One event, three vantage points, countless learnings

My association with PRAXIS is unique. I am probably the only individual to have had the opportunity to witness PRAXIS – one of the world’s largest residential gathering of PR professionals from three different perspectives – as a part of the organising team, as a student of Public Relations, and as a PR professional. In this article I have summarised my key takeaways from these three vantage points.

PRAXIS 5, Aamby Valley: As a part of the organising team

In 2016 I was a part of The PRomise Foundation, where we put in days and nights into creating this event. Our aim was to make every edition of PRAXIS grander than before, bringing the entire fraternity together for learning, sharing, and networking. And we achieved this aim by working tirelessly to make the event brutally punctual, mapping out and working on all contingencies and enforcing highest standards with multiple stakeholders.

Working with this team taught me an important lesson that I value dearly – to aim for excellence and not for perfection. Striving for excellence motivates us to do better than we have, and channelise our energies on how to get there. On the other hand, when we strive for perfection, we are aiming to be something that has no scope for improvement, often resulting in disappointments. That explains the success of each edition which turns out to be bigger and better than before.

Here, I discovered what it takes to elevate the profession of PR – creating an environment where the best minds in reputation management come together to share ideas for the future.

PRAXIS 6, Jaipur: As a student of PR

My quest for learning and love for communication compelled me to turn back to student life and join SCoRe, where I attended the 2017 edition as a student. This experience was unlike any other. As a student of SCoRe, we were placed in the centre of the industry at the largest gathering of our profession opening up a huge opportunity for networking. Our network can define our professional success because no man is an island. This is especially crucial in the dynamic profession of reputation management.

And as a student at PRAXIS, we got an opportunity to lay the foundation for such networks. We got a platform to exchange ideas with leaders who were interested in listening to what we had to say, and offering their guidance and mentorship. I am grateful to still be able to seek guidance from many of them.

Here, I learnt the importance of building a network of mentors who can help you stay ahead of the curve.

PRAXIS 7, Hyderabad & PRAXIS 8, Goa: As a PRAXIS delegate

In 2018, the platform saw me transform from a student of PR to a professional as I received my PG Diploma on stage from Nitin Mantri, CEO of Avian WE, the firm that hired me. To support my professional development and to become a smarter and more effective reputation engineer, I kept turning back to this platform that provided knowledge and perspectives not just from Indian business leaders but also from international leaders. The journey henceforth was to acquire knowledge and skills by listening to and interacting with leaders in the business and to stay up to date with the trends and thereby opening several doors leading to both personal and professional growth.

The observation here was, how reputation is increasingly integrating into organisational success in dynamic times.

This weekend I was a delegate at PRAXIS in its virtual avatar, SPECTRA and I am glad that the pandemic hasn’t hindered this process of learning, and SPECTRA took shape thanks to the constant efforts of the team behind PRAXIS that strive for excellence.

Learning never stops and SPECTRA is the affirmation of our resilience.

I hope that my fourth vantage point is when I am on the PRAXIS stage one day, sharing insights on development communications with the next generation of PR professionals, if the Indian PR fraternity deems me worthy of it.

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Julia Joseph

Julia has 4 years of experience in the communications field and is a part of the Social Impact team at AvianWE. She has worked to advocate on diverse issues like nutrition, comprehensive sexuality education, gender-based violence, access to safe abortions, public health and raising awareness around Hepatitis C in India, among others. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree English Literature from Delhi University and a PG diploma in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from SCoRe.