARE VITAL

Hi! Guys

I started works as in internship at a Cleaning and Hygiene company called MODITHITO in Botswana. It is a fairly large company that specializes in offering cleaning services for a quite large number of big companies, numerous government organizations the list extending to even big shopping malls. Modithito is now established and have branches in four different places in Botswana being the capital city Gaborone, Francistown that is another city and two other towns, Selebi-Phikwe and Palapye. Up to today, the company has grown to be an employer of close to 200 employees.

For the company strength, it now partners with other international companies in African countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Namibia and others which they are still putting effort. I guess it helps the company to acquire any news and keep updated with whatsoever latest technology in the cleaning industry. Modithito offers a number of cleaning and hygiene services, the list includes office cleaning, high rise window cleaning, chemical suppliers, pest control, car wash etc. in most companies Modithito attach cleaners and then supply them with necessary equipment and chemicals at the same time managing and supervising them while attached to their area of operation

I got there at a very critical moment when the company was re-branding itself. They where getting new uniform for working stuff, changing their long served logo design giving it a brand new look. The company was also changing a few things on the operational system and management. It has been like that for a long period of time since its birth, since now they have grown to become one of the largest if not the largest in the country, it has become hard to manage this bigger scale the same way it was done when they first came. It wanted to create a system which a system which will facilitate effectiveness and productivity at the same time giving promised services with guaranteed customer satisfaction placed upfront. The company is going to start by working on organizing and improving internal relations with its employees emphasizing desired work ethics. After it is organized then it will start creating external relations with its publics, as well as strengthening the already existing relationship with its key publics.

However the company PR sector is still young and growing since it is only operates form the headquarters in Gaborone which makes it not an easy task to communicate directly with other branch leaders unless they have to travel to directly address them. Otherwise they rely on fax, phone and email to communicate as the company website is still under construction.

Here I witnessed the essential of communication in the public relation field. That without proper channels of communication you are doomed even from the slightest mistake you might take for granted. Employee relations or internal relations are vital for the company to succeed in the outside world because everything has to be organized. Sometimes you find that the company looses tenders because only one person knew about it then they were not available at the time or that one thinks the job is done while another did not know who is supposed to be doing the work.

Otsetswe Sedimo

LUCT (Malaysia)

Pitch Document, Brainstorming and Event

A pitch document is a short letter which is normally used to accompany press release or press kits. It’s just tremendous the way I am learning in PDQ, for a pitch manuscript to be fascinating it should have an appealing story angle. I was given a task on writing a pitch document for Client X which when dispensed to me I was like I will give it an endeavor before I even ask on how to do it. I wrote it unaided and emailed it to my supervisor who went through it only to find trivial errors, I was so delighted to get the congratulation remarks.

In many occurrences we get to disregard inconsequential steps on writing some documents but when you memorize them wedged into the brain eternally. The other thing that I have done during the course of the week is being part of the brainstorming for the Strategies, how to build a relationship between media, corporate segments and media involved for Client W. Saying whatever you think might be advantageous to the team is brilliant because they get to correct you whenever you are erroneous. We brainstormed this because Client W is a new client for the company so we were asked to help with new ideas. Before that we had another brainstorming for Client Z which included coming up with taglines for their products for Valentine’s day and also for Chinese New year which was more interesting, mind that I am not familiar with Chinese language nor my colleagues are, but we came up with a suggestion of spicing up with the Chinese tagline which was more attention-grabbing.

Having knowledge about local (Malaysia) newspapers is more advanced because you will not get jammed on the way asking yourself which magazine to use for that certain client. Apart from Chinese and Malaysian newspapers, I read English newspapers and I am now familiar with most of them and their contents.
Luncheon is one of the events to attract media, we had one on Wednesday for Client F and the main purpose of the luncheon was to build a relationship with the media and Client F. The preparations were done before I even came to the company but I was able to get what the luncheon was all about.

I still believe that for someone to learn more, he or she should communicate with the superiors or the superintendent and when given work firstly give it a try before you can even ask for help in that way you will have two documents in hand the first try and the finalized one after discussion. You have a probability of viewing them whenever given something linked or parallel to that.
I think I have improved my writing skills if you can view my first post and compare it with this one, it really shows the difference and I am proud to say I am almost there, the journey is still on.

MEDIA MONITORING, MEDIA TRACKING AND MEDIA CALLS

Hello everyone, My name is Tiny and I am one of the interns and your colleague too. I am attached to the Public Relations company known as PDQ. I Just started my industrial training few days ago but it seems like I have 2 months there. I would like to say PDQ is open when it comes to their interns, communication wise. Upon completion of my industrial training I should be exposed to the following areas with PDQ: Media monitoring, Organizing Press events (if any during training period), Drafting Press Release, Liaising with Press, Reporting, Creative Development Procedures, Client Liaison, Contact Reports, meeting Coordination, Research, Job briefs (if any during training period, work in Progress, Liaising with other internal Departments and proposals/quotations to clients. (the list is endless) that is why I am saying its like I have 2 months. Before I go further, PDQ have many clients and this makes us more active and meet the deadlines.

So to start with, there is what is termed media monitoring in Public Relations, It is the activity of monitoring the output of the print and broadcast media if you all remember from our PR classes. In the morning, before I even sit on my chair, I grab one newspaper or two to my table I am expected to go through the newspaper and find the articles related to the clients that PDQ deals with, cut out the article, scan and save under the particular file of the client. The purpose of media monitoring is to analyse and provide feedback to our clients in the form of press clippings, daily monitoring reports and media analysis. It also helps us to have access to news information created by the media . The other importance is to create a link between the media and their audience, I like this because someone cannot escape the media monitoring which takes an hour or so.

Apart from media monitoring there is media tracking, this is whereby the attendance if I may call it that way, is taken after reading the newspaper, I have to record that Tiny Tshukudu has read this certain newspaper and others as they follow. I had no experience on media tracking it sounds fun because if you do not read a newspaper it will show at the end. Enough about media monitoring and media tracking.

Following the media or calling the media is another stressful task ever, but I have built my confidence on this one. Someone has to be patient because you might not understand the language they are using but you have to go over and over again till the two of you understand each other.

I would like to say there is still more to come this was just to pass by, like I said before the above mentioned are my training schedule. Oh!!! before I forget communication in PDQ is of high standard, I cannot complain on their communication, its ever busy in the office.

Wait for more from me because I am still working on something which will be beneficial to you all when I bring it to the table for discussion.

Have a blessed and productive week ahead.
Tiny Diakanyeng

A Recipe for Failure: Absence of Professional Etiquette

Hello everybody. As I have mentioned before I work for this INGO in Malaysia and I had a remarkable week, since I learned a lot, but I will focus on one point here which is as follow:

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at YOURSELF and then make the change."

YES! I work in this remarkable ‘professional environment’ where colleagues don’t even bother to greet each other in any ways. That is to say, there neither is a simple ‘Hi’ nor a plain ‘Bye’ going on in the beginning or end of any day. And if you do so- I mean greet your colleagues-, they will stare at you like a dead soul really.

That’s not the end of story: Forgive me but burping openly in the public is not a matter of concern here and it is not uncommon in Malaysia to ‘burp’ in the middle of discussion with someone, even if that person is a representative of a famous media outlet chatting with you in the refreshment area of a media conference- personally observed BTW. Now thinking about other side of the story… imagine how much my colleagues are proud of themselves and their NGO’s CSR code in providing ‘us’ the chance to work in this ‘professional’ environment! The truth is that they are not aware of the impressions, the negativity and the bad memories which they can bring on for their international interns simply because most of these fellows are not even graduated in social science or anything even close to PR or any sort of these combinations and yet they are so confident doing it!

“You are a sensitive boy, Ali” someone may say after reading all this, but let me bring forward an excerpt of a book called Global business etiquette: a guide to international communication and customs to show the importance of the issue:

“Many international guests in united states find the question “how are you?” to be insincere. As one Israeli women observed “no matter if your children are on drugs, you spouse is leaving you, and you have just declared bankruptcy, you are expected to smile and say ‘everything is great!’ Why do Americans ask if they don’t really want to know?” Americans do not mean to be insincere. The question “how are you?” is simply a pleasantry and an example of the greeting rituals typical of people in the United States. (p.25)“

The truth of matter is, business etiquette is not a marginal issue in global communications. It is a crucial one indeed and it can turn communications into grave crises in a blink of an eye. I suggest you to check out this online book where you can find superb examples of wonderful opportunities that turned into nightmares, due to the lack of PR etiquette.

PR, like all communication activities, is a sensitive activity and etiquette is a part of PR’s ‘adaptation’ principle. In other words, etiquette is a gauge or I would call ‘a motif’ towards harmony between an organization and its internal or external publics and it shows how successful your organization has been in making hits. No global PR etiquette, no hit, no outcome. Above all etiquette is part of professionalism too.

This week’s experience proved to me that if Int’l organizations can’t establish effective communications with their own staff and their internal desks, they should not expect to see success in other aspects of their communication activities. And my future post would be a case study of such failure.

Best regards,

Ali (LUCT)