Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Adnan Arnautlija
The three-day PRO PR Conference 2018, organized by the agency Apriori World, concluded this weekend at Zlatibor, Serbia, where PR experts from the region and the world had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience, make new contacts and have fun, all thanks to the energetic host Danijel Koletić, president of the organizing committee, and his great team.
A brief summary of the first day of the conference was published earlier, and today we bring you the rest of the story from Zlatibor. The second day of the PRO PR Conference began with the lecture by Nina Redžepagić, CEO at OR Montenegro, on the topic of internal communication. Afterwards, the presenters had the opportunity to listen to the advice of Borislav Miljanović, CEO at Represent Communications, which will help them keep up with the trends of 21st century. Miljanović believes that PR will face increasing competition among media freelancers, marketing agencies and even the media.
What is crucial to the future of the PR is faster content creation, smarter distribution, and more credible metrics, according to Miljanović. Guided by these reasons, Represent System launched their new platform, Contento, which was unveiled at the PRO PR Conference by Miljanovic and Koletić, who encouraged Represent to go for this project.
After the advice on the future of the PR, the stage was taken by Sophie Brendel, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Victoria and Albert Museum from the United Kingdom, who presented the content and strategies that attracted the younger audience to this museum, and affirmed its relevance in today’s age.
PRO PR Conference also tackled the difficult topic of automation, and the challenges it brings to the business world. Fiona Czerniawska, co-founder of Source Global Research from the UK, shared with the participants some worrying facts about automation, pointing out that 75% of the global market can be automated already today. But what is different than before is that automation doesn’t threaten the manual work, but increasingly looms over professional services. Still, not all is black, as Czerniawska highlights that solution is in a more personal relationship with clients, and focusing on what brings real value. Instead of trying to make services cheaper through automatization, focus on making it better – by getting rid of the boring stuff, so you have more time to think about how to best use the data you get through automation. When your clients say they want you to do better, it doesn’t mean they want cheaper, but exactly that – better, Czerniawska said, adding that you should not rely on letting your work to speak for you. Add value, and talk about it.
Director of the Identity and Communications Department at UniCredit Bank Serbia, Nataša Jovanović, presented to the participants the new system of work in this bank, which recently introduced the SmartWorking concept. Through this concept, they removed the barriers between employees, created a more open working atmosphere in a literal sense, and enabled greater synergy among the workforce within a timeframe of six months. But all this had to be properly communicated to the employees in order to make the transformation easier for all involved, and this was the main topic of her lecture.
Second day of the PRO PR Conference also included a panel about Public Relations and Public Relations Agencies, moderated by Marjan Novak, editor-in-chief of Marketing Magazine from Slovenia, and participated in by Marjeta Kirn Kljajić, Founder and Co-owner of Nicha Advertising and PR agency from Slovenia, Tamara Bekčić, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Chapter 4 Communications Consulting from Serbia, Una Bejtović, CEO at Bejtović Communications from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Jelena Pavićević, Founder and CEO of Benefit Communications from Montenegro. The panel’s message is that agencies and clients need to recognize the value of each other, and build open co-operation through regular interactions.
The third day of the conference began with a very interesting panel on media relations and PR agencies, moderated by Robert Čoban, owner of the Color Press Group publishing, with Andreja Comino, journalist at Media24, Goran Pejčić, Editor-in-Chief of Local News Program at RTV Vojvodina, and Milica Jeremić, Editor-in-Chief at Kurir.rs. PR and media are two entities that should live in symbiosis and harmony, but obviously there are hiccups between them, which is why the PRO PR Conference was an ideal place to exchange not only critiques, but also constructive and concrete advice on how to enhance this relationship. How important the personal relationship between the two is, how effective press conferences are today, and how to avoid the cacophony of information were just some of the topics that panel members discussed with the audience.
The conference was concluded with a presentation by Sean Gardner, co-founder of the Huffington Post’s Twitter Powerhouses Series, who shared with the audience practical and useful tips on how best to use social media in their communications, and a whole array of tools that can make their jobs easier.
Part of the Conference was also the PRO PR Awards Gala, which was held on the second day and presented acknowledgments to experts who, with their work, ideas, persistence and knowledge, contributed to the status of the PR profession in the previous year. Find out more about that here.
