By: Tamara Jokanović, Operations Director, Represent Communications
I’ve been thinking for a long time to write my first blog, and simply couldn’t make myself do it. Although we, the PR people, write so many speeches, texts, announcements and key messages for other people in companies, sometimes it seems that we have lost the ability to write something in our own, personal name. Many see the PR people today as someone who walks around the events or stands in front of the camera to smile and say something, and I have to admit that we are partially to blame for that. PR people from agencies are the people who write, communicate, create plans, strategies, protocols and who negotiate on behalf of the client they work for. Their work is often invisible, or is visible only in the final of the project, when they appear as support at the event (hence the perception that we just stroll around parties).
These are educated and responsible people with often superhuman energy. People who at times work almost as machines, and unfortunately they are sometimes treated as such by some clients. My first blog post was supposed to be dedicated to the topic “How do clients (don’t) motivate an agency?” Of course, you always have a professional dilemma how much honest should you be about your perception of that topic.
Fortunately, there are also those clients who appreciate your effort and sacrifice in everything you do, even if it’s just a glass of water for a panel participant, finding a lost glove in the snow, or handing the glasses that they need at that exact moment. That’s where the key lies. You can turn even the impossible missions, and seemingly bizarre demands, into the possible ones – and not only possible, you can turn them into success! Both for your client and for you!
Perhaps you wonder why some events are more successful than others? I, as a member of the team working in the organization, haven’t been asking that question for a long time now. More specifically, after the first job done for the Union of Economists of Serbia and the Kopaonik Business Forum I recalled the long forgotten values. When each member of the team gives the maximum at any time, and doesn’t ask what is their job, because we all have a common goal (to be professionals in every field and at any time), then nothing is difficult. Then, even the implementation of the official protocols for the highest officials of this and neighboring countries seems just as easy as if printing someone’s speech on your printer.
That’s what you call teamwork – optimism in your approach to everything you do, and the belief in a common goal!
And so, dear colleagues, always keep in mind that there are people behind the computers in your agencies, and nothing more than that. People who try to give the best they can, people who sometimes make mistakes, and they make them for only one reason – because they are just people.
