Theres an art to persuading!

Hi again!

I hope everyone has found their placement as useful as mine! I really wanted to get a taste of the many aspects that public relations has to offer and this placement has really allowed me to do that.

As a leading industry voice and in response to consumer demand, the RVA has developed a highly successful platform for retiree’s, which provides essential information to help ease the decision making process for those considering retirement village living.

The Demystifying Retirement workshop is a highly interactive workshop, which gives participants with a snapshot of the vibrant community lifestyle that retirement villages can offer. Those who attend hear from a range of industry experts talk across a variety of topics including types of tenure, entry contributions, ongoing service charges, the daily life of a resident, in addition to many financial and legal aspects associated with retirement village living. The workshop was held on Tuesday, the 22^nd March and it was expected that 86 seniors would be coming.

Prior to this, my task was to develop a sponsorship proposal to financial and insurance companies. This was so that they could come along and provide information to potential retirees about what they would need to consider when deciding to move to a retirement village. In my letter I had to prove that for a small charge, the company would receive many benefits such as brand exposure, audience engagement, publicity and promotion.

I wanted to personally address each of the letters to the CEO or managers. This was the hard part! I found that the receptionist for most companies acted as gate stoppers. They interpreted my attempt to ask for CEO and managers names as a sales call rather than a rewarding opportunity. I was given names, however as most mail is passed through reception before distributed to the right person, I was concerned that it may not be passed on. What I had envisaged turned out to be correct as the response to the sponsorship proposal was very poor.

If I had to manage this experience in the future, I would forward my proposal with a photo from the workshop on the day, quotations from seniors who participated saying how much it helped them understand retirement living and possibly not substituting a letter for one on one communication. Furthermore, it was be advantageous to have a financial or insurance company as a corporate partner with the RVA. Minster Ellison, a Perth based law firm is a partner of the RVA. They were willing to participate in providing legal information at the workshop at no cost to them or to the RVA.