Tag: Public Relations

Why I Think Obama’s Cairo Speech is Great

June 6, 2009 • Public Relations • 1 comment

I just watched the above speech made by President Barack Obama of the United States in Cairo (you can find the full text here if you prefer to read it) and was rather impressed by how Obama, one of the most eloquent and impressive political orator in this present age, managed to up the ante yet again. There has been numerous analyses of the political content of his speech so I shall not go there. What I am more interested instead is in the masterful way in which he embraced the art and craft of monumental speech making. Here are some perspectives on what we can learn from Obama’s speech which may be useful to bear in mind if we ever address a crowd or are tasked to draft a speech for somebody who will be doing so.

1) Rigorous Research. The first point in monumental speech making is to ensure that one’s facts and figures are in place. An example was this section made on the achievements of Islamic inventors and artists which contributed towards our progress:

How To Write a Great Speech

September 17, 2008 • Public Relations • 4 comments

Michelle Obama at the DNC (courtesy of AP Images)

[This post was updated twice on end March 2015 and 27 July 2016]

Michelle Obama brought the house down at the Democratic National Convention this year. Her wonderful speech affirming Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was widely lauded as one of the best speeches made in the ongoing race for the President of the United States, with elections slated for 8 November 2016.

Some have even proclaimed that she was the star of the show that night – and she isn’t even a politician by any measure of the word!

Telling the Bad News

July 23, 2008 • Public Relations • no comments

Crises can be opportunities if handled well, as these Chinese characters show (courtesy of tingilinde)

One of the most important skills PR practitioners need to know is crisis communication. That is when things go wrong but need to be made public. Public listed companies would probably be most familiar with this when sharing their quarterly earnings reports.

Hiding the truth is probably one of the worst things to do in such a situation. The widespread availability of information and records through both the internet and public libraries makes it difficult for one to fudge. Sooner or later the truth will come out, and it would be far better coming from you rather than a third party source.

How Clients Should Manage PR Agencies

December 4, 2007 • Public Relations • 4 comments

Source of image

Here’s a counter post following my first one on how PR agencies should manage their clients. Hats off to Priscilla Tan who used to work in an agency but will now be joining a global MNC (drool).

Getting the most out of your PR agency doesn’t mean squeezing the life out of them. Conversely, it also doesn’t mean that you just let loose completely and pray everyday that page one news would come on its own. Sorry buddy it doesn’t work that way.

So what can you as a client do to optimise the Client-PR relationship?

How PR Agencies Should Manage Clients

November 28, 2007 • Public Relations • 12 comments

Source of image

I got tipped off to write about this following Priscilla Tan’s expose on what goes on behind the doors of PR agencies and their clients. Many of the situations which she described – expecting page one news, wanting to be called “the next big thing”, and agency bosses “kow towing” to clients – are not unique indeed.

I Can’t Believe It Yet Again!

May 11, 2007 • Public Relations • 10 comments

Let’s toast to more blogging successes!

Dear readers,

Thank you so much for your support, links and visits. I just found out that this blog is ranked 9th according to the Buzz Bin’s list of Top 15 Independent PR Blogs. While I do sneak in some personal bits here and there, my chief intention is to share my thoughts and those of others on PR, marketing, branding and social media issues here since I first started about a year and a half ago.

Oh yes, since we are on the subject of accolades, I do invite all of you to visit my other pet project yesterday.sg. That apparently is ranked the 5th museum blog in the world (out of 100 museums blogs) according to this list from Museums and the Web 2007.

Looks like its time to pop the champagne and celebrate! Definitely couldn’t do it without all of you!

10 Tips to Hit the Headlines

February 20, 2007 • Public Relations • 9 comments

This is a rehash of something I wrote for a major national newspaper more than two years ago. I have tweaked it to be more comprehensive, with the general principles remaining the same.

Of course, this doesn’t guarantee coverage everytime, but if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!