UMN Communication Science Faculty Examines How G20 Strategic Communication Works with Widiarsi Agustina

Seminar on Media Relations and the G20 Summit (Doc. UMN)

Tangerang – On (13/11/2024), The UMN Faculty of Communication Science held a G20 Media Relations seminar with Widiarsi Agustina, the Senior Advisor at The Executive Office of The President of Indonesia (2019 – 2024). This seminar discussed how strategic communication works in the G20. This seminar was led by Celixa Amenity Yovanka, a Lecturer at the UMN Faculty of Communication Sciences.

G20 is a cooperation forum involving 20 countries. Indonesia is one of the participating countries. G20 Indonesia was held in November 2022. This activity succeeded in inviting 20 state leaders.

“I used to be a female journalist, and that was my dream for a long time. I also became a female editor until I was offered to work in the government. At that time, Indonesia was busy with many hoaxes and horizontal conflicts, which prompted me to stop being a journalist and enter the government. I learned conflict management to build a peaceful public space,” Widiarsi said.

Widiarsi used a formula to create a peaceful public space in the sustainability of the G20. Widiarsi said the G20 tells a story of ‘harmony in diversity,’ how harmony is united with Unity in Diversity. 

“During the implementation of the G20, there were several conflicts, such as COVID and the Ukraine-Russia war. The problem at that time was how we built world confidence because, at that time, there, was a crisis of confidence in institutions such as the UN. We want to build satisfaction for the people who attended the G20,” Widiarsi continued.

Widiarsi said that first, we have to make strategic communication goals, such as how the G20 builds a spill offer for all tourism and economic fields. Widiarsi added that branding is very important for the event’s success and to make a good impression. 

“The main strength is the narrative. After making the narrative, we reduce it to storytelling. We think about small narrative things such as souvenir design, welcome coffee, and committee shirts. We must know why we chose them and why,” Widiarsi continued.

Widiarsi said that the media’s enthusiasm for the G20 was quite high, so Widiarsi and the team created a media center and conducted press roadshows. In addition, Widiarsi also created a national newsroom to facilitate meetings so that all agendas and issues could be discussed together to create a coverage agenda. 

“We use all assets in Indonesia to communicate with state-owned media and Bank Indonesia until we can penetrate into the local media of existing countries. We want journalists to be involved and facilitate the meeting of journalists,” Widiarsi continued.

Widiarsi added that during the G20, public communication was not the only concern, but so were the kinetics of social and political communication. Many things are involved in the G20 activities.

“I advised the young generation to create good branding for Indonesia as Indonesia does not yet have strong branding. You must be ready to become communication experts, and I challenge you to make Indonesia greater,” Widiarsi concluded.

By Rachel Tiffany Tanukusuma | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika | Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen | Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id