As a student’s of School of Communication and Reputation (SCoRe), twenty of us had very eventful two days in Goa. On 27th and 28th September, 2019, PRAXIS, world’s largest festival for reputation management professionals was held in Grand Hyatt, Goa.  For the twenty students of SCoRe, it was the first time that we were going to be attending this highly reputed event with most of industry’s cream. We not only attended the event but we were a part of the organizing team at the event which was an enriching and an overwhelming experience.

This was the first time for most of us attending such a large scale event and there were a lot of things that we could learn during this two day event and the topic this year was “building trust is at the core of public relations”. Personally, I have always been an introvert and I have always had the fear of meeting and talking to new people. However, during PRAXIS, I had to shed my fears and go ahead and make conversations as this was a rare opportunity to network, communicate and learn from the biggest personalities of the industry.

All twenty of us had different areas of responsibility during the event, as a part of the registration desk, the two major things that I learned were that one needs to be patient and calm no matter what happens. The other thing is that team work is really necessary while handling any task that comes your way.

Apart from our volunteer work, we also had the opportunity to network with the industry’s best of the best. We went around the venue, looking for people who we could ask for insights on public relations. While doing that, inevitable my presentation skills were improving. There were also several speakers who spoke on various topics. One major take away from the several speeches was that the most important thing in public relations is having a purpose and how public relations can help a society in developing a conscience. This was one topic that was recurring in most speeches. Another most important thing that we could take away from the speeches and even while talking to several professionals was that trust within the organization and even with the target audience is very important to have, or else the brand perishes in this age of digital media where we find trolls and fake news everywhere we go. Another important thing that I learnt was how to manage your time and multitask, how to learn and also work at the same time.

Therefore, PRAXIS 8 was a very enriching experience for me as I got to learn a lot about the industry from professionals themselves and also I had the chance to improve my presentations skills which is very necessary in today’s day and age. All in all, PRAXIS 8 taught me how to grasp everything that comes your way while you are already working on something.