‘Megaphone’ – Speak Loud: Europe is Listening!
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We all know what the letters PR stand for and have certainly heard how important the PR sector in a company’s work is. But what does it mean to have a good PR team when working in a youth organisation and what are the challenges that you might face when promoting your work in the public are not topics that are often discussed.
We all know what the letters PR stand for and have certainly heard how important the PR sector in a company’s work is. But what does it mean to have a good PR team when working in a youth organisation and what are the challenges that you might face when promoting your work in the public are not topics that are often discussed. In order to give answers to these questions, Mladiinfo organised “Megaphone- Speak loud: Europe is listening!”, a training course held in Ohrid, Macedonia from 1st- 8th July. The event hosted 35 participants from Azerbaijan, Romania, Turkey, Slovakia, Serbia, Italy, Macedonia who all shared their experiences from working in the NGO sector and the ways in which they do the PR in their organisations.
Beginning from the very basics of the public relations field, the participants were introduced with the definition of PR and its origins in the professional world. The trainer, Sinisa Pekevski fromSi Communication, gave an insight into the theoretical background of the topic and set the ground for what was to become a week of friendly exchange of practices and acquisition of knowledge and new skills. Prior to the beginning of the course, each participant had to prepare a presentation of their organisation’s work and the PR techniques they have used for promotion. In this way, the group learned more about the methods of doing PR in different parts of Europe and the place that non-governmental organisations have in the public sphere.
The course was mainly focused on practical gaining of PR competences through a ‘hands on’ approach. The tasks and responsibilities that the participants got were done by group work and presentations which gave a chance to each participant to present themselves in public and improve their public speaking skills. Among the most important skills and practices that were gained through the programme were the writing of a press release for a recently organized event, solving of a crisis situation within the organization and presenting the problem to the public, and finally, each country had to prepare its own PR strategy that will be used by the organization in future.