I'm on a roll..

Hello lucky ducks, I'm back again...here's my second post...no photos this time though, sorry..

As part of the Liberal Party Electorate training I attended two days’ worth of seminars this week relating to the running of an electorate office. The first day was based around media, with three seminars; ‘communications planning’, ‘local and national media relations’ and ‘digital and e-campaigning’. It was interesting to see the PR practices and tools I’ve learnt through uni be applied specifically to the political world. The first seminar was all about building communication plans, so I had a pretty solid background knowledge on the subject, but it was still good to learn it from a political point of view.

The second day’s morning seminar- ‘fundraising and events management’ was by far the most enjoyable. It was run by the Head of National Training and Operations Adviser from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. She had so many campaigning stories and it was fascinating to see how a campaign works from the inside.

Her main mantra for fundraising and campaigning is “what’s in it for them, not what’s in it for you”. People aren’t going to want to donate money to your cause if there is nothing in it for them. Changing “can you please donate some money so I can be re-elected” to “I need your help to get re-elected so I can continue to fight against/for (insert local issue here)” (or a more, somewhat aggressive approach which can also be extremely effective in some cases… “I need your help to get rid of Julia Gillard”, “I need your help to get rid of the carbon tax” etc. etc.). Getting rid of the carbon tax is a good example of how this kind of things work; Giving away money isn’t something companies generally like to do (the purpose is to make it, not give it away!) but if an MP was to approach a mining company, or even a small business, in their electorate, and explained to them their need for support in running a campaign to get re-elected and get rid of the carbon tax, it is in their best interest to help them out. Even if they can’t supply them with money, they may be able to provide goods or services. It’s the kind of mantra that can be used for anything, really.

Relating it back to PR-(uni student cap back on) a perfect example of this working is the relationship between journalist and PR professional- if you as the PR professional provide the journalist with fantastic quotes, an exclusive and a local angle then the journalist is likely to want to turn up and print your story. They get a good local story and you get your boss/company in the paper. Good deal.

I can’t tell you everything about my training days as some of you may be Labor party enthusiasts and I can’t go around giving out all the good ideas!! I want to keep my job!! Haha

Niki Comparti

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Curtin Bentley campus