Colloque Parle Parle Jase Jase organized by the SQPRP - My review and highlights

It had been a month that I was thinking of attending this event that was to take place at the Hyatt Regency in Montreal, on Saturday, March 20, 2010. The event was organized by the Société Québécoise des Professionnels en Relations Publiques. I decided last minute to attend with my school mate Anaëlle Jeanty and could not believe I nearly missed such a well organized and educational event like this one. Here are some of my highlights of the day from each presentation I attended.


The future of Traditional Media by Maxime Rémillard (Co-president and chief director of V télé) and Bernard Descôteaux (Director of Le Devoir since 1999)

In an era where the Web 2.0 is revolutionizing the way we get our information, traditional media is in real danger. Television is the most influential medium of communication but the Internet is right behind. Very soon, Twitter will be playing a big role on television. The first times I actually saw television programs advertising their Twitter accounts were on RDS and Tout Le Monde En Parle. This trend is only in its early stages.

There is also the phenomena of free information on the WWW. Journalists are no longer the only reporters of news. With the integration of social media on the web, anyone can report news and engage in a two-way communication. Audiences now can participate in analyzing and interpreting news. We can all potentially be citizen journalists.


The Web 2.0 and Public Relations by Michelle Blanc (Main associate of Analyweb)

Now here is the main highlight of my day! What a motivational speaker this woman is! I think every student who attended her presentation went home and created a blog, a LinkedIn page or a Twitter account! The Web 2.0 enables us to have a relationship WITH our audiences, where Blanc states that we are in a 'mix-media' period. Businesses will have to cue in to what their audiences want on the web. They will need to have an efficient web presence.

Blogs will become a great tool for crisis management and Twitter will be an influential way of posting news. She also emphasized on making our own personal branding on the Internet. With all the tips that Blanc gave us on how to make an impact on the web, Anaëlle and I left her presentation full of ideas, ready to take on this fascinating world!


Sports Sponsorship by Jean Gosselin (Communications strategist)

The main message I retained from this presentation was that sports = passion, and emotion is a key element which goes beyond sports. It is important to exploit the sport and not the athlete's personality. We must associate an athlete with a company that reaches his/her passions or their interests.

As I expected, he touched upon the Tiger Woods affair and yes, this crisis was badly managed due to covering up and not going public right away.


Internal Communications by Cédric Orvoine (Communications director at Ubisoft)

His presentation was interesting because he based himself on five communication myths. To make a long story short: the communications field is dominated by women; networking is fundamental; transparency is key; internal mediums of communications must be adapted to the work environment; communications contribute to ROI.

I also loved the program he used for his visual presentation. It was the first time a lot of us were exposed to Prezi, very fresh and cool!


Backstage with Mirador with Daniel Thibault (co-author of Mirador), Hugo Dumas (Journalist for La Presse), Bernard Motulsky (pr and marketing professional) and Philippe Bélisle (pr professional)

I missed the first fifteen minutes of this presentation but when I got there, things were heating fast. I was quite disappointed at what Dumas was saying about journalist and pr professional relationships. I might be inexperienced and speaking from a student point of vue, but are we not supposed to work together? Don't pr practitioners and journalists need each other? And when is pr going to lose its 'spin' reputation? Both parties here work for one thing: to give out a message. I refuse to think we are gate keepers to journalists. Motulsky added that we give the information that is given to us by the organization we work for, when we get it.

Another thing that struck me is when Dumas went on saying that journalists are 'stuck' with pr practitioners. Pr professionals are not free of saying and writing what they want and that journalists have that luxury. At this point, a McGill pr teacher and a very well respected pr professional, Mrs. Elizabeth Hirst, walked to the microphone and spoke against this allegation. Journalists have constraints too, where the element of conflict needs to be present in a story and an editor needs to approve the work.


The 5 à 7

Here was our chance to network and to create some new contacts. Most speakers had already left but Anaëlle and I had a chance at taking a picture with Daniel Thibault. His second season is much anticipated! We also got a chance at meeting some great people, especially those who organized the event.

A special thanks to Vincent White and Ludger-Francois Cherestal who work for CNW Telbec and who opened their networks to us. Close ties were also made with Krispahlyn Daria and Rapahël Cusson, two soon to be young pr professionals.

For another review of this event and pictures, please visit Anaëlle's blog and Krispahlyn's!

Why would someone like PR?

I've had my share of interviews in the past few weeks in order to find something in the field of public relations and communications. And although I do know that this is what I want to do with my life, the question "Why public relations?" always takes me a while to answer.

So why PR?

Public relations has such a wide range of specialized services. One might love to be in the spotlight and be in the center of the action. I remember my first experience was during the Montreal Fashion Week 2008 and I was to assist with media relations. My task was as simple as checking in the media, giving them their media kits and VIPs and then lead them to the fashion show room. Even though I was not the one who did the interviews with the media, even though I was not the one the media was interested in speaking with, this event was labeled as a VICTORY for me. The adrenaline I got during this half hour of rushing around, guiding journalists where they needed to go and being able to see how interviews were done was enough for me to realize that this was what gave me the "drive" I was looking for.

What is PR?

Public relations could mean being a writer. I personally love writing and do believe that one should be passionate about it. One needs to be up to date with current media trends and the news. One might consider pr to be about planning events and doing promotion. There is the element of building mutual beneficial relationships with the agency/firm/company and client. Reputation management is a big facet of pr as well, maintaining the image of a company and making sure it is always displayed in a positive light.

So, is it possible to like all of these in pr?

Could I really answer the question "Why did you choose pr as your field of study/work" by "I simply love every angle of it"?
Could I really answer the question by "I like writing, speaking with people, building those relationships, being in the spotlight, educating myself and constantly staying informed with what is going on in the field and news"?

Another mind boggling question... Yet when I asked this question to those who are in the same situation as I am, none were capable of giving me a straight answer.

A Second Life anyone?

I posted this on my Facebook page and got quite a few reactions:

There seems to be a new hype in Europe that is hitting the Americas: Second Life.

You can now go on this site, create your own avatar and make it look like your ideal, hot self. With a few payments from your credit card, you can buy fancy clothes, get a Ferrari and even buy your own island. Sounds to me like a second chance, no?

Or how about a virtual joke?

I have seen on the Discovery channel (yes, I watch Discovery AND National Geographic ALL THE TIME!) that an American woman became so addicted to the game, she spent 16 hrs in her bedroom a day! No... not sending herself to the heavens but more like neglecting her children and her husband, causing her Visa to max out because of major Second Life shopping: virtual outings, a virtual house and car... She even went as far as dating an avatar and leaving her husband and children to meet this avatar in Britain! Needless to say, both individuals were quite disappointed to realize they were not as good looking and "charming" as their avatars. So their virtual (and real) romance ended quite awkwardly.

Virtual promotion, marketing...

Companies are going as far as creating avatars of their own and promoting their services in this virtual world. In need of any financial advice? Well, by all means, I strongly suggest you meet with avatars Hope and Rex from H&R Block that can schedule a meeting with you to give tax advice (p. 339. Wilcox, D. Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques. 6th ed. 2009.). You can even attend virtual conferences and workshops!

Where do we draw the line?

Is this going too far? Are we really at the point where we are now faced with a game that messes with reality? People are spending some considerable money into this game and for what? To succeed in this Second Life where you have failed on Planet Earth? If this is the case, you need to give yourself a virtual whooping and get your act together... for real!

On the other hand, this could be a revolutionary tool for businesses, breaking boundaries and entering this new world that is generating quite a bit of capital...


http://secondlife.com/?v=1.1


Any thoughts or reactions?