Diploma’s in the bag!

Yesterday I received the best possible birthday and Christmas present ever – news that I passed my CIPR research project with a merit – so I am now the proud owner of the CIPR Diploma in Public Relations. Two merits plus a distinction means I get a merit grade overall. Whoop! I would have been perfectly happy just passing the damn thing, so to get a merit is a super added bonus.

Since I embarked on my first tutorial back in January and until I handed in my research project at the end of October, this diploma has been a huge weight on my shoulders. Those of you who tune into Robyn’s Nest on a regular basis will know how miserable it made me. I am not an academic and my free time is precious, so this was a real struggle.

Anyway, it’s over and done with and more than likely worth it. I have the NCTJ qualifications I achieved 10 years ago – making me a certified hack – and now I have the CIPR qualifications to boot – making me a certified PR bod. Hoorah!

Here’s what I had to do to get there:

• Write two essays (known as the critical reasoning test or CRT). There were five questions to choose from, I think, and I had to write up essays in answer to two of them using 2,500 to 3,000 words for each. I plumped for:

Public relations is most likely to contribute to organisational effectiveness when the senior public relations manager is a member of the dominant coalition – where he or she is able to shape the organisation’s goals and to help determine which external publics are most stategic.” (Grunig, L. Grunig, J. and Dozier, 2006: 34). Write a report to the board of the organisation you work for, explaining why this is so.

And

There is an increasing number of individuals and organisations entering the “blogosphere” where reputations are played with by almost everyone, from anonymous mischief makers to the openly concerned. Your CEO has heard that her name has been mentioned in an anonymous blog and she wants to retaliate. Before you advise her as to what is best to do, write yourself a reflective paper about public relations and the “blogosphere”.

• Next up was the hideous planning assignment, a more practical approach to a PR crisis, using up to 6,000 words. This was the scenario my cohort had to deal with:

You are the Director of Public Relations and Fundraising for a leading charity devoted to research into the causes of heart disease. Approaching the end of a two-year planning period, you are one month away from the launch of a new campaign, entitled ‘Let’s Kill Heart Disease’. The campaign aim is to raise the equivalent of £3 million over the next two years for distribution to the charity’s medical research units throughout your country.

During your regular Monday morning staff update session, one of your junior press officers mentions that a friend of hers who works for a leading cereal manufacturer has mentioned that her company’s new Corporate Social Responsibility initiative is remarkably similar to your campaign. Entitled ‘Stop Heart Disease. Dead’, the company has set a fundraising target equivalent to £1 million over the next 12 months. The funds raised will be distributed among scientists from anywhere in the world submitting successful funding bids that involve research into the heart-health benefits of cereal. The company has significant backing from a range of existing celebrity endorsers, and will be using high-impact TV and billboard advertising to publicise its campaign.

You are due to present to your charity’s board of directors in two days time, where you will be required to provide: 1) A step-by-step plan to manage communication around this issue, providing a clear list of actions in order of priority and a summary of content for any written communication outputs. 2) A proposal to establish an issues management group, to monitor opportunities and threats, build and maintain the charity’s reputation in the longer term. 3) A rationale for each step of your approach.

• And last, but by no means least, was the research project or dissertation. We could choose a topic that interested us and conduct some research, and analyse it, using no more than 6,000 words. The title of my project was:

Beware the blogger? Should the public relations industry pay more attention to community journalism?

Some people were interested to see the results of my research, and I may well publish yet. Watch this space…

Study is over… for now

A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders this week and life can return to normal, yay! Yesterday I sent off my final CIPR Diploma assignment – the research project - and, as long as Royal Mail delivers it today (deadline day), then I’m home dry. I have to pass the damn thing, obviously, but until I get my results in December I won’t have to think about studying, reading academic textbooks or writing challenging assignments.

Now the work is over, I can get on and enjoy myself. I can dip into crime novels at bedtime without feeling guilty that I should have my nose in Tench and Yeomans’ Exploring Public Relations; I can have dinner at a mate’s house without knowing I should be at home studying and I can have lie ins at the weekend instead of pulling myself out of bed at 8am to sit at my laptop for hours. And I can gt my head down and do a full day’s work knowing the only thing waiting for me at home is TV and dinner, not 6,000 words that need writing or 10 books that need reading.

The diploma has been tough, not just because I’m about as academic as a boiled egg, but because fitting in study around work commitments, sport commitments and a social life is seriously tricky. I didn’t do uni first time round, plumping for work experience over a degree, so this study business has been a tad on the foreign side for me. This pain has been shared with my fellow CIPR students though, and I hope we’ll be able to meet up and celebrate the end of this long year, without the threat of another looming assignment.

My research project – about PR, the blogosphere and reputation management was pretty interesting, all be it hard work, and I may well publish it, along with my survey results, if and when I pass. I’ll keep you posted. Obviously, my study journey may not be over yet; if I fail I’ll have to do some tweaking, but at least, for now, I can forget about it.

Public relations and the blogosphere – do my survey!

I’m mid-way through my final CIPR Diploma assignment – the research project – which is based around public relations, reputation management and how the blogosphere fits into all that.

I’ve produced a survey as part of this project and need as many PR bods as possible to fill it out, whether they have experience of the blogosphere or not. If this is you, please fill out THIS SURVEY and help me pass my project. And don’t forget to tell your PR friends!

Thanks.

How to ruin a perfectly good Friday night

I have just spent 15 minutes writing a blog post only to read it back and think “fuck me, that’s boring” so I have deleted it. I won’t get those 15 minutes back and I don’t see why you should waste five of yours reading a shower of shite.

So, here are the facts: I’m staying in on a Friday night to tackle this tricky scenario - the planning assignment part of my CIPR Diploma in Public Relations. I hate it, I am clueless, it’s making me miserable. It’s boring, it’s tough and not knowing what to write is making me cross. Part of me wants to jack it in, part of me just wants to get the damn thing out the way and scrape a pass.

So, if you’re interested in public relations and fancy helping me out, feel free to make suggestions on how to approach this hellish piece of work. If you’re not interested, enjoy your evening.

Over and out.

Summer study

It’s been a while since I ranted about my CIPR Diploma, so here goes. We had tutorials on Friday AND Saturday (although I bunked off Saturday’s session in favour of lugging heavy boxes into my new flat) and, well, it looks like I can kiss goodbye to my summer.

It seems like only yesterday I handed in my two 3,000 word essays and already we are starting to workshop for our next mission – the planning assignment. To make matters worse we’ve also been asked to start thinking about topics for our third and final mission: the dissertation. And when am I supposed to enjoy the summer, see my friends, have a life?

I’m not a natural student and am finding the whole process a bit of an effort. Apart from the “Shell bingo” we play during every tutorial, what keeps me going are the interesting stories that my fellow students share in class. (I should point out that our two tutors used to work for Shell and therefore reference it at every opportunity, so one of my study buddies introduced us to Shell bingo. The record so far is 18 mentions in one tutorial.)

Anyway, yes, the stories. One lass works in the PR department of a county council where they are – amazingly – instructed to write no less that five press releases per week. Each! And I think there are five or more of them. How can there be that much to write about?!

Speaking as a journo, I find it ridiculous that press officers have to churn out press releases for the sake of it, serving only to make reporters’ eyes glaze over. This county council crew has to write monthly releases on how many books are borrowed across the county’s libraries too. Two words – who cares! Maybe an annual report on such figures would be of interest but what local newspaper will run a monthly installment on county book borrowing? Daft.

In Friday’s session we indulged in an informal chat with PR and issues management guru Roger Haywood, who, unlike a lot of PR bods, spoke enthusiastically in plain English and injected life and humour into his tales. Clearly a guy who knows his stuff.

That’s what interests me about the CIPR Diploma, not the theory behind public relations, not the long words and not the laborious assignments.  But at least all the other gals – and two token guys – in my cohort can share my pain. We all feel the same and look forward to an evening when we’re not expected to bury our heads in an academic textbook.

On another shared note we also find great hilarity in the poor communication skills of the CIPR and the London Met Uni, where we study. Kinda ironic, seeing as the diploma is based around communication and us students are supposed to be professional communicators.

So, when a feedback form from the CIPR came through today, a few of us swapped emails jesting that they wouldn’t like our feedback and it would be doubtful they’d want to include it in their promotional material. In true CIPR-style, half an hour later another email pops into my inbox stating that, actually, don’t bother filling out the online feedback form because it doesn’t work. Enough said.

The end… or is it?

Yay! I handed in my CIPR essays on Friday so my month of hell is finally over. However, handing over 6,000 words of public relations blurb (probably nonsense in my case) wasn’t as pleasureable an experience as I’d hoped.

A few of us wanted to get rid of our essays on Friday – four days before the official deadline – but we found it a tricky task to formally hand them over. I shalln’t bore you with the details but my whole experience of studying this diploma a has been one of disorganisation.

And considering us diploma students all work in the public relations/communications industry, it’s the communicating part that seems to be falling down. Lack of student cards, wrong information, delayed information, conflicting information, incorrect dates etc.

Working in newspapers was no different. Despite the fact the whole purpose of our jobs was to communicate news, there was very little internal communciation going on. Ironic eh?

Anyway, tis done now. The first part of the diploma assessment is over and as soon as I parted with those 16 sheets of A4 I thought: “Oh my God, my essays are rubbish, I really should have tried harder.” I honestly have no idea if they’re any good or not and I have to wait a good couple of months to find out. But the pain isn’t completely over.

No sooner had I handed in my essays, our tutors launched into a tutorial on the next lot of assessments, a planning one this time. Cripes chaps, give us a break! They seem to assume we’re fully informed about this diploma course, which is not the case. We don’t know what the deadlines are or what these assignments involve. Another communication issue.

Oh well, perhaps this diploma is teaching me more than I realised. Good communication is difficult to achieve!

My life starts again next Friday

This picture (click here) represents how I feel at the moment – down to a tee. April has been hell and the frustration at having to put my life on hold while I write two 3,000 word essays is building up. I may well explode at some point.

I’ve swapped a few emails with some of the girls on my course and they’re all feeling the same – that if they hear the words “dominant coalition” or “propaganda” one more time they will lose the will to live.

And it’s funny how things like washing up, vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom suddenly become appealing tasks when the laptop and PR Handbook are sitting on the table, waiting to be put into action. I would rather do anything than sit down and get my essays done.

The good news is I’m pretty much there, they just need tidying up. I have no idea if they’re any good and will just have to hope and prey they make the grade – I’m not looking for a distinction or even a merit. A simple pass will do just fine.

I’ve just taken a couple of days off work to get cracking with these wordy wonders and I would honestly rather have been at work. Wednesday was a day of torture with fine tuning diploma essay number one straddled by a visit to the dentist and an appointment with the contact lens chap. The good news? I have sparkly white teeth and can see to the end of the road. The bad news? I am brain dead.

So, here’s to another weekend of misery. I’m working tomorrow (no pretty Naval pilots to look at this time either, boo hoo!) and Sunday will be dedicated, in its entirety, to finishing these damn essays.

On the flip side, this time next week my essays will have been handed in to the relevant bods at London Met Uni and it’ll be out of my hands. My life starts again next Friday.

 

 

Essay writing hell

Okay, so the hell has begun. My CIPR CRT (Critial Reasoning Test) questions were issued on Friday and I have less that one month to knock out two 3,000 words essays on public relations stuff. Shit!

Yes, I may have been appointed deputy editor of two newspapers when I was 21 and yes, I was in the editor’s chair aged 25. But, aged 28, I still remain as academic as a goldfish.

The practical stuff I can do. The theoretical concepts bullshit I cannot. The CIPR Diploma course has helped me a lot though – I can talk the lingo a bit better now and I’ve learned a lot about people’s experiences in PR, working in different environments and tackling different issues. But the theory stuff, looking at models and evaluating and critisising theorists is beyond me. And, quite frankly, incredibly boring.

So, I am giving up my spare time in April (within reason – my sporting activities will remain permanent diary entries) to research and write these damned essays. I know it will be worth it if (when??) I pass and I certainly don’t want to tackle it a second time. So it’s important. But it’s a case of the more I know I have to do something the less I want to do it.

Anyway, I’m gonna try and get my head down. Saturday was spent at a CIPR tutorial which was half helpful, half a waste of time – plus I got drenched walking to Euston choo choo station – and yesterday I almost sent myself to sleep reading The PR Handbook before pulling on my trainers and kicking some arse on the volleyball court.

A girl at work did the CIPR Diploma last year and it concerns me slightly that she took two weeks of annual leave to dedicate to her essays. I’m reluctant to give up my holiday entitlement for this academia and my work commitments won’t allow it. So, if by April 25 – when I aim to hand in my scribblings – I look like I haven’t slept for three weeks, it’ll be down to the stinky study. Wish me luck.

Reading phobia

Why is it that the more you have to read, the less you want to? I have to wade through chapters and chapters of my PR text book for this CIPR Diploma I’m doing and it’s given me a phobia of reading.

I’m finding all manner of excuses not to do it and have just one week to go to read fifty million pages, catch up on the Media Guardian and PR Week news and do my PR homework. Aaaarrrrggghhh!

I’m half way through Patricia Cornwell’s latest crime thriller which I usually dip into before visiting the land of nod, but I feel too guilty to pick it up knowing I should be reading the PR Bible.

Must do better!

Blue Monday

Today is the most depressing day of 2008, or Blue Monday if you want to call it that. And I do feel a bit depressed.

The weather’s horrible, I didn’t have much of a weekend, my volleyball coach just doesn’t understand me, pay day is still another four days away and I’m feeling increasingly stressed at the amount of diary commitments I have to fulfil. And that’s just for starters. Get the violins out please.

I headed down to London on Saturday (got up at 5.10am to make sure I wouldn’t be late/panic on the trains etc) and when I got home at 6pm my brain was mush. I’ve never been to uni before and this CIPR Diploma is heavy stuff. For every hour we’re in the classroom (one full day per month) we’re expected to do three hours of reading and I ain’t talking my usual thriller/crime drama novels here. We’re talking academic texts – with no pictures!

I feel a little out of my depth too. My class buddies have much more PR experience than me (I got a place based on my NCTJ qualifications) and they all speak the lingo. I don’t. On a positive note, there’s loads to learn, it’ll be a good experience and I’m making new PR mates. And our tutors (if that’s what you call them) are guys at the top of their trade. Quentin Langley and Mike Hogan really know this shit. I guess as a journalist I feel a bit outnumbered by PR bods but it can only get easier.

And how ironic that one of my study buddies is, in fact, one of my colleagues in comms at the OU. We both work in communications yet neither of us had any idea the other would be there. Much amusement.

More sources of depression? I don’t want to sound like a petty child but I’m angry at being benched for one of yesterday’s volleyball matches and the lack of sympathy/explaination from my coach, and the fact some Greek girl from hell seems to taking my court time.

Another? The fact that my spare time has been reduced dramatically and I’ve not got much time for the fun stuff. And the fact I need to do more exercise (fitness is lacking, don’t feel like an athlete, more like a pig with asthma) but instead keep eating chocolate. Damn those leftover Christmas goodies which I just can’t throw away!

So, how to combat Blue Monday? No, I didn’t buy a box of 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts when I went to Tesco at lunch time, but I think that would help, until the guilt set in. No, I’m looking forward to the fact January is almost over, pay day is almost here and I’ve got some nice weekends with friends on the agenda.