WEEK 7- Media Relations & Oral Presentation Skills

Readings- Chapter 10 'Media Relations', Van Emden & Becker 'Speaking as Part of a Group' and Drew 'Oral Presentation'

The two readings not from the set text discuss all the skills that are essential when conducting an oral presentation. Drew outlines three crucial steps that are needed when given the task to conduct an oral presentation, which are: prepare, deliver and evaluate (Drew 2001:98). When preparing for an oral presentation you must identify your aim, purpose, audience, topic and context. When delivering a presentation you must dress appropriately, assess what audio/visuals are appropriate and use techniques to engage the audience. Finally you must evaluate your presentation, identify what went wrong, what went right and how to improve in the future.
The second reading is all about speaking as part of a group. To be honest I have never been a keen on group work but after reading this article it has outlined various points that would assist me in the future when conducting group work. Firstly the article states it is less important to work together in the early stages and I agree with this. All members of the group need conduct their own research and study and formulate their sections before congregating together as a group (Emden & Becker).
I never thought about the advantage of working in a group but one point the reading makes is the stress is shared amongst the group. There is also a wider range of abilities and voices. These points all made are benefits as when working alone the task is all up to you. The wider range of abilities equals more creativity and the audience also does not have to listen to one voice continuously. The article also discusses various elements such as the image the group wants to portray to the audience. The venue is also a crucial element of the presentation, as aspects such as facilities that are available and where is the best position to stand all come into play (Emden & Becker).
Chapter 10 is all about media relations, which is a crucial element of PR practitioner’s job. As a PR practitioner media relations means dealing with contacts on a regular basis, dealing with the media is an integral part of a PR practitioners activity and its impact of power should never be under estimated (Johnston 2004:260).
Within Australia the media is owned and controlled by three major players therefore it is essential that a PR practitioner maintain positive relationships with as many media outlets as possible. This relationship is also just as important to the media outlets (predominately newspapers) as they rely on press releases, which are done by the PR practitioner. Johnston states it is not a one-way relationship…just as PR provides information to the media, so does the media provide information to the PR profession (Johnston 2004:263).
Johnston also outlines what makes news, which is something I have already been taught in journalism such as, impact and conflict stories. These elements are important in order for a journalist to be interested in your press release (Johnston 2004:264). I think the key points to remember from the media relations reading is knowing how the media works, knowing which medium is relevant to your PR campaign and they are constructed, whether it is a media release etc. The reading made me think more about PR in practice that it is crucial to maintain good relationships between media outlets.




References:

Johnston, J. (2004). Media Relations. In Johnston, J., & Zawawi, C. (Eds.), Public Relations: Theory and Practice.(2nd ed.)(pp.259-287). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Drew, S. (2001). Oral Presentations.In The Student Skills Guide. (2nd ed.)(pp. 98-114). London: Gower.

Van Emden, J., & Becker, L. (2004). Speaking as Part of a Group. In Presentation Skills for Students. (pp. 77-93). New York: Palgrave Macmillan