The End and a New Beginning…

This is my last post for this blog assignment, the end of a very ‘assignmentful’ (please pardon the English here) second semester. As is my usual practice, it is time to take stock not just for this module, but for course as such and my own assessment of what I have learnt.

 Let me try and put this in the form of the basic ‘H’ and the 4 ‘Ws’.

How? Through a mixture of lectures, seminars, role plays, case studies, group exercises and practical assignments. We now have a portfolio of work we can showcase to the world! I enjoyed the case studies and practical assignments the most.

Why? Though I have been working in the communications industry, it has not been in the field of PR. This formal education and ensuing degree will, I hope, help me become a more effective communicator. 

What? I have learnt that PR can be subtle and in your face, creative and run of the mill, simple and complicated — all at the same time. One just has to find his or her own niche.

I also learnt to sucessfully distinguish and help others as well to distinguish PR from marketing and adverstising. As for defending PR tactics to journalists, I’m getting there. 🙂

I learnt that certain PR tasks are best done alone, like blogs, while some others can just not be done alone, like campaigns. You need to sit and brainstorm (read: break your heads) with other people to be able to crack the briefs.

I learnt that I had quite a lot to say about some topics, like feminisation and political communication, and had to struggle quite a bit to even put together a coherent post, like the one on IPR.

I also learnt that I had the knack to pick out the most difficult or complicated topics/briefs for essays and assignments.

I discovered a liking for technical stuff and for any creativity that called for use of technology. 🙂 Conversely, I discovered that I am a complete no-starter with campaign planning. 😦

When? The last 6 months have been a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows in PR learning and the next few months will see the culmination of my learnings in the in the form of a dissertation. Help!

Who? My tutors, Pam Williams and Michaela O’Brien who were very brave, I think, to take on such a varied bunch of students on this journey. Susan Fearn, who taught us English for PR purposes and who co-taught the disseratation classes. My social media teacher, Matthew Holland, for his patience with the inanest of questions. And to all the guest lecturers for opening a whole new world — Benedict Southworth, Martin Clarke, Adam Garfunkel, Euan Semple and Sean Kidney.

And to all my fellow travellers/classmates on this journey, from whom I learnt so much through hours of informal discussions.

Thank you all.

Put People First !

The historic ‘Put People First March’  held earlier today in Central London was a fantastic experience for me. It was my first ever march/rally. And the feeling is indescribable. The adrenalin rush. The support for a common cause (in this case, many common causes) with so many other people, the actual march… Wow !

The march route was from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park, a distance of approximately 3 miles. The organisers of the rally expected some 30,000 people to participate, but I think there were many more. I was near the head of the march and when we reached Hyde Park, a friend who was also participating in the march but was near the tail, said that they had just left Trafalgar Square, almost 2 miles away ! 

Some photographs taken at the march are presented here as a slideshow. I have deliberately not given them any captions as I want you, dear reader, to feel as being part of this march !

Education or Experience?

Education or Experience (and contacts). Which is more important for PR? This was the topic of the last in the series of debates in class. A kind of chicken and egg question, actually.

Gruning and Hunt (1984, p.81) in their book on Managing Public Relations have said that “public relations will never reach the status of a profession as long as people can get into the field and prosper without having completed a fairly rigorous course of study in the field.” But having said that, a degree in PR is worthless if it is not supported with excellent communication and inter-personal skills at all levels.

The importance of education cannot be stressed enough, why else would at least 5-6 of my classmates, including me, be taking a mid-career break to pursue a Master’s degree in PR?

Ideally, theory should support practice and practice should feed into theory. Some of my classmates who interned with various PR agencies, while pursuing the MA in PR course would probably be able to explain this better than me.

For me, the best classes were when Pam or Michaela or Matt or even the guest lecturers talked about their own personal experiences. The insight and learnings that I gained about PR from those classes is invaluable; something that books could never have taught me.  The true worth of education can only come into light when you are actually working in the field.

From my own experience, I can say that my educational qualifications and the area that I work in have nothing to do with one another. Though my first Master’s degree is in Geology, I have worked in the area of social science and humanities. I am doing my second Master’s in Public Relations with a specific purpose. But whether I will work in the field of PR or move on to something else, only time can tell !