Top 5 Traits of an Events PR Intern!

Hi everyone,

Wow what a busy week!
There is always so much to do, time just fly's by!!

I am interning for the CinefestOZ film festival in the South West, and am loving it!
But it's all systems go, and they have most defiantly thrown me in the deep end - which is fantastic and the best way to learn.

With so many events on in just 5 days, it can be pretty hectic and insane.

Today alone, I have been writing emails, selling tickets, setting up marques, sorting out issues with customers, writing up itineraries for the film stars and film directors (trying to hide my excitement), writing up door lists, ducking out to Aravina Estate for the Director's lunch to help run that event, then back to my desk in Busselton to organise sponsors events, take phone calls and sort out ticketing problems, jump into ABC's camera view for a news story and back to the cinema and marquee for tonights Premiere event of The Waler!

No time to get lost in all the chaos - here is what I think are the Top 5 Traits of PR Events Management.

1. Time Management
This is not a skill you can forget about once uni it over!!! You need to be able to coordinate yourself, the event and the people involved as a whole. I needed to make sure that no matter how many bumps were on the road, no matter how many interruptions come my way, that I was still at Aravina when I needed to be, as were all of the guests who I had organised travel for, I needed to make sure that the door lists for that evening were done, that I wasn't late for the ABC shooting (which arrived 15 minutes early). It's all about planning, and re-planning to get it all done!

2. Resourcefulness & Flexibility
As I learnt today and the last few days, the original plan for the day is never how the day pans out.
Things never go as planned - there are always last minute disasters right before the event. You need to be able resolve problems and think quick - come up with a fast creative fix, and you need to be flexible to jump on board and get something done! The show must go on!

3. Communication
You need to have the absolute best people skills and listening skills ever. In events management, and all pubic relations work, you need to be able to listen to and convey what the client wants to achieve, and listen respectfully to customers and sponsors, accept their positive (or negative) criticism or help them with any issues they may have. I spent a lot of time helping the general public, sponsors and the film stars with a huge range of problems and dilemmas. You need to be understanding and respectful towards them, no matter how petty the issue may seem. I needed to make sure I was always a plesant face for the film festival.

4. Organisation
I certainly underestimated exactly how much needs to be done for an event such as CinefestOZ. It was actually pretty overwhelming if i'm honest with myself. All events whether big or small need to be very well planned and organised. There must be attention to detail, to make sure everything is in place and runs as close to planned as possible. And this is impossible unless you are 100% organised!!

5. Keep calm and move on.
Murphy's Law states if anything can go wrong, it most likely will. There is no point getting your knickers in a knot. There is no such thing as an event where everything goes your way. There will always be some disaster, and some are unfixable. The last thing the events team needs is a cranking team member who gives up. Keep smiling, you are the face of the company and the event and need to uphold that fab atmosphere. Do you best to creatively fix the problem, and if it's not possible, there is only so much you can do. Try to make the transition as smooth as possible, and as invisible as possible to the clients, sponsors and guests. Cracking under pressure doesn't solve anything, stay calm!

Overall I was pretty stoked with how I managed my day, and feel I have learnt a lot about PR practice in the real world.
Lets see how I pan out for the rest of the week :D

Ta for now,
Verity