Time To Say Goodbye: PR 393 Internship

They say we meet to part and part to meet. Until when you have bonded so much with an environment and suddenly have to leave, you don't know the true meaning behind that say.

Hi fellow interns!

After a short lived month, I finally had to come to the end of my enjoyed and educative journey. Time to say good bye to my fellow work mates at Office of The President arrived before I knew it.

It has been a very good experience putting theories I learnt in class in practice. I salute Curtin University for giving us this opportunity to prepare us for the harsh and tough world out there before we can actually face it all. Job hunting wont be easy but at least we all know what to expect.

Back to business though, the last of my days where more focused on planning upcoming events, in which one was going to be held on March 1st. I was asigned to help draft a media plan for that day which I did and later on my bosses went through it and told me it was indeed impressive and that they will make a few corrections before sending it in.

In that whole month, I realized PR was not only based on theory but it was in the  heart of an individual practitioner. If it feels right, then it definitely is right but if you feel its wrong then it is wrong on the next person as well. So it is basically the values and morals of an individual practitioner guiding them to do right by their stakeholders.

One more thing I came to uncover true is that the public are the ones who build an organization or company and they have the power to break it into pieces, that is to say, one good word that spreads around about a certain organization paints it 'good' but if one bad word spreads, the organization is doomed. That cleared, I realize it is good to communicate, keep the public in the loop and not darkness because once they start assuming, nothing goes right.

Am glad I had the chance to do this placement because then I saw Public Relations in different eyes and it was a great experience.

I should really say, I enjoyed my time with everyone and I do hope we meet again soon. 

It was indeed nice to share what I went through, done and learnt with you guys and I hope you have rather enjoyed my posts.

Neo here, thank you all.

I SAY ITS ETHICAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hie everyone!

It has been a little too long since my last post but worry not, am here now to share once again with you my experiences as an intern.

As I have said in my first post, Office of the President (OP), where I was doing my internship is dedicated to serving the nation hence the nation of Botswana its first priority. That having being said, the PR department in OP also follow suit, it's main key publics are the communities of Botswana. Their objectives include making the people of Botswana a happy nation, listening to their cries and helping wipe the tears off.

During my days at OP as I watched the way we treated the nation and how much the office was dedicated to giving out to them, I started wondering off back to school but specifically on the ETHICS topic. Ethics as I understood are a set of principles that govern the behavior of a person or a group of people. The question that popped in my head was, is what OP is doing ethical or not? Are they buying the people off or just doing what is good for their publics?

But as days went by, I started to realize that we were only doing our job, it is the dedication of the office and that is how we archive our goals. I say 'we' because for some time there I was part of the team and I still like to think of myself as one. All that the PR department does in OP, for the nation and for the President himself, is support their mission and vision. If they were undergoing any crisis, I would think they were trying to buy someone off but they do all those community service events any other time, they listen to what the public is in need of and help where they can. That is not morally wrong, in fact, it is morally right to stand by what you do for the good of long term outcomes.

We all know that somehow in the lines of being ethical, the organization is building a good name for itself and even though some people may consider that using key publics, I don't think there is any better way of doing that and there is no day a random person will not go out of their way to think negatively. I once asked my boss why they pamper the nation of Botswana so much and he told me that the PR department in OP is not like PR in other organizations or PR consultants because unlike those, what they leave the office having in mind might be changed when they get back in the office the next morning depending on communities all over Botswana, they serve them and they do right by them.

In a nut shell, i do not think OP is unethical to stand by what they do best. But your opinion matters so WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Untill next time, Neo signing out.

Ethical considerations in Public Relations

The practice of Public Relations is intertwined with the observation of ethical codes. This is because the profession on its own largely engages a number of people being different stakeholders for an organization.

Therefore, managed and considerate communications should be practiced in the field as it is the universal common law of human interaction. Also, with good mannered and ethical Public Relations personnel, an organization can create strong ties with different stakeholders, acknowledging the professional and ethical conduct of the Public Relations officer.

Communication in Public Relations goes far beyond mere talk. Its communication feature entails written documents as well as spoken words, therefore, careful scrutiny has to be done to the choice of words used as it can either make or break the organization’s image, performance as well as the productivity level of socio-economic ties of the organization.

Nonetheless, sometimes Public Relations people are wedged in a situation that presents ethical issues in a challenging and distinctive way. These are situations where the PR practitioner will be caught in between protecting the organization’s reputation and brand image and at the same time protecting the integrity towards the public and upholding the trust that the public has for the organizations. It is such cases when the dilemma presents both sides as ethical decisions to make.

Thus, PR practitioners have to ensure they advance the flow of true and accurate information, protect private and confidential information, avoid conflict of interest and work to strengthen the public’s trust towards the organization. When such cases arise, where there is need for accurate information that would jeopardize the organization’s trust from its publics, a practitioner should avoid saying ‘no comment’ and being quick to close the public and media out of the picture.

It is that ‘no comment’ that creates room for speculation and rumors, which spread vigorously like fire with no good end to the organization’s reputation. It is better to admit impediments and apologize, taking responsibility of the cause and owning up to responsibility for finding a resolution. It may not represent the organization well, but the public will eventually acknowledge the sincerity of the organization and pledge back their loyalty. Unlike if they do not and the issue drags n with media and activist groups ‘attacking’ the organization.

In a nutshell, it can be said that prevention is better than cure. That it is best to always keep on the good side, but at times crisis come our way even on the good side, then there will be need to resolve the problem in the most decent, humane and ethical manner. Therefore, practitioners should zero in on putting values and principles into play for daily tasks and challenges.

IS THERE ANYTHING LIKE ‘EXCESSIVE CSR ‘IN PR?

As my internship tenure drew near to its last days, I asked my supervisor the above question and was intrigued by it. The reason why I asked him was because throughout my time in the Corporation, whenever we go for CSR project handovers, members of the public would pass remarks that we have come to give them free t-shirts and other incentives (more like enticements in this case) then find the next victimized family to build a house for or groceries. That kept me wondering whether such is a complaint or compliment.

My supervisor then asked me to ponder whether it would be best to stop giving out the freebies during CSR handing over ceremonies or just continue. Well, for some time I thought it depends on the kind of people you are giving to; whether they are grateful or ungrateful. Then finally, I realized it is not about who is being given what but how loyal are you to your key publics. Yes, critics will be there, but they are meant for the Corporation to realize its flaws and create room for improvement.

The Corporation is known to give out goodie-bags whenever they go out to the public during events. On the other hand, the public always expect the Corporation to bring some goodies for them, so their expectations are always met. Such comments can mean two things;

1.   

   The comment is a complaint, therefore there is need for improvement, for instance – change t-shirts to umbrellas or water bottles.

OR

2.      The comment is a compliment, which would suggest loyalty of the Corporation to its key publics so much that they already understand how it operates with its loyal clientele.

Nonetheless, it is the duty of the Corporation to carry out research in order to decide what to do, but for this discussion, I would like you to ponder on the scenario and ask yourself as a PR student whether we can say there are times when Organizations should just lay back and not do much for the public (whether it is big CSR projects or just mere giving of small corporate gifts)? Can we ever say a deed is too little to be appreciated and stop doing it? Or should the Corporation remain loyal to its cause and do it anyway? Ponder on that.

Responsibilities that comes with PR: Community Service Day

Whoever said it was easy must have been on the wrong side of Public Relations but again, who said it wouldn't be quite an experience.

During the period I was an intern, I was reminded a lot of almost everything that is PR related that  I have learnt in class. In my placement journey, we dealt so much with corporate social responsibility (CSR). According to (European Commission, 2011) corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society. And  to fully meet their social responsibility, enterprises should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders.

In any organisation, key publics matter and should be made to feel so. Since the Government of Botswana is entitled to take care of the nation in support of their vision and mission, Office of the President has a responsibility to the nation and are doing their level best to show they care. This organisation serves the nation hence socially responsible. 

It is not just a matter of good deeds for the nation, but OP also gets feedback through interviews which are normally carried out in a variety of events as a way of finding out how the people of Botswana feel about certain things hence a two-way communication. 

During my fantastic experience, as a PR intern in OP, I have learnt that in every two months there is a community service day event, held in random parts of Botswana as a way to extend a helping hand to different communities. It is with great pleasure to mention that i was fortunate enough to have been involved in the planning of the February 1st 2013 event. The target audience for this event was the President, members of the parliament and communities at large. 

For two weeks I joined two PRO's as we went to different villages in the outskirt of Gaborone (The capital city of Botswana). During these trips we went to Village Kgotlas (traditional law court), Government owned schools, post offices, shelters, charity homes and local clinics. The point was to check if the buildings were in good condition or if workers had any complaints of their working conditions. 

I had the opportunity to see the sufferings and joy of my fellow country men.All this made me realise that being a government employee especially in the PR department could not be easy. Somehow we did not have enough time on our hands so we had to utilize the time we had, so trust me when I tell you time management is one important aspect of Public Relations. 

Since we did not have much time to come up with something big, and two weeks down the drain, we settled for the best option, a park (Tsholofelo park) in Gaborone. The park is where an African of Tswana origin who died in 1830, El Negro, was buried (El Negro's body was stolen and has been displayed for 170years in a museum in Spain before it was discovered and sent back to Botswana for a proper burial). 

Activities of the day were, tree planting, foundation laying, slashing of grass E.T.C. while ministers and the president took part in doing all those. 

Community farmers were encouraged to come and sell their fruits and vegetables as a way of helping themselves. At the end of the day, the job was well done and the event was a success. It was indeed an eye opening experience on the PR industry. I felt honored though to have interacted with ministers but mostly the President himself. 

Until next time, keep reading and enjoying my experiences with me. 

Below are pictures from the community service day: 

                  

                

            Minister of Education, Hon. Mrs. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi Trimming a tree at Tsholofelo Park

Right: His Excellency the president of Botswana Lt. Genereal Seretse Khama Ian Khama with one of the elders at Tsholofelo Park

                

Some of the Community members slashing the grass at Tsholofelo Park during the community service day

                                      

                                              H.E with some ministers slashing grass at Tsholofelo park

  

         Ministers at work with the foundation mixture during the community service day

                                                                                                                                                             

IS INTERNAL RELATIONS SIGNIFICANT TO PUBLIC RELATIONS ?

Every organization is susceptible to going through crisis and often times during such a phase, everyone thinks Public Relations people have to control the situation to uphold the organization’s integrity. We think of external stakeholder communications, press conferences, media monitoring etc. but ponder on this, do most people ever consider thorough communication within the organization?

Many are times when a conclusion will be made that the staff briefing and emails sent to employees on the intranet email listing is enough. The important idea that employees are the main internal stakeholders doing the daily manual work, which raises the organization to success, seems to elude the Communications Departments. Exhaustive communication and updates should be done at all times to ensure that the staff is at par (in terms of crisis main details) with the rest of the other stakeholders.

This is because employees are ambassadors of the organization everywhere they go. They represent the organization regardless of their office rank, if they are known to be a part of an organization; they are among the first people to be interviewed by random individuals of the public. If such happens and the employee is not well equipped with accurate information, then there is a cause for concern. This is because employee communications about the organization to outsiders can significantly affect the organization’s reputation and effectiveness hence precise information has to be communicated to the staff to arm them with the shield of truth for the benefit of the organization.

However, not all information has to be disclosed to employees as some may act as internal activists during crisis. This can only create untimely issues for the organization. Therefore, concise and precise briefings have to be conducted to keep the staff updated. This will make them feel like a part of the organization, that they have been thought off and are being considered as victims as well. The employees will return the ethical gesture by being true to their organization, if not, their conscience will convict them.

Finally, leadership-employee relations will be strengthened. When employees trust their leadership, there is an aura of tranquility during trying times of crisis. Work becomes almost as normal knowing that the leaders are steering the organization in the right direction. Good internal communications does play an important role in crisis management within the ambassadors of the organization, who have the ability to uphold the organization’s reputation and improve effectiveness amidst catastrophic situations. Consequently, internal communications is undeniably significant to public relations because if it is not fully monitored, the work that Public Relations people do during crisis will not bear fruit if employees decide to represent the organization in a destructive manner.

FIRST DAY DOES NOT MEAN FREE DAY

Hello everyone, my name is Faith and I study at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia. I did my internship at Botswana Development Corporation, which is Botswana's leading financing and development company. Following is an insight of my zealous adventure in the work force.

Seated in the office of Human Resource Principal Officer of Botswana Development Corporation, it was a surreal moment to see myself signing the employment contract and swearing to organizational privacy. I thought I would be told to commence work in a few days, regardless of my readiness, I hoped for postponement, which was unlikely.

The following day as I reported for duty, I was assigned with a task to do media monitoring (which would be one of my daily duties) and write up a staff reminder mail for the Minister of Trade and Industry’s visit for staff briefing. I was stunned that I would be handling the Minister’s visit, planning and preparing for the event scheduled to be held in two days. Then I realized that, first day of work does not mean having a free day to sit, observe and take notes. On the contrary, being hands on from the onset is a keystone to an energy driven, less supervised, creative and ingenious as well as good result oriented performance.

That is basically the foundation of a good career path; being non-contingent and having a single-mindedness character can raise us up through the ladder of success. Day one of a job is just the same as any other day, it deserves more dedication and prowess as it is decisive time of your profession trajectory and performance. As annual reports are drawn up at the end of the year, to determine yearly performance, your first day of work matters because it has effect on the organization's daily achievements.

Supervisors and bosses do not have to observe your performance in a bid to rectify your obvious unproductive mistakes, it takes discipline and respect for the work force, for one to possess qualities of a good and productive officer. Consequently, as you suit up for first day at work, put on a girdle of productivity through hard work, creativity, focus, sacrifice etc. for the day is worth your every bit of utmost performance.

As we have been exposed to how the corporate world operates, let us have the qualities required to outperform your performance expectations. Looking forward to sharing more about my internship experiences with the rest of all of you.

Baby Steps: The Journey Begins

Greetings everyone.

I welcome you all fellow interns to the beginning of my long awaited journey as this is my first post. My name is Neo and i am very excited to say i did my internship at Ministry of State President in Botswana in Office of The President (OP).

I can tell you though that being an intern was quite scary at the beginning for me, i felt a little under pressure as i was working mostly with elders of the country. As a Public Relations intern, at times i did not know what to do or say and if it was right or wrong but nevertheless, i can assure u it turned out to be the greatest experience of my life.

First of all, finding a placement was not easy, i had to run up and down but that gave me an insight of how stressful job hunting can be. I was lucky in the end my CV impressed not only one but two organizations; the second largest newspaper in Botswana, Mmegi Monitor and Office of the President. I had to make a choice and it was rather not a difficult one because i figured i should go for something different and OP was just that.

Office of the President is not just any organization, it is not just government owned but i prefer to say it is the government of Botswana because that is were final decisions of the country are made before being passed out to the people. Public Relations is a department amongst many in this organization. When i started, everything was still slow since it was the beginning of the year and mostly time to make plans of the year. There was not heavy loads of work but there was always something. As u can figure, we were serving the nation so everyday was a day to look forward to.

PR is still growing in Botswana hence not much of it is found and often times it is misunderstood but as we all know there is a beginning to everything, i still think we shall live to see the day that PR will be taken for what it really is.

It was amazing how much i was made to feel comfortable and welcome in OP. It made me feel like an employee who was there to stay and with that support, i did my job just fine. For sometime there i was a PR officer (PRO) and it felt great.

To find out more about the Botswana Office of the President, you can visit:

http://www.gov.bw/en/Ministries--Authorities/Ministries/State-President/Office-of-the-President/

Until next time, please feel free to read through and leave a comment.

Big and Small

Today, when I was going through what I have done being as a PR intern in Mawar, I realized that we don't just organize an event as a big idea but we have to take care of every single details that comes in as a whole with the events. Indeed, these inconspicuous details could always be the one that causes a huge mistake in the end!

Since the first day I came to Mawar, my head of department told me to be in charge of the staff annual dinner 2009. Sooner i realised that 'be in charge' here laterally means:

1. To do a lucky draw for all the employees of 200 people (everyone can get a gift, the difference is just what one can get) means you have to prepare three sets of numbers, one to be kept in the box for them to draw, one to be stick on the presents, and one (only the top ten numbers) to be kept in another box for the VIP to draw.

2. Design the lucky draw box

3. Prepare the mock cheque as gifts for the top three numbers

3. Prepare the shopping mall gift voucher for 200 of them (it is money that I am dealing with! So, I have to make sure that i don't slot in any extra or less voucher in any of the envelope. It will be very troublesome if we found that there is lack of voucher in the end).

4. Tags for the VIPs's seats and counters

5. Name lists for each counter to make sure people don't double take any gift

6. List of top ten lucky draw

7. Prepare the layout plan of the day

Although the 'big' things like renting a venue, scheduling the rundown, buying the 200 presents and more are not my responsibility, but i realised the 'small' things aren't very much easier either.

Let me give you an example for a clearer visual for this issue. When the creative director of an advertising campaign has an idea/concept for his client's product, his big idea needed to be polished up by his copy writer, graphic designer, art director, and illustrator. And when the advertisement is produced, how and when it is being publicized is a very important factor contributing to the success of the advertisement. Therefore, media planer's role is taken into account at this level.

Thus, what I am trying to convey is no matter what role you are playing, everyone should be responsible to their own task. The bigger an organization is, the more cleaners are employed, the bigger a movie production is, the more supporting characters are needed. And the key idea is, all of them DO matter. Same goes to an event, how well you take care of every little details determine how successful your event will be.

In conclusion, I think we, as the small role should always appreciate the opportunity given as each of them could give us something. As time goes by, you will gain more than you realise and that is when you have more than enough to handle a big role!

Attached are picutures of the design that I did and some of the events that I have involved during my intern:

Mini press conference

VIP visiting the patients

Charity Dinner

Magnum's CSR event

Ready to welcome the guests

A charity for old folks home

The VIP's room

Refreshment

Passing mock cheque on stage

Health Talk

VIP visit

Health Care Day

Leaflets of Health Care Day

Leaflets of Blood Test Package

(Cover page) Booklet about Mawar

Banner of Charity Dinner

Backdrop design of Charity Dinner

A Powerful PR Tool

What comes to your mind with this question in the title? Media release? PSA? Campaign? In these two months of working as a PR intern, I learn that the most powerful PR tool is nothing but to have good socializing skills.

Yes, socialize.

Firstly, how does this helps your PR works? Let us try to look at the words 'Public Relations'. Literally, it means the relationship with the public. With a good social network, one's task could be achieved far more easier and faster than one whom have to start everything from zero. The simplest theory - no man is an island. Especially when it comes to PR, you need to build good relationship with the media people so they would (hopefully) be more friendly to your nagging calls, with a good relationship with people such as a CEO of a shopping mall, you can get venue for your events with even a discount for it, or perhaps people are attracted to your events simply because they buy your smile :)

What is the difficulty in that? "Being good in socializing is easy! I will just talk to people!" Yes, you are right, this is in fact the very first step. I am sorry to say that in my opinion, people who often feel shy or scared or for whatsoever reason to take the initiative to speak to people fail in PR. Actually, being good in socializing is somehow still a natural instinct, not everyone feels comfortable in communicating with people especially with unknowns or public. You might be able to learn at least to talk to people with appropriate manner but not until you try too hard and the situation become awkward right? Think about it, being a good PR practitioner, it will come to such extent that you have to smile to people when you are not in the mood, your friendliness has to be equalized with your patience, and sometimes, you have to suck up to people even you hate him/her so much.

These are all the criteria I see from my head of department and colleagues. One of my colleagues is a 50 years old woman. Frankly, she doesn't have a good working experience and her English is not that good. But she treats everyone in the hospital (from the cleaners to the receptionists, medical staff, to the admins) very good. She says hi to everybody, she offers them help and food, and she doesn't mind making coffee (you know there is always this culture whereby employees are supposed to make coffee for their boss) for anybody in the office.

Eventually, she becomes very welcomed by people in Mawar and plays an important role for PR department in Mawar. When Mawar organizes charity events to raise fund for the kidney patients, she actually get the most sponsors/donors compared to the others. When it comes to getting goods or stuffs, catering food for any events, she will be the one appointed to the job because she knows a lot of people and she has a good eloquence. She demonstrates me exactly how taking initiative to socialize with people does help our work to be done more efficiently.

So now I hope everyone sees how socializing actually helps to get your work of PR done much easier than you expected. Let's get it started today, just practice with a smile on your face first :) See you guys!

Media Monitoring. What is that?

This had happened since the first PR module. I remember very well how my lecturer, Ms Vaneetha used to ensure that every single student in class understands how important media monitoring is to an organization. She told us when she worked as a PR practitioner, the first thing she did every morning when she reached her office was to read the newspaper and get what is on in summary for her boss.

And then when i come to this company, i was told that i can only read a newspaper when I have extra time in my lunch hour. Er... ...

The truth is, there is no such thing as 'media monitoring' in Mawar (let's used this as the short form for MRMC + PHM). The most they did was to cut any news about the chairperson (because he is a political member) when they are appointed to. Such practice contributes to my doubt about what exactly media monitoring is in the industry and are they really necessary?

I start researching about it and eventually, I come to the conclusion that benefits of media monitoring are unexpectable and unpredictable. Here are the few key points that I have concluded:

First of all, we have to understand that by the term 'media monitoring' means monitoring the media which is formed by print, electronic, and new media nowadays while World Wide Web is known as one of the most powerful media of today because it simply represents the infinite. easily accessible. information.

The most basic format of media monitoring is of course to search any information or exposure of your company's name. The purpose of this includes to check whether events that you organized was publicized, any positive or negative testimonials are done publicly towards your organization, and how does your organization stands in the market place.

Of course, a PR team can customize it's own objective of media monitoring, then list its relevant keywords for everyone to come back with related results. You may want to concern about what is up with the competitors in the news or any new announcement about the regulations of your industry line today.

Information a.k.a. knowledge. Everyday, there are coverage of new piece of share, opinions, or ideas that one can find in media. As a PR person, one should always be knowledgeable enough to tell his/her profession. Keeping up to date of news is one of the best way. These timely opportunities are always hard to tell and therefore allows new insights of different angle and perspective related to the organization to be gained unexpectedly.

Honestly, I really thought that I understand what media monitoring since my first PR module but not until I did my intern. I would still like to thanks Mawar because in a way it makes me really think about why billions of dollars are spent worldwide each year in media monitoring (Meltwater News, 2008).

Now guess if Miss Vaneetha media monitor her own name? See you guys :)

An In-house PR Experience

Hi all fellows of PR industry. My name is Chong Kar Woon, from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. I had actually done my internship few months back but only start posting an entry now because of procrastination. I am sorry. Honesty is the best solution in PR crisis management isn't?

As the title goes, I have been working for an in-house PR department of a hospital named Mawar Renal Medical Centre (MRMC). It is a non-government and non-profit making organization founded by Y.B. Senator Dato' Dr Yeow Chai Thiam who is also the current chairperson of the organization. One important note, MRMC is a division of Pusat Hemodialisis Mawar (PHM), which is a 13-year-old kidney dialysis centre with 10 branches around Malaysia. Thus, the PR department is responsible to handle the PR issues of both the divisions.

However, it is a very governmental like organization because the chairperson is a member of a political party and we depend some of our medical sources from the General Hospital Seremban.
One key idea that one should have noticed by now is that the working environment here is really conservative. The work of PR is not done professionally because the people had never think about learning new things and often refuse to new ideas.

Of course, I see every happening as an opportunity for me to learn regardless of what it is. I am simply desperate to link one of my experience here, there was once my father bought me a mix rice, not any big issue, but I learn that what might looks puking to me might looks mouth watering to somebody. Therefore, I took my internship here as a new challenge in life, and it's glad to say that new insights were gained and more are coming to be shared.

See you guys :)

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

How fast time flies! The nervous pangs I felt on the first day of work are still fresh in my mind - its hard to believe I've been here for three months already. "You've survived DDB PR!" a colleague exclaimed on my last day, and I couldn't help but smile.

It certainly has been a thrilling experience. I learned a lot, met new people, expanded my network, and picked up countless valuable skills for work and life. I've written speeches, press releases, and media invitations; called the media on countless occasions; and also discussed business strategies with clients.

Most importantly, I was able to observe how PR made a real difference to our clients' businesses. While classes and assignments can be fun, there's nothing quite like the tangible satisfaction of pulling together an event or knowing you had a part to play in that cover story about your client.

Towards the end of my internship (and I'm sure it happened to you, too!), my colleagues asked me what I would like to do in the future, and if I was keen to join the PR industry full-time. "I'm not sure" was usually my reply. I have a year till I graduate and will fully utilize this time to weigh up possible career options.

Nevertheless, I have gained much valuable insight into the working world and, hopefully, thicker skin from all the media calls! I would to thank my colleagues at DDB PR for the awesome time and immense patience they showed to me. Having said that, I would like also to thank our lecturers at Limkokwing University, without whom we wouldn't have the necessary skills to do our jobs in the first place.

I wish all the interns here the best in everything you do. If I may offer one piece of advice, it would be to always keep an open mind - a good attitude is the first step to success.

Signing off for the last time,
John.

Less time, more experience

Though it took me time to find a training placement, I was able to go into my industrial training at last which was short than I predicted. Despite the fact that it was short, many will not believe me when I say I had a great time at PDQ and I have learnt a lot. Its end of my industrial training and will now practice what I went through at PDQ. Before going into my industrial training I had set some goals and objectives for myself which some were achieved whereas others were not due to time taken during the internship.
My goals were:
-To enhance my understanding of media relations.
-To comprehend professional ethics, values and beliefs in Public Relations
- To relate the information learned in the classroom to the work atmosphere
Whereas my objectives were:
-inscribe a media release or any piece that gets published.
- Write a newsletter and pitch document
- Plan for an event and
-Write a report on anything related to Public Relations or PR based.
I was competent to attain my goals but the objectives lacked behind, like I was not exposed to writing media release, newsletters but I was able to write a pitch document which was well approved and I ended up compiling some reports which is the same as writing report. Communication was my daily task because I did everything with the help of my supervisors whereby I would ask where its not clear and would sit for brainstorming and briefings on my next task.

Industrial training makes someone more grown-up, more proficiently elegant, and edifies you things further than what you can learn in the classroom. I appreciate my education and I hope I am likely to perform better academically after having worked. I would say the little that I have acquired while at PDQ will be useful when I get my permanent job because it will be a matter of looking back and reflect whatever I did during my industrial training.

I learnt a lot despite the fact that it was for a short term, communication, meeting deadlines, writing sills which I have improved on, some few PR practices and abiding by the given rules. I would say there is a difference between what is being taught in class and what is done at industrial training because of practicals and theories. Hope to use the experienced gained.
All the best to those who are still doing their training.

By Tiny Diakanyeng Tshukudu

The "Ethics" of CSR?

"Corporate social responsibility" (CSR) is that much bandied-about phrase in business today. The practice of CSR has spawned entire industries, awards programmes and job opportunities - there are now consultants who specialise in advising corporations on their philanthropic activities and dedicated CSR departments in larger companies.

But the real question is this: how altruistic are corporations these days when it comes to their CSR? Are they doing it sincerely and out of genuine concern, or is it just a big publicity stunt? Do they intend to bring about real change in the community or just a couple of clippings in the next day's newspapers?

The garden variety of greenwashing, bluewashing and window-dressing scandals of this decade have rocked the corporate world to its core, and consumers have not failed to take notice. Nike's child labour, McDonalds's questionable environmental practices and BP's misleading green advertising campaign are just some examples of ethical misbehaviour by powerful multinationals.

Can we really trust the "goodwill" of corporations who send their representatives to orphanages, present gifts and mock cheques, and who make sure the whole thing is photographed and publicized? What would you say if you knew the pictures were posed and the smiles put on? This is, after all, the standard operating procedure PR agencies orchestrate for their clients. Is this the only way? Is it even the RIGHT way?

These are difficult questions to answer. I do not resent corporate benevolence or charitable endeavors - they can sometimes be the thing that sustains the underprivileged in desperate moments. But CSR isn't, or shouldn't be about one-off donations during Christmas and the festive season. Matthew Rochte, sustainability and CSR consultant says:

The true test of sustainability and a company committed to CSR is history of improvement and performance.

In other words, CSR is about long-term solutions, not short-lived publicity stunts or financial returns. All said and done, CSR needn't be an elaborate spectacle splashed across the front page, but should rather add real value to people's lives, for now as well as the future. What we don't need more of are pointless acts of charity that will make tomorrow's headlines but will be forgotten by the next day.

Adios,
John.

Distraction galore

Hi Everyone,
It would seem that all I blog about is events, but this time I won't be talking about the event processes, but something that happened at the event that I found quite interesting. A bit of background on the event: One of our clients has become the broadcast sponsors for the national premier league, and we were holding a press conference to announce this sponsorship. Instead of holding the conference at a regular venue like a city hotel or the client's offices, the press conference was held at the National stadium. Getting the event together came with all the usual woes, but I wont go into that right now. I'll only talk about one major issue that we were having- the CEO of our client company initially did not want to attend the event and finally after much cajoling and convincing, they cleared their schedule and agreed to attend the event, but here's the the catch- they agreed to attend the event, but only for 15 minutes! Everyone reading this post knows that 15 minutes for an appearance at a press conference is one of the most ridiculous things you have ever heard. When the CEO of our client company arrived, exactly at 9 am when the event was supposed to start, as is predictable, not even one person from the media had shown up yet. (This is one thing that I am really curious about. Is it just a Kenyan media thing, or do members of the media have the tendency of being late in other places, please give me some perspective on that from whichever country you're working in). So here is the CEO who's supposed to be leaving in the next 15 minutes, and in all likelihood the bulk of the media will show up in the next 20-30 minutes. Things aren't really looking up at this point. This is when the MD of our company went into what I call “distraction galore” mode.

He began to speak to the CEO of our client company, convinced them to go mingle with the players, and the CEO eventually ended up in a team jersey trying to score a goal against the the team's goalkeeper. Needless to say, by the time the CEO had began trying to score the goals, the press had arrived and the event went on quite nicely, and the 'goal footage' ended up being aired on all the major television stations during prime time news.

One more thing I learnt at this particular event: having good working knowledge of the local language is key to anyone having a press conference. During the question- answer session for the media, a prominent reporter who reports for the Swahili (the Kenyan national language) news on a prominent national station asked a question in Swahili that he expected to be answered in kind.

Everyone from our PR firm held their breath as we waited for the reply from our client's representative, until... phew!- we all breathed a great sigh of relief when the company representative answered the question in proper Swahili.
If the client representative didn't have a proper grasp of the local language, the client would have been left looking very, very bad. In short, wherever you are, learn the local language!(especially if you're a local, there's no excuse for not knowing your own language).

To everyone still doing their internship, I wish you all the best, to those that are done, I hope you all had great experiences, and to those in LUCT, I hope week one of the new semester started off well.

Cheers,
Liwami.

The Bitter Pill about Social Media

Much has been said about how social media is changing the way we communicate, but perhaps not enough is being said about the potential dangers of using it as a PR tool.

At the PR agency where I work, we were looking to expand our digital services to encompass social media engagement - as I'm sure most companies are wanting to do at this time. There is no denying that social media is changing the way we do business - it is almost a given today that a successful PR campaign must incorporate a social media element.

One advantage of using blogs, Facebook and Twitter is instantaneous communication. An organisation can answer queries from customers and provide updates about new products or services in mere minutes. The medium also allows for more intimate relationships. You can become a fan of the Malaysian Prime Minister in Facebook, for example, and follow his every move and thought in real time - something you can't do with traditional media.

One shouldn't overlook the possible pitfalls, however. A prominent Malaysian blogger had multiple run-ins with PR people, and made no secret of it in his blog. You have to read his funny but scathing accounts here and here. He says:          

PR agencies seem to automatically assume every reasonably popular blogger is a 'pro-blogger' or something and we don't need to work - we just sit around at home waiting eagerly for their shitty press releases and event invites.

It's not like that, and the sooner YOU poorly informed PR hacks educate yourselves the sooner you will reap real benefits from engaging bloggers and forming relationships with them.

David Lian, popular local blogger and PR consultant, had this piece of advice:

...don't think the blogger owes you anything just because they attended your event. The onus is on you, the company and the PR person advising the company, to make sure what you've got to tell the blogger is worth the blogger re-telling, if coverage is your goal.

If you want an example of how social media can be used AGAINST a corporation, look no further than Dave Carroll's United Airways YouTube video that went viral and currently has close to eight million viewers. While Dave became a YouTube sensation, United Airways inherited a PR disaster.

In a nutshell, we need to tread with caution when it comes to using social media for PR and marketing. Consumers can easily sniff out insincere, money-hungry companies trying to invade their personal social networks for profit. We must never take our stakeholders for fools.

Cheers,
John.

EVENTS: not so easy

Hi everyone,
This is my second post since I started my internship, and I must say that the four weeks that I've worked here have been quite an eye-opening and educational experience. It's true when they say that there is only so much that you can learn from sitting in a classroom. In my second week, we had a major product launch for one of our clients. That meant booking a venue, making sure the press releases went out, double checking that the media houses had received them, and triple checking that the media houses had booked the event and were sending a reporter for the event. The launch would be done at a dinner hosted by our client at a city hotel.- The easiest part of the pre-event preparation was picking the menu! During the same week, the same client was having product activations at three different locations in the city throughout the week starting Tuesday. The product activation went pretty well. The night of the product launch went smoothly except for one 'minor' hitch with the room that we had booked for the venue. Another group of people that were using the venue before us stayed for longer than they were scheduled to, meaning we started to set up for our event late and our event ended up starting almost an hour later than scheduled! This meant that the guests (potential clients) who were all on time, were kept waiting. The journalists (who were as late as usual) were also kept waiting, and they were not shy about letting their displeasure about it being known! Other than that the food was good, and the guests and journalists seemed pleased in the end, so the night ended up being a success :)

End of practical

Last week I finished my internship and I just want to appreciate what I have been going through in my two months. I have experienced good things that I have never before since it was my first time getting into a working field, although the company was dealing much with marketing. I still appreciate the fact that it had given me a little light if not much, on the roles and requirements of a good pr practitioner. I have been attending the events, going on field with my working colleagues and witness some TV commercials, doing research on the clients and going out on product promotions and campaign whereby I met individuals and heard their opinions on the company products and the competition we hosted throughout the campaign. I have learned the importance of pr on a marketing department because marketing deals much with clients and customers; therefore as pr is concerned the company needs to have a strong public relations corporate responsibility due to the fact that it deals with the community. This is why most of the time our co-workers were reminding us time to time that we should have a strong influence especially during our discussions since we understand and learned pr at school, and they were rite because whatever you learn has to be put into practice. I have also realized that as a company, obtaining a good relationship with the press is crucial since one of the pr roles is to maintain a good flow of information internally and externally within the company.

regards

chis;;

RESEARCH…..

On my first post, I integrated the brief summary of my schedule, and I am now delighted to say I am getting there with my schedule. A week ago I was given a research on Medical Universities which are the competitors for our Client X. I was given several columns to research on which I would not say for the privacy of the Medical Colleges and Universities.
I researched meticulously and thought I had done the work infallible only to find out countless mistakes. Firstly I did not understand some of the columns given but I inquired about them. The explanation and instructions were well given and started the work immediately. Research is not a simple thing, it requires time and effort, and you would think you have researched well only to be surprised when your work is returned for corrections. My work was returned with some few cells colored yellow to show not well done; I had to correct the mistakes and send it again to my supervisor who is patient. I did the research for the whole week everyday there was a correction I must do. The brighter thing I did is I added some columns which I thought might be valuable to the client and it was approved. Since I could not find all the requisite information, I had to be intelligent here, I made some calls to the given Universities and medical Colleges pretending to be a student who wants to enroll in their University, in this way I asked all the questions which were relevant to the columns left. There came a problem when I was asked some questions which I had no answers to, I had to refer back again to the columns for me to answer the questions. Some spoke Malay language to me, but I was patient enough to let them know that I do not speak Malay. Everything went well when I was done with the columns. On the day of my submission, my supervisor told me some other information were wrong, I gave it a second try by calling universities again, only to find out that the other University I called gave me wrong information because at first they asked me whether I am Malay or foreigner. On my fourth day I tried it again and submitted it on the fifth day and was finally approved.I had a hard time trying to research on this particular topic because of no knowledge on medical subject.

By Tiny Diakanyeng