The final day has come!

It’s the evening of Sunday the 3rd of August and the event we have been working on for the past few months has come to a close and what a success it was. This years Curtin Open Day attracted record numbers, the sun was shining and the day ran smoothly. 

When I arrived in the morning I felt immediately the positive vibe that would echo throughout the day. My role on the day itself was to over see the Fun Zone and be the first point of contact for any problems that may arise.

I arrived early and helped Andi and Chris Kelly - the entertainment contractors,  set up for the event. Soon enough the entertainment for the event arrived. I got to see everything I had booked for the area in the flesh and watch it all come together. On the day I had primarily an events manager role as I had to make sure everything ran smoothly in my area and help bump in and bump out the event.

I followed a running sheet like the ones we first learnt to use in PR techniques and I applied knowledge from this unit and previous work experience. Before I had assisted on large scale events but never been the primary contact. The day was exciting and I found ran exceptionally smoothly - I like to think this was because of our planning. I also think this was because of the committed nature and efficiency of the volunteers, without them an event such as this would not have ran as smoothly as it did.

The animal farm, the circus performers and the roving entertainers arrived. Upon reflection I can’t believe the variety of people this event allowed me to work with, as I walked around I got to see all the components we had booked come together and the satisfaction was intense. 

Here are some photos from the event:

Roving entertainers

Bucket basketball

A little pig from the animal farm

Markets Under The Pines

The Fun Zone

Seagulls interacting with characters

The event itself was the least stressful day of the internship, although there were small problems - team work and problem solving eliminated these easily. I had to make direct calls to the electrical and organise power for a variety of acts, along with helping to smooth out a few minor hiccups with the bouncy castle.

To see an event as large as this come together was an overwhelming feeling, it was like all the meetings, ideas and  bookings all merged as one. The day drew record numbers and the reception from the general public and Curtin staff was all positive.

I found that my internship was primarily an events and project management role, but on the day I can see how vital events are to the art of public relations. Curtin Open Day helps communicate to the public Curtins values and overall image, it involves strategic employee communication and team work, it is about creating and maintaining relationships with a variety of stakeholders - which is exactly about what the core of Public Relations is all about.

3, 2, 1 Open Day is Coming!

As the lead up to Open Day is in full swing the atmosphere in the office has heightened. Everybody seems excited and energetic; there is a lot more noise and movement as volunteers, staff, external contractors and the Open Day team rally together to make sure everything goes to plan.

Yesterday I arrived early and did a flat out day 8:30 – 5:30; I had a variety of tasks that needed finalising information packs were made up to be sent out to internal and external contractors such as Canning College, the guild and Instant products. Also too all of the relevant entertainers, these supplied them with the details of Open Day – important information such as First Aid and who their area managers would be on the day.

Last minute we realised that we needed signage for the information tents. These tents are around campus and provide visitors with information about Open Day, the tents will be manned with two volunteers who have information about the where, what and whens of Open Day. 

I was assigned this tasks and had 24 hours to come up with the best solution AND have it made and delivered to Curtin. It also had to be suitable for any weather that may occur on the day and be durable enough to be stored in any condition. My role at Open Day had a lot to do with problem solving and thinking fast and on the spot, this problem like may others was solved promptly and effectively and within 24 hours we had 6 new signs which could be used for years to come.

This day involved a variety of last minute tasks, I prepared packs for the traffic counters, gave out shirts to the volunteers and checked in with external contractors such St John ambulance.

Again I noticed a sense of employee morale, the team at future students worked together, the signage started going up and people volunteered to stay later or come in earlier which shows commitment to the company they belonged to and the employees they worked with. Communication within the team was great and everyone in future students also volunteered their Saturday to come in to complete the set up for this large scale event. 

By now it’s Thursday, I will on campus the entire weekend for the set up and running of Open Day and I can’t wait to see how everything comes together.