NOC Belarus holds educational seminar for press secretaries of federations

On February 26, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, together with the High-Tech Park, held an educational seminar for press secretaries and staff members of sports federations “Sports organizations and social media: challenges and benefits”. The seminar was held in the HTP business incubator.

The location was not chosen by chance. Belarusian sport and IT are two brands by which the world recognizes our country. Sometimes, not everyone can show where Belarus is on the map, but more or less everywhere is known about sports achievements and digital developments of our compatriots. Kirill Zalessky, head of the public information and international cooperation of the department of the High-Tech Park, spoke about it in his welcoming speech.

Forty sports federations presented the audience. Although the seminar was conceived for press secretaries and those responsible for social media and communications, the chairmen of organizations and staff members came to listen to the speakers.

Ekaterina Lisitsa, press secretary of the Belarusian Tennis Federation, cheered up the audience and spoke about her experiences with media and fans. Ekaterina not only explained the mechanisms for creating unique content and promoting it in social media, but also insisted that professional effect is possible only in the case of mutual love with the chosen sport. Strictly speaking: there is no point in forcing someone to love your sport, if you are indifferent to it.

Sergey Sinkevich, specialist of the development department of FC BATE, spoke about partnership with Viber messenger. He literally shocked the audience by the number of community followers and members of the chat bot club, the total number of which exceeded half a million. At the same time, Sergey drew attention to the fact that the football club is ready for proposals and cooperation with other sports in order to “develop at the expense of each other”.

The main information about this year in Belarus - II European Games - also did not go heeded. The leading expert on communications and media of the organizing committee Lubov Kudelko drew attention to the strategy of promoting a multisport forum. At the same time, she voiced several practical tips on how to act and how not to act when giving information on the European forum.

Residents of the High-Tech Park, representatives of Viber and Netco Sport, acted as a separate block, after which Pavel Stankus, head of SMM of the video marketing agency SLON Media, summarized the experience of colleagues. Pavel spoke about the latest trends in the light of social media, advised to focus on video, but not to forget about longreads, satisfying the desires of audiences of all generations. In the course of his speech, he gave a few practical ideas to the representatives of the federations, advising how to breathe life into the already existing pages and launch new ones.

The official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, Julia Goncharova, concluded the presentation with a presentation “Informational support of activity for sports federations in crisis”.

During the seminar, problematic issues were raised, in particular, how to regulate the activity of sports organizations in social media in the legal field and protect them from hacking. In addition, an important topic for discussion was the activity in conditions of limited or absent budget for the development of social media.

There was time for a pleasant occasion. Thanks of the NOC of Belarus for “contributing to the development of the Olympic movement, mass sports and sports of the highest achievements in the Republic of Belarus, as well as to encourage those who have made significant contributions to the preparation and organization of coverage of the XXIII Winter Olympic and XII Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea)” Employees of Belteleradiocompany, ONT and STV TV channels were awarded, as well as photo correspondent Alexander Semenyako and journalist Vladimir Zdanovich.

After completing all the reports, the workshop participants agreed that conducting such classes is useful. It makes sense not only to hold them regularly, but also to transform the format, adding practical advice not only on interaction with fans, but also with the media.