In order to improve digital communication competence for MSME business development in Sumedang Regency, lecturers at Digital Public Relations Telkom University in collaboration with the Office of Cooperatives, Medium Enterprises, Industry and Trade of Sumedang Regency held Public Speaking and Digital Communication Skills Development Training onsite in the Hall UPDT Education Sumedang Regency on Tuesday (15/11).
This activity was carried out at the initiation of the lecturers of the Digital Public Relations Study Program, Dr. Martha Tri Lestari, Lusy Mukhlisiana, M.I.Kom, Anisa Diniati, M.I.Kom., and Dr. Sri Dewi Setiawati, M.Sc.
Head of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Division Wudan Lukmanul Hakim, S.STP., M.Sc. gave his enthusiasm and hope to the participants that this training could help overcome their problems, especially in presenting products to consumers and developing brands digitally.
In the first session, the material was delivered directly by Lusy Mukhlisiana and Martha Tri Lestari. Lucy invites and motivates MSME players to improve their communication competence because communication is the initial capital for MSME players to develop their business and reach out to networks that will ultimately increase product sales.
“Specifically MSME actors need to improve their communication competence, starting from how to become a good communicator, composing messages so that they can be received by audiences, determining the media or communication platform to be used to convey messages, to how to manage this communication so that it works effectively,” said Lucy.
In increasing product sales, it is not enough just to determine the message and media to be conveyed, but how to convey it so that the message can be well received by consumers is also an important thing that needs attention. In her presentation, Martha invited the participants to continue practicing their public speaking skills in order to build self-confidence during presentations.
“The basic capital for SMEs in doing public speaking is to conquer a fear of oneself and to be consistent with breathing, articulation, and gesture exercises,” said Martha.
In the second session of the material presentation, Dewi explained that MSME actors need to understand digital communication as a form of adaptation in the 4.0 era. Through digital communication, MSMEs can maximize various digital media as a means of disseminating information and building interaction with consumers. Digital communication competence is one of the indicators for SMEs to upgrade to become MSME champions.
It does not only stop at the use of digital media, activities on digital media, especially social media, do not stop at displaying or distributing content, but must be followed by a monitoring and evaluation process.