Students on London College of Communication’s (LCC) BA (Hons) Public Relations (PR) course took on the role of Mayor of London and formed virtual agencies to deliver a series of press conferences to BA (Hons) Journalism students as part of their first-year PR Professionalism Unit.
The PR teams delivered a press conference on the Mayor of London’s solution to the high rate of cycle-related deaths in the capital. The students prepared a speech, presentation and press release on the new policy and dealt with questions from the assembled journalism students.
The journalism students then wrote up news stories for different media, including print and online, based on the press conference material.
Several of the virtual agencies created their own visual identities and business cards and one generated a presence on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, where they accumulated over 500 likes in 24 hours.
The BA Journalism students provided their own peer-assessment for the PR students on the press conference using criteria which included the logistics, grasp of news values, relevance of the presentation and overall quality of the event.
“This was a great project with a combination of pressure, realism and fun,” said Hayden Scott, a BA Public Relations student who played the role of Mayor of London. “All the students loved the exercise The experience of laying on an event with guidance from the tutors at LCC and talking to the press in a realistic setting was really useful.”
Have your say…
Transport for London’s very real plans for the transformation of Elephant and Castle roundabout will be on show at LCC this week, in an exhibition where you will have an opportunity to view detailed maps of the scheme and speak to its designers.
The exhibition will take place at:
Typo Cafe, London College of Communication
Tuesday 25 March 16:00 – 20:00
Saturday 29 March 11:30 – 15:30
You can let TFL know your views by taking part in an online survey.