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PUBLIC
RELATIONS COURSES
The
following report has been compiled by three Adult
Instructors from ‘D’ Company and are personal
accounts of the
various Public Relations Course run by the National
PR Unit which they attended with the most current
courses held at Driffield ACF HQ in May 2008.
Adult
Under Officer - Beverly Craig ( PR Officer -D
Company/County)
I have now attended and completed the following
courses;
Introduction
to Public Relations
On
Air Course
Digital
Photography Course
Web
Design Course
Introduction
to Public Relations Course – “This is a truly fantastic course, and in my opinion the best that
I have ever attended, from the moment you arrive to
leaving you are buzzing from the enthusiasm and fast
pace that the course and Instructors offer. The
course offers bite size junks of PR Courses which
include, reporting, photography and ‘On Air’
Radio course”
Radio
Course -
“I personally found this the most challenging. The
set up is very realistic with the Instructor playing
the part of ‘Radio D.J’ and actual technical
equipment to suit. You sit in front of a huge
microphone and a jingle is played before you are
announced, it truly does feel like you are about to
go live on the radio. I was given the task to speak
for 2 minutes about the ACF. On the Sunday the tapes
of all the recordings are played to the students so
that they can hear and learn from them, this is not
only quite embarrassing for the individuals but is
extremely amusing, my claim to fame on this
particular subject was that I did not seem to take a
breath throughout the whole talk and the Instructors
claimed they were pensively waiting, ready to bring
in the crash team to restart my heart”
Advanced
Radio Course
– “I have also attended the Advanced ‘On
Air’ Course (I
know, I’m a sucker for punishment), Advanced
Photography and most recently the Web Design Course,
which again I found very enjoyable. The Instructors
who are external professionals within the PR Sector
and who are also high ranking officers within the
ACF PRU are very relaxed and friendly and the
accommodation (in particular at Blandford) is
exceptional
There have been quite a few people from ‘D’
Company who have attended the Introduction to PR
Course and I have only ever heard positive comments
about the course, it is designed to give people an
insight into how PR works, why it is used and how we
can maximise the profile of the ACF in the most
simplistic of ways. There are adults from other
cadet organisations attending and all are encouraged
to get stuck in and have a laugh and most
importantly enjoy the course”
Sergeant
Dan Heneghan (Detachment Commander –
Spen
Valley
)
I
have now attended and completed the following
courses;
Introduction
to Public Relations Course
Web
Design Course
Introduction
to Public Relations course –“ I will be honest in that at first mention of the course I was not
that keen on attending, I’m not really sure why,
possibly because I thought it would be something
that I would not use in the future, however I was
completely wrong.
PR
unfortunately for those that don’t necessarily
believe in its importance, is attached to everything
in the ACF. This is simply because to get cadets
into the detachments we need PR, whether this is as
simple as teaching a fun lesson which will in turn
get the cadets talking about the ACF, or going out
and putting up posters. The Basic Course shows us
the best way to go about using PR to our advantage,
explaining how to get Reports in the newspapers and
how a photograph can really be a powerful tool and
can make the difference in either getting cadets
into the detachment or give the impression that the
cadets look bored to death and decreases the chances
of new recruits.
The course really is an eye opener! The Army Cadet
Forces is all about kids and we now find ourselves
in a position where we are competing against the
likes of the ‘Playstation’ and the ‘Xbox.’
Not to mention the many other ‘Youth
Organisation’s’ and groups out there. As much as
we don’t want admit it, we have to market
ourselves better than these competitors and show
kids and their parents that there are alternatives
out there, alternatives that will teach young and
old life skills and to do this we need to know about
PR, this is what the Basic course teaches you to do.
The
course gives you a basic introduction to reporting
and photographing events that your cadets are
involved with and Ok you may think that you have a
PR Officer to do that for you, but chances are that
your PR Officer will not be able to cover absolutely
every event for every detachment and what better way
of ensuring that your detachment gets the best
exposure whether that is media coverage within your
local newspaper, website coverage or exposure in the
Cadet Review. You have just guaranteed that by
reporting the facts correctly and taking a really
good photo you have increased the chances of people
reading about what you, your staff and cadets have
achieved and it’s a great selling point when you
approach other organisations with the intention of
raising funds
Lets face it adult instructors are good at what we
do, we have the resources and the skills that are
second to none, why do all of this and not tell
people about it!”
Web
Design Course
– “This gives a good insight into how to publish
basic webpage’s onto the internet. The Internet is
one of the greatest recruiting tools we have at our
fingertips and we only seem to use 5% of it, to
change this people need to be willing to learn
something new and by going on this course you will.
Even as the YACF web designer, I found myself
learning new things which I will be putting in to
practice.
PR is all about you and your detachment or company,
it’s a recruiting tool and if used use wisely will
aid your detachment or company very highly in
rewards, but this will only happen if AI’s and
Officers alike are willing to get involved in Public
Relations, and to start this trend we need to throw
ourselves at these PR Courses.
2nd/Lt
John Craig (Detachment Commander – Halifax)
I
have attended and completed the following courses;
Introduction
to Public Relations Course
Basic
Web Design
Digital
Photography.
Introduction
to PR Course –
“I must admit that I followed my wife on this
course and after the plaudits she gave it I was
really looking forward to it and it did not let me
down!
It
was vibrant, fast moving and full of excellent
information and the staff running the course were
truly first class!
The
content of the course was very interactive and was a
real eye opener in how perceptions are as to the
importance of Public Relations as far as the ACF is
concerned (not something that you will necessarily
pick up on unless you attend these courses!) and I
would state categorically that I believe EVERY adult
instructor/ Officer in the ACF should attend this
course mainly because it will give them an insight
into how to raise their own Detachment’s profile
in their local community in a very simple and easy
way AND the importance of doing so! They will I am
sure also thoroughly enjoy the course and NO it’s
NOT just for adults who want to be PR Officers,
it’s truly for everyone as you will find out when
you attend the course!”
Basic
Web Design-
“I will be honest, this was not the course I
intended to attend, as my original booking for the
“On Air” Course was unfortunately cancelled at
the last minute, however I do not regret having
switched to the Basic Web Design course as once
again I found that it was extremely enjoyable as
well as informative plus it builds on information
gained on the Introduction to PR Course. I had no
idea whatsoever about web design prior to this point
but because of my understanding of PR and the
information and guidance received on the Web design
course I was amazed to find that by the end of the
weekend I had managed to create my very own web site
and although it was not up to the standard of a
professional web design I was really proud of what I
had achieved (even at the age of 46 it’s still a
buzz learning new skills and then demonstrating how
much you have learned and how you can utilise them,
I was so proud of my fledgling web site I can tell
you!)
Again
the instructor was first class and I really did
enjoy the course so and would advise anyone
interested in adding another dimension to their PR
skills to attend this course, no matter whether you
have absolutely no idea about web design before
hand, you will by the end of the course!”
Digital
Photography-
“This was a course that I wanted to attend ever
since we covered the basics of good photography in
the Introduction to PR Course. I have never had an
interest in photography but once you realise the
importance of the quality and visual content of the
photograph and how much this may influence the
decision of the newspaper editor on whether or not
your photo and accompanying report is printed then
it is imperative that we address this at the outset,
newspapers will simply no longer print boring
photographs even if the actual report itself is
interesting a boring photo will either not be
printed and in the worst case scenario may even stop
the report from making it on to print.
The
course was once again vibrant and fast moving with
information and practical sessions interspersed
throughout the weekend. The knowledge you gain is
not only of the content of good photos but also the
correct technical use of cameras and how to use
photo editing software to enhance the photos you
have taken, plus, how to take control of events to
ensure that you get every opportunity to capture the
images you really want in order to present the
message in the way you want.
This
course awakened a personal interest in digital
photography even outside of PR and it’s a skill
that you can utilise in every aspect of your life
and let’s face it, that’s not something that can
be said about every course that you attend!”
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in your articles about courses you have done in
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