I may not be young, but
I too have a dream!
The dream of contributing to PRCI emerging as a truly ace
and premier communication platform.
Ever since I have been appointed as the President of the
National Executive, I have been flooded with greetings and goodwill messages
which are full of enthusiasm to do something new. It’s nice to so much of energy
and eagerness to take PRCI to new heights. While it is natural for us to expect
the youth among the PRCIans to show lot of promise, it is equally heartening to
note that even the veterans are full of ideas. What is even more important is
the fact that they all love new ideas. And one common thread that holds us all
together is the determination to keep the PRCI flag flying.
Over the past decade since its formation, PRCI has come a
long way, but we have miles to go. The field of communication is rapidly
changing with technology serving as the enabler. We have begun to use the
technology in a unique way.
Perhaps for the first time, we at PRCI have launched our
e-Mag truly online at no cost at all. You must have seen http://prrapport.blogspot.in/ which
has caught the imagination of not only PRCIans, but the communication world
around.
It's a big wow! As I key-in this message, PRapport has crossed the record
500-page views mark in a short span. The audience wise breakup is: India 353.
US 141. UK 4 and one each in Spain,
Kuwait, Maldives and Turkey. Thank you friends, let’s look forward to
1000 soon and as Mr S K Kaul says 100,000 mark!
PRapport is one of the many ways to stay in touch on a
continuous basis. Do keep visiting and commenting and contributing. Please send
your reports, pictures, videos to me. The subjects could be PRCI related
activities, information that can enhance knowledge and policy issues that may have
an impact on our profession.
As I have been talking and moving around, one question that
I have been facing is: So, Mr President, what do you want us to do?
It is not the question of what I want the teams to do. It’s
about all of doing it together as a team, and all chapters put together.
I have set this agenda for myself. Do correct me if I go
wrong anywhere.
Strengthen PRCI Chapters: We need to plan and launch chapter wise
activities which will culminate into at least quarterly zonal and half yearly
national activities. But before that we need to activate our existing members
and hen launch new, but a select, membership drive. Unless we have a broader
representation, we cannot grow from the present position. I am sure all of you
must be tired of seeing the same faces at conclave after conclave.
We did couple of unique activities
for strengthening the participation at our recent conclaves. In Mumbai, we had
an inter-collegiate contest and winners with their supporters participated in
the 8th Conclave. In Delhi, we had a large number of corpcom friends
from PSUs joining us at the 9th Conclave.
YCC: While we look at approaching senior professionals, we also
should activate the YCC chapters. The mass communication and journalism
students who join the YCCs will be our future brand members and even
ambassadors.
Guest Faculty Pool: At Mumbai, we successfully experimented with
initiatives like The Guest Faculty Pool and Knowledge Forums. The guest faculty
pool is like a speakers’ forum from where we keep nominating professionals for
lectures/presentations/seminars at mass communication colleges and the
professionals include those from PR, Advertising and Media.
Knowledge Forums: For Knowledge Forums, we tied up with The Press
Club where we conduct programmes on issues of general interest. For instance,
we had a couple of media seminars with the BARC scientists on Radiation for
crops and Urban Garbage Management. This helps us in increasing the awareness
about PRCI in the minds of media fraternity. I am sure we can do at last one
activity a month with the Press Clubs. Its cost effective and its useful.
Professional Training: At the 9th Conclave, a suggestion
cropped up on the need to train upcoming PR professionals in public and private
sectors. Taking the NTPC example, we offered to work with the corporates on
making their professionals industry ready. For this, we could take the help of
senor journalists who are ever ready to share their knowledge and tell us on
media expectations from PR in this ever changing world. For instance, cocktail
dinners which were a vogue ten years ago, do not get any media response!
Fastest 500: With 25 chapters, if we look at a monthly activity
each with Press Clubs and one YCC programme, we can look forward to 50x10+ 500
activities to report at the 10th Conclave. It is an achievable
target for all us of put together. I am sure the Zonal chairmen will all agree
with me! Even if we achieve 200-activity target, we would have made a solid
beginning.
The activities could be very
simple – from addressing local issues to professional matters. Let me tell you
how it works in Mumbai. The Press Club, being the partner, gives us their 40-seater hall free. The hi-tea
costs less than Rs 5,000. But the goodwill that we gain is priceless.
Website: The work on – www.publicrelationscouncilofindia.com – in progress
and we should see it up and running soon. I am getting quite a bit of content
from our headquarters in Bengaluru. I request all chapters to keep sending
their activity information.
We have to make a beginning, let’s do it now.
Please send in ideas and suggested plans of action as we
move on. More importantly, please guide me to do well.
Yours sincerely,
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