Prime Point Foundation and Chennai PR Club organised an "Orientation programme at Chennai (India) on Saturday the 5th November 2005 at Stenographers' Guild premises.  The purpose of this programme was to sensitise the young students who are interested to pursue PR / Corporate Communication as a career and the Junior PR / CC  Executives in the industry as to the hard skills and soft skills needed to be a successful professional.

Inspite of heavy rains in the City, many young professionals and seniors participated.  A brief report on the proceedings is given below

A brief Report by Mr Sakthi Prasanna (Secretary, Chennai PR Club) and Ms Meera (Joint Secretary, Chennai pr Club)

Braving the relentless showers, members of the Chennai PR club gathered at the Stenographer's Guild to discuss the relevance of ‘Orientation’ for aspiring Public Relations/Corporate Communications professionals 

A motley crowd of aspiring and practicing PR/CC professionals, journalists, and other communications professionals shared their views on trends in public relations, as practiced in India. Mr. K. Srinivasan, founder of Prime Point Foundation was part of the forum, and guided proceedings.

The core issues discussed included understanding - or the lack of - of the profession among aspiring / budding professionals, and the gap between the industry and the academic sectors. Bridging this gap was an immediate necessity, contended those present. 

Among the points discussed, were: 

· Though the industry is growing quantitatively - more people entering the profession, a larger slate of clients taking up PR - the qualitative growth is far from satisfactory. The cream of the industry is moving towards scientific understanding of the profession and delivering for brands / clients, but the bottom rungs are stagnant. 

· Internal PR, a source of core ideas, was stressed upon. Internal communication between the employees/heads of an organization must be good in order to achieve qualitative results and growth, and this has till date, been a relatively neglected area.

· Educational institutions prefer to distance themselves from the industry, resulting in students being unaware of the ground realities and skill sets required to enter and excel in the industry. To attract talent with the right aptitude and attitude for PR, there needed to be two-way communication between the student community and the industry. 

· Some students expressed the view that there was relatively lesser competition in the PR industry. They preferred to opt for a PR job as they felt that it was easier to land. The situation was assessed as being far from healthy.  

· It was discussed that in the present scenario, the PR profession is a ‘default’ profession for many. An identity for the profession is lacking. Once an identity is established through information flow to aspirants, they would be in a position to make an informed choice. It is the responsibility of the industry to educate aspirants, it was shared. 

· People who enter the industry by accident or as a last resort, would be better of in a field they can feel closer home to. It would also augur well for the industry, which is in a nascent stage in India. 

· An aptitude test designed for those interested in evaluating their suitability for the profession was mooted. The format of the test should be finalized in consultation with professionals from the industry and industry leaders. 

· This had the possibility of being developed into an evaluation system on the lines of a common entrance test, for agencies to test suitability of aspiring candidates, it was suggested.