Second Day: 5th Global PR Conclave

The second day of 5th Global PR Conclave early at 9am with a soulful, spiritual discourse on "Inner Empowerment" by the famous management trainer BK Usha ji from Brahm Kumari Ashram, Mt Abu, Rajasthan. Accompanied by Sister Sarla who is Hyderabad Chapter Chair of GFPR, and other local sisters from the Ashram, the morning was enlightening, as Usha ji unfolded the Eight Essential Elements of Good Leadership qualities which must be balanced with equally significant eight values.

The values are connected to spirituality, she pointed out, and if spirit is powerful and resourceful, the leadership abilities get strengthened.

Later, past president of PRCI Chandigarh Chapter, Jatinder Vijh proposed a vote of thanks, and PRCI Secretary General Vijaya Lakshmi presented a token of appreciation to Bk Usha ji.

The second plenary focussed on "Challenges of Changing Media Scenario" which was chaired by Mr. N.D. Rajpal, while Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Associate Editor, The Tribune, and Mr. Viney Sharma, Principal Correspondent, The Economic Times, formed the panel.

The third plenary threw up interesting discussions on "Digital PR, Convergence and Online Communication" which was initiated by session chair Vivek Atray, former Director IT, Chandigarh Administration, and ex-advisor to KPMG, who touched upon the growing convergence and the speed of communication brought about by rapid technological developments.  Mr. Nidish Tyagi, Chief News Editor, The Tribune, touched upon the rapidity with which online social media is providing feedback and truly making communication two-ways, and challenging.
The third panelist, founder and CEO of digital company, Interworld Comnet, J.K. Menon, spoke about the revolution in online search engines, and in a crisis situation, how "reverse PR" could be obtained through technology-led tactics.

"Streamlining PR Education" was the theme for the fourth plenary session which was chaired by counsellor of the Conclave and President of Chandigarh Management Association, Dr. Gulshan Sharma, with Dr. Ujwal Chaudhary from ISB&M, and Dr. Rajbir Singh, Director, Institute of Mass Communication, Kurukshetra University on the panel.
The panel agreed on need for refurbishing the communication education and need for training the teachers by exposing them to the corporate environment. There is a need for the public relations practitioners to rise from being mere vendors of press releases to domain expertise.

The post-lunch session on "Setting Standards for PR Accredition" was chaired by Krishna Mariyanka and had on the panel Dr. G.C. Banik and C.J. Singh. The session was followed by great participation from the floor, and though everyone agreed to the need for having a public relations accreditation process in place, the debatable point was to make client understand the different between a certified professional and non-certified.

The 5th Global PR Conclave also adopted the Chandigarh PR Declaration.