High Heels and Coffee

I started my work experience at the Department for Communities today! It was a bit of an adventure using public transport – I haven’t used much public transport since high school! Not only that, but catching the train and cat bus in peak traffic was a different experience to say the least!

When I got off the cat bus, I got a bit worried because the buildings didn’t look the same as they did when I first went to the office to meet everyone four weeks ago (I was on the other side). However I was lucky enough to ask the right lady for directions as she was in the same department as me!

My morning consisted mainly of meeting those I hadn’t yet met, getting familiar with my surroundings (being given the grand tour) and the intranet. I came across an old bulletin on the intranet (they keep all old files in an archive) informing the office that they had began using Media Portal- and where to find the reports. So I went onto the database and found the reports, which was very interesting to see how the reports are delivered.

Then it was onto my first assignment.

I was given a list of names and numbers of the winners and runner-ups for the 2008 Seniors Awards, which I had to call. The aim of the call? It was not only a courteous call to see how they were going, but also to inform them about possible media calls that would occur later on this week. Given that they are seniors, they may find a stranger phoning up, asking about them winning their award a bit intimidating- so I was just informing them, and getting their permission to give their phone number to the media. They were all so lovely to chat to (and they did want to chat!) and excited about the media calling them up to get their story for the paper.

Then, another lady in the office who works with Children and Youth asked my assistance once I had finished with my phone calls. My task was to read a case study, and then summarise it for the Minister of Youth! It was a very interesting case study on Cyberbullying- and gave me an insight to what research is to be undertaken before a campaign can begin. From this I had to summarise strategies in order to reduce the incidence of cyberbulling.

Lastly, I worked on my first ever REAL media release which is going to be sent out in a few days. It was very exciting, and everything I learnt in PR Techniques 200 came flooding back to me! It was also very satisfying to send it off to my manager with a new angle (which is very hard when it comes to this media campaign) only to get it back hardly corrected at all! That is a good feeling! One major thing that surprised me about doing media releases in the real world... I actually have to make up the quotes that the Director General “says” and then it gets approved by her! I don’t actually get quotes from her to slot in.

Before I sign off: if you, the reader of my blog entry has a amazing grandma, or equivalent (over 60) who you think is eligible for the 2009 Seniors Awards, and you would like to nominate them, please do! It’s a fantastic opportunity to say thank you to those who do so much for the community. You can download application forms from the website: www.seniorscard.wa.gov.au Applications are due 31 July 2009

LM