The adventures of a Mellen...

Hello,

This is now my 4^th week with Mellen Events and (like most others) I figured it’s about time I started sharing my experiences with the Mellen crew. Mellen Events are Perth concert promoters and are the cool kids responsible for some of the festival season greats, like Summadayze, Future Music and A Day on the Green. I had been doing a bit of volunteer work with them before I was offered my placement, which was a good way of worming my way into their office. Since then, they have offered me a full time position to commence once my prac work is completed, which is a little bit exciting!

Beginning my placement at this time of year, initially I thought, probably wasn’t the best move. It’s winter! Which means it’s the off season for the outdoor events industry. I was even considering putting this unit off until next semester. But recently, work has literally been thrown at me, since the preparation and event announcements start rolling out around August/September. When I first started I was given the basic office duties that the typical junior team member gets loaded with. It was a little disheartening to know that 3 years of uni was going to get me cleaning out stationary cupboards and reorganising filing. But, I soon realised, no matter how minor a job may seem to you, it is necessary for the smooth sailing of the entire organisation (even if it means finding a pen is made a little easier).

As the weeks progressed I was given more responsibility. They had me driving down to the Swan Valley to engage with the locals and gain their support for local council approval, for a new concert venue. This was extremely important for the company, as the council is ready to make their call, and their final decision comes down to the local residents and their opinions. Keeping these relationships with the local community has been an ongoing task, as Mellen Events has hosted many events in the area over the years.

Working with the Marketing manager, I have also been asked to send media mail outs to the subscribers of their website, as well as press releases local media for upcoming announcements (anyone checking out the Wombats or Godskitchen 3D?). Daily media scans are extremely important to look at any press the shows are getting, and then making a portfolio for each event. I have also been compiling a database of online media outlets where press releases can be sent. An idea I offered, was keeping popular music blogs updated since the blogosphere is gaining a lot of momentum in this digital age!

At the moment, I’m setting up a street team of volunteers to help promote specific events around popular night spots. It’s easy to find people to volunteer when you bribe offer them tickets! This will be an ongoing task as more events are announced, particularly the summer festival favourites!

An exciting (and daunting) new task I was given this week, is writing a proposal to secure a celebrity guest to appear at one of next seasons biggest events on the Mellen calendar (I’m sworn to secrecy, as to who and what) so this will be a great opportunity to see just how persuasive my writing can be.

Looking back on my last 7 days at Mellen, I guess I have been given quite a bit to keep me busy once you add it all up. I have decided to stick to my guns and report on my experiences this semester (yay, to graduating this year!!) since the work is building up now! I’m also pretty excited to see how my role follows through over the whole season, since ill be there for the summer too, and the sort of valuable skills I will learn by putting the years of theory into practice!

Mel

(ps - Any one wanting to volunteer with Mellen Events for free tickets, facebook me!)