Public Relation European School: Learning while having fun

The Public Relation European School (PRES), which took place from 3rd until 9th December 2001 in Novi Sad, was for sure one of the outstanding training events in AEGEE in this year. 35 participants from Groningen to Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria learned more about Public Relation in theory and practice. The programme was organised by the Public Relation Working Group (PRWG), the logistics and local organisation was perfectly arranged by AEGEE-Novi Sad.
The PRES is an important part of the group of human resources trainings in AEGEE. There are local training courses (TC), European Schools (ES1) for people who want to learn how to manage am NGO or organise an event, advanced European Schools (ES2) for people who would like to manage projects or a network on European level (ES2) and courses for people who would like to train others themselves, called Training for Trainers (TfT). The PRES is next to the Fundraising European School (FRES) and the Summer University Academy (SUNAC) one of the trainings which teach specific skills. You can find more info on the website of the AEGEE-Academy.
The event in Novi Sad, already the fifth PRES, was based on a mixture of morning lectures and a case game in the afternoons. The 35 participants were put into seven groups with fantasy names such as AEGEE-Las Sangrias, AEGEE-Beerlin or AEGEE-Ankaraki. They had to organise a PR campaign around a fictive congress on "Cross cultural couples", solving several assignments. The programme was arranged by a team of experienced AEGEE members and co-ordinated in a perfect way by PRWG secretary Silva Petrovic. In addition there were lectures by teachers of the Novi Sad School of Journalism, cooperation partner of AEGEE-Novi Sad.

Impressions of Novi Sad: the town hall, next to the main square are definitely the highlights of the cosy city. During the war the three bridges of the city were destroyed - one has been reconstructed in the meantime on the pillars of the old one. Already since the war there is a ponton bridge made of ships, which is opened only once per week for passing boats. One of the symbols of the war is the destroyed bridge, whose's remainings are still visible.

Staff and participants were lodged in a hotel right in the centre, decisive figures for the event and the history of AEGEE-Novi Sad in general were the two former presidents Sasa and Jasna. Jasna also has a sister: Jovana, also enthusiastic about AEGEE. Our staff saw a lot of the city: whether countless streets (fourth picture) or the fortress over the Danube.

However, the PRES also meant a lot of work. Being it solving assignments in teams, making entertaining presentations. The kissing coupons were very successful and the participants were flooded with lecture handouts.

And there was a lot to present: the participants told the participants more about their home antennae, while an employee from PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of AEGEE's strategic partners in the field of human resources trainings, informed about the meaning of PR for her enterprise. The participants gave her and every other lecturer grades in an evaluation form, which serves for further improvements for these kind of trainings. The PRES also had external lecturers from a journalism school - who gave qualified and entertaining lectures. Pedja, president of AEGEE-Novi Sad gave each lecturer a present.

Welcome to the back office: here the staff was working 24 hours per day. The organising team was co-operating great and had fun while working. Silva Petrovic (middle) was a perfect PRES manager - and also supervised the current score in the competition between the case teams. Last picture: like many others in the team, Betina Szkudlarek was working hard in front of the PC.

The organising team evaluated the progress during the daily staff meetings. The tutors like Ivana Vukov (second picture) were reporting on their teams. Some people called the PRES jokingly also a "Slavic School", because nearly all staff members came from Slavic countries - like Silva (Zagreb) and Adriana (Warsaw). Sometimes correcting the assignments was tiring, as Zsuzsi and Natasa demonstrate, which resulted also in first aid massage sessions.

In the end of the PRES, everybody received a diploma. For example the organising team from Novi Sad, but also every participant, such as Alina, Frans and Pavlo. And also the staff, such as charming Natasa, got the special paper.

Of course the case teams received diplomas, too. From left to right: The Intercourse team, AEGEE-Beerlin, AEGEE-Ankaraki, AEGEE-s-Heinekenbosch, AEGEE-Ouzopolis and the winning team, AEGEE-Las Sangrias.

Created on: 11 December 2001 by Gunnar Erth