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!