So long, Farewell, Goodbye

This shall be my final blogpost. My internship ended on the 30^th of October. On that very night, we held a media appreciation night where we invited all the reporters of the local newspapers in Miri, and on that very night, my supervisor and friend Ms. Agnes Nyelang announced that she would be resigning from her position as Interhill Group of Companies’ Corporate Communications Manager. I can’t help but feel that this was, in a sense, a poetic ending to a wonderful experience as I got to say goodbye to everyone that had made that experience unforgettable.

I would like to leave my final words of parting here, for those who are also leaving their internships soon or perhaps are just about to begin.

I would like to say that in this industry, we must be brave and we must be honest, and those two things are often inseparable. In whatever situation that you may be in, these two things will most likely see you through.

To be brave does not mean to be without fear, it means to conquer that fear and do the best you can under those circumstances. Speak in public, talk to strangers, defend your case passionately, do this all with a brave heart and conviction, because people will recognise that bravery and they will trust it.

To be honest doesn’t mean to speak any way you wish. I am not advising you to spill everything that’s on your mind regardless of how it may reflect upon yourself as a person or upon the organisation you represent. I mean be earnest and genuine in what you do, believe in the message you are trying to portray and have integrity in all that you do and represent. Believe in yourself, and others will believe in you.

Thank you, and I wish everyone all the best in their future.

So Long, Farewell, and Good Bye.

Go The Extra Mile

Hi there!

Its Ramsha reporting in from Integrated Public Relations in Kuala Lumpur. 

So I am very nearing the end of my internship and let me start off this post by saying that it has been an exhausting and exhilarating experience. It made me realize just how different and fast paced the "real world" is. It also taught me another great lesson which is that going the extra mile never hurts. 

I know it sounds super cheesy and all but trust me on this and I am sure most of you have also learned this same lesson in your own experience. 

Going the extra mile ensures that you stand out above your competitors as well as in the view of your targeted audiences. You leave behind a standard to be followed that not many will be able to match and an image of that extra special something that makes the difference between "great" and "outstanding".

I myself saw the impact of doing this when Integrated Public Relations decided to personally reach out to those media outlets I have been talking about in my previous posts. 

So here is the backstory:

Integrated Public Relations was busy organizing the press event for the launch of the Belum Scientific Research Center at the Belum Rainforest Resort in the state of Perak earlier this month. In lieu of this we were planning to drive down to Perak from Kuala Lumpur. In preparation for the event, as is standard practice, we called all relevant media outlets, inviting them to attend the event.

For this event we targeted only Perak and Ipoh media. We have had contact with them before for other events but this time we decided to show our appreciation by visiting their offices in person one day in advance of the event.

So we drove out one day early and proceeded to visit all the offices that had anyone available to see us. At some we got to meet the head journalist, at others the bureau chief. All were pretty friendly and open to meeting us and we got to thank them for always indulging us and sending someone to cover our events, being patient with attending our calls and sending us copies of their articles in print as it might be difficult for us to get our hands on publications printed in a different province. 

We also gave away some goodies as a show of goodwill and appreciation for their efforts on our behalf. 

The impact this excursion around Ipoh made was palpable the next day when we were about to leave for the resort and each and every representative from the media showed up on time, appropriately prepared and in a great mood. 

By showing that we appreciated the media people in Ipoh we strengthened our professional relationship with them and ensured that they would keep attending events organized by Integrated Public Relations in the future as well. It basically put faces to the names and voices on the other end of the phone line. 

This is a great example of how a little extra effort goes a long way in your favor. A lot of the time you will find that you enjoy doing it too because thinking up activities like this and then executing them is pretty fun. In my case, I got to drive around Ipoh, a city I had not really seen before, got to meet interesting people and just get to know my colleagues in a relaxed "road-trip" fun kind of way.

So heed my advice and never be afraid of doing that little extra that will pay you back tenfold later in time. It is definitely worth the effort.

Till my next (and last) post,

Take care and good luck with your internship placements.

Ramsha Zia Siddiqi

Curtin University, Sarawak Campus
Student ID: 7e2b1164

TPFF 15

It doesn’t get much bigger than this event for the fashion industry in Perth. The Telstra Perth Fashion Festival 2015 (TPFF) was one of the many highlights I experienced through my internship.

Having never participated in TPFF before or worked with a designer, I was extremely intimidated leading up to the event, but eager to learn as much as I could.

While my role with Steph Audino for TPFF 2015 wasn’t revolved around Public Relations (although leading up to the event there was media liaising in regards to photo shoots and news articles), it was to help Steph in anyway I could and learn as much about the fashion industry as I could to see if it is an industry I wanted to be apart of.

The lead up to the night was all about organising the event as best we could.

As a team we:

• ·      Went to model castings
• ·      Decided the line up for the outfits
• ·      Went to model fittings
• ·      Finalised shoes, steaming etc.
• ·      Dressed the models for dress rehearsal 

On the night of the show I was apart of the back of house (BOH) team for the Steph Audino show on closing night. And BOH was chaotic, stinking hot and confined, yet it was exhilarating, fast paced and so much fun.

Words cannot describe the atmosphere backstage, it was electrifying and adrenaline pumping. Dressing models is by far an extremely stressful job; trying to zip, button, add belts, lace up shoes and make sure everything is 110% correct before they step foot on the runway.

Although no matter how stressful, it was an amazing experience and a success that I wouldn’t have been able to be apart of if I hadn’t undertaken this internship at Steph Audino. I couldn’t be more grateful or lucky to be apart of it. 

This event definitely re-ignited my feelings towards wanting to be apart of the fashion industry through public relations.

*note; photos of the runway can be found on the Steph Audino Instagram page: @stephaudinolabel 

Did you feel that your internship help you decide whether or not you wanted to pursue a role in the public relations industry? Why/why not?

There’s No Shame in Being Shameless

My first experience with the media in a completely professional capacity could have gone slightly better, in my opinion. I’ve already brushed shoulders with a few members of the press from various newspapers, be it reporters or camera-people. However, those experiences have been informal at best, and these experiences I am about to share have to do with being professional and perhaps the shamelessness that comes with it.

After the Global Goals Health: and Wellbeing Workout on the 23^rd of September (please read my previous blogpost, *Feel the Burn* to read up on the details of the event) we’ve had to monitor the publications of our media releases, as per usual. Only the Borneo Post had confirmed they would publish us, due to the reporter herself attending the event, however the others were reliant on the media releases we had sent to them via fax and email. And the event was held on a Wednesday evening, leaving only Friday for the newspapers to publish my article.

Therein lay my first challenge.

Let me explain. On weekends, local newspapers in Miri have a tendency to publish paraphrased articles found online, oftentimes trending in the Miri Community Facebook community. This is usually because they are short on staff, who take the weekend off. This leads to two days where my press release would be ignored at the fax machine, buried in a pile of other such press releases from other people, till the translators and senior reporters came in on Monday. I had to call around 4.40 pm on Sunday to ensure that my media release was on the top of the pile, much to the chagrin of the office boy who was in the newsroom at the time.

Now here comes my second challenge. I had to be shameless.

My supervisor informed me that she didn’t quite care how, but my article had to be in at least 3 newspapers within that week. No pressure, right? The heat was on the moment she didn’t care how.

So for the next day I was calling the different newspapers and pitching my event to them as calmly or frantically as the situation required. English speaking newspapers required more decorum, while the Mandarin newspapers seemed to be more responsive when I spoke passionately about the article. With the risk of sounding slightly unprofessional, me and my fellow intern, Chen Hau Yung, managed to get most of the Mandarin newspapers to publish simply by calling them three to four times that day, assuring them that they were ‘missing out on an internationally trending event’ and gave the vague allusion that their readers would think they were out of date for missing said opportunity.

It worked, they agreed to publish it.

My joy was short lived, as I realised that in my desperation to get my newspapers published, I had behaved in what I considered to be an unprofessional manner, or rather, a manner of the wrong profession. I had behaved like a door-to-door salesperson, if any profession at all.

However, to my relief, my supervisor then explained to me that while Public Relations may be done differently elsewhere, this was exactly how to talk to a reporter here in Miri. At the end of the day, it came down to the same two things. Confidence, and one solid fact.

While we were embarrassed when calling, we didn’t let it show, so we had managed to portray ourselves as confident when we felt anything but. We pressed on in the faith that the Global Goals that we were representing, specifically the third global goal, would be a famous enough incident that would speak for itself and get the newspapers to publish our involvement in it. In this case, our mission was a success.

Sometimes what we aren’t comfortable in doing or consider unprofessional is really all that is required in Public Relations. Basically, be shameless in asking for coverage and promoting our organisation’s beneficial activities. I believe it was a lesson well learnt.

All I can hope is the next time, I see these reporters, they won’t hold that shamelessness against me. Here’s to hoping.

Handling PR disasters and issues

Hello everyone

I thought it would be interesting for my third blog post to detail some challenges and disasters I have seen unfold before me at my PR internship. Perhaps this will be an entertaining read for you, and you might like to share a comment or two about your own experiences.

In PR, there are many possible issues, and potential crises that can arise in a workplace. We have learnt, through our university education, that there are specific step-by-step processes are put in place to prevent the disaster from happening in the first place, to manage it has it happens, and to cope with the effects afterwards.

I've found sometimes the structured protocols of issues management fly out the window when a challenge is happening, and happening fast.

I have also discussed how they were handled, or how they could have been prevented:

Last minute cancellations to an event
While it is extremely inconsiderate to change ones RSVP a couple of hours before an important event, it does happen. The effect of last minute cancellations can spell disaster, especially if the event relies on as many numbers as possible.
Unfortunately a situation like this did happen at my work placement within hours of an event commencing. While it did not affect the day, it did leave the organiser/host stressed and anxious. I feel like this could have been avoided.
Here are some ideas which may have prevented this from happening, or at least from having a negative impact on the day.

• On the original invite, specify a certain amount of "notice" required, or a deadline, to change ones RSVP; allowing PR officers to make changes and adaptions if need be. Of course, there are special circumstances that cannot be avoided and this must be considered. 
• Have some sort of forum, where staff can keep track of attendees, and regularly update the information about the upcoming event to ensure people remain interested and do not forget about it. One way this can be done is through Facebook events. 
• Contact guests to monitor their RSVP, without being intrusive. Sometimes, for example, venues call their reservation guests to ensure they are still attending their reservation, as well as to give them a gentle reminder in case they forgot. Perhaps one phone call or email a week before the event to all guests would be sufficient, especially if invites were sent out long before that. Most guests would appreciate the courtesy call. It is important to make sure all guest details are accurate!
• Do not panic if there ARE last minute cancellations on the day! The remaining guests will notice if the host is panicking or nervous, and this will affect the vibe of the event. 
• Contact the venue if numbers drastically change. The worst look is when an event venue has allocated too many tables or too much space for a smaller number of people. Venues will often be preparing for the event all day and will be able to adapt to changes in numbers. 

A very important media release leak 
My workplace was planning to release an announcement in regards to an upcoming event, which was leaked by a mysterious person in the department. The PR staff only found out when they received an unexpected media enquiry. Safe to say, the office was tense the next day.

In this sort of situation, it is absolutely crucial for all members of staff are completely aware of the protocols of releasing information, especially press releases, to the media. In many organisations, there is a dedicated officer who releases all statements to the media. While this system has always been in place, the person who leaked the document did not know about these protocols.

In hindsight, I would have:

• Had a meeting with the PR department and refresh on the protocols of training and ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Request feedback on the protocols and judge whether they need amending. It is important for all staff members to be involved.
• Send an email across the whole organisation regarding the media communication protocols, to ensure it is understood across all divisions.
• ensure the person who incorrectly released the statement to the media is well informed of what the protocols are for the future.

Its important to quickly deal with the issue if its too late for prevention. Unfortunately, staff had to respond to the media enquiries earlier than anticipated. Good communication is absolutely essential in this situation. Staff had to be sure to communicate the exact facts of the release and make sure the media knew all the correct details, rather than basing their stories on the draft which was accidentally released.

Here is a question! Have you witnessed or experienced a PR issue or disaster at your internship, and if so, how was it dealt with?

I look forward to a comment or two!

Til next time,

Greta Jasiak (17059387)

Media Relations and Media Monitoring

Hi there everyone,

Its me again, Jacky. In this post I’m going to share my experience on media relations, media monitoring, challenges that I have encountered and lesson learnt throughout the process.

After co-organizing the event that I have mentioned previous post(Dare to Dream), I am assigned to distribute and monitor the media release. The whole process enable me to gain more knowledge in dealing with the media.

Process

First, softcopy and hardcopy of the media release is given to me with the list of different media outlet with names, phone numbers, fax and emails which targeted by Interhill. As guided by my supervisor, my duty is to email, fax and call each media outlets that has been listed.

Media monitoring starts the day after the media release were send out. Monitoring news might be a headache as there are so many articles and possibility of appearing in ANY pages is equally divided. There's also media outlet that takes up two to three days to publish the news.

Challenges and lessons learnt

Email, as we all are very familiar(I guess?) where it is just a another formal email of informing the media outlets with the attachment of the release. Faxing however, is my first time and my supervisor guide me through as the faxing machine is quite ‘ancient’. Here comes the part where it involves the communication between two person - calling the media. From the list given by my supervisor, it is understand that there's already some sort of connection established in different media outlets. I am then to call up different individual according to the list as to make sure that they have received the media release(I guess this is to remind them to publish in a subtle way?). Talking with the media personnel through the phone may seem to be very easy then meeting face to face but making them feel at ease is hard. Luckily it all went well, due to the fact that this is my first time calling these people and I stated that I am the new intern for my supervisor. 

After that, buying newspaper ranging from English, Chinese and Malay is a must as these are mentioned in the list. This may be the annoying part of all but it made me notice different article in the newspaper which are very interesting. In the another hand, sometimes media outlet did not publish the release and according to my supervisor sometimes we had to call them up and inquire. Media monitoring are then continued to the next day if there are media outlets that did not publish the release. On third day, if there are still no signs of the release on the newspaper, I am then are oblige to call them up to inquire whether we 'missed' it or they decided not to publish. The whole media monitoring was quite a hustle for me as I had to re-inquire with the media outlets to ensure that they publish the media release. 

Conversing happily without sounding like you are asking favour is a good skill set to learn with not only the media personnel but the others too. During the whole process, I am nervous and scared obviously; I pulled through and learnt a lot. Thanks to my supervisor, opening up this path for me and this made me further understand on dealing with media and in general people who I am going to work with in the future without offending them.

Different type/language of newspaper

Clipping the article

Quite excited/ happy to see the release to be published

Overall, I think media relations is very important but if the company already established a good relationship/connection with the media there will be less obstacle in publishing the media releases.

With hopes,

Chen Hau Yung

Miri Sarawak Campus

15655945

All Good Things Come To An End

All good things will eventually come to an end. Yes, it’s the final day of my internship at Miri Marriott. After spending one month time here, it is time to say goodbye. This marks the last day that I will be working here. I will definitely miss this place. The smiles that greet me whenever I arrive in the morning, the daily morning briefings, the many hours spent just on media clippings and wonderful lunch breaks with my colleagues. It’ll all be part of my memories now.

Throughout this one month internship, I learnt a lot of things that was once new to me. From answering calls, to writing press releases and doing media clippings and media monitoring as well as learning a new software CorelDraw for designs of posters and banners. I enjoyed learning how to use this software. My supervisor was definitely helpful. Let me share with you some the works done by yours truly. :D

 The Borneo Baking Company (BBCo) requested me to design a poster for sales on their baked goods. This is what I have come up with. What do you think? 

This next one is a Gold Card that is to be given to all Marriott's Platinum & Gold Marriott Rewards Elite Member. 

Within this one month, I have learnt more about how PR tactics are applied in the corporate world. Make sure you stay attentive in class because I could link whatever I have learnt in class to what I experience or witnessed at work. For example, the importance of media clippings, media relations, social media monitoring and being professional at all times. As a PR person within the company, you act as the bridge of bringing all information of all departments and you need to communicate well to get things done. Working well with people is one essential tip for every PR person. So, don’t be scared to approach people and talk to them; be it the stranger sitting at the hall or strike up a conversation with your colleague during coffee breaks. Step out of your shell and meet new and interesting people.

It has been a fun and educational journey that seem to end a little too soon. For all those who are still doing your internship, have fun while you’re at it and make the best out of it. This is truly a one of a kind experience for me before I graduate in a few more months.
All the best to all of you!

“Fare thee well, and if for ever

 Still for ever fare thee well.” 
― George Gordon Byron

Till then, signing off. 

Jasmine Alyssa Epui
Miri Campus
Curtin Sarawak University
17143743

Halfway Point

Greetings, how are things going for all of you? I’m having a great time at work, though it is a little tedious having to sit in the office staring at the laptop screen for 9 hours straight. But, all in all, I have great colleagues to talk to and seek advice from. So, it makes life in office a little better.

This is my third blog post and also my halfway point through my internship period. 15 days have gone by and in these 15 days, I have learnt a lot about PR in the hospitality industry.

So, what exactly is PR?

Public relations defined:

“Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics. It's the key to effective communication in all sectors of business, government, academic and not-for-profit.”- Public Relations Institute of Australia

To find out more on public relations, please visit this website.

The broad definition above may explain why the field of Public Relations is often hard to be categorized and to understand. In this blog post, PR is defined as the subset of marketing communications that shapes attitudes and perceptions, help establish and reinforce corporate and brand values and image and influences customer, associate and investor behavior.

Public Relations can be your most effective communications technique for two reasons:

• Public Relations usually involve the “third party” editorial endorsement of the media, thereby making your message more credible in the public’s mind.

• Sustained PR efforts result in enhanced awareness and attitudes among consumers. Once positive attitudes and beliefs are firmly embedded, it is much harder for a competitor to change those perceptions.

Public Relations practitioners use the following strategies to achieve their objectives:

Media Relations: Interaction between PR and the news media that results in positive publicity or media coverage that builds a favorable image and understanding of your establishment. Tactics include establishing media relationships, distribution of press releases or other materials, planning press events and property visits, even communication with media in a crisis.

Special Events: Events that attract media attention and generate news or feature coverage. These include press conferences, new openings and press visits to your establishment.

Internal Relations: Communication with fellow associates, strengthening both morale and loyalty by informing them, motivating them and their families and responding to their concerns.

Community Relations (Spirit to Serve): Involvement with special causes that are of concern to the community that builds goodwill for your hotel and its “neighborhood”, including fundraising, volunteer work, disaster relief and/or donations to special community projects- your community relations efforts.

Issues Management: Implementation of proactive communications to address and shape public concerns or interests. By following the news, you will be in a position to provide key counsel to your executive committee about consumer trends or potential threats that may impact the establishment.

External Relations: Communications and interaction with other organization that aid or impact your establishment or your industry as a whole, such as NGOs , associations and interest groups, tourism offices, major local attractions and art museums, etc.

Crisis Management: Communications activities during a disaster or a challenge to your establishment’s integrity. A sound crisis communications management plan is essential to any marketing plan because presence of negative communications during a crisis can have long-lasting, damaging consequences from which you or your establishment may never recover.

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am looking forward to what’s in store for me for my next 5 days in the office.

That's all for my third blog post. Stay tuned for my next post. 

Till then, happy working!

Jasmine Alyssa Epui
Miri Campus
Curtin Sarawak University

17143743

PR and Journalism: A Rocky Relationship

One of the very first things we learn in our Public Relations degree is the importance of media relations and media coverage. How to correctly write media releases is practically drilled into our brains, and a whole unit is devoted to managing and creating relationships with media and journalists. It is one of the most important tasks that any PR professional must master. So I was truly excited when I was given the opportunity to dive into media release writing recently at my internship.

I am completing my internship at a theatre, and was asked by my supervisor to produce a media release announcing the AUSLAN interpreted performances of two of the plays featured in the upcoming season. I was ready to apply the skills I picked up in PR Techniques and create the best media release I have ever produced. 

Once I was happy with it, my supervisor looked over it and gave her approval. We sent out the media release and then all we could do was simply wait.

I was anxious, yet excited when it came to performing my media monitoring duties the next week. My supervisor told me the article had some interest and I began checking some local papers. And there it was! A half-page news story based on the media release I had written! It was my first time actually experiencing what it was like to gain some media coverage, however when I read the article my excitement slowly went away. 

Firstly, the name of the play was spelt incorrectly. What was supposed to be ‘Armour’ was spelt ‘Amour’ and on top of that, the date of the performance in the article was also incorrect. Although the article was there and we gained some coverage, all of the vital information was incorrect. I was extremely disappointed and there wasn’t anything we could do to correct the mistake at this point. 

In spite of the fact that this was extremely frustrating for both myself and my supervisor, it has taught me some vital lessons. Firstly, that PR professionals don’t have total control over the media coverage produced. Despite a media release with the correct information and a follow-up phone call with the journalist, the mistakes were still published. Therefore, it is vital to have contingencies in place if things don’t always go to plan. 

Secondly, the relationship between journalists and PR professionals is a vital one. PR professionals can do all they can to generate coverage, however it is the journalist that produces the final piece. Therefore, relationships with journalists must be managed and open communication throughout the media release distribution process is crucial. 

Thirdly, you must be able to bounce back. Although this was unfortunate situation and left me feeling down, PR professionals must be able to move on a do their best to let the public know the correct information. We continued to promote the AUSLAN performance through social media and our website before discovering that another article about the performances was published on ArtsHub, a national publication. This was extremely gratifying, as this article was more likely to reach a larger audience.  

Overall, my first time writing a media release in a professional context has been a huge learning experience for me, illustrating that even when you have the best intentions, it doesn’t always go to plan. However, there’s always next time, and something even better may be waiting around the corner! 

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.

Fighting crime from the desktop

To start my first blog entry off, my name is Jarret Tan and i'm currently nearing the completion of my degree with a double major in Marketing & PR. This unit which comprises of a 20-day internship will be completed with Crime Stoppers Ltd, a non-for-profit organisation with the mission of crime prevention and detection.




My initial hunt for an internship began when I left my previous work experience with Egami and the Dine for Life team in King Street. Being a very events-orientated agency, I decided for my next work experience to be in a different field altogether. Being involved with events throughout that period, I realised that events were not my forte due to the ever increasing high expectations from sponsors and the crazy workload.




So my search for another industry began and the opportunity to work with Crime Stoppers appeared. Crime Stoppers has been operating in WA close to 20 years and nationally for 27 years. Being an established NPO (not for profit organisation), Crime Stoppers relies on government funding and community grants to help the community in providing an avenue to report crime anonymously to a police officer.




I met with Mr. Kim Harrison for an interview and finding out for the past 10 years, Crime Stoppers was helmed by an insurance salesman!- not the kind who would you expect to lead it. Mr. Harrison who has extensive PR background and was an ex-lecturer at Curtin University took over the top job of CEO not long after i applied for an internship and has planned a massive overhaul of the organisation.




I was hesitant at the start, as i'll be part of a team pioneering the new Crime Stoppers and it was just Mr. Harrison, a part time operations officer and me to kick off this ambitious goal of becoming one of the most recognised brands in WA. However, i was assured that even though i'll be thrown in the deep end during my stay here, i won't be drowning as support is close.




With my first assignment to write the first Crime Stoppers e-newsletter kicking things off, i am confident i can be the modern day batman and fight crime at the comfort of my posturepedic office chair slinging out newsletters and media releases.




Stay tuned for my next post regarding the final product of said newsletter!

A Visit to the Local Radio Station

On 27th January 2015, I accompanied my supervisor to the local radio station, MiriFM at the RTM building. It was actually my first time going to the organization and I was really thankful for the opportunity given by my supervisor. 

As we ascended the hill to RTM compounds, I finally saw our local broadcasting building. Radio Television Malaysia, or RTM for short; is a government organization under the Ministry of Information. Being the nation's broadcast channel and radio station, it gave me an insight on a few important things crucial in Public Relations. 

We were there for a segment offered by MiriFM, titled Segmen Bersama Agensi (Segment with the Agency). It is a short segment where the representative of an agency will use the opportunity to announce any upcoming events or distributing information regarding the organization. The segment usually lasts for 15-20 minutes where the interactions are scripted between the radio DJ and the representative.

For that segment, we were on the business of promoting an upcoming event at Pustaka which is Minggu Warisan Bumi Kenyalang (Land of the Hornbill Heritage Week) event this end of February.

Before the live broadcast started, we mingled with the radio DJ and staff that were on duty that day. We chatted for a while as we sat in the radio set. Prior to arriving, I was told by my supervisor that she had done it for a few times in the previous years so it was not her first session with them.

As she greeted lots of the RTM staff, it made me realised that as a PR officer of an organization, it it true that good relations with the media; be it radio, television or prints, is essential in boosting the media presence of the organization. This is applicable to what we have learnt in Media Relations unit.

Apart from that, it was fun to see how a live radio broadcast is conducted, an inside view instead of the usual listeners' point-of-view.

It is definitely a good day to remember!


Cheers!
Alyssa Chin.