Crafting Connections: The Tale of the PR Duo

Want to hear about a boring yet memorable story about two girls who found themselves selected as co-directors of an avenue that they had no clue on how to operate? This might sound extremely uneventful of a read but for us, this story is an important plot twist in our lives that ends with special memories and lessons to treasure for years to come. From not knowing even the basics of editing a photo to getting to handle a Public Relations Avenue for an entire term, we both have come a long way in our journey along the Rotatact memory lane as the two PR directors of the Rotaract Club at Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo. We believe that our service to the club helped in giving rise to the popularity of a relatively novel avenue while also enhancing the public relations of the club activity. Starting as newbies, with limited knowledge on several applications and social media platforms, we have established quite a lot including our three major projects: Public Loop, LinkedIn Launch and Wise Toons.

We kick started our term with our first ever project called Public Loop. This was a one day seminar-talk conducted in collaboration with PR Wire, Sri Lanka and the School of Communication and Reputations, Mumbai. Held on 27th of September 2023, Public Loop was conducted with the aim of educating undergraduates on mass communication and public relations and to do so, a series of talks were held on defining these concepts while covering their respective advantages and disadvantages. The speakers also did not forget to bring attention to the important role these mentioned sectors played in everyday life situations and future prospects in terms of education and careers, enriched with various forms of animated discussions, and learning aids such as multimedia and Q&A sessions. We were happy to see many eager undergraduates from the University of Colombo and even a few from the University of Kelaniya participating in the talk, enthusiastically enquiring about the different curiosities they had. The talks given by the various professionals in the field were enlightening to all who were interested in pursuing mass communication and public relations and it certainly laid out the foundation for us as avenue directors. With that we commenced our term on a positive note.

Our Rotaract Club at Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo has an Instagram page, a Facebook page, and a TikTok page. But something was missing. That’s right! A LinkedIn profile. For a club that promotes leadership skills, community and social services, having a LinkedIn profile was a must so we decided to make it happen. The LinkedIn page of Rotaract Club at Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo was officially launched by our Public Relations Avenue on the 5th of February, 2024 following a series of promotional videos that were posted regarding the matter. This was a huge feat on our part, because of how many doors of opportunities it opened for the undergraduates of the University of Colombo, in terms of working experience and future careers. 

As for our last milestone, we took a trip to our childhood cartoons and picked out the most memorable yet inspiring quotes uttered by some of the universal favourites. Ranging from some philosophical advice from Master Oogway in ‘Kung Fu Panda’ to some ambitious tips from the Disney sweetheart Tiana from ‘The Princess and the Frog’, the Public Relations Avenue designed several posts incorporating these quotes and posted them on our social media platforms. This is our way of spreading the positive message of never giving up to chase our dreams, amongst our university society while also grabbing their attention because who would have the heart to ever ignore the advice of Merida or Rafiki.

Looking back, we realised our term passed by in the blink of an eye but the new experience we gained was infinite. We have come a long way as the Public Relations Avenue, giving it a solid standing for future terms to come as an independent avenue. Us, the co-directors of the avenue too have completed a significant journey throughout our term, where we learnt new skills, discovered hidden talents and most importantly embraced teamwork. We are honoured to have provided our services to the Public Relations Avenue of the Rotaract Club at Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo, a place where we learnt that the most unexpected turns in life might turn into beautiful plot twists later on.

Rtr. Sayuri Wijesinghe and Rtr. Raziya Lareef