PR Internship Reflective Blog 2

Welcome to PR Internship - YOUR opportunity to put everything you have learned over the past years at university into practice and to get a thorough insight into what public relations is like "in the real world". This Blog allows you to reflect on your experiences, share insights with other students across campuses and to possibly give advice and support to fellow students. Please also see http://printernship-reflections.blogspot.com.au/ for more reflections

Monday, April 8, 2013

Sweaty Palms!

I commenced my internship with Netball WA on the 20th of February 2013. I have been keeping a diary of my day to day activities and feelings, but have not had a chance to upload any blog entries yet, so I’m sorry for the delay!

On my first day in the office I was filled with a mixture of excitement and nerves. I felt so honoured and happy to have been chosen to work with such an esteemed sporting organisation and also to be involved in a sport which I love and play myself. I was quickly introduced to everyone in the office and felt very welcomed and at ease after the first hour.

My first and biggest task for the day was scrap booking about 9 months’ worth of hard copy media clippings. Netball WA’s biggest brand representation is for the West Coast Fever which is the women’s state league netball team for Western Australia. Thus, Netball WA on average has at least one story or mention within in print news medium each day. The Sunday times, The West Australian and Western Suburbs weekly were the basis of the newspapers I collected the clippings from. It was interesting and satisfying to be given a task for which I knew what was required of me. Having studied and collected media clippings in my PR Media 250 classes last year made this task so much easier and also reminded me that everything we learn at university is relevant and useful in a real life working environment.

By 1.00pm the media clippings were now up to date and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Emily (Media and Communications manager) then asked me to do some research on other ANZ Championship teams in regards to their social media presence. I compared websites, twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram accounts and made notes as to where the West Coast fever could improve on. I found this really useful on my first day as it gave me a feel for the organisation and where the West Coast fever sat in relation to other state league netball teams around the country.

The last few hours of the day were spent sorting out membership bundles and helping with a mail out of season fixtures, merchandise and information to all of the 2013 members. My first day at netball WA couldn’t have gone better! I Honestly feel like a valued member of the PR and Media team already and cant wait to keep you all updated with other opportunities and challenges dim sure I will be faced with over the next few coming months!

To find out more information on Netball WA or the West Coast Fever brand, please check out their websites!

http://www.netballwa.com.au/default.asp

http://www.westcoastfever.com.au/

Rebecca.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Hi Rebecca,

It appears that like myself you have found the work you have been doing in your internship quite similar to that of class work. Media clippings and scanning which we experienced in our previous units appears to be a large component of many communications teams' daily routine.

I was interested to know whether the stories and articles you came across were largely positive or negative? Furthermore were the pieces you came across largely a result of your own media releases and media relations or did you find some stories which involved your organization without having disseminated any of the information yourself?

Netball WA would be a really exciting company to work with and I am sure you will be learning even more very quickly. Keep up the good work!

Blair; April 9, 2013 at 3:50 AM