A Foot in the Door...

A Foot in the Door...

As my time as a Channel Nine Perth intern comes to a close I am beyond thankful for this experience, everything I have learnt along the way and the people who guided me through such an exciting time giving me the opportunity to grow not just as a PR professional but as a person too. I would like to use this final blog post to reflect on some of the things I have learnt and the skills I will continue to develop in my future career.

1.     Over Communicate!

One thing I learnt at my internship is that in an environment where many different departments need to come together, and many other organisations are involved you can never ‘over communicate’. This means that to communicate regularly through email, phone calls and meetings, explaining and reiterating is a solid way to ensure everyone is on the same page, which everyone involved appreciates. At my time at Nine I did witness an event, which was attended by competition winners, go wrong due to the fact communication between the event organisers, Channel Nine and the competition winners was not as succinct or involved as it could have been.

2.     Ideas Require Appropriate Presentation

One of the most valuable things I have learnt at my internship is that when you have an idea you need to own it, presentation is apart of that ownership. At Channel Nine this presentation was usually in the form of a PowerPoint or brief overview write up. This really allows you to think through your idea and work out any potential issues or any areas that can be elaborated on.

3.     Have Fun!

This one is pretty simple, I never really understood how important office culture and having fun at work is to the productivity of the team and the quality of work produced. Being able to enjoy everyday and be surrounded by friends rather than just colleagues will now be an extremely important factor when moving through my future career.

Those are just a few things I have learnt from my experience at Channel Nine Perth, and excitingly I have now been offered a casual position as apart of the marketing and events team! A first stepping-stone in the right direction for my career!

I hope everyone has enjoyed your journeys as much as I have and I will continue to see where this journey takes me, who knows what lies ahead for us all but I look forward to working with other graduates in the future! Until our paths cross again, I wish you all good luck!

- Maddi

The Drawing Board - Planning our Event!

 

The Drawing Board – Planning our event

 

Exciting times ahead! We are planning an event!

My internship at Channel 9 Perth has seen a lot of meetings and pitches but now we are putting our ideas and plans into action, creating an event! At Channel 9 everyone at the Perth offices have accepted me as a new addition to staff, never have I felt uncomfortable or unequal. This is why at the many meetings and brainstorming sessions we have had I am given opportunity to contribute ideas and add value, making this event doubly exciting for me!

The event in question is apart of a larger event called ‘Kids Wonderland’, which Channel 9 have partnered with Perth City to sponsor, the overall event is a 9 day carnival for kids and their families, with expected attendance of over 45,000 people! Channel 9’s involvement also includes running our own kids attraction to engage with the community but also to raise awareness of the launch for ‘The Voice 2016’. To start off with we brainstormed ideas, it was interesting to note that the head of marketing at Channel 9 still used white-boards all around his office to create idea maps, even with great technology available sometimes the simplest things are the best way to go. Criteria for this event was that we needed to make it a draw card for audiences at the event, fun for kids and of course Voice related. After a few different suggestions and working out the pros and cons we settled on creating a karaoke event for kids! We have plans to recreate the Voice stage and have cardboard cutouts of the famous judges for photos as well!

After deciding what we wanted to do for the event we then had to figure out what materials we would need, how much we wanted to spend and how we could best utilise the space we were allocated. To sort through this we sketched a rough version of the area, then we made a list of materials we already had, such as the stage backdrop, lights, tables and television. Then went on the hunt around the station to see what we could find, such as an appropriate sized stage, microphones and other items such as red carpet and bollards. Having then made an inventory of what we already had we started searching for what we needed, such as a karaoke machine and appropriate merchandise to give the kids as well.

Many emails and phone calls were made to get quotes on materials and meetings with merchandise providers were attended to see the most appropriate products to have designed. So now the stage we are at is we have an event, we have equipment, and we have materials in production which I can’t wait to see the final product for! Now all we need is guest appearances! So currently brainstorming some ‘Perthanalities’ who could get up on stage with the kids and make the event extra special, getting the Channel 9 brand out there, whilst creating awareness for the launch of ‘The Voice 2016’!

I can’t wait to share this experience with you all! Watch this space!

- Maddi