Okay, hi, college students. Especially you with no prior experience in holding a public events, or you who do not get any classes on event organizing. Flash news, do not make rules for journalists. Ever.
I attended one of the most interesting seminars yesterday, with one, if not the worst management from the committee.
Which professionals organize the event, I hear you ask.
Students - young, young students - from UI's civil engineering department.
Not that I discredit their faculty, but really, aside from counting structural forces or whatever it is they count, those engineering geeks should learn something about dealing with the media.
I went to the seminar because the transport minister was there, and it was about railway revival in Indonesia. Arriving at 8 a.m., I was of course not in my best mood. So when they said I couldn't come in because I did not have any invitation, I was starting to boil.
The ministry had invited me to come, the night before. I was following my minister there, and I would be out soon as I got comments from him. I did not give a damn about their seminar, which did not have anything much in issues, I think.
And then we journalists were given these bunch of papers, consisting of press release, a schedule, and get this: a rule for the press.
My prediction came true; as long as my friends arrived, they complained right then and there about the so-called rules. It was so ridiculous to set up a written rule like that, it made us laugh.
Then it turned not-so-funny when the committee did not let us in while Min. Jusman was starting his speech. They invited the media to come to the seminar, but wouldn't let us in to actually cover the event. How smart.
In the end, after we caught the minister for a doorstop interview, some of the senior reporters approached the so-called public relations officers of the committee. I felt a bit sorry for them, because some guy from Kompas ranted on and on about the unorganized event, and I think that girl, with her long, black hair, blue contact lenses, and hip-looking suit, was so close to her tears.
Well well, there's more to PR-ing than looking flashy and pat yourself on the back after you manage to invite the country's big media, huh, kids?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Should've been
This one made the front page (of the internally-published paper - don't ask why it's not out yet nor when it will be), so gloat gloat gloat time!
Confusion reigns as traders stare into the void
Putri Prameshwari
The stunned look in Pardede’s eyes, as if he had lost the will to live, said it all as he stepped into the cavernous trading room of the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday afternoon.
Groups of stock brokers stood in nervous chatter around the room, where trading had been abruptly suspended just before noon after the market’s composite index began to plummet dramatically for the second time in three days.
It was only the second time trading was suspended in the exchange’s 31-year history.
“All of this is so sudden,” said Pardede, a trader at JIMB Securities. “We didn’t expect this. We were never ready for trading to be stopped.”
Just outside the hall, traders gathered in groups to discuss the subject of their collective disbelief: a seemingly bottomless index that had fallen more than 21 percent since trading began this week. Some traders got the message and headed for the door. “Go home, go home,” they told the others.
But people continued to mill about outside the main trading room, or sat in a small cafeteria nearby, smoking cigarettes and drinking iced tea, uncertain whether the day was truly over.
They were not the only ones stunned by the day’s events.
In contrast to the nearly empty main trading room, dozens of people remained in the upstairs viewing gallery watching what was left of the day’s carnage. Their ears were glued to their cellphones.
A normal trading day ends at 4 p.m., so those who had packed the gallery, including students who were waiting to attend a public class about the exchange’s operations, appeared confused. Across the gallery they clutched their books, mingling among confused investors and news reporters gazing through the glass at the hall below.
“The class has been delayed and moved to another room because the lecturers are having a meeting about the suspension,” said Anita, one of the students, who only recently had begun investing in stocks.
One 30-something woman, who asked not to be named, said she attended the class to learn more about the stock exchange and how to make personal investments. As a housewife with little prior experience in finance, she said she usually only deposited her money in the bank or bought gold.
“But seeing today’s uncertain situation, I may think twice about [investing in stocks],” she said while two friends looked on, nodding.
Alfaris, who works for Kim Eng Securities, said his clients had not complained about the suspension.
“I think clients consider the suspension a relatively normal action because they have seen it happen elsewhere,” Alfaris said, zipping up his jacket and calling it a day.
But Saidu Solihin from the Indonesian Brokers Association, said the halt had shocked some of his clients, although he said many understood the reasons and did not panic.
“We told them that this is to rescue their investments, preventing them from plunging further without any value added,” Saidu said.
Behind him, two brokers were busily talking on their phones about the market crash.
Anita said she was not worried about the suspended trading.
“This is a risk I knew I would take when I first decided to invest my money,” she said.
“Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.”
And on Wednesday, amid the confusion of everyone hoping for the former, it was decidedly the latter.
Confusion reigns as traders stare into the void
Putri Prameshwari
The stunned look in Pardede’s eyes, as if he had lost the will to live, said it all as he stepped into the cavernous trading room of the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday afternoon.
Groups of stock brokers stood in nervous chatter around the room, where trading had been abruptly suspended just before noon after the market’s composite index began to plummet dramatically for the second time in three days.
It was only the second time trading was suspended in the exchange’s 31-year history.
“All of this is so sudden,” said Pardede, a trader at JIMB Securities. “We didn’t expect this. We were never ready for trading to be stopped.”
Just outside the hall, traders gathered in groups to discuss the subject of their collective disbelief: a seemingly bottomless index that had fallen more than 21 percent since trading began this week. Some traders got the message and headed for the door. “Go home, go home,” they told the others.
But people continued to mill about outside the main trading room, or sat in a small cafeteria nearby, smoking cigarettes and drinking iced tea, uncertain whether the day was truly over.
They were not the only ones stunned by the day’s events.
In contrast to the nearly empty main trading room, dozens of people remained in the upstairs viewing gallery watching what was left of the day’s carnage. Their ears were glued to their cellphones.
A normal trading day ends at 4 p.m., so those who had packed the gallery, including students who were waiting to attend a public class about the exchange’s operations, appeared confused. Across the gallery they clutched their books, mingling among confused investors and news reporters gazing through the glass at the hall below.
“The class has been delayed and moved to another room because the lecturers are having a meeting about the suspension,” said Anita, one of the students, who only recently had begun investing in stocks.
One 30-something woman, who asked not to be named, said she attended the class to learn more about the stock exchange and how to make personal investments. As a housewife with little prior experience in finance, she said she usually only deposited her money in the bank or bought gold.
“But seeing today’s uncertain situation, I may think twice about [investing in stocks],” she said while two friends looked on, nodding.
Alfaris, who works for Kim Eng Securities, said his clients had not complained about the suspension.
“I think clients consider the suspension a relatively normal action because they have seen it happen elsewhere,” Alfaris said, zipping up his jacket and calling it a day.
But Saidu Solihin from the Indonesian Brokers Association, said the halt had shocked some of his clients, although he said many understood the reasons and did not panic.
“We told them that this is to rescue their investments, preventing them from plunging further without any value added,” Saidu said.
Behind him, two brokers were busily talking on their phones about the market crash.
Anita said she was not worried about the suspended trading.
“This is a risk I knew I would take when I first decided to invest my money,” she said.
“Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.”
And on Wednesday, amid the confusion of everyone hoping for the former, it was decidedly the latter.
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