Chandigarh, 18 March Public Relations profession needs to re-orient itself to meet the challenges posed by the new media as over 150 PR professionals deliberated during the course of the two-day Global Conclave on “PR in Challenging Times of today” that concluded here today. Complementing the winners of Public Relations Collateral Awards, which were primarily bagged by companies from Mumbai and Bangalore, Finance Secretary Mr. V.K. Singh, said that next time such awards must come to the companies in the Northern region. Scott Slessor, Consul General of Canada congratulated winners for communicating brilliant ideas”. Mr. V.K. Singh, IAS, Finance Secretary, UT Administration was the Chief Guest in the Valedictory function gave away Collateral Awards to PR professionals and organizations for excellence in Newsletters, Annual Reports, Corporate Films, Corporate Events, Online Presence etc. Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Associate Editor, The Tribune in his address said, “Public Relations professionals need to adapt themselves fast with the changing media requirements as news needs to be presented in an entertaining manner”. He added challenges included coping up with the speed with which news is disseminated, at times in real time. Mr. Nidish Tyagi of The Tribune was of the view that print media in times to come will get extinct as more and more people log on to the Internet for news. Mr. J.K. Menon, CEO, Interworld Comnet advocated the use of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn to not only build reputation but also to counter negative publicity. He said the new trend is that of reverse PR in which organizations place positive stories on the net to relegate negative stories down on the search engines. Earlier in the day, Rajyogni Bk Usha of Mount Abu in her address said before connecting with the outside world, one needs to connect within and added that if PR professionals remain calm, clean & confident and committed, they can become good creative leaders. Dr. Gulshan Sharma, President, Chandigarh Management Association while moderating the session on “PR Education” said that enough jobs can be created in the region if requisite PR skills are available. He added that language skills are prerequisite for career growth. He said, “Your tongue and language is the reflection of your intellect”. Mr. Ujjwal Chaudhary of ISB&M, Pune revealed a road map for PR education in the country, laying stress on practical aspects supported by academic curriculum in which the practicing manager can play an active role. Overall champion of the PR Collateral Awards was Mahindra & Mahindra, Mumbai.