 our celebration exchange from media is back again with another episode of eforum next gen series where we are celebrating the win of all the winners of the second list of eforum pr and copcom 40 under 40. Today we have with us miss poodha trihan who is the founder of restaurants and co-founder of poi. So welcome poodha. It is a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you so much it's a privilege for me to be here. Okay so starting the interaction my first question will be what what do you feel about you know being in the second list of eforum pr and copcom 40 under 40? I'm sure I can resonate you know what each and every winner must be feeling right now it's actually a privilege to be part of this list where every communicator aspires to be present in. I also feel it's inspiring when you become part of a handpick list across the country so there's no other better way to say that thanks to the esteemed duty members and team exchange for media that thank you again for acknowledging the contribution that we as communicators have made to the industry. Awesome and I think the celebration should you know continue with this year being not so good in terms of good news so this has come as a you know a celebration time for all of us. So poodha my next question has to be around like there are so many changes that we have seen the PR and the communications industry going through so and the market has changed drastically if we see in from the past 10 months. So what according to you are the skills that are required in the prevailing market. Honestly it just takes us back to basics and the first thing content is king that everyone would you know loves to say that again and again so curating content the art of controlling your storytelling and your narrative and the practice to adapt to this ever evolving environment the kind of changes that we've gone through this year's probably the biggest crisis chapter for any communicator. So what we also need throughout all of this is immense focus and the right message to audiences. This is all integral to us but today more than ever what we need is to inculcate humility and empathy in all our messaging and personalize it as much as possible for our consumers. I think these are our key skills rather something that we need to keep upscaling towards every time. Okay adapting and personalization are the new key skills required. Awesome and you know you are you have been a leader and you are now an entrepreneur running your own firm. So what are the challenges that you have faced as an entrepreneur in this industry and what are the changes that you've come across being on the other side of the table? See when you're part of an organization or a brand or a PR agency or a company it's far more easier because you have very very well designed roles but when you're an entrepreneur you just have to get done doing everything. I mean designations don't matter anymore what really matters is your as good as your last story or what you've delivered for your client so you might list out as many deliverables or you know the framework of scope of work that you might get but if your brand or the client calls you up and they need something then it has to be done however good or bad your days. So as an entrepreneur my biggest lesson has been that you know I mean no work is small and I continue to be doing everything from delivering for the clients or even if it has to be a career or a package. So just just stay humble, stay grounded and that's what takes you the longer distance. And maybe if we can talk about what strong qualities to be an entrepreneur according to you. You need to be self-motivated honestly no one's going to come back and tell you could you deliver this could you close this report could you work on this no you need to be self-motivated completely and you need to be as excited as you were on day one of your job so you could probably come I mean decades of experience helps you understand the brand's journey better and plan a communication campaign better but your excitement or your thrill the you know the delight that you would get looking at a new brand and planning a campaign for them that needs to stay on so stay self-motivated and the excitement as you would have on day one of your job. Awesome I think being self-motivated I think has been the motivation around and all these past 10 to 11 months that we have all been working from home and this challenging time. So Puja tell us you know something around your work from home experience and handling your team from home as well as having a kid and a family to run what was that overall experience about? I'm not going to deny I think the whole planet went through that process and in the beginning it was fairly very difficult because you can't you know be in a family have a child and think that the child does not have an opportunity to play outside. So it did start out tough but it gave us an opportunity to make my kid independent but a lot of discipline and you know I mean it helped the kid understand you know I'm on a call right now like he's speaking right now so he's not allowed to be in the frame this is not a social call. So these are small things that I think kids picked up also this was the first time I think as a kid or any child on this planet probably got a very relaxed routine you know they got an opportunity to stay back home and learn things and socialize with people within their environment. So that was good and when it came out to work I think a lot of clients brands organizations of people that I worked with understood you know you're struggling between two worlds so it was far more easier to connect and decide what time can we speak again does this work for everybody does it doesn't work for some of them. So these are small things which I think in a fast-paced life all of us you know kind of forget not to forget my running routine 5 36 a.m. in the morning every day has been the most religious routine of my life this throughout this COVID so I think when you start early a lot of things fall in place. And I think the people who follow you on Twitter know that you are a 6 a.m. or a 5 a.m. runner. I think you've gone through you know a rampant amount of changes but I think everything is for good. So I would like to have a small insight on you know the news consumption patterns have changed the content consumption patterns have changed and I think everything has been digitally amplified right now. So the PR industry has of course adapted to the changing scenarios. So what according to you have been the broad rents that have shaped up the industry and also the brands of the clients that you're working with what have been the changes in their outlook for the PR services being offered. So primarily everyone's understood that all of us whatever function we are we can work from anywhere and yet deliver maybe better than before. And the power of own media your own media is really understood by people today. So a lot of brands have come to an acceptance that the Peso model that is your paid on own and shared that the lines are completely blurring. So what really matters is how strong your content is how well you're curating it and how nicely or rather how raw you're keeping it for your audience. So people have understood that I mean the brands or the organizations have understood that it's great to have content across various medians and platforms and how well we use it to create that visibility. Secondly I've seen huge huge unsamountable increase and importance on internal communications. The leaders rather the you know the complete I'm sure the leadership of each and every organization today has understood the importance of internal communications and what the teams can do when they are helping to keep your employees motivated or even creating you know those future opportunities when using the anxiety amongst employees. So a lot of things from internal communications has also changed. Very importantly on Nestle I have seen brands understand the value of independent writers and focused media publications. I'm sure you guys have also seen that you know brands today are moving away that you know yes one big media house has all the power to create that messaging and information. No they've understood independent writers can do that too. Independent media publications can do that too. So from that perspective I think as new platforms came up to communicate internally and externally a lot of changes have gone through our industry the same. And also Pooja I mean the viewers might want to know on this you know content has taken a center stage now you know the business objectives of the companies or the brands have you know come in alliance with the PR objectives as well. So this has been a you know the biggest change that has occurred in the industry from the past one decade. So what are your views on the same of you know on the business objectives of brand being in alliance with the PR objectives. I think it was always there. It just got highlighted or moved up or pedestal this year. As I said you know the leadership teams within all organizations or even brand owners company owners have understood the importance of PR and communication. What's got even more intricate this year is that we've been able to show the organizations and companies the ROI on a communication campaign. So in the F&B industry what I noticed is the brands that even though there was COVID and there was lockdown you know services were not available but the brands who made an effort to keep talking or keep their conversation going are not finding it difficult at all to get back when the unlock has happened. Whereas on the other side the best restaurants who are completely shunned or the brands who chose not to speak are finding it absolutely difficult right now to capture that mind space. So from a business perspective PR or professionals always understood what is it that we need to achieve as a appropriate outcome. What's changed today is that that's probably moved as the most important you know on the first element in any communication campaign. So I think it always existed the importance probably got moved this year. And it has been amplified more so now. You know if I ask you how did you invert a challenge into an opportunity? So what would that answer be from you? Wow. I think this 2020 itself was a huge challenge. In March and April as I saw my whole industry suffer there was a constant challenge but a couple of months into the whole lockdown phase I realized that you know I mean all this is a natural process it's going to take a while. What do I do? How do I make it better? I think that's when I closely you know started contributing even more or than earlier to industry forums and platforms especially like the RPOI. And I think that engagement with various individuals or communicators across innumerable sectors is what helped me also learn about a lot of opportunities. It helped me understand what's really happening you know what kind of changes different organizations are going through. And trust me the more I spoke to people my smaller challenges or that's why I'm calling it smaller. My challenges seem as small as possible rather minuscule or not existent at all. So I think 2020 taught us a lot of lessons gave me a lot of opportunities gave me allowed me to write a lot a lot my favorite thing to do because otherwise I would just land up writing what a client or a brand would need. So I could write much more this year. And yeah talking to you I think that itself is also an opportunity that 2020 gave me. Of course it is a pleasure for me as well. Like everything is now digital and this is also an example of a digital interaction happening right now. So what are the qualities or what are the skills that are required in a PR professional right now excel in this technologically enabled world that we are moving into and also are we as professionals or are PR professionals ready to move to the next level and be fully virtual in the years to come. I think we're absolutely ready to just completely go virtual. I mean if this is not virtual enough anything beyond this we are ready. We're already discussing how artificial intelligence can be part of the future PR campaigns. How we can incorporate data analytics or results from the data studies to bring that to our communication campaigns. I think everyone's pretty clear of life is gone beyond just phone and emails right now. I mean we understand social media and got everything down to a palm size. But now how are you ensuring that people are consuming your message or your stories. How are you ensuring to capture that mind space. I mean people need to go beyond the 15 second vertical videos. So there is a lot that's happening. But brands and organizations today have understood the importance of quality over quantity. So it's far more easier for me to speak to them and say that you know I mean I can't promise you 10 stories is what your brand will achieve this month. It depends on what kind of story are we taking out there. So from a digital perspective they understand that everything's moved online. PR professions are ready to harness that opportunity. We just need to understand at what level and what kind of journey the brand is and give them that digital visibility. Okay so Pooja my next question I think would really be interesting for you. You can talk on you know two things that you want to give a thumbs up as you know a trend that will continue and two things you want to give a thumbs down for the trends that might be on Monday after this year. Wow thumbs up to a lot of content curation and it has to be destructive. Thumbs down to us worrying that you know will we ever go back to work are we going to continue working from home. Again thumbs up to all the leadership content that can be created and distributed but through technology you know I mean really tech enabled and if I have to say thumbs down to us worry anymore how are we managing our family our kids I think it's all part and parcel of our lives every time. Awesome I think everyone has gotten used to this scenario and we I think we have started enjoying it rather right. I agree. So Pooja my next question will be like we are in December and we are moving into 2021. So there have been many changes innovations and new technologies and marketing inventions popping up. So according to you what would be the three broad innovations that you know might reshape the PR and COPS comps industry in 2021 and ahead. So I'm going to answer that with an example. One of the leading hotel brands actually took you know more than 90 years to build an inventory of over more than six lakh rooms across the globe whereas a brand like Airbnb got there in just four years and they probably have more inventory of rooms right now. What I'm trying to say is that what they did is disruption you know that's the kind of stuff that's the kind of messaging that's the kind of approach that brands need to take. I mean they need not be so fast-paced but there needs to be a disruption. There needs to be disruption either you created through your experiential product, experiential brands or experiential messaging. There needs to be constant disruption and yes the way you'd highlighted you know of how business goes. So I think numbers is now going to become a huge thing when it comes to any campaign. Whether we discuss ROI, whether we plan what is the outcome we need or whether we plan what kind of markets and what kind of visibility are we going for. So disruption and getting innovative with numbers. Destruction and getting innovation with numbers. I think you have broadly summed up everything that might be the future. So moving on to our second last part of the interaction would be I mean you know recognitions like the PR 40 under 40. How does platforms and recognitions like this you know add value to the industry or maybe your personal profile and how do you look up to platforms like this? You have to admit that when you get recognized by the prestigious awards of exchange for media 40 under 40 it brings added responsibility and pushes need to perform more and better you know and constantly there's no looking back now because I need to justify the award or the honor that you guys have bestowed upon all the winners actually. So it's a stepping stone to far more bigger opportunities and in fact a definite step to tell the whole industry that we are capable to take on much more than what we have. Yeah I mean this recognition means a lot and I'm sure each and every winner will resonate with that. Awesome. So Pooja we like to end this interaction on a positive note with your message to your juniors maybe the budding entrepreneurs and the we are professionals that are you know working so hard to you know live up to on the expectations of their clients their managers and everyone your important message to them. Keep contributing back to the PR and the communications industry don't ever stop learning enough scaling because that's how you move to the next level you know I mean doesn't matter how many years of experience never stop learning. Get out of the COVID news it's I mean I hate to use the word but yes that's the new normal so get out of it in any case find a safer way to you know do newer things. Take enough as many challenges as you can and you know I mean work in a lot of advocacy programs work on social cause campaigns because it just keeps you connected to what's happening on ground. What I love right now I mean it's become my pet peeve is you know to get smarter side gigs keep working on smaller campaigns keep contributing back and see how you learn new things from them. Awesome I think everyone all your juniors might abide by your suggestions and advices and once again congratulations on you know being on the list of E4M 40 and f40 thank you so much thank you for the time. It is a pleasure speaking to you Nafisa thank you so much and thanks to the whole team that's made this possible awesome thank you so much