10. PRAXIS 8: A Learning Experience

Ever since I joined the School of Communications and Reputations in Mumbai, there has been a lot of buzz with regards to PRAXIS. We had our faculty enlighten us about it, guest lecturers stating how it will change the way we look at Public Relations as a profession. Needless to say, I was excited to be a part of the most talked-about event!

But what is PRAXIS? To give a brief introduction, PRAXIS is the acronym for the “Public Relations and Corporate Communications India Summit”. It is the largest Public Relations summit for reputation management professionals. Praxis is a common platform for the Public Relation fraternity to gather, learn, share and engage. Ever since its inception in November 2012, Praxis has only grown in size with a dozen volunteers from different organisations.

Praxis means ‘to act’ or ‘to do’. And this sentence sums up my overall experience of PRAXIS 2019.  Here I would like to enlist my 6 major learnings from the largest PR summit in the world.

Networking:

First, Praxis changed the way I communicate and network with individuals. We, as students of Score, were encouraged to meet as many people as we could. I won’t lie. Approaching professionals who were the best in the field of Public Relations made me nervous. For the first hour, I did not have the nerve to approach anyone. But after interacting with the CEO of one of the biggest Public Relations firms in the world, I realized how welcoming and pleasant everyone was! I grabbed every opportunity to initiate a conversation. Indeed, my networking and communication skills received a boost after attending the summit.

Experience is your biggest teacher:

The event gave me the opportunity to engage with the best of professionals in the field of PR. With every interaction, I learned what was common among the fraternity: EXPERIENCE. Only experience can teach you what it requires to excel in the field of public relations.  Every crisis that you manage when you are in this profession, is a new chapter for learning! As Sujit Patil, Head of Corporate Communications puts it, every day is a new day in the world of communications!

Be savvy on the digital space:

If you want to stay in the world of PR, you have to go digital. It is the social media age. Open up your twitter handles, be active on LinkedIn, connect with as many people  as you can across all your social platforms.

Creativity is important in PR:

This is another common point being discussed by every professional I met in the course of my two days at PRAXIS. In PR, you have to think out of the box. In the age of information overload, only creativity can help one stand out from the crowd. It is only through creativity can one change stereotypes, change laws and change the way the world thinks!

Be an avid reader:

What it means for PR professionals is to be a consumer of information and resources. The more you read about the profession, the better you get at it. This point was also reiterated by Madan Bahal, the Managing Director of AdFactors. Only books can help attain a holistic view of PR. Reading can help prevent the myopic view that one has about the world of Public Relations. 

Hard work and success go hand in hand:

Hard work always pays off. PR is a dynamic profession where every day is a new challenge. Sincerity will never let you down. Be motivated and work hard in whatever you are doing and success will follow you. At the same time, be humble and be proud of your profession.

To sum it all up, in a nutshell, Praxis, for me, us not just a summit.  It was a bag of learning that will live with me for the rest of my professional life.