In public eye? PR is must for you

Global motivation speaker Will Harris says bad PR can fire back!

By Rajesh Bobde

AMRAVATI (Maharashtra); “Public relations or PR can become an important issue once you put yourself in a position of public visibility,” said international motivation speaker Will Harris.

“Ordinary people don't have this kind of worries but for people such as celebrities, sports superstars, politicians and businessmen it's an important consideration. Public Relations is an important factor to the success of certain careers. Movie stars and musicians need their fan base to patronize their movies and shows. Sports superstars need the support of their fan as well,” Harris said addressing the agriculture and engineering college students on the subject of "Public Relations and Shaping Careers.”

Enthusiastic participation in Will Harris event

The interactive session was organised by PRCI Amravati Chapter in Gurukunj Ashram, Mozari.

Harris said politicians need to look good in the public eye because a bad reputation can cause them to lose in the next election. Becoming an elected public official is a matter of public trust.

Harris is a US-based noted author working on world peace movement with Rashtra Sant Tukdoji Maharaj founded Akhil Bhartiya Shri Gurudev Sevamandal. He was recently on India tour and visited Gurukunj Ashram .He is also focused PR and agriculture marketing.

He went on to say that good PR is essential for a successful business. “This is especially true as your business gets bigger. Bad PR can affect the reputation of your business; your personal reputation and the capacity of your business to generate profit,” he added.

YCC mag KAUTILYA born! Students told not to take life casually

BENGALURU: The much awaited KAUTILYA, the magazine of PRCI’s Young Communicators Club (YCC) has  been released at an event  held with the University Visveswaraya College of Engineering here on August 9.

The launch was followed by a talk on Innovations and Challenges in Cinema, Television and Digital Media by National Award winning Actor Mr Sanchari Vijai, Prof A.S.Chandra Mouli. Head- Department of Communications, Acharya Institute and Mr. Suresh Babu, Founder, Web Marketing Academy, respectively.

Say cheese! 

 The launch comes close on the heels of PRCI launching its magazine CHANAKYA in a new magazine format.

Mr Vijay asked the students to be focused and work hard and to pay attention to their communication. He spoke of the challenges he had to encounter during his initial days of college education and how hard he worked to master the skill. Mr Chandramouli spoke on the innovations Television has brought in and how it still keeps moving ahead.  Mr. Suresh Babu was on a practical demo with the students on their mobile phones. And the students had an opportunity to know more about their apps which they were holding.

Interesting Interaction 

Around 300 students from more than ten different colleges in Bangalore took part with their Professors and faculties. Interacting with the students, Mrs. Geetha Shankar, National Chairperson YCC said that students should come forward to start YCC cells in their colleges with the support of their faculties and try to bridge the gap between academics and corporate and try to be corporate ready.

Founder of YCC Mr M.B. Jayaram said that students should be behave with a sense of responsibility and accountability and “not to take life casually.”

R.T. Kumar spoke about the forthcoming Global Conclave in February 2017 and asked the students to participate in large numbers.

Mr Pranab. K. Pani was the Master of Ceremonies and he told the students what YCC is all about and how students can contribute to Kautilya.

During this function Ms Maya Chandra of Maya Films and Mr V.K. Lokesh were inducted by Ms Geetha

Rapt attention 

Shankar as President and Vice President of Karnataka YCC. Ms Maya speaking said that she has plans to lead the students of Media and Communication forward and it would help in their progression.

YCC Bangalore Chapter participated actively and the function was organised by the student volunteers under the guidance of YCC Bangalore Chapter Secretary Mr Prashanth V.

Ms Latha TS, Dr B.K Ravi, Chairman Bangalore Chapter and  seasoned Journalists, Academicians and HR professionals participated in the event.

All that begin well, ends well!

Rajdeep Sardesai? Who is he?

August 9, 2016 Richa Seth PR KnowHow, Vikypedia Exclusives, Weekly PR Roundup

Appalling GK levels of final year Mass Media students!

A Vikypedia Exclusive By B N Kumar

===============================================
Rajdeep Sardesai? Who is he?

No, I am not asking this question in the context of Arnab Goswami Vs Barkha Dutt episodes.

I am just trying to narrate my experiences at a Bandra (Mumbai) college that teaches Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) course. I was flabbergasted when a final year student of BMM asked me this question!

Talking of crisis situations, I said any one could face crisis, people like Rajdeep Sardesai included. A well built, bearded young man, stretching his legs from the front row asked me: Who is Rajdep Sardesai.

Shocked though, I thought he was trying to tease me. But one of the college coordinators quickly said: “It’s okay. Not all of us know everything, right?”

Then, I quickly regained my consciousness and proceeded with my talk which part of the efforts by a Guest Faculty Pool that we at PRCI set up to share our experience and knowledge with the GenX.

When I asked the students as to what they wanted to know from me, there were several blank faces. I had to literally prompt them: “Seek, though shall get. Unless you ask, you won’t be able to communicate. After all, you are the final year students and tomorrow you will be facing the world.”

One girl mustered up courage to ask: “What are the various categories of PR or communication? What is corporate communication?”

I asked myself: Are these the questions that final year students of BMM should be asking? What was the college doing for two years?

As I went on addressing the blank faces, I dealt with the importance of following current affairs, depending on one’s interest “because you will be tested for your knowledge”.

Some nodded, some yawned, while the rest kept looking at me as though I am the cousin of that Penguin which landed in Mumbai zoo!

I asked: “Guys, general knowledge is important. How many of you read newspapers?”

Not many hands went up. One bold girl raised her hand.

No, she didn’t say Bombay Times. She said: Mumbai Mirror.

I asked: “So, Mumbai Mirror? How many pages do they devote for City news?”

Ummmmm…..and more murmurs in the hall…as the students exchanged blank looks, this girl in blue said: “two or three.” (Sorry, Meenal Baghel, to shoc you!)

I gave my audience some tips on reading the newspapers. “You can get your Mirror free if you buyThe Times of India and if you don’t want Mirror, you have the choice of getting ET or Maharashtra Times!”

For a second, I felt like Gajodhar addressing his village folk in the Eastern UP, narrating his experiences in an escalator in Mumbai!

Won’t they like to know about career prospects?

One boy asked: “Yes, sir. How difficult or easy is it to find jobs in PR or media?”

I spoke about the need for communication skills, knowledge of basic, grammatical English and so on and so forth and continued with my adventure: “How many of you have heard of Wren and Martin?”

Few hands went up! Not bad, I thought.

Appalling, it may sound. Most of this bunch of students did not appear to be serious about their course and from their attire they appeared to be out on a monsoon trek or a stroll in the Fashion Street, next door.

Finally, I gave one piece of take-it-or-leave-it advice: “Your parents can afford to pay for your higher studies. Consider yourselves to be lucky. I sincerely hope they are not looking at depending on you.”

(The author is Executive Director of Concept PR and National President of Public Relations Council of India – PRCI)

Media Movements - update

Jinsy Mathew from Money Today / India Today has left journalism. 

She's now with ICICI Prudential MF - Corp comm.

Biswajit Baruah, ET has joined IPan H+K

-Courtesy @ One Source

Congrats, Shyamal!

#shakti4beti - Kochi eves say Let's Take the Lead

PRCI’s  Young Communicators Club, Kerala Chapter, in association with the Department of English,

Dr Kalyani Vallath

St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam conducted a lecture and discussion sessionon Embracing Change and Challenging Norms: The Young Woman in Urban India as part of Daughters’ Day celebration on 29^th July 2016. The discussion was chaired by Smt. Chitra Krishnan who runs Food for Thought, a food and catering enterprise along with 12 house wives-turned entrepreneurs.

Kick-starting the discussion, Dr. Kalyani Vallath, Chairperson of YCC Kerala and the Director of TES, sought to analyze the theme in a refreshingly unconventional manner and proposed that “an emancipated and empowered woman is an unsexed woman”.

The discussion that followed touched on various issues like gender equality, gender divide, lack of freedom and respect for women, increasing assaults on women, LGBT issues, and so on. Students and faculty who actively participated in the discussion voiced their fears, concerns and difficulties they face in a patriarchal world. The issue of raising a son and a daughter differently within a single family was also brought up and examined.

One faculty member posed a query pertaining to the perception of woman as weak in spite of the tremendous strength and indomitable spirit she often brings to the table in familial setup, especially in managing several things at a time like taking care of a family, paying bills, doing her job efficiently all by herself.

Students also lamented how familial bonds and social expectations often present obstacles on their path and discourage their freedom in moving around and doing things independently. They are often blamed and castigated for daring to defy the established notions of gender roles in the society

Dr Tessy Antony, HOD, English Department of St Theres'a
College and Ms. Chitra Krishnan an Entrepreneur of Kochi

Along with several pitfalls and struggles women have had to encounter, the major strides that women have made in various fields were also highlighted. The participants were urged to learn and elicit the right lessons from the struggles already won so that genuine impetus for future struggles and fights that remain to be fought could be gained. The experiences and the resultant wisdom of women who have fought tremendous odds and succeeded in many traditionally male bastions of career and life were discussed at length.

The meet also discussed the imperative to keep the spirit of the feminist movement alive and breathing new life into it.  The urgency to forge communities that would foster the sense of sisterhood and self-help that cut across social and economic divides was emphasized.

The adage “without struggle, there is no progress” was invoked to communicate in unambiguous terms the importance of keeping alive the struggle for justice and equality alive. It was conveyed by various participants in no uncertain terms that young urban women needed to be in the vanguard of the struggle. They are expected to take initiative when required, lead when they can and follow when they must.

The discussion went on to take up the issue of working towards evolving concrete solutions and proposals to enable women to tackle and overcome every day issues they face. When pondering on the issues of rape and abuse on women, the faculty and the students unanimously voiced the urgency to educate the boys through orientation programs and awareness campaigns in schools. The necessity of consciously asserting the dignity of woman and constantly claiming and occupying rightful spaces in various avenues was touched on. 
The various legal and institutional mechanisms that women could rely on in the urban space were also dwelt on.

T. Vinay Kumar, Secretary of PRCI Kerala Chapter, said PRCI has taken forward the Union Government’s programme - Beti Bachao Beti Padhao – by initiating beti DSuraksha (Girl Security) with #shakti4beti campaign across the country.

Sandhya Balasuma, a noted media person, U.S. Kutty, Chairman, PRCI Kerala, and Nateshan, Director-National Counci, PRCI,  were also present for the session.

Hail Dr (Hony) Ravi Mahaptra!

Ravi Mahapatra, president PRCI Kolkata chapter and CPRO of Eastern Railway, received an Honourary  Doctteora in philosophy in PR recently from South Korea's KISEI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY.

Hearty congrats, Ravi!

PR professional in shock absorber's role

By Chander Sardana

An investigative correspondent, covering Power & Heavy Industry, of a national daily, got hold of a Parliament question and its answer by the Minister -- six month old. Contents therein, plus inputs from sources other than the Company's PR outfit came handy for his writing an adverse story against that Company. The story appeared on the front page inviting fury of the CMD. He sent for the PR Chief and asked 'what is all this?' To this, PR Chief replied 'Sir, this is based on the Parliament question.' Boss lost his cool and said 'what for have I kept you...and so on and on.' He asked the PR Chief to get lost.

The Author - Sardana

But, then, our PR friend mustered courage, collected all facts on that subject, did his home work and met the Correspondent. After a few pleasantries, he first complimented the correspondent for marshaling information in a highly professional manner. Then, he took out his purse and showed a one Rupee coin. He said this coin has two sides. He also asked him whether or not he would like to know other side of the story. He just could not say No. He said 'Oh, yes, by all means.'

The detailed home work done by him enabled him to explain other side. He did not just leave it at that. He had prepared a fact sheet, without any reference to the story, and handed over that to the correspondent. What more does a correspondent want or need?

Within 8 to 10 days, a story on the same subject appeared on the front page of that daily. Notwithstanding even an acknowledgement or appreciation from the Boss, he patted himself having risen to the occasion and having done a good job. His rapport with the press together with his professionalism paid dividends.

PR Chief remained intact in his job. So did the Correspondent. It was a Win-Win situation.

What this episode teaches us that a PR person has to be like a shock absorbor. He has to listen even words like 'Get lost' from no less a person than the Company's CMD and yet get going through using his contacts within the Company for right inputs and his behavioral-cum-communication skills in getting a positive story carried from the same Correspondent.

For all this, PR person must have confidence in self and in those involved in information game.

#shakti4beti reaches The City of Gardens

By Sumathi Rao

BANGALORE, July 24, 2016 –Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) – celebrated Daughters’ Day in memory of Kalpana Chawla, the Indo-American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to enter space.

For this year’s Daughters’ Day, PRCI  launched #shakti4beti to focus on the burning issue of  the Girl Child,taking the government’s campaign “Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao”further with "Beti Suraksha".

The highlight of the programme was a Street Play by Hashmi theatre Group on various issues faced by the Girl child, ranging from female feticide to gender discrimination and societal challenges.

Stree Play: A street play focuses on #shakti4beti

Speaking on the occasion  Dr Mallika Ghanti ,Vice Chancellor Kannada University Hampi, brought out the differences in perceptions about the girl child in rural and urban  settings, also highlighting the fact that rural folk culture had a healthy respect  for women. She observed that it was surprising to find discrimination in urban  India among educated people.

She suggested we go back to our roots and stressed that it was important for women to find strength in themselves.

Dr Srinivas Prasad CEO Philips  who was the Guest of Honour urged women and girls to be bold and make the  right choices and have confidence in themselves.

Later, a a panel discussion was held on Because I am a Girl focused  on how girls can reach their full  potential, and live free from violence and discrimination, and have equal economic opportunities. In other words they should be able to learn, Lead, decide and thrive.

PRCI  awarded women acheivers on the occasion. Dr Jayalakshmi ,Vedic Sceintist, and

Scholar, Ms Neela Journalist Prajavani, Dr Deepa Shenoy, Computer Specialist Dr 

Sangeetha  and Ashwini Angadi( both visually challenged achievers) were felicitated for their contributions to society.

Powered by Concept PR, #shakti4beti is a nationwide campaign with several corporates too taking interest in empowering the girl child.

It's a clean sweep by PDA @ Mumbai Press Club

MUMBAI, July 22: A record of sorts was created in the history of Mumbai Press Club last night when Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) made a clean sweep of the elections for office bearers and managing committee by winning all 16 seats.

On a day lashed by rains, members came out in large numbers and voted to ensure that the path of progress did not get derailed. As many as 784 journalists braved a bad day to put their stamp of support on the PDA.

 The PDA team also takes this opportunity to thank the opposition team for putting up a good fight and keeping the election process clean and positive.

The results:

 PRESIDENT: Kumar Ketkar

CHAIRMAN: Rajesh Mascarenhas

Cake cutting after sweet victory - PDA panel members

VICE CHAIRMAN: Ayaz Memon

SECRETARY: Dharmendra Jore

JOINT SECRETARY: Rajanish Kakade

TREASURER: Om Prakash Tiwari

 MANAGING COMMITTEE

1.      Santosh Andhale 

2.      Mrityunjay Bose

3.      Lata Mishra

4.      Ashish Subhash Raje

5.      Prakash Ganesh Akolkar

6.      Pravin Vasant  Patil

7.      Abhimanyu Shitole

8.      Amit Shanbaug

9.      Ajit Joshi 340

10.    Sudhakar S. Kashyap 

EMDI sports course – a cut above the rest

For most of us Event Management Training and EMDI, are synonymous. Greycells Education Limited, the Company that focuses on skill training and employability of the youth, owns and runs EMDI – a pioneer in Event Management training for the last 14 years globally (India & Dubai). Over the years the alumni base is over 7500+ which translates into having an Alumni (if not more than a handful!!) in most of the relevant Media Companies.

Having pioneered the concept of Sports Management training with their erstwhile partners, the              Company has now taken Sports Management Training to the next level by launching Ironwood Sports Management Global Academy (www.ironwoodsports.com).

This new age course offering has been developed in conjunction with Global Sports Management Companies and promises to offer students much more than just event management in Sports!

To know more about the Sports Management course, PRapport Editor B N Kumar spoke   to Ms. Bela Desai, Promoter Director of Greycells Education Limited. Excerpts of the interview.

Bela Desai - We Are The Best

PRapport: What prompted you to start the Sports Management Course? Is this a good career option? :

Bela: Greycells pioneered the concept of Sports Management training with its erstwhile partners last year. After industry interactions, we felt the need for a course that addressed Business of Sports and not just Event Management in Sports! The booming sports industry in India beyond cricket and all the leagues offer a good career option for candidates.

PRapport: What kind of jobs that a candidate who passes out this course can look for?:

Bela: The opportunities are huge – sports events, sports sponsorship, sports communication and PR including digital mediums, sports talent management, sports broadcasting, sports media and management, team and league management, sports merchandising etc

PRapport: Are there self-employment opportunities as well? 

Bela: Some areas like sports merchandising, sports marketing and league management, online reputation management etc do have scope for self employment

PRapport: There could be some other institutes running similar courses. What sets your course apart?

Bela: First, our’s is the ONLY new age course where curriculum is designed by global sports management companies; the global course offers guaranteed internships in Dubai; course content focuses on business of sports across all genres of sports beyond cricket; students will have internship opportunities and not just hands on experience of working on sporting events. Plus, the course includes modules for digital medium in sports and more making it a truly new age course.  Pertinent here is that EMDI – one of our brands has been training students in Event Management for over 14 years now.

So we really know what exactly the Industry is looking for in terms of talent. We have consciously stayed away from subjects like medicine and psychology in Sports as these are specialisations. Some Institutions are offering MBA/BBA programs in Sports Management as well. I believe Symbiosis has also launched a BBA in Sports Management this year. Symbiosis is an Institution by itself with faculty to teach Management subjects. Some others are offering a MBA/BBA of Universities under the distance education program.  Students need to verify the credentials, faculties etc before taking a career decision.  Industry relevant vocational skill training is our focus. When students get job ready in a year why would anyone spend 2-3 years!  Our students will clearly have the edge as they will be weaved into the industry a year before their peers.

PRapport:  What will be the faculty? And what are you planning for giving the students a practical training?

Bela: Like all our courses, faculty will be drawn from the Industry and share relevant experience with students. Internships & hands on experience are integral to the course.

EMDI, Forum Building, 1st Floor,11/12 Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (West), Mumbai 400 013. 9167755806/61479900

PRapport: A word about EMDI’s other courses?

Bela: Under the same EMDI brand, we offer Post Graduate course in Advertising, PR and Integrated Marketing Communication. This probably is the only one year programme where students get to participate in Comstrat (A FCB ULKA Industry initiative) alongside other courses that are longer duration, have live brief’s, agency visits, industry  internships, modules for Digital medium in advertising  and more. I also had an opportunity to interact with the students at the in-house event – Sparklers. The mentoring that the students received from Industry and core team at EMDI reflected in their work. No wonder, they boast of a 100% placement record for their students.

Let me tell you about WMA or the World Media Academy. It is another initiative from the Company, offers focused industry relevant courses in Digital Marketing and E-Commerce. The blended learning – combination of classroom training, live projects and internships, to my mind, had a definite edge over the vanilla online courses that one comes across all the time. The Industry interface during the course and internships works to the advantage of the students and the 100% placement record for their students.

PRapport: What has been the placement record at EMDI?

Bela: We are fortunate that with over 7500+ alumni in the Industry there is no shortage of  opportunities for students. We take pride to have EMDI Alumnus -  Mr. Ambarish Adhikari – General Manager Business Development at Professional Management Group (PMG) & Ms. Shailee Sanghvi – Managing Director, Center Stage Entertainment as our Advisory Board Members. I am happy to tell you that our Company is following the Skill India initiative of the Government of India in letter and spirit. The nation needs more Greycells to spring up all across to empower the youth of today!!

Senior industry hands join Concept PR

·         Ziegler Colaco of Publicis Beehive joins as CSO

·         Tina Pawar of Everstone heads BFSI vertical head

MUMBAI: In a rapid growth mode, India’s premier public consultancy Concept PR has appointed senior professionals in key positions - Ziegler Colaco as its Chief  Strategy Officer (CSO)  and Tina Pawar as Head of BFSI vertical.

 “As we are undergoing a new growth phase, we keep strengthening our teams as well as our service offerings. We are confident that both Ziegler and Tina will contribute in our endeavour to scale new heights. Also, the team is  feeling enthused as this will give them a super opportunity to learn from the vast experience of these veterans” said Ashish Jalan, CEO and Director of Concept PR.

With an experience of 23 years, Ziegler Colaco has donned Servicing, Planning and Creative hats.

 An MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Ziegler began his career in Tata Press as a Management Trainee. He began his advertising career at Lintas, and moved on to Mode and iContract.

 His belief in technology being a Computer Science graduate saw him join Indbazaar.com during the dotcom boom. The subsequent bust did not diminish his belief in technology saw him as an Instructional Design professional at Lionbridge, Learningmate and Aptara.

As they say, you can’t keep an ad guy out of advertising forever! And so Ziegler was back as Client Services Director at Seagull Advertising. Before joining ConceptPR, he was Vice-President – Advertising Services at Publicis Beehive Communications.

 Tina has and over a decade’s experience driving brand and corporate communication programmes for leading multi-national organizations. She was previously with the Everstone Group as their head of Corporate Communications, and prior to that with IIFL and Reliance Capital.

 With her business acumen and knowledge of brands, Tina combines her experience in corporate communications and sound media relations to produce the desired output.

 She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Computer Science) from the University of Mumbai, and a PGeMBA (Finance) from the Asian Management Development Centre. She also holds a certificate in Digital Marketing from the Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA).

About Concept PR

Concept PR is a part of India’s largest communication group: Concept. The much awarded public relations consultancy is powered by over 250 professionals having offices in 10 cities and a pan-India associate network that can execute PR assignments in a hundred cities.

The consultancy is a major player in BFSI, Infrastructure & Real Estate, Engineering Power, Oil & Gas, IT & Telecom, Media, Entertainment & Sports, Education, Healthcare and Diversified Corporates.

Concept PR also has a full-fledged Digital Communications and Investor Relations practices with a sizable and growing clientele.

Media movements update

MEDIA UPDATES

Ananya Dasgupta (Delhi, @ananyadg) says hello to Weber Shandwick and goodbye to CNN News18. She joins Weber Shandwick as Managing Editor and will be responsible for content, brand communications, brand journalism, video storytelling, strategy, and building brand narratives. She was previously also associated with Doordarshan news as Anchor cum Correspondent.

Padmaja Joshi (Delhi, @PadmajaJoshi) joins India Today Group as an Editor. She had her previous innings with Times Now, Headlines Today, and NewsX.

Somak Ghoshal (Bengaluru, @somakghoshal) joins The Huffington Post as Senior Editor. Having had previous stints with Harper Collins, Mint, and The Telegraph.

Sapna Srivastava (Mumbai) embarks on a new endeavor joining exchange4media – Realty Plus as Deputy Editor. She had her previous stints with Buildotech Magazine as Managing Editor, Virtual Info System Pvt. Ltd. as Associate Editor, Indiabulls Real Estate as Media Relations, ITP Publishing Group as Industry Columnist, and Times Group as Guest Columnist.

Kshitiz Goliya (Delhi, @KGoliya), Former Correspondent at Reuters News Agency, now joins HT Mint as Content Creator covering Indian IT sector and Real Estate. He did his internship with The Statesman in 2012 and reported for city section there.

Courtesy Tanvi Agarwall @ Suzlon @ One Source