By Hafiz Asnawi
SHAH ALAM, 24 March 2015: The Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) had another successful do today in its professional engaging series, following CHALK10 held at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) campus in Shah Alam, that saw the participation of some 230 people from the industry representing both the public and private sectors, academics, and students who are future communication and public relations executives and practitioners.
Hosted by the university’s Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, the event was organised in collaboration with the university’s Institute of Public Relations Malaysia Students Association (IPRMSA-UiTM Chapter). The venue was MTDC Technopreneur Centre and the event took place from 10.30 a.m to 1.00 p.m.
The event was officiated by the Dean of Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Prof. Dr. Azizul Halim Yahya. Present at the event were the President of IPRM who is also Director-General of Information Department, Dato’ Haji Ibrahim Abdul Rahman, public relations lecturer and event’s coordinator, Prof. Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, Council Members of IPRM, and advisor of IPRM, Shahreen Kamaluddin.
From IIUM, the Department of Communication was represented by the Head, Dr. Zeti Azreen Ahmad and a senior lecturer, Madam Mazni Buyong, who is also the advisor of IPRMSA-IIUM Chapter. There were several other lecturers from UiTM’s Faculty of Communication and Media Studies who attended the event. From Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was Associate Prof. Dr. Chang Peng Kee.
Among those from the private sector were public relations practitioners and executives from Burson-Marsteller, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan (PLUS), and MKLand. The public sector, among others, was represented by public relations officers from the Prime Minister’s Department, Information Department, and Ministry of Rural Development. There were also representatives from the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia, a non-governmental organisation.
This 10th series of CHALK under the theme “From University to Industry” was subtly intended by UiTM for future graduates to achieve the expectations of Perfect 10 in their enthusiasm to provide them the platform to master the journey from university to the industry to deliver the right public relations skills as professionals.
The main objective of the event was therefore to share the experiences among practitioners and academics and to provide students with useful tips and advice to join the industry. The event was also intended to expand the networking among professionals to uplift their professional skills.
As Prof. Dr. Azizul Halim Yahya said: “Our students carry tough tasks to ensure the success that they had achieved is maintained and strengthened. But the harder task is to further improve on it. Only the successful ones will get a place in this world that is full of tough competition.”
The IPRM President talked about the importance of first impression. He said: “We must maintain good reputation about ourselves to engage with business and we cannot afford to make mistakes, even a minor one, because people would judge us by our first impression. It is how people look at us, how people receive the message from what we say.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Kiranjit Kaur from UiTM called on the students to use this event as a platform to interact with the practitioners and learn from them. This is of importance to the university to see that graduates would be able to meet the expectations of the industry in terms of marketability and employability.
At the same time, Dr. Kiranjit said it is important for the industry to recognise the skills and qualifications needed for the graduates to enter the industry and towards this end, the need for the industry to support the academia to help cultivate prospective capable employees.
A veteran practitioner and a public relations educator who was the former Dean of the Mass Communication Faculty of UiTM and is now the advisor for IPRM, Madam Shahreen Kamaluddin, shared her experience on the importance of holding to both passion and patience to succeed in the profession.
Shahreen called on the students to take their work seriously, but at the same time to be able to smile often and show interest in the job. She said it is important for our eyes to sparkle and focus. Everything will come easy if we take interest in our work, she added.
IPRM’s Honorary Secretary, Aznan Mat Piah, who is also a senior IIUM lecturer, had called on the students to develop a habit in reading and be aware of development concerning their organisations and keeping themselves updated with news and development. Aznan had several years of working experience in the field of public relations and public diplomacy, both at home and abroad, before retiring from the government service and joining IIUM.
Vice President of IPRM, Jaffri Amin Osman introduced the 3P concept which stood for Professional, Purpose and Passion. He clearly stated: ” To do public relations work, we must have passion for it and we need a sense of purpose to do the job. After that we can be professional in public relations, either in business or industry or both.”
Students who attended the event felt very happy to be able to gain the knowledge shared by the practitioners. Apart from that, the event has also provided them with an excellent opportunity to develop networking with the professionals.
“CHALK is really a good event for graduating students like me to find contact for their first workplace.” said Intan, a communication student from UiTM.
Amira, also a UiTM communication student said: “It is a platform or a stepping stone for us to know the contact in public relations field. We hope to build on this contact.”
President of IPRMSA-IIUM Chapter, Siti Nur Aisyah Zulkefle who had regularly attended previous CHALK events had this clear message to share: “CHALK has helped us to gain an insight into the real world of professionalism. We gained good knowledge from the practitioners and we also learned how professionals communicate with each other. And all these are useful tips for us.”
Another IIUM communication student Anisah said: “Learning how to get the first impression is the skill that I won’t forget.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Zeti Azreen expressed the hope to get a few companies where IIUM communication students, especially those doing public relations, could work with the professionals on real projects to benefit directly from the experience. ***
Photos credited to Quraibah Razak