When the ‘Summer Symposium’ organized by Philipp Müller and Thomas Lüdeke on 4th September came to its end, the participants left with an in-detail insight into the industry. When it came to two central questions, though, the participating representatives of the PR industry seemed to be stuck for a clear answer. The first was ‘What do PR experts do?’ and the second ‘How do you become a PR professional?’ The fact that public relations have a hard time to explain what they are all about is a rather ironic scenario. In his recent article published in our German category Branchenreport on the latest developments in the industry, our colleague Martin Michel muses on the curiosity that PR professionals make a living with communication but fail to give others an idea of their career. This may be due to the fact that there are no universal education and clear-cut standards for PR workers, he says.

Müller and Lüdeke have answered the call for action by founding the ‘PR Career Center’ which offers young ambitious people guidance and orientation with regard to education and further training in the professional field of public relations. At the ‘Summer Symposium’ event which went into its second round after its resounding success in Frankfurt last year, Germany’s leading PR experts from organisations, companies, and network agencies as well as personnel consultants and university professors participated in a panel discussion. Here, it became obvious that it is almost impossible to give out universally valid recommendations. While Dr. Alexander Güttler, president of the GPRA, a German association of PR agencies, advised young professionals not to work for the same company any longer than two to four years, he himself had been employed by a combine for eight years. Apparently there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

But in relation to key qualifications, the speakers of the panel were of one mind: social media is the name of the game. Jochen Mai (of the renowned German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche) and Stefan Keuchel (Google Germany) who are passionate users of this communication channel could not overemphasize the importance of gaining personal experience in this field. While the generation of the so-called digital natives may profit from the fact that they have grown up with new media tools, they are in some way obliged to make use of this advantage, too, so to speak – at least when they want to work in public relations. PR workers who refrain from using Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools can expect to be as successful as a colour-blind painter or a journalist who is lazy about writing, said Mai.

The event concluded with individual coaching sessions and the opportunity to add new contacts to one’s business network. Photos of the day can be found in the Facebook group ‘Flurfunk PR’. Thanks to the excellent organisation, the interesting guests, and the pleasant talks on the periphery of the panel discussion, the event will definitely attract many participants in 2011 again. And it is very likely that the two above-mentioned questions will be as relevant as ever.

Jochen Mai (left) and Stefan Keuchel at the Summer Symposium.
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