End of an era

This morning Ed Sheeran, a huge supporter of The Big Issue performed a free concert on Sunrise, which provided the vendors with an opportunity to sell magazines. I went along to help with this and ensure promotional copies were handed out and that vendors didn’t run out of magazines. This event ran smoothly as we met vendors at Martin Place and had already packed the appropriate copies to be handed out. Back in the office, I was wrapping up the vendor profile approved copies and finalising photos to be taken in the following week as my time has come to an end.

The past four weeks have been extremely eye opening not only in experiencing how PR functions in a large social enterprise, but also in terms of the people I have met and the type of clients involved.  Before this internship, I never really considered how the function of PR could ever relate to homelessness. It is refreshing to have experienced a different side to PR and not just the corporate or profit focused companies. It is insightful to see how organisations use resources and utilise PR activities in the not-for-profit sector.

A few things I have learnt: PR requires a high level of social skills in order to get what you need. I realise the importance of working as a team to each achieve your individual tasks. I also learnt that I need to constantly ask myself: How does your position help make a difference in the organisation and help with progress.

In the end I managed to finish the vendor of the month project initially assigned - although the end product was improvised with a few vendors being unavailable. The other projects I completed were also insightful in regards to public relations in a not-for-profit organisation. I've learnt a lot over the past few weeks and look forward to expanding my knowledge and exposure in the future.

Kate