My placement experiences at Diabetes WA went well and I will continue to keep you posted on my journey.
The couple of days after I started, I got to do more public relations work. This is where I started to get excited. It was helpful getting to do the things that I already had a hang of such as media releases and articles. I wrote my first media release for National Diabetes Week and also wrote and article. The article was about NDW, which was from the 11th to the 17th of July. It was written for 'Conquest News' which is Diabetes Australia's own magazine and is distributed to its members. The article informed readers that NDW was just around the corner and all the exciting things DWA would be doing in the week.
I also interviewed the DWA Aboriginal coordinator as she distributed books and resources in the Kimberley. After I interviewed her, I was asked to write a media release about how she distributed resources as a part of DWA. It was interesting to find out more about DWA and how different departments worked and to be writing a media release all by myself that would be sent to a newspaper.
One of my favourite times was when I was given a couple of numbers from the DWA member database, to call up people living with diabetes and ask them whether they would like to be a spokesperson for National Diabetes Week. Many people declined the invitation however a few accepted which I was grateful for. The most difficult part, was that the person had to have requirements, to be newsworthyness in the newspaper. They had to be in their late 30s or early 40s with Type 2 diabetes to become a spokesperson. It was quite hard, as many people were not interested and others just did not have the requirements for the paper. At one time I would be calling up to 20 people in a day to even be lucky to get a call back. Therefore, I would also be looking through member databases online and in files to get a hold of any person that would be willing to be a spokesperson.
Finally after a couple of days, I got a spokesperson. He was in the specific age group with Type 2 diabetes. It was a sense of relief and my mission was accomplished. I had done what I set out to do and that was one hurdle out of the way. It goes to show, public relations is all about work ethics and how you persevere to get where you want to be. I kept communicating with my supervisor and kept calling the members. Even though it might of been hard at the start, I felt my contribution helped gain media attention in NDW. Also by finding a spokesperson for the annual NDW, it helps to encourage other people living with diabetes to speak openly about diabetes to their closes ones or the public.
An issue arised for me after I had got my spokesperson. I felt I had found another person suited to the role of a certain newspaper which was a bit of a let down. But we left it as it was, because it is better to have a spokesperson, than no spokesperson at all and our deadline was close. It is also a reminder that things may not always turn out as perfectly as we would like them. We were happy getting some media coverage during the week which was great!
In the future, I would communicate more with the spokesperson and see which newspaper suited them the best with the questions I asked. This would show that more communication was used and things may have worked out for the better. However there was still a great outcome with the media. But I will always remember in PR, more positive media coverage is always a bonus!
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