Hectically Busy yet Refreshing

It's been a long time since my last post. Even though it's already in August, I can still remember my most hectic week of internship. Do you still remember my previous post about me having a ‘surprise’? (No? here’s the reminder. I was asked to write MD a speech for the Hari Raya Goodies Presentation Ceremony). This post will be the part 2 of the ‘surprise’ post. Well, I wasn’t given another surprise. What I mean by saying part 2 is the Hari Raya Goodies Presentation Ceremony.

Planning and organising an event is not an easy job, a lot of preparation was needed. Since the event was a collaboration with the Welfare Department, a lot of communication was required between us (my colleagues and I) and the officers from the Welfare Department. Other than the officers, we also had to contact the VIPs, journalists, hamper wrapping service provider, florist, and so on. Just like what we have learnt in the PR Techniques unit, I had to prepare the event running schedule, a speech for the MD, media release, make sure the venue was set up well, and so on. This was really a good opportunity for me to put the knowledge I have into practice.

On the day of the event, me as the PR of the hotel was responsible to receive and entertain the journalists. I was nervous because I had no idea what to talk with them. However my colleagues were with me and they have helped me a lot. In the beginning, I thought (and I’ve always thought like that) a PR could only talk about the company or client with the journalists or media but I was proved wrong. I noticed that you can talk about other topics with them other than your company or client. One of the journalists told me that they would feel uncomfortable and would not be so impressed with you if all what you talked was about the company or client, hence ruining the relationship. Gratefully everything went well and once again it proved that good communication skills are essential to maintain good relationship with the media outlets.

Being a PR professional who represents a company/client, our attitudes and the way we communicate are very important. Do you know perseverance and patience are also one of the communication skills? Before the day of the event, I had to call the VIPs (or their secretaries) to confirm whether they were coming to the event. Making the calls was not a big deal, not reaching and getting answers from them were the problems. So I had to keep calling until I got the confirmation. Calling for confirmation really requires perseverance and patience.

Below are some of the photos taken on the day of the event. 

The goodies/hampers that were given to needy.

 Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development giving her speech.

Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah presenting a hamper to an attendee.

Chang Song Enn

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