Depok-Universitas Indonesia (UI) Vocational Education Program, Public Relations (PR) study program held a virtual Vocational Public Relations Festival (VokHumFest) which was held on June 28 – July 7 2021. VokhumFest is an annual program for UI Vocational Public Relations study program which aims to help Micro Enterprises Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in branding and promoting their products/services.
This year, VokHumFest became an integrated program with community service from the PR visual production practice course. The virtual exhibition activity is the result of collaboration between the UI Vocational Public Relations Study Program with 18 MSMEs players located in Greater Jakarta. The results of the work that have been made by the students of the Public Relations study program can be seen on the website https://vokhumfest.ppvui.id. The public is expected to visit the VokHumFest website and to the online shop of MSMEs who are the clients.
The head of the Public Relations Study Program, Pijar Suciati, M.Si., said that for one semester the students in the class served as free consultants for producing various public relations visual materials. Materials produced include posters, brochures, flyers, and various visual forms for social media. The visual materials are made in digital and print formats. “This is a form of implementing 70% of the practice at UI Vocational, so students from an early age have learned to interact with clients and help provide consultations for public relations,” said Pijar.
She explained about the results of a survey conducted on MSMEs who are VokHumFest 2021 clients, namely 68.4% very satisfied and 31.6% satisfied. In addition, 94.7% of MSMEs recommend using VokHumFest services to other MSMEs driving partners. From the survey results, it can be seen that the VokHumFest activities were well received and provided benefits for the participants.
The Head of the Laboratory of the Public Relations Study Program, Mareta Maulidiyanti, S.Sos., M.M., said that the laboratory concept in the UI Vocational, especially the Public Relations Study Program, refers to solving real cases that exist in the community. “VokHumFest is a real form of UI Vocational contribution to the community, especially MSME actors in Greater Jakarta. This learning method is part of the implementation of the 321 curriculum run by the UI Vocational Education Program. This curriculum requires students to study on campus for the first 3 semesters to strengthen basic skills and theory, then 2 semesters of studying in industry, and 1 semester of pure internships,“ Mareta explained.
One of the participants, Putri, the owner of MSMEs Pawon Putri, said that the students really helped MSMEs players to produce promotional materials. “Our ability to create attractive promotional materials is very limited, because we have to understand how to promote well, as well as the ability to design. Through this Public Relations UI Vocational Program, we were greatly helped, especially in designing promotional materials. They helped Pawon Putri make digital brochures and posters,” said Putri.[:]
