Celebrating World Tourism Day - When environment affects public relations

Hey all,

This particular blog is about understanding public relations from an entirely human perspective, letting professions diverge from face-to-face conversations and the spread of knowledge from generations to generations.  I would personally summarise Saturday 27/02/2016 in just four words “seeing with the ears”. To celebrate the International Tourist Guide Odigos invited over guests from the tourism industry namely DMC managers to give them a glimpse of the roles and responsibilities of the tourist guide during a preplanned excursion. Their reaction was far beyond expectation as they got carried away by the high level of professionalism of our guide Mike who embraced the role of an educator, historian and geologist. Excursions are quite often sold as sightseeing tours but Odigos dares to tickle all of the five senses of the individual thus laying emphasis on more than just the Visuals. 

In boosting the tourism profile, there is the need to align the activities with the expectations of the locals, strengthening relationship building at the grassroots level. Synergism could be achieved if the activities of the industry will be coordinated with other industrial activities (e.g. car rentals, hotel services, etc). Further, what is increasingly an issue is the ethicality of the travel and tourism sector. Green business practices, for instance, are widely regulated within the travel and tourism industry.  For instance on this particular day to celebrate World Tourism Day, Odigos had opted to gather its publics into an utterly green environment by choosing the coastal theme.  Setting up a brunch (breakfast-lunch) in the South of the island, and allowing business partners to fancy summer meals near the blue lagoons, helped shaped a positive and down-to-earth image on the company, detaching itself from the monotony of office walls.   

Could you visualize yourself exerting a public relations' role in slippers on the beach? Well I did for a day, in order to ensure I keep a low profile and adhering to the dress code of the company.  After all, who would wear high heels on the fine white sands on a tropical island!

Regards,

Karishma Shanto

Looking The Part

As I continue my internship, the importance of dressing professionally becomes more evident. Whether your meeting clients, the media, other colleagues or holding an event looking the part is half the battle. If you want to be taken seriously you need to dress appropriately.  The way you dress and present yourself will determine how others perceive you and will certainly influence ones first impression. Dressing appropriately for the organisation also instills confidence in the client and illustrates that you take pride in your job position and the organisation in which you work for. There is nothing worse than meeting someone who is dressed inappropriately, has poor hygiene and personal grooming. It doesn’t look good particularly for someone representing a brand or an organisation.

Through my experience I have noticed that Curtin University’s employees, take pride in how they present themselves. In particular their attire is noticeably different when they conduct an event or client briefings. Black or white corporate attire is considered appropriate in the events and media department at Curtin. As a representative of the Curtin brand I was also expected to follow this dress code, and I did! Dressing professionally was not just a requirement, it helped me feel more confident and competent in my role as I attained more respect from employees and clients. It also helped me to feel like I was apart of the team and not just the ‘intern’.

Over the course of my placement I became more accustom to what is and isn’t appropriate dress wear within the workplace. As a swimming teacher currently, I now feel more comfortable in dressing for the workplace or for a future job interview. Although each organisation polices different dress standards, I have learnt its better to dress up than down and to avoid the following;

• Thongs, spaghetti straps, boardies, hats
• See through clothing showing undergarments
• Clothing that is too short or revealing
• Ill fitting clothes that is to small or too big

Has anyone had a different experience with workplace dress codes? What is your take on appropriate work attire? Share your thoughts?