Ending an Eventful Journey

In three words, I'd sum my internship experience with Edelman Malaysia as An Eventful Journey. Being placed under the Corporate practice, my team members were telling me about how fortunate I was to get the chance to be a part of three clients' events and a few company events. But that's besides the point, I am also grateful for all the opportunities I was given; work I was assigned into doing, clients that I got to personally meet, events that I got to attend, as well as liaise with the media. There are things that we need to experience to appreciate, and I believe these are some of them. 

Throughout my internship period with Edelman, I didn't only get to see the theories I have learned in class come to life, but being exposed to the real world actually enhanced my personal growth. Albert Camus once said, "You cannot create experience. You must undergo it." I now know why a lot of people say that experience is a great teacher.

Great experience, great people - Corporate Team during Edelman's 2015 Trust Barometer Malaysia Results Release 

My very basic knowledge in media relations were put to good use when I had to deal with the media - not just when I had to talk to the editors and journalists, but to also have basic information about each publication. Always keep in mind that the media always think of rationales - why would this event matter to them, why should they publish your story? Does it benefit them or their readers? Prepare few key points before pitching anything to them. 

Media Interview with Datuk Zainal, CEO of InvestKL during one of InvestKL's events. 

Besides that, I was also privileged to have been given the opportunity to be a part of few brainstorming sessions for our clients' strategic development. Similar to what we have learned in class, each strategy has to be in line with the key messages we are sending across, as well as supported by strong and firm tactics. Also, always remember to state your rationales - how would this specific strategy help what the company wants to achieve? It may sound tedious in paper, but trust me, in real life, people actually want to know all these.

In short, it was a great placement experience. If I didn't take up the challenge to get out of my comfort zone and fly to KL, I probably wouldn't have had experienced any of these. But I'm glad that I did - it was a brief three months, but trust there's more to come in the future and I wouldn't replace this experience for any other!

Before I end, let me know about your experience and sum it up in three words - feel free to drop comments!

This is my last post,

Celeste.

3 things I learned

I believe we all learn a couple or more things from our internship programme. Be it a month or three, there are always things that will stick to you. Let me share with you, three important things I have learned from my internship period with Edelman Malaysia.

Be active. Yes, boys and girls. Whatever it is you do, be active. Well, I am not saying the get-your-gears-we-are-going-hiking kind of active. But more like me, encouraging you to engage in conversations with your colleagues. Scrap that "I am only an intern" mentality off and start talking to the people sitting next to your table. But remember, talk only when necessary. Oh, and another important point is speak your mind. These people love fresh ideas. Sky is the limit, so go crazy with your imagination, especially when you're called in for brainstorming sessions!

Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. It's not that it is expected of you to NOT know things, but it is OK to not know things. Interning in Edelman has taught me that everyone is still in the process of learning, and sharing various knowledge and insights with one another is one of the key steps to improving yourself as well as to grow together as a company. Trust me when I say ask questions. People appreciate questions rather than nods - because they're not sure whether you really understand what they are talking about... or not. 

Lend a hand. Similarly to being active, ask for more work. If you think you haven't done or learned enough, offer yourself to help your colleagues. It can be as small as clearing up the Christmas tree at the office, to doing manual media monitoring (yeah, going through newspapers can be tough!) or as big as developing strategies for your clients. At the end of the day, we are all working towards reaching the same goal. So, it is definitely important to keep the dynamism going in the team! 

That's it, boys and girls. I hope you enjoyed reading! Let me know what you think about my experience, and you can also share a couple of things you've learned from your internship! Do comment down below!

Til my next post,

Celeste 

Trust Barometer Malaysia Launch

"Communicate with integrity, engage with transparency"

Raymond Siva, Managing Director of Edelman Kuala Lumpur

If there is one thing I am truly grateful for throughout my internship programme, it is being a part of Edelman's Annual Trust Barometer launch. We hear and study about the Trust Barometer in class, but being able to witness the launch and participate in the event's preparation, it's an experience I can really talk about.

Here are some insights: 

Edelman's Trust Barometer 2015 revealed that there was a significant 9 points drop of trust to 45% in the Malaysian government. According to the survey, the diminishing trust in government is caused by the twin aviation accidents of MH370 and MH17, ebola pandemic, cybersecurity crimes, conflicts in the Middle East and Asia as well as the falling international crude oil prices. 

In short, NGOs still remain as the most trusted institution, followed by businesses, the media and the government. In Malaysia, there was also a big 13 points drop of trust in the media, of which search engine being the 'first used' tool to validate certain information. 8/10 Malaysians rely on search engines to be their source of information. Because "no one wakes up every morning checking the newspapers first, instead, we Google it." Global result showed that millenials are even more trusting of digital media compared to traditional media.  

Edelman's Trust Barometer launch was attended by over 100 clients, prospects and other guests, with four distinguished panelists - CEO of InvestKL, Head of Digital & Social Media Studies at University Malaya, Executive Director of Sisters In Islam (NGO) and MD of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia. 

All in all, it was a good experience. Seeing the people who attended the launch was amazing. It's also interesting because people care about what impacts their institutions - trust. And it is not only about knowing the numbers - diminishing or increasing, but it's what they can do to improve or maintain it. 

The Edelman Trust Barometer 2015 Malaysia Results was announced by Iain Twine, CEO of Southeast and Australasia, Edelman Singapore and Raymond Siva, Managing Director of Edelman Kuala Lumpur.

The working team -  Corporate, Public Affairs & Crisis and Digital

Introducing the Corporate team :)

Til my next post,

Celeste

First Event: Linde launches first Remote Operating Centre in Malaysia

Before I go into the nitty-gritty of my first event, let me first introduce where am I currently undergoing my internship. I am interning at Edelman Kuala Lumpur, and placed under the corporate practice. In short, I get the opportunity to work with “formal” clients – government bodies, finance institutions, oil & gas companies and so on and so forth.

Moving forward, one of our clients is in-charge of bringing in multinational companies (MNCs) to set up their regional headquarters in Greater Kuala Lumpur by 2020. Linde, an MNC that was brought in  in 2013 were to launch its first Remote Operating Centre (ROC) in Shah Alam, Malaysia. So doing what PR practitioners do best, we were in-charged of helping our client to deal and liaise  with the media.

Here are some of the things I did –

Pre-event:

• Media invite dissemination – Our invitation was sent across to all types of dailies; English, Malay and Chinese as well as business magazines.
•  Media call downs – I was asked to check on the media invite’s receipt and follow-up on RSVPs (I was sort of frustrated that I only got to confirm two media attendance – ONE NIGHT BEFORE THE EVENT, and it was already 9pm!)

Event:

• Media registration – Our team was assigned to welcome and register the media. (Guess what, on the day of the event, another 4 media titles came so we had 6 media titles in total, covering the event! Huge relief!
• Mingle with the media – We did not really mingle with them, but I got the chance to speak to one of the journalists from The Malay Mail, which was cool – it was interesting how she has been writing for auto for the past few years and decided to change to business.
• Refreshments – Malaysians love food. And of course we had the majestic nasi lemak with rendang, curry and other kuih-muih as well.

Post-event:

• Press Release dissemination – We disseminated the event’s press release to all the media titles we have invited to get coverage.
• Media monitoring – The following day, we had to do a manual monitoring, which was to go through all the newspapers manually and check for coverage as well as do an online sweep to check if the news was picked-up by any online news portals.

Since this was my first event, of course I was ecstatic to see the coverage on the newspaper! So here are some of the coverage we've gotten from the event -

Til my next post,

Celeste

Public Relations Internship Helps Me on Path to Public Relations Career

Hi everyone! This is my last blog post for Public Relations Internship 393. In my last blog post I am going to summarize the lessons gained from my internship at Edelman Kuala Lumpur. 

In the first week of my internship, I did an induction programme which introduced me to public relations practices, the company, rules and regulations of the company, and ethical practices at the workplace. 

After two weeks of my internship, I started to do media monitoring every morning once I arrived at the office. I had to update my supervisor regarding news related to the clients that the consumer team is working for. I like doing media monitoring because it could enhance my interests in reading newspaper and widen my knowledge on current issues. 

Besides, I also learned how to calculate PR value. The formula used to calculate the PR value of an article is as follows:

Article’s Height x Article’s Width (columns) x  Casual Rate + Color Cost = Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs)

AVEs x 3 = PR value

I used a book called Media Planning Guide Malaysia 2013 while calculating the PR value of an article. The columns, casual rate, and colour rate are derived from this book.

On the other hand, I also learned how to calculate the blog and Tweeter level. In order to calculate the blog level, we use a tool called BlogLevel. We use TweetLevel to calculate the Twitter level.

For more information about BlogLevel, please visit: http://bloglevel.edelman.com/

For more information about TweetLevel, please visit: http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/

I also came across a news monitoring company called News & Ads Monitoring Agency (nama) which offers complete coverage of top media outlets in Malaysia. My company is engaged with this agency in order to get the latest news updates of our clients.

For more information about nama, please visit: http://www.namaasia.com/

Moreover, I helped my team in doing monthly news reports for our clients. I did monthly reports for UNIQLO and Danone Dumex. For UNIQLO, I was required to compile monthly news reports regarding the company in order to evaluate the total stories covered by different media and to determine the total PR value generated throughout the month. For Danone Dumex it is different. I was required to compile monthly reports regarding the company itself and its competitors. PR monthly reports are important because they evaluate our clients media coverage and determine the total PR value of the news stories regarding our clients and their competitors. The report must be submitted to my supervisor at the end of the month for a review. 

It was interesting to learn how to calculate PR value and do monthly news reports for our clients. As a PR practitioner, it is important to know how to prepare monthly reports for clients. Different clients demand for different things. Some clients they require us to prepare weekly reports while some they require monthly reports.

Every once or twice a month, my company will have online meetings with the leaders and staffs from different offices around the world. It was a good opportunity for me to experience how the leaders and employees interact and exchange thoughts among themselves.

As mentioned in my earlier blog post, I have learned how to make media calls and do media drops to different media outlets. I also went to our clients’ events with the team. All of these allowed me to learn how a Public Relations practitioner should do to interact and build relationships with the media. It also improved my interaction skills. 

Working in this big company was really a real life challenging experience for me. The company is too fast pace and working hours are not predictable. Most of the time I had to work overtime. It was my first time working overtime and it was a challenge for me. I had to be able to manage my time wisely and strategically. However, this challenge could instill my discipline and train me to be more patient.

I have learned about the importance of culture in multinational companies in PR International unit in university. My company consists of employees from different cultures. I found it interesting but challenging to communicate and build relationships with colleagues from different cultures. During my internship, I have gained knowledge on how to detect and deal with relevant cultural differences. I also learned how to adapt to different cultures for more effective personal and business interactions. 

Another knowledge that I have gained is that the success of a project relies on the team. Therefore, it is very important to be friend with one another, share experiences, exchange ideas, and work on the projects together. During my internship, I took part in brainstorming sessions with my team. From the brainstorming sessions, I have learned how to improve my communication skills and level of adaptability. I also became more confident in offering ideas and not to be shy in asking questions as well as develop creative thinking skills.

After this three-month internship at Edelman Kuala Lumpur, I have gained robust experience and found my passion in public relations. I have gained relevant, hands-on-experience, confidence, and professionalism. The internship also encouraged me to see each challenge as a prospect for learning and not allowing my mistakes to diminish my confidence. I have also learned about the importance of being pro-active in the workplace.

It was a real eye opening experience to do my internship with this public relations firm. It was the most memorable experience in my life. There are always ups and downs during an internship, but those are part of learning process. 

It is understood that internships do not promise full time jobs. However, internships are very advantageous as they help you to have a better understanding of who you are, your strengths, your weaknesses where you need to improve and the type of management styles that are suitable for you. Internships also help you to learn on multiple levels and lead you down a certain career path and they are meant to give students transferable skills, knowledge and larger professional networks. 

Last but not the least, I would like to thank Curtin University for giving Public Relations students a chance to do internships. It is really a good opportunity for students to learn and improve. I was so lucky to have the opportunity to do my internship at the world's top PR firm. I hope what I have shared with you can encourage you to do internships. Trust me, after internships you will improve yourself in different areas.

Thank you for reading and giving comments. Good luck to all of you and be strong whenever you face any challenges in your internship. 

Dorine Lau

Curtin University Sarawak

16341436/ 7E2A9744

The Good Spirit of Sharing and Caring for the Community

In concluding the month long Chinese New Year celebrations, one of Edelman Kuala Lumpur’s clients, Pavilion KL hosted a Fortune Meets Love Chap Goh Mei Charity event. As a part of its ongoing efforts to raise funds for the unfortunate and provide a platform for the community to engage in a worthy charity like this, Pavilion KL gave opportunities for shoppers, business partners and tenants to adopt the Fortune Horses.

All the funds raised will be donated to needy charity organizations across Malaysia. These include Tiratana Welfare Society Malaysia, Rumah Seri Kenangan Kedah, Tiam Yam Toh Teng Old Folk's Home, Caring Old Folks Home and Beringin Park Old Folk's Home. Pavilion KL's retailers pledged RM1,688 for a pair of horses while shoppers donated a minimum of RM100 per horse. 

Before the event, there were several important things that my colleagues and I needed to do. The first thing was to send out the invitations to the targeted media. I looked for the contact details of the targeted media. My colleague sent invitations to the targeted media via emails. A day after the invitations were sent out, I was in charge of making media call downs to ensure that they managed to receive the invitations. Apart from sending invitations through emails, my colleagues and I also did media drops to the targeted media. It was my first time experiencing media drops and it was fun a interesting! A day before the media visits, I made media call downs to inform them about the media visits.

We visited the targeted media and dropped off the paper mache horses together with the invitation cards for the targeted editors. It is important to provide correct information and be polite to the media. From what I have observed, doing media drops are more effective than just sending out invitations through emails and making calls to the media. This is because they feel more of our sincerities and they feel appreciated. This is also a good way to build relationships with the media.

Two days before the event, I made media call downs to get RSVP to the event. Making call downs to get their RSVP was quite challenging because some of them were only able to give their confirmation a night before the event while some were only able to give their confirmation a few hours before the event.

On the day of the event at Pavilion KL, two of my colleagues and I were in charge of the media registration booth. We greeted the media and bloggers who came to the event. After they registered themselves, we gave them the media kits and goody bags. It is also very significant to practice the right etiquette while giving them the media kits and goody bags. We should always smile and be well-mannered.

Fortune Meets Love Chap Goh Mei at Pavilion KL ended successfully with the energetic and lively drums and lion dance performances. 

After the event, I did the event debrief with my colleagues. I learned that it is crucial to do an event debrief after every event. From the event debrief we are able to understand the highlights and lowlights of the event. After understanding the lowlights of one event, PR practitioners are able to improve in different ways in order to make the next event better.

In PR Corporate 360 I have learned that it is very important for a company to build strong reputation because reputation is an important asset that maintains any corporation’s sustainability. The charity event was part of Pavilion KL's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. In short, Pavilion KL is not only contributing to its society but also helping itself in maintaining good reputation.

I am very grateful to have this opportunity to attend the event as I gained a great and memorable experience from it. 

Dorine Lau

16341436/ 7E2A9744

Curtin University Sarawak

Dove Media and Blogger Engagement

I am so excited to share my experience during my Public Relations internship at Edelman Kuala Lumpur. It has been great to work with the consumer team. After two weeks of joining the team, I was given the opportunity to attend one of our clients' event. On 17 December 2013, Dove introduced its new Intense Repair range at Botanical Garden in Bangsar Village II. This new Dove Intense Repair range seeks to empower women to enjoy the freedom to carry out their daily hair routines without worrying about the damage they cause because Dove Intense Repair range will take care of the hair at a cellular level. Therefore, Dove hosted an intimate engagement with several selected lifestyle and beauty media and bloggers in order to launch this revolutionary product. 

The day before I went to the event, I was advised to wear the right attire that matches Dove's theme. It is important for Public Relations practitioners to dress appropriately when attending clients' events. I was also suggested on how to interact correctly and effectively with our clients and the media during the effect. As professional Public Relations practitioners, we should always bear in mind that it is very crucial to maintain our image at a tip-top condition at any event.

The event consisted of two sessions. Media engagement took place in the afternoon from 3PM to 5.30PM while blogger engagement took place from 6.30PM until 9PM. During the event, I was in charge of the media registration booth. My colleagues and I reached the venue one hour earlier to prepare ourselves. I prepared the media kits and slotted the printed press releases into the media kits. The press releases were printed in three languages: English, Malay and Chinese. 

At the registration booth, I had to ensure that every member of the media and bloggers who came registered themselves and provide their details. It was my first time greeting the media and bloggers as well as distributing media kits and goody bags to them. As what I have learned in Public Relations Media Relations 250, it is important to prepare media kits to the media. Media kits are distributed in order to give succinct information members of the media. 

I have gained several lessons from this participation. As a Public Relations practitioner, we should never fail to greet the attendees politely and warmly upon their arrival at the event. Another important tip that we should never forget is to exchange our business cards with them. The best time to start the journey to a lasting relationship with the media and bloggers is when we are introducing each other for the first time. Therefore, exchanging business cards with them provide prospects with a way to contact each other. This is also vital in case we are unable to read or understand their handwriting in the registration booklets. At this point, their business cards will be useful for us as reference. 

Before each session ended, the media and bloggers were invited to have tea break. It was the greatest opportunity for me to learn how to bond relationships with the media and bloggers. It was interesting to see how my team lead and supervisors communicate with them.

Here are some important tips that I have learned throughout the event.

Dos

• Do sound passionate about your business and show great enthusiastic spirit.
• Do smile and make eye contact.
• Do watch your pace of speaking, especially with non-native English speakers.
• Do give feedback and acknowledge someone speaking to you with small gestures like a nod of affirmation.

Don'ts

• Do not say anything that you don't want to see in print, or hear on broadcast at any time.
• Never mention the competitors by their name.
• Do not make any comment on competitors.
• Do not be occupied with your cell phone during an event. You should devote your full attention to the event, not the phone.
• Do not be late.

Overall, it was tiring but worth it because I have gained several useful experiences from this event. The experiences acquired from this event were useful to improve my communication skills and understanding on the right ways to communicate and build relationships with the media and bloggers.

I feel so grateful and lucky to be given the chance to follow my team to the event. 

Dorine Lau
16341436/ 7E2A9744
Curtin University Sarawak