After only just entering in to my second
week of interning at PPR Perth, I was given the awesome opportunity to take
part in what was known around the office as a ‘roadshow’. I was instantly flooded
with comments from those around me in the office about how much I’d love it and
what a great experience it was for an intern, but what exactly is a roadshow? Basically,
myself and one of the junior consultants would be setting up a stand on behalf
of one of PPR’s clients; East Perth Metro Medicare Local, in Morley Shopping Centre.
East Perth Metro Medicare Local had started
an initiative with the help of PPR focused on getting young families in contact
with their nearest after hours GP to help reduce over crowding of emergency
departments. Percy’s Practice was created, a website in which allowed people in
the East Perth Metro area to get in contact with their nearest after hours GP,
with a cute little owl mascot to represent the campaign.
Before we could even think about getting
out into the real world, it was time to plan. The junior consultant created run
sheets, booked the spot in the shopping centre and organised for an iPad stand
to be delivered to our office. I was assigned the task of calling round to
local nurseries and childcare centres in the area asking if they would be
interested in receiving a Percy’s Practice information pack – a long process
but one that was definitely worth it in the amount of interest we received!
Together the junior consultant and I transported different bits and pieces down
to the Morley for the roadshow and hosted the stall for two days.
Our task for the roadshow was to get out
into the public and spread the word about Percy’s Practice and the development
of Percy’s new alphabet flashcards app for children. We were accompanied by two
owls from the WA Birds of Prey Centre which were a massive hit with the
children. Parents and children could collect colouring-in sheets, fridge
magnets, owl masks and even Percy’s Practice branded band aids! We also had an
iPad set up to allow children to interact with the new app and a photo station
for children to get up close and personal to the real owls.
Some of the difficulties we faced were
getting pass the idea that many people had that we were trying to sell
something. Once passers-by released we were actually providing a free service,
they were extremely interested. The real life owls definitely helped encourage
people of all ages to stop by the stand and we could then approach them with information
about Percy’s Practice and hand out some of the promotional material.
Overall I found the roadshow to be an
amazing way to get out and directly interact with our target publics, however
it was also a lot of hard work. The days were long and tiring and there was
lots of preparation to be done in advanced but it was a great two days and we
managed to hugely increase awareness of the program in the area!
I've popped some pictures below so you can check out the stall set up! Have any of you fellow interns had the opportunity to roadshow like this?
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