How Communication Can Help Create a Better World?

We have passed through diverse challenges during 2020 on personal, professional, and organisational fronts. 

And each one of us has done our bit to resolve the issues and emerge victorious on our own respective fronts and survived these challenges. 

Let us Discuss Tomorrow How Can We Create a Better World through Communication in 2021 with an expert panel of communication professionals in conversation with PR professional and National Vice President of PRCI, CJ Singh

SUBIR MOITRA has 25 years of experience in Reputation Management, Brand building, Public Relations, Corporate Communications and Crisis Communications.  He led corporate communications for KPMG, United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney and Sterlite Power in India. 

He has been conferred various awards for his role as a top communication professional including 2020 Exchange4Media’s (e4m) Top 100 Influential Gamechangers in PR & Communications industry in India; Pratt & Whitney’s coveted International Eagle Awards; and  Blackbelt in Communications Strategy, Gartner Communications and Bachelor of  Commerce

MANRAJ GREWAL SHARMA is the resident editor of The Indian Express. Author of a book on Punjab militancy called “Dreams after Darkness”, she has also worked as a consulting editor with development organisations such as United Nations Environment Programme and Asia Pacific Adaptation Forum. She has been a publishing consultant with the Asian Development Bank, Manila, as well, and was the managing editor of “Gender, Technology and Development” , an international peer-reviewed journal published by Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, for five years.  

VIVEK ATRAY, ex IAS, is a Motivational Speaker, Author, Mentor, Advisor, Columnist and Visiting Professor. Founder of SUVICHAR Think Tank, He is visiting Professor at Shoolini University, member of the CSR Advisory Board of ACTION AID. He is also a founder of the Vibrant Networking Forum, Chandigarh Literary Society and Co-Convenor of INTACH Chandigarh. He is a member of the Governor's Advisory Council for Chandigarh UT.

A weekly columnist Random Forays in Hindustan Times he is author of two novels Move on Bunny & Dubey ji Bounces Back. and has recently published his third book, Finding Success Within: 52 Life Skills for Young Indians. 

He is currently the Chairman of PRCI Chandigarh Chapter. 

The event would go Live on Facebook.   

Please join in.  Click here to log in:  http://bit.ly/PRCI30Dec2020

Please put your questions in the comment section during the Live session.

Vivek Atray to head Chandigarh Chapter of PRCI

PRCI to setup Young Communicators Club in the universities in the region: Vivek Atray

Chandigarh Chapter of Public Relations Council of India elected Mr Vivek Atray, former IAS officer, motivational speaker, and author, has been elected as Chairman for 2020-21. 

Vivek Atray who had been engaged with the Chapter of PRCI since 2010 said that there is a greater need for every organisation to deploy effective communication for its survival, growth, and success. 

With extensive senior resource persons available in the city, the Chapter would be not only organising professional training programmes for the corporate and public sector but would also be establishing Young Communicator Clubs (YCC) in various Universities to prepare the youth for the challenges of life. 

Others office bearers of the Chapter include Vice Chairman Prof Jayanth Pethkar from School of Communication Studies, PU; Secretary Sudeep Rawat, PR consultant; Joint Secretary Gurmeet Singh Khaira, PRO DIPR Punjab; Pavittar Singh, Director M&S, Press Information Bureau. 

Other members of the Executive include
Shikha Nehra, Jt Director DIPR Punjab Raj Bhavan;
Amit Roy CEO of iCatchers PR;
Aditya Sharma, CEO of Manthan PR;
Arun Johar, Joint Director (Retd), Deptt of PR, Govt of Haryana; 
Lalit Sharma, CEO Founder of Mantrin PR;
Ritu Nag, Director-Tech Mahindra SMART Academy for Healthcare;

Jatinder Vij, former PR head of HMT Ltd., Past Chairman of Chandigarh Chapter, shall be National Council representative and
Aneesh Bhanot, Editor of Sector News, and Past Chairman shall be the Zonal Representative of the Chapter. 

National Vice President of CJ Singh, and the North Zone Chairperson of PRCI Renuka Salwan shall be the Advisors to the Chapter.

Congratulations to Mr Ashish Goyal on Promotion

Our esteemed member, Mr Ashish Goyal who had been Director of Press Information Bureau at Chandigarh, has been promoted to hold more responsibility at New Delhi. 

He has been promoted as Additional Director General in the Bureau of Outreach and Communication in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India at New Delhi. 

We would miss him here but send our best wishes to him on his promotion. 

PR and Communication Challenges during Covid19

 

Dr. K K Rattu, Director of the School of Media Studies of Jaipur National Studies organised a webinar on "PR and Communication Challengs during Covid 19, today. 

Vice Chancellor of the Jaipur National University Dr H N Verma was the Chief Guest on the occasion, who commended PRCI and the PR professionals for devising communication strategies to meet the challenges of our times. 

President Emeritus and Mentor of PRCI, Mr MB Jayaram gave the opening remarks and touched upon diverse aspect of PR practice that can help organisations to plan for a better future. 

National Vice President of PRCI CJ Singh and PRCI North Zone Chair Renuka Salwan from Chandigarh participated in the webinar. 

What is Public Relations?

 

Public relations suffer from a deep perception crisis, and right from the academics to media, to corporate leadership, have diverse views on what this profession is all about. 

One can gauze the understanding of the chief PR person of a public sector organisation when he, sharing his "success" story, mentioned that the best PR lesson he learnt was to take care of his boss's dog, his wife and his kids and he never ever he had any problem in his career since then. 

This shocking revelation in front of an audience left the veterans speechless, while many others just wondered at such a disclosure.  Not his fault since in many public sectors and government organisations, earlier, provided a promotional avenue to their clerical staff to get into public relations whose primary job used to be running an errand or managing the reception. 

In the last four decades of my engagement with diverse fields of communication, right from being a journalist to public relations practitioner and visiting faculty to various educational institutes, it remains an enigma for many, including some of the corporate where PR does not go beyond 'Press Release' or media relations. 

There are numerous myths that surround the profession even today to a large extent, though senior communicators and businesses are taking serious note of the practice. 

Several professional bodies like the Public Relations Council of India, Association of Business Communicators, International Public Relations Association, and Indian PR Consultants Association, are making efforts to educate the management and introduce the professional practice. 

Young communicators opting for public relations often fall prey to the whims of the uninformed management leadership and are relegated to tasks far below their roles. 

In fact, the practice of public relations profession began with their role as firefighters in an hour of crisis but a young professional Ivy Lee put to rest the misbeliefs in the minds of the managements that PR is not to hide the truth but to be honest and truthful and proactive in sharing information with stakeholders. 

Public Relations is not: 

• Advertising
• Liaison
• Lobbying
• Propaganda 
• Ensuring publication of Press Releases in media
• Manipulating facts (spin-doctoring)
• White-washing/Hiding facts, especially during a crisis  (fire-fighting)
• Entertaining media people and keeping them in good humour

Public relations practitioner is a professional who is trained to manage communication effectively between an organisation and its stakeholders (or 'publics') to achieve desired results. 

Multi-Dimensional

A professionally trained communicator with knowledge of psychology, sociology, public administration, anthropology, linguistics, behavioural sciences, management principles, technology, data mining, business environment auditing, with a vision to judge the future impact of an organisation's existence,  can make people, corporate, public bodies, the governments, effect the change, what Mahatama Gandhi said, "you want to see in the world".  

The Changemakers

The young communicators entering the professions must feel proud of the fact that they are the changemakers who can bring about the desired change in the lives of the people, their perceptions, and their thought processes, just through sound communication techniques.

PR is all Pervasive

Organisations thrive through their stakeholders, which are diverse and different for every organisation.   Their study and communication consumption patterns defines the organisation's success story. How the stakeholders perceive a brand, an event, a person, depends upon the successful communication strategy. 

So the public relations practitioners should learn the fundamental nuances of communication tools, techniques and tactics, while the managements need to learn to harness the hitherto unutilised or underutilized Power of PR. 

How to model Startup for Success

 

Every time is the first time. And every new customer you meet, it is the first time that you would be making your presentation.

The key is to create your pitch to every prospect with the same spirit, hardwork, efforts, to establish your credibility.

Here is a sure-shot formula for success in your business, i.e. WxWx3Ws+H

a. The first W is the Why of your business. Mission of your organisation or your offering. Why are you in the business you are in. Be clear. Be specific. Till the time you take it beyond your own self, you won’t find the true mission of your work. This is the core, the entire spirit of your engagement, or in short, the purpose of your being.

Each one of us is Born to Serve others. Ask yourself, how does your product or service is making a difference in the life of others. What problems it is going to solve?

b. The second W is to be multiplied, because this is another crucial element to your success. Who? Who are the people whom you intend to serve. These are the people, your customers, for whom you have devised the product. Do you know all these ‘people’ who are going to make a success of your business? They are both internal and external.

Internally, they are your cofounders, collaborators, investors, board of directors, and the entire team members, down to your office boy and tea-wallah, sweeper, etc.

Externally, the ‘WHO’ form the largest chunk who are the reason for your existence. Your distributors, dealers, channel partners, logistics support, vendors, retailers, customers, and their families, the community,
the media, the government, financial institutions, etc.

Once you start drawing your list of ‘Who’, you will be surprised to know how you need to create strategy to reach out to all those people.

c. Theeafter we have 3Ws, i.e. What, When, and Where. They relate to your product/services, the team of experts, your USPs and technical advantages over competition, when can one get them (or the timing factor) and where.

d. The H, How, explains the process you are going to adopt to solve the people’s problems. In the online domain you would find thousands of replicas of various products, but only one amongst them excels and shines just because of the excellence in execution, which is the differentiator.

When you pitch to your client, your presentation should not be more than 6 to 7 slides, because no one has the patience and time to go through lengthy presentations.

Your passion and knowledge about your product and how it connects with the prospective customer, would not require longish explanations. Keep them Short and Sweet.

The first slide, Why would take care of your values and objectives, while your research on Who would matter the most.

Before the pitch, study your customer/prospect whom you are going to make the pitch.

Don’t keep it general.

Modify it to suit specific issues that your prospect is facing, which would require a little research about the organisation to whom you are approaching. Address their specific needs, and you have hit the nail.

Take care.

10 Business Tips for Startups

 

 Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay 

Here are the ten business tips for startups. 

1. Start with Why. If you are already in business write down the reasons or purpose of your business. Why are you in business? What niche area you are serving? What are the pain points that you intend to solve? How your business would address specific issues.
2. How you are different? Explore the businesses in your domain…the competition. What are they doing and what are their marketing strategies? What is the USP of the products in the market? Have you innovated?
3. Strategy to Excel: Compare your product/service or offering vis-a-vis the competition. How it is or going to be different from others? Are you building into your system some ease-of-usage, better turn-around-time, or improved quality with same or less pricing? What shall be your USP?
4. Design Excellence: Is there an improved design? In product, packaging, delivery, usage experience?
5. The Team: Do you have the team on board which are not square pegs in round holes.? People matter. Having the right team for each process is essential.
6. The Right Resources: Do you have the right financial resources to implement your plan, your ideas, and innovation? Who shall be providing the resources for your success? What kind of partnerships you shall evolve?
7. Do you know your customers? What are their psychographs and demographics? What are their preferences? Why should they be using your product? How do they make their choices?
8. What is the market size you intend to cater to? Local, national, or international?
9. Your Business Environment: Your organisation is affected and impacted by the business environment; be it government policies, economic or political situation, social or cultural considerations, international trade, etc. Are you aware of it as to how you can operate within existing business environment?
10. Communicate: List out all your internal and external stakeholders who matter to your organisation, your product or services. Be specific and develop communication strategy that resplonds to their needs, and which can influence them positively and create a favourable image for your organisation / brand.
    
    These are just some of the tips that a business management pro should look into. These may not be complete, but 10 most crucial pointers to start with for any startup, or an existing organisation. 

 Indian Media Centre cordially invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 Is the newspaper dying?

Time: Jul 27, 2020 03:30 PM India

Speakers: 

Divya Aggarwal,
Sr Assistant Editor, Indian Express,  

Prof Archana R Singh, 
School of Communication Studies, Panjab University 

Ajay Bhardwaj
Senior Journalist

Moderated by 
CJ Singh
Founder CEO, CorePR & 
National Vice President PRCI

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9154721387?pwd=TzJEOVF5d0lQdzBRSjc0MURjN3F5UT09

Meeting ID: 915 472 1387
Passcode: 0R895j

 Indian Media Centre cordially invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Is the newspaper dying ?

 Jul 27, 2020 03:30 PM India

Speakers:
Divya Aggarwal, Sr Assistant Editor, Indian Express, 
Prof Archana R Singh,  School of Communication Studies, Panjab University 
Ajay Bhardwaj, Senior Journalist 

Moderated by 
CJ Singh, Founder CEO of CorePR & 
National Vice President PRCI

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9154721387?pwd=TzJEOVF5d0lQdzBRSjc0MURjN3F5UT09

Meeting ID: 915 472 1387   Passcode: 0R895j

YCC Orientation Webinar on 7th July

 PRCI Hyderabad Chapter is organising an orientation programme for YCC.  Kindly join in to have better understanding the concept and way forward for your Chapter.  Best regards, CJ 

PRCI Hyderabad is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: YCC Orientation Session

Time: Jul 7, 2020 07:00 PM India

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5073140995?pwd=T2xmQ05YTlV4UHpKRXp2U1hSMnJUZz09

Meeting ID: 507 314 0995

Password: YCC2020

Please Join the Meet

The Future of Print Media in India Webinar on 30th May

 The Future of Print Media in India

Hosted by Indian Media Centre Chandigarh

Saturday, May 30, 2020 11:25 am | 1 hour | (UTC+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore

SPEAKERS
Dr. 
Mr CJ Singh, National Vice President, PRCI & Founder CEO of CorePR

Moderated by 
Mr Ajay Bhardwaj, Senior Journalist, India Media Centre

Meeting number: 166739 3227

Password: india2020 

https://meetingsapac25.webex.com/meetingsapac25/j.php?MTID=mf619c173de4963ad0bbb00214fb5ec5d

Access code: 166 739 3227

The Future of Print Media in India

Hosted by Indian Media Centre Chandigarh

Saturday, May 30, 2020 11:25 am  1 hour | (UTC+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore

Meeting number: 166 739 3227

Password: india2020 (46342202 from phones and video systems)

https://meetingsapac25.webex.com/meetingsapac25/j.php?MTID=mf619c173de4963ad0bbb00214fb5ec5d

Join by video system

Dial 1667393227@meetingsapac25.webex.com

You can also dial 210.4.202.4 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone

+65-6703-6949 Singapore Toll

Access code: 166 739 3227

5 Tips to Survive Lockdown

 

Holed up at home?   Everyone is.  World over.

It could be a blessing in disguise.

For many of us, who remain busy day-in-and-day-out in our worldly pursuits, hardly get time to introspect.

All of us are on Fast Forward Mode.  There had not been any Pause button in our lives. Come what may.  Until now.

As curfew and lockdown has forced us into our homes, it is time to reflect and do things that you always wanted to do, but never did.

Here's a list of 5 things that you should be doing every day.

1. Maintain a Journal
Pick up a small notebook, diary or download 'Keep', a Gmail app on your mobile to take note daily.
The morning ritual should be to jot down what you intend to accomplish today.   Have a schedule.  Go over it and get into action.

2. Get Ready
When you are locked down and no one is there to look you up, you tend to relax and stay in your night suit.   Getup in time.  Get Ready.  And start working on your 'to do' list.  If you are working, reflect on the new things you would do at your job to make work much more efficient and productive.   And if you are an entrepreneur, it is time to plan and prepare a strategy to take your business to newer heights as soon as the normalcy returns.

3. Learn a New Skill 
You wanted to play a musical instrument, set up a blog, or learn cooking....just go ahead and do it.  Enough YouTube videos are available to revive your hobby or learn a new skill and utilise your time more fruitfully.  For entrepreneurs, this is the time to look for more opportunities for your enterprise to grow.

3. Reconnect with a Friend/Colleague/Relative
Haven't we lost touch with the people around us?  Many have not talked to their parents. Though they might be there on social media, remember, there is nothing like getting in touch with them and reconnecting.  You would simply love it. 
For business people, stay in touch with your employees and customers.

5. List Your Gratitude
Before sleeping gets back to your journal and jot down your list of Gratitude.   All the people you talked to, all the loving care that you got from your family, the food that was served to you, the air that you breathed and a whole lot of things you feel you are grateful for.  Thank the Almighty for all those gifts that you received today.

There is much more that every one of us can do.   But in the next 21 days, this is the habit-forming schedule if practised regularly, religiously and with a commitment.  It would turn you into an amazing person.