The Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) has successfully wrapped this year’s Students’ PR Con which is the first virtual, interactive, and nationwide edition of the organization’s Students’ PR Congress. The Students’ PR Con 2021 also paved the way to the launch of the Students’ Grand Prix Hack Sprint in February 2022.
The online conference, which served as an opportunity for PR, communication, journalism, marketing and advertising students to learn more about public relations and related disciplines from leading practitioners in the field, has received nearly 2,000 registrations from all over the country.
The theme for Students’ PR Con 2021 is “Decoding Content: The Journey to PR for Good”, wherein PR Con delegates were immersed to navigate the new media landscape and go through the content journey’s three different stages, namely: (1) Capture and Consume, which addresses how we contextualize content we encounter in everyday life; (2) Curate and Converse, which will discuss how to properly curate content from reliable sources and create fruitful conversations responsibly; and (3) Create and Care, which collates learnings from the first two segments by talking about why creating our own PR for Good can push forward ideas into meaningful advocacies and causes.
Student PR Con’s Informative Talks and Discussions
Student’s PR Con’s “Capture and Consume” segment kicked off with an informative talk by Lynda Jumilla-Abalos of ABS-CBN News Digital about “The News and Information Media”, followed by an immersion to “Social Media and the Emerging Platforms” from Peach Natividad of Google, Neil Trinidad of Lazada, and Toff Rada of Tiktok.
The second segment, “Curate and Converse”, delved into “Dissecting Fake News, Trolling and Disinformation” by Vera Files co-founders Yvonne Chua of the Department of Journalism of the University of the Philippines – Diliman and Luz Rimban of the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University. Dr. Randy Dellosa, resident psychologist of Pinoy Big Brother and Carlo Ople of PLDT and Unbox, shared their expertise to discuss the pressing challenges and opportunities of “Being Digitally Ready and Responsible” amid the risks and opportunities being in social media.
Finally, for the “Create and Care” segment, film director Joey Reyes, Prof. Erik Paolo Capistrano of the UP Virata School of Business and UP Korea Research Center, and K-culture enthusiast and communication expert Abigail Ho-Torres of PRSP Board of Trustees and Maynilad Water Services looked into the learnings from Korea’s Hallyu phenomenon and how it can help PR practitioners in planning for an impactful campaign in “Writing Your Story and Choosing Your Journey” panel discussion. South Korean Ambassador Kim Chang-Beom also shared his insights on the success of the Korean series “Squid Game“, which became one of Netflix’s most-viewed titles. The third segment capped off with Caroline Veronilla of World Vision, Anna Meloto-Wilk of Human Nature and Cat Triviño of MindNation who shared their respective organization’s meaningful causes and how they used the power of public relations and communication in “Forwarding Your Advocacy and Giving Voice for Social Good”.
Students’ Grand Prix Hack Sprint Launch
Being the first hack sprint edition of PRSP’s annual student event and competition, the upcoming Students’ Grand Prix will be fully virtual and students from all the country are invited to participate. Students (1 team per school) can join the nationwide selection by submitting a concept paper about the case to be provided by PRSP Students’ PR Con Platinum Sponsor.
The top 20 finalists from participating schools all over the country will move on to the Hack Sprint phase where they will only be given 24 hours and maximum of 10-slide presentation to develop their public relations plans. The Top 5 teams will proceed to the Pitch Proper which is the final round of the competition where each team will be presenting their plan to a select jury from the Students’ PR Con Platinum Sponsor, PRSP, and related industries.
Participating schools and students should stay tuned to PRSP Students’ PR Congress Facebook and LinkedIn Pages for further announcements.
Concert After-Party Treat
The delegates of Students’ PR Con were also given exclusive access to the event’s Concert After-Party, a one-of-a-kind musical experience in partnership with Warner Music Philippines and PhilPop Musicfest Foundation. The event assembled a line-up of up-and-coming artists which includes Lara Maigue, Reon, Jikamarie, Keiko Necesario and Paul Pablo. Apart from the fun musical performances, surprise games and prizes. One lucky student won a brand-new Lenovo laptop computer as a grand raffle prize courtesy of the event’s staging and creative partner COMCO Southeast Asia.
The PRSP Students’ PR Con 2021 is supported by JobStreet as platinum sponsor; Maynilad Water Services, NIVEA and PLDT as gold sponsors; Converge ICT Solutions, GCash, Maya, PayMaya, Smart, Unilab Consumer Health and Unilab Skin Sciences as silver sponsors; and Jollibee Foods Corporation, McDonald’s Philippines (Golden Arches Development Corporation), Meralco, Teleperformance and SM Supermalls as bronze sponsors. COMCO Southeast Asia served as the event’s staging and creative partner with ABS-CBN, Adobo Magazine, Class A Magazine, ClickTheCity.com and WhenInManila.com as media partners and Warner Music Philippines and PhilPop Musicfest Foundation as entertainment partners.
The event was also supported by student organization partners – ADPROS from Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila, Mass Communication Students’ League from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila), PRSSP (Public Relations Student Society of the Philippines) from University of the Philippines – Manila, HAU Communicators’ League from Holy Angel University in Pampanga, Journalism Guild from Cavite State University, Josenian AdComm Guild and Josenian Communication Society from San Jose Recoletos University in Cebu, Kapunungan sa mga Mass Communicators from Silliman University in Dumaguete, SWU Junior Communication Designers Guild from Southwestern University in Cebu, The Society of Student Communicators from Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete, and Junior Marketing Association from Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro.
Ferdinand Bondoy, Chairman of PRSP Students’ PR Con and Grand Prix 2021, Board Trustee of PRSP and Regional Integration & Chief Executive Director of COMCO Southeast Asia said, “With ‘Decoding Content: The Journey to PR For Good’ as a theme for our PR Con 2021, lifted from PRSP’s theme as well for this year, we hope we were able to give our PR Con delegates a glimpse of their future in the industry, and to guide them to become not just successful, but socially conscious and responsible PR practitioners.”
Mr. Bondoy, also a former PR academic scholar of PRSP in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), left the PR Con delegates with the following challenge: “When you graduate and start working in the field, and when you become accomplished PR practitioners yourselves, I hope you rise to the occasion as well. I hope you continue the cycle of learning, the cycle of passing it on to the next generation of learners, like what PRSP did to me and our batch back then, and the other batches before your time. I hope I can count on you to do that.”
Norman Agatep, President of PRSP and President and Managing Director of Grupo Agatep shared, “PRSP and its partners have truly worked hard to make this initiative possible, and we’re more than happy to see our PR Con delegates from all over the Philippines come together and celebrate all things public relations and communication. May everyone use their learnings from the event to bring positive influence on more people during this important time.”