Tick! Tack! Tick! Tack! ....

Hello everyone,

As you can easily guess from the title, the main topic for today’s blog is ‘Time’. When entering the real world of PR, I quickly realised that Time is a very valuable yet always scarce resource.

During the course of our studies we were often given the opportunity to work on “real-life” clients and provide “real” solutions. However, a very important aspect was missing: Time constraints (It’s true that we did have deadlines for our assessments but these are trivial compared to real-life deadlines).

As an intern, my main issue was to adapt and take in these new skills and understanding of the PR world while at the same time try to keep up with this rapid and demanding world.

Our daily workload has its specific, often short, deadlines which require a quick and almost instinctive decision process. And that is why I believe that work experience plays a crucial role in the PR field - and any other field - ; experienced PR practitioners will have an intuitive feel when working and will automatically know what the task/situation requires.

Interns first have to go through a series of internal mental processes to understand the context and its requirements so as to be able to provide their own inputs. On the other hand, experienced PR practitioners will, through practice/repetition, skip some of these processes and are thus able to put more emphasis on their inputs.

Unfortunately for organisations, it means that most interns are at the learning stage and that the real inputs that they could bring to an organisation only come with time and experience - which alas often comes by the time their internship is over.

So that’s the main thought that I wanted to share today.

Until next time, best of luck for those still doing their internships!!!

Unlearn what you learn?!

Hello everyone!

Hope your internships are going-on fine and you are all having a wonderful experience or at least learning the most from it.

Well, as a start off, I’m Benoit de Lapeyre. I am in my last semester at the Charles Telfair Institute in Mauritius and I am currently in an internship at Imagine Communication. The company is a Media and Public Relations Communication Consultancy firm found in Port-Louis, the capital of the island. The company not only operates in Mauritius but also has clients in Madagascar, Reunion and other countries of the Indian Ocean. The firm deals primarily in media relations, intelligence and documentation, and event coordination, amongst other Public Relations services.

For more detailed information, you can consult the company’s website; 

http://www.imagine.mu/.

It has been almost a month since I started my internship and this whole month could be summed up by a phrase my director, Jean-Marie Richard, said on my first days as an intern;

“You are here to unlearn all that you were taught in school, only to learn again how things are really done”.

When I started my internship, having already experienced previous work environment (though not in the PR field), I did expect things to be different than what I was taught during my university years. However during my first weeks as an intern, I realised that the basic PR knowledge you receive during the course of your studies are simply guidelines, basic stepping stones. They only provide you with a global understand of the PR field. However when applied in the real life, PR becomes much more complex and extensive.

Since our first PR modules we were taught that PR should be a Two-way symmetrical model, but when applied in real life it means that we should understand and interact with the society in which we operate. It requires an understanding of society as a whole; its history, its traditions and its customs. Here in Mauritius, it is even more important taking into consideration our multi-cultural background. The insight I gained after this first month is that PR may be taught in theory but however its application in real life requires experience and on-the-job training to have concrete results.

I believe that we, as future PR practitioners, should have an open yet critical mind when dealing with our studies in the communication fields, even more for international students. As a Mauritian studying for an Australian university, I realised that my studies may provide me with an internationally recognised degree but ultimately as a PR practitioner I will only have the basic knowledge and understanding of PR. I will always require an adaptation and learning period in every context I intend to work in, even more taking into consideration our rapidly changing society.

I also wished to share a remarkable quote which portrays my thoughts;

“The curious thing is that with these exponential changes, so much of what we currently know is just getting to be wrong. So many of our assumptions are getting to be wrong. And so, as we move forward, not only is it going to be a question of learning it is also going to be a question of unlearning.” -- John Seely Brown.

The full article, which also provides a very interesting debate on Tacit and Explicit dimension of knowledge, can be read on the following link;

http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/JSB3-learning-to-unlearn.html.

I hope I gave you some interesting food for thought.

So until next time,

Good Luck to you all for your internships.

The end of my internship

The end…

Hi everyone,

This is my last post about my internship at Imagine Communication. During these 20 days, I have been able to observe and learn a lot as it gave me an opportunity to apply what I have learnt and acquired during my studies to the working world. 

I have been exposed to basic and more complex PR tasks such as media monitoring, press summaries, press clippings, database entry, press release, invitations, meetings and so on.

However, during my internship at Imagine Communications, I learnt that daily media monitoring and press summaries are actually a very important facet in public relations. From these facets, I also learnt to look at the different aspects of PR activities in a different perspective as each PR activity plays a different and important role for the consultancy and its clients.

This internship also helps me to learn to work in a professional manner and professionalism.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Senior Consultant and Director of Imagine Communication for providing me the opportunity to do my internship in his company and I sincerely thank my supervisors for their guidance and encouragement. Their supervision and support helped me in the progression of the internship program. 

The overall internship's experience has been so beneficial!!!:)

Hi to all followers,

This will be my last blog post which will encompass and wrap up my whole experience in the professional world as a public relations practitioner at Imagine Communication.

This was a great opportunity which I seize, to put all that I have learnt during my studies into practice and the team of Imagine Communication has believed in me and has entrusted various tasks to me.

This was interesting as I even have to deal with issues by myself and I was guided by the project executives other there. This trust that Imagine Communication had in me has enabled me to undertake work and projects in the appropriate way and handle them as a professional.

I have grasp the most out of all the work that I have undertaken such as media clippings, press summaries, press releases, cover letter, media contact lists, report of meetings and so much more.

Assisting in press conferences and meetings were very beneficial to me as I have been able to understand the steps and procedures that should be respected on the spot. I have also been able to meet prominent figure such as the Leader of MSM, Mr. Pravind Jugnauth.

The most interesting experience acquired is during my last week whereby I had the opportunity to deal with media outlets to settle appointments as well as to accompany our client to his meetings.

I am very grateful to the team of Imagine Communication who has given me this opportunity and I thank them for that privilege. 

Thank you for having followed me during my internship and hope that you enjoyed my posts

Natacha Rosalie

Organizing appointments

Hi to all followers,

So today, my fourth blog post will about a public relation activity that has been entrusted to me for my last week at Imagine Communication. This consisted of setting up activities for a candidate at the presidential elections of next year in Madagascar, Mr Raharimanana, to introduce himself and develop a contact book in Mauritius.

Our main tasks were to organise appointments for him with political parties, the media (radio and the press) as well as with the CEOs of the main companies of the country dealing with the economy so that he could present himself along with his projects for Madagascar and the region.

Minutes of Meeting

So firstly, was the meeting with the CEO of Imagine Communication, Mr Jean-Marie Richard who explained to us the project and gives us hints about whom to contact within each organisation. Then, after the meeting, we had to prepare the minutes of meeting which means structuring and setting up all information given to us to see if we are on the right track.

Cover letter

After this, I had to prepare a draft of a cover letter that would be sent by email along with his curriculum vitae and presentation of his projects. The project executive, who was supervising our tasks, has used my cover letter partly to write the mail.

Contacting the media outlets

Then, the other day, I was responsible for contacting the media outlets and setting appointments based on the planning of Mr Raharimanana. I also had to send e-mails of the cover letter along with CV and project presentation for them to have a look at and prepare questions which would be asked to them.

Redesigning the planning

At the end of the day, I was also asked to redesign the planning in a better format for Mr Raharimanana to better understand and not be confused. So, I scheduled the planning again, adding all new appointments that we had obtained during the day and search for addresses of the offices in which he had appointments.

Attending meetings

The other day, when the appointments were already fixed; we had the opportunity to accompany Mr Raharimanana to his appointments with the leader of MSM, one of the main political parties, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, with the Lord Mayor of Port Louis Mr Kodabaccus as well as with the Communication Manager of the Government, Mr Subash Gobine. This was the most interesting part of this project and a great opportunity for us as we have been able to learn how these kinds of meetings unfold and to better understand how politics function in Mauritius.

Report of Meetings

We have also been given the opportunity to write a report to the CEO about the meetings; in there, I included what Mr Raharimanana said and what advices have been given to him by the person he met.

This project for Mr Raharimanana, as a whole was a great opportunity which has enabled us to learn how to deal and make arrangements with those three sectors to obtain appointments. It was quite successful, as we have been able to achieve about twenty appointments.

It was not an easy task but which has been very worthwhile for us. It was enormous experience which I have grasped every single procedure which will be useful for me when I will be in the professional world.

Thank you for reading my blog post and I will soon be back for another post which will be to sum up my whole experience at Imagine Communication and the lessons I have retained form these experiences.

Natacha

Keeping good relationship with media brings prosperity to our PR plans.

Hi to all,

So my internship at Imagine Communication is still being conducted under good conditions. I am learning more and more which will help me building my future career and has knowledge of how it will be working in this field.

For my third blog post, I have chosen to write about the importance of building and creating media contact list and relationship in the PR field.

Other tasks which were entrusted to me are:

Building and categorising the media contacts list

Proceeding with this task of creating and categorising the media contacts was a bit uninteresting for me because I did not understand the importance of doing it. However, after a while, my supervisor explained to me its importance and I started taking pleasure doing it. In the Public Relations department, it is essential to always have an updated media contact list as when we need to send press release, it is easier and safer to send it directly to the concerned person within the media. Otherwise, it may not be taken into account and this can lead to no media coverage from this media outlet.

 After having creating and categorising this list, I knew about its importance. And I really think that even if it is a bit boring to do it; it facilitates our job afterwards and we can operate in more secure conditions too.

Importance of maintaining good relationship with the media.

I have also learnt the importance of maintaining a good relationship and communication with media; as they are essential for media coverage. The role of public relations practitioners is to maximise media coverage; this is why we should always keep a good relationship with them.

During my internship at Imagine Communication, several times, I had to telephone to the media and journalists after sending press releases. This have given me the opportunity to learn how we should talk and communicate with them and at what time of the day we should contact them as they are being very busy persons. I think that it is also an integral and essential part of our job; to keep a good relationship with media outlets and journalists as they are the key determinant of our job tasks.

Therefore, the importance of building media contact list and relationships with the media is crucial in the PR field as it determines collaboration as well as media coverage with is essential in PR activities.

Thank you for taking time to read,

And the last blog post will come soon.

Natacha Rosalie

More conferences!

This is Part Two of the first post on conferences I published.

The earlier post was about conferences that will give out statements by specific organisations to some kind of event happening in the country. Today's post will be about press conferences that announce and highlight the activities of a particular social, educative event, or one that will describe the future exhibitions of the event.

The second press conference I was asked to assist (and learn from) was organised by several parties, both Mauritian organisations and African organisations. The press conference announced the opening of a three day exhibition taking place at the Caudan Waterfront in Port-Louis. This event covered more than just one press conference.

During this event, I got to see the contrasts that can exist in press conferences; their nature, goals and subjects differ from one another. Of course, the procedure taken by Imagine Communication to organise the liaison between hosts and journalists remain the same, but atmospheres of each press conferences differs according to the subject and objectives.

The second press conference was about sharing of knowledge and information as well as providing  explanations of aims of the exhibition at the Caudan Waterfront.

Press Conference, 10 Steps From An Intern's Experience

A press conference is.... A LOT OF WORK!

Imagine allowed me to assist in the preparation of press conferences during this past two last weeks.

Don't we all love good news and happy events? Yes, of course we do! But press conferences are not always about announcing profits of a company, or the welcoming of new CEOs or all that fun and good stuff.

Very often, press conferences are used to mediate statements to the public, which are not always positive and flowery.

A daily has recently known some turbulence due to some controversial article that was not well received by the Mauritian public. Several organisations felt concerned about the article and as a consequence, many statements had been made.

Imagine was to prepare a press conference for one organisation who wanted to react in a peaceful manner to the controversial article. I was guided through this process and assisted in the preparation.

Day 1
Step 1 - Preparation of the Media Kit. 
The media kit included several different articles and speeches of the speakers that were present during the press conference. A poem which was to be read during the press conferences was also found in the media kit.

Step 2 - E-mailing journalists
A very important, if not the most important, ingredient of press conferences is the presence of journalists. So obviously, it is very important to send them notifications of any press conference Imagine is organising. This was done through e-mails and personal invitations. The e-mail informed journalist about the press conference's subject, speakers, organisers, venue and time.

Step 3 - Follow ups
E-mailing is not enough. One must be sure that invitations have been well received. This follow up is done on the same day after invitations have been sent. During the follow up, I was asked to confirm whether the journalist had received the invitation. If not, then I was to send them the invitation by fax or on different e-mail addresses. This follow up also allows Imagine to keep their contact list up-to-date.

Day 2
Step 4 - Confirming journalists' presence
Here again I was asked to contact journalists but this time it was to confirm their presence during the press conference. Calling journalists a second time also acts as a reminder for them about the press conference. Journalists have busy schedule and such reminders can be seen as helpful and even welcoming.
In case of their unavailability, this gives Imagine enough time to contact other journalists from same news corporations to replace their colleagues.

Step 5 - Preparing the Media Kits and attendance list
Since the number of journalists has been confirmed, I was asked to go ahead with the final preparation of the media kits.
The attendance was thus done in accordance.

Step 6 - Go to the venue!
As a representative of Imagine, we were asked to reach the venue before the indicated time in order to make sure that all material was present, and also to make sure that the venue was welcoming. Mircos and cameras also had to be tested before arrival of journalists and speakers.

Step 7 - Welcome journalists
After phone calls, time to meet in person! Here it was necessary to take down the names of present journalists once again for further follow up. This is done so that Imagine knows who to send the media kit via e-mail once the press conference had been completed.

Step 8 - Listen and take notes!
It is important to take notes during conferences for Imagine's purposes. Pictures and voice recording are also necessary for Imagine's database of events.

Step 9 - Thank you and good-bye

Step 10 - Draft your own press release


And... Done!


Next post: More conferences

Media Relations

Quite a few number of days have been completed at Imagine and so, it is now time to write a new post article about the experience and tasks assigned to interns.

What is Media Relations?

Imagine Communication was established in 1991 as the first Media and Public Relations Communication Consultancy Services for the Indian Ocean region. Media Relations is just a part of PR activities and this is one of Imagine's specialities. 

Media Relations and Public Relations are terms that tend to be used interchangeably. This habit or 'routine' is however, wrong. Media Relations on its own is a very important activity done in PR but does not extend to dealing with the general public as such. Media Relations is about the relationships formed between a company and the different media corporations; print, radio, TV or Web. So Media Relations is really a specialist area of PR. 

Imagine's role hence is all about being the 'eyes and ears' of its clients. 

Media Relations at Imagine

Being part of Imagine, and hence being the 'eyes and ears' of our clients, during my first week I was asked to do Press Summaries and some media monitoring. These tasks consists of reading news articles, both print and online, that would be of interest to our clients or that have direct links with the clients to finally write summaries and communicate those press summaries to our clients. 

Most of Imagine's clients ask to have their summaries in French, but we do have to translate some specific articles into English in order to facilitate our clients' understanding of the news and happenings in Mauritius. 

Reading the newspapers is however not enough, as Media Relations practitioners, we are also asked to pay close attention to news releases on radio stations and TV stations. 

News knows no holiday

Good or bad happenings and events can happen at any time. And journalists cover stories regardless of weekends or public holidays. On a recent public holiday, I was asked to complete the press summaries for our clients. This continuous media monitoring showed me how important it is for Media Relations practitioners to always be aware of what is going on in a community or country. The press summaries were to be sent on same day respecting a deadline.

I hope you enjoyed today's post. Next post: Media Conferences!