6. Answer the questions.

1. What is the purpose of the work of public relations professionals?

2. What should a press release resemble?

3. How do the PR professionals cultivate good relationships with journalists?

4. Who usually requests press kits and what do they contain?

5. Who are regarded as experts in media relations?

6. What do the media trainers advice for the interview?

7. What does “blocking and bridging technique” mean?

8. What department is responsible for organizing press conferences?

9. What is the reason for the journalists to attend press conferences?

10. Why do PR professional prefer now Web press conferences?

11. Why is the crisis management plan extremely important for the PR professionals? When do they use it?

7. Prepare questions for the following answers.

1. It is necessary to insert into a press kit such things as quick facts about an organization, such as its company history.

2. Media experts always communicate with all the kinds of the media, no matter how high the rank of the person is.

3. If corporate public relations people have one critical responsibility, it is surely to help companies avoid problems of this kind.

4. They are entirely and unequivocally public relations problems.

5. Our new P.R. person handed us three pages listing what we had done wrong.

8. There are some qualities necessary for a good work of a PR Professional. Here are some more ideas. Read and translate the text. Say which five are the most important in your opinion and prove your choice with your examples.

14 Key skills and attributes for new public relations professionals

Public relations has changed significantly over the last few years. Even if you don’t buy into the idea that online communities and relationships are part of the public relations function, it’s hard to deny the rising importance of blogs, the gradual decline of traditional media and the impact that online conversations can have on brands. If you do believe that public relations should include these new activities, then there’s a whole new board game to be played.

Along the same lines, the skills that new PR grads need have evolved too.

Here are my thoughts on 14 skills and attributes a new PR professional needs in today’s market.

Traditional Skills/Attributes

Yes, there’s a new game to play (in my opinion), but the old game is still there too. PR pros still need the basic attributes and skills that they’ve always needed.  Try launching something using social media alone and you’ll appreciate the gap that traditional media can leave if it’s lacking. So, entry-level PR professionals still need to be proficient at (among other things):

• Writing – the cornerstone of a PR professional’s career. If you’re not confident about your writing skills, brush up. You’ll need them. Learn how to write a news release – study those produced by other organizations and practice for yourself.

• Communications skills – I’m talking ‘small c’ communications here rather than the ‘big c.’ Learn to communicate more effectively with other people

• Attention to detail – because nothing will drive your colleagues (and, if you’re unlucky enough for your work to make it there, your clients) mad like poorly-edited work. Proofread everything. Fact check everything. Hand things to your supervisor when you would be happy with them going to the client.

• Media relations – you’ll probably be doing media relations throughout the majority of your career. You may not have had an opportunity to do it for yourself as a new graduate, but an understanding of the basics is certainly an advantage – what’s in a media list? What are the pitching best practices?

• Proactiveness – if you don’t know an answer to a question, first try to research the answer. If you can’t find the answer, ask. Whatever you do, don’t just sit there until you approach the deadline for your work.

• Work ethic – public relations isn’t a 9-to-5 job. It shouldn’t take over your life, but the nature of the work is that sometimes you’ll have last-minute deadlines and sometimes you’ll have to chip-in to help others. There’s nothing worse for more senior team members than watching the more junior ones walk out of the door at 5pm then having to stay there until 9pm themselves. Put in that little bit of extra effort. It won’t be every day, but people will notice.