Week 10 Readings

'The Three Commandments of Presenting and how to obey them. Consulting to Management.' By S. Wyeth

'Oral Presentations' In the Student Skills Guide by S. Drew

'Speaking as Part of a Group' In Presentation Skills for Students by J. Van Emden and L. Becker

I believe the key messages from this week's readings were;
The key messages of these readings were how to create and enact the most effective presentation possible, as well as some common errors to avoid. The most important parts of an effective presentation are the use of visual aids, speakers notes, time limits, identifying the aim and the audience. The 'commandments' of what not do are; not to be arrogant,boring or confusing. These readings show that many people find presentations difficult and that there are many things to consider before to ensure that the audience is engaged. With group presentations it important to divide the work load evenly and utilise individual strengths.

The key points in the readings could be applied to my group's work;
for our presentation. There were some very interesting points raised particularly in regard to the use of PowerPoint. However I think that PowerPoint if used to its best effect can work well, enhancing the speech rather than detracting. As raised in the 'Oral Presentations' reading, visual aids give the audience something else to look at, and aid understanding. The most important part of the presentation is to ensure that the audience is engaged and not bored by the presentation.

The readings made me think more about public relations practice;
A major part of public relations is presentations and public speaking, so obviously it is important to get this down to an art, so that your message is communicated clearly and concisely. Public relations practitioners need to be able to communicate verbally, as well as they can in the written form. The references to group work was also significant. Having the skills to work with others is to vital to the workplace, and developing these skills will make make it easier and be more impressive to a employer.

The readings related to the other readings I've done in previous weeks;
The readings I have done in other weeks on group work, fit in with these, explaining how to best work as a group. These readings also emphasis how to utilise your skills, and utilise the strengths of your group.

Week 9 Readings

'Community Relations: How an entire industry can change its image through proactive local communications. By Smith, A

'Producing a newsletter' By Tymson, C.,Lazar, P. & Lazar, R.

'Newsletters' by Baverstock, A.

I believe the key messages from this week's readings were...
The key message from the 'Community Relations: How an entire industry can change its image through proactive local communications' was how to create positive community relations. This reading highlighted how although this reading was referring to the construction industry that the suggestions on how to create a positive community relations and maintain these relations, and deal with any complaints could and should be applied to every industry and organisation. Every staff member must contribute to positive community relations, and therefore they do as much good as they can for the company. The message put out to the public must be '...consistent and coordinated messages...'.

The main message of 'Preparing a Newsletter' is how to create an effective newsletter, and this involves identifying the aims of the newsletter, who is it directed at, how often will it be produced and what is the most suitable format.

The Main message of the 'Baverstock' reading is to emphasis the positives and negatives of the having a company newsletter. The positives included that it was effective, inexpensive, promotes communication between the company and the customers and even customer loyalty. The disadvantages were that it takes work to produce and a poorly produced newsletter can send a negative message.

The key points in the readings could be applied to my group's work...
The 'Smith' reading could be directly applied to my group's assignment because our major strategy is to create more positive relations with the community. This reading gave some really good strategies for how to address and create positive community relations. These strategies included ensuring that everyone is committed to creating positive relations, have a complaints procedure, produce a newsletter and have a written strategy for promoting positive relations.

The reading made me think more about public relations practise...
Because this weeks readings were all about newsletters this made me think about how to produce an effective newsletter. Producing an effective or ineffective newsletter, can really promote the company or damage it.

The readings related to the other readings I've done in previous weeks...
The readings this week related to previous week's readings because this built on other public relations practise readings on media releases. Newsletters, like media releases are important and practical part of public relations.