~ 11 communications professionals come together to start the club ~
~ The PRomise Foundation to support the initiative ~
In an India-first initiative, the launch of the first ever PR Club was announced. Eleven Public Relations professionals have come together, supported by The Promise Foundation to create a membership-led knowledge sharing collaboration for betterment of the professional community. The PR Club – as the initiative is referred to, is based on a long-felt need to offer continuous learning to the community.
The co-founders come from both in-house PR departments and PR consultancies are based in the three major metros, and will play the role of learning leaders as they will each lead one monthly learning initiative through the year. Many of them are pioneers in their own right having founded much needed forums for the fraternity. The eleven include in alphabetical order: Aniruddha Bhagwat, Liza Saha, Nicky Singh, Pooja Trehan, Rahul Rakesh, Ritesh Shete, Rozelle Laha, Sandeep Rao (Co-Founder of One Source), Tarunjeet Rattan (Creator of PR-POI), Tinu Cherian (Lead at ICG) and Vikram Kharvi (Founder of IPRF).
The approach is like that of a loyalty programme. The primary benefit includes a collaborative learning session every alternate Saturday that takes place online between 2 pm and 5 pm as per a calendar shared on the website www.prclub.in. Each of these sessions are coordinated by a learning leader with a guest resource person brought in, essentially one of the best in the space. Topics include video storytelling, understanding measurement, crisis management among others. Each time a member attends a session they get learning points. Other benefits include direct access to the free online events without the need to separately register and deep discounts to various other online (and offline) events through the year. Members will get a discount of Rs 5000/- for events such as SPECTRA or PRAXIS when these happen within the tenure of membership. Various partnerships with brands are being chalked out that benefits members. A dedicated knowledge manager will coordinate activities. August is the joining month and the initiatives run from September to July. One can join by expressing interest on the dedicated member website after which a payment link is shared with the prospective member to complete the process.
Half of the eleven volunteers were part of the first edition of PRAXIS in Pondicherry in 2012 and all the eleven have been driven by a passion for communications. They are all in full-time day jobs in companies where some of them are founders or co-founders. This is their way of giving back in addition to what they already do.
Membership is open to any working professional who has a basic understanding of Public Relations. There will be an annual fee of Rs 10,000/- + GST (introductory fee). The first 50 who join in July 2020 will get a one-time 50% discount on the fee. The founding members will not be affected by a fee hike in the subsequent year. PR Club is a first of its kind initiative with focus more on knowledge sharing and less on networking. A gamification element will be introduced for regular participants who accrue learning points. At the end of the year the member with the highest points is rewarded with a second year of complimentary membership. The PR Club – where CLUB stands for Collaborative Learning for Ultimate Betterment is also exploring an option for those who successfully complete the programme to take an optional test organised by a third party and earn a certification. The goal of this programme is to offer the best interactive learning experience to bring out the best in each of the members.
I think tbis unlike other PR forums and has some unique features. For retired professionals there is no relaxation perhaps because they are considered marginalised professional. JP Dhaundiyal