Leading public relations experts from public administration and public companies gathered yesterday in Belgrade’s Klub narodnih poslanika, with the aim of exchanging knowledge and experiences from this field.
On behalf of the organizers, the conference was officially opened by Danijel Koletić, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Žarko Simović, Director of Media Craft Agency and representative of the Organization Committee for the Republic of Serbia.
The third edition of the FOCUS conference was supported by the National Academy of Public Administration of the Republic of Serbia, whose director, Mr. Dražen Maravić, addressed the audience with introductory lecture where he stressed the importance of openness of the administration.
Contribution to the international character of the conference was provided through lecture by a prominent communications expert from the UK, Christos Pishias from Westco Agency, which operates as part of the Westminster Council. Mr. Pishias’ presentation focused on successful public sector campaigns and their characteristics.
Ms. Ivana Antić, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia held a presentation on “Openness, Transparency and Accessibility of Governance” while Mr. Mihailo Jovanovic, Director of Information Technology and Electronic Administration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia focused on the topic “Public Administration Digitization – Results of IT and e-Administration Office”, where he addressed the current and contemporary concept of digitization.
In the panel discussion entitled “Strategic Challenges of Communication in Public Administration”, participants from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, led by moderator Goran Pejčić, editor-in-chief of the Vojvodina Radio and Television’s city and regional program, discussed the challenges they face in their daily work.
Communication experts from the region took practical examples to treat the following topics: “Small School of Transparency – Open Budget Challenge”, “PR in Public Enterprise – Communication Marathon”, “Innovation in Public Communication in Italy: Examples of Good Practice”, “Contento – Communication Solution for Public Administration”, “Near Real Time Communication,” “It doesn’t matter what the public is thinking, it’s important that we know what we are doing and do it well” and other topics.
FOCUS Conference in Belgrade also hosted Jelena Pavićević, founder and director of Benefit Communications, with the topic “Lobbying – Postulates, Principles and Rules”.
Ana Keglović Horvat, director of AKH Consulting, and an expert in the field of personal data protection shared with the audience information about how to adjust their business with the GDPR.
The goal of the FOCUS conference is to gather individuals in public administration and public companies to discuss strategies, tactics and communication processes. FOCUS is a platform for connecting, exchanging knowledge and experience and defining guidelines for new communication processes.
This international event brings together representatives of the public and private sectors to start working on goals of common progress through simple and transparent communication. For this reason, the FOCUS Conference Program, through practical examples of prominent domestic and foreign communications experts, provides participants with education on the latest trends in public sector communication, the challenges they face, and advice to improve communication at all levels.
