If you ask young social scientists today what they miss most in the higher education or university education program, they will convincingly affirm that they miss practical experience in the field they want to work on in the future.
Propiar’s approach to solving this issue is the authorial project called Apropό, which gives young people the opportunity to get a detailed insight into the work of the public relations agency. The Apropό project combines a one-day practical dealing of the chosen subject and a two-week work experience that enables participants to get to know the wider scope of strategic communication.
Third implementation of Apropό project
This time’s edition, that is the third implementation was devoted to the question of how to put facts into words. Every individual faces this issue sooner or later, but public relations professionals face it every day. The question itself doesn’t seem to be complicated, but can be with the wrong approach. Therefore, it is essential that a communicator – and those who wish to become one – knows the practical and basic skills of coping with various types of texts.
It was for this purpose that selected and highly motivated participants joint us in our office last Wednesday. After an introductory speech by our Executive Director Anja Petrovčič, who presented the work of the agency and answered questions in this respect, their official Apropó experience began.
Texts in media relations and communication on digital platforms
Our communication specialist Tina Kadunc started the first lecture with her presentation of a press release. This is a basic and a main tool we use in the media relations. The participants were acquainted with the basic rules of its structure, its form and the reasons for distributing it, since respecting these rules enables us to communicate information through the media to the public as effectively as possible. There are also other texts in the media relations that are different in their structure and purpose. By highlighting the differences, practical comparison of these texts and their creation, the foundation was laid to enable our participants to further develop their professional strategic communication skills.
Social networks were a central part of the second half of Apropó’s education. Communication on various digital platforms is an extremely important and rapidly developing part of strategic communication today, being used by more and more business subjects. Our digital communication specialist Tamara Simovič revealed the tricks, novelties and ingredients that are crucial for reaching the communication goals with social networks posts. Many different issues and thoughts of the participants emerged in this context, which proves that this is a top subject that demands continuous education.
The afternoon practical workshops in the form of creative writing and group analysis of their final products were a test of newly acquired knowledge of Apropό participants. They also unexpectedly found themselves before the challenge called the Elevator Pitch. As they later admitted, this was a huge adrenaline rush. Each participant had the opportunity to present herself to our Executive Director in a most comprehensive and best possible way during only one elevator ride. In doing so, they were obliged to put the essence of themselves into words as their presentation time was limited by an elevator ride. Although the challenge was a bit unusual, it was an excellent opportunity to practice key information delivery at unexpected and important occasions.
Our thoughts allready with fourth Apropό edition
According to our curious participants, this over six hours long and intensive bootcamp of public relations was over in a blink of an eye. The practical knowledge gained will enable them to identificate key meaning elements of the text and serve them as an excellent experience in strategic communication industry. In addition, they will further consolidate it on a two-week work experience in our agency that each Apropó participant deserves.