Activity Details (ID# 2294)

Activity Synopsis

The main goal of this activity, which was the first part of the Belarus Management Project for 2002, was to begin assuring a new generation of trainers familiar with both the realities of the situation within the region and with possibilities of the press based on exposure to outside ideas and practices. The specific aim was to expose a talented Belarussian newspaper manager, Alena Raubetskaya, to innovative, practical tactics from around the world in preparation for her first step to becoming a trainer: participation as a speaker at a workshop on advertising in Belarus. 

Ms. Raubetskaya was accompanied by Gregori Kunis, a veteran advertising trainer for WAN and the Council of Europe. Mr. Kunis was the lead trainer for the Council of Europe / WAN series of workshops on advertising management in cooperation with the South-East European Network for Professionalisation of the Media. He has done training work in Belarus and is the author of two similar reports about WAN Conferences, written especially newspaper managers in new democracies.

The conference concentrated on the basics of newspaper survival in a tough economic climate. Topics included advertising department organization, training and motivating sales staff and an overview of effective new advertising management ideas from around the world.

Ms. Raubetskaya wrote a comprehensive report of the conference, concentrating on elements of the Conference that were of particular value in an emerging democracy. Her report indicated that she was able to grasp the concepts and that many of those concepts held the potential of being adaptable to a Belarussian context.

The visit will be part of a report on the Belarus Management Project in the WAN newsletter (circulation 22 000)

Mr Kunis noted that she was an active and eager participant and Ms Raubetskaya reported high satisfaction with the experience. Her report indicates careful attention to the sessions.
Ms Raubetskaya is one of the more innovative editors in Belarus and a key player in the association, thus the knowledge gained is unlikely to be wasted.
 

Ms Raubetskaya has written a comprehensive report of the conference, concentrating on elements of particular value in an emerging democracy for use in training in Belarus and elsewhere. In the second part of the Management Partnership, to be held 24 to 28 April, Ms Raubetskaya will use the content of that report to help Mr Kunis conduct an advertising workshop in cooperation with the Council of Europe and WAN for members of the Belarussian Foundation for the Development of the Regional Press.

The Russian version of Ms Raubetskaya’s report will be made available to Belarussian publishers. WAN will use the English version for workshops in other emerging democracies.

 

Ms Alena Raubetskaya, Editor, Birzha Informacyyi, Belarus