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.

Breaking the Language Barrier

For the past weeks during internship, i always end up having to deal with many stakeholders and farmers that owns and work at the field of the palm oil plantations, its not easy because of the language barrier i faced. This is one of the hardships i'm facing, trying to understand what they are saying or asking. But fortunately everyone here already got used to the languages that has been spoken here and so i seek some help from them and soon enough i'm able to understand some of the language and be able to converse with the stakeholders and farmers properly.

On the other hand, i am now given the role of handling the paperwork of the license registration at the counter and the reason being is that my supervisor wants me to converse more with the stakeholders and farmers to learn the language they speak. I learned a lot everyday and i'm thankful for being able to serve in MPOB.

A Different Kind of PR.

Hello there guys!

My name is Jonathan Philip and I would like to say that during my internship i'm having a blast with all the adventures and experience that i'm currently going through. I am currently having my internship at a palm oil company which is known as the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. 

A little background about the company, Malaysian Palm Oil Board or MPOB for short is the premier government agency entrusted to serve the country’s oil palm industry. It's main role is to promote and develop national objectives, policies and priorities for the wellbeing of the Malaysian oil palm industry. 

When i first arrived at the office, i felt nervous meeting all my colleagues but they welcomed me with open arms. My colleagues then showed me some of the work they did and thought me what to do and by the end of the day i got used to the work and it was good. I was then given some paperwork on sorting out the licenses of small stakeholders and we went to meet them and explain the solution to the issues that they are facing. I was surprised there were no Media Release kind of documents here but the PR i'm doing is involving more to the community relations. 

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

Branding: you need to work closely with other departments

The PR branding department is actually giving a lot of authorities for interns like me to join some branding decisions and take charge of small campaigns. It brings me a lot of fun and challenges at the same time.

This week, I was assigned to take charge of another branding activity, which carrying goals of improve customer engagement and brand awareness. After analyzed the demographics and behaviours of our guests, we decided to have one month long activity during summer holidays.

That is to settle XBOX games in the room, which allows guests to have fun during their stay. The two outcomes that we expected from this activity, are 1) to get awareness on social media (for we are the first hotel doing this in China). And it will stabilize our position in the industry, that the young adults perceive this hotel brand as young and fun.

(XBOX Gaming. Source: Wordpress.com  photo by Polys Antoniou ) 

 First of all, we talk to market operation department, to see whether this branding activity is practical or not. And the response was negative. They had given reason like: 1). It is free. So it seemed not bringing profit and will only consume more human resources. 2). It will probably disturb the guests next door.

Immediately, we explain the purposes and possible outcomes of the activity. And within half day, my colleague and I went to one of the hotel branch to test the environment by ourselves. We use evidences to remove the worry of the operation department.

(Testing in room)

We talked to hotel branch. They allow us to settle the machine in one room for trial.

Then, we contact IT services to develop a page for customer to register online to join the experience.

We prepare a post to promote the activity on Wechat, with the link to the page for registration.

It turns out great and exceeds expectation! Over 300 customers were registered, with knowing that they will be paying a regular room charge. This activity brings 10000+ reads and hundreds reposts. In the week, our Wechat new followers increase more than 8000!

Shortly, I have my first XBOX guest come in, I prepare a letter on the desk to welcome the guests and remind them to tune down volume after 10 o’clock.

(My handwriting sweet reminder)

All customers that have experienced this XBOX took pictures and shared on their social media networks.

We made it! At the end of the activity, the marketing department approached me and said they are willing to make it into a permanent service. WOW! And guess what, they asked me to NAME THIS SPECIAL ROOM as I am the person who created it. I can even name after me. But I think my name is completely meaningless. Hahahaha.

I am so glad that I had never being treated like outsider. But of course, I keep reminding myself to work harder to contribute more. From this activity, I learnt communication and work with other departments are extremely important, because you are not going to success by your own!

Enjoy your PR day!

Claudia Xinyin Xie

Engagement: Spend little money to surprise guests

During my internship, there is no significant festival or big day. So, my task is to “make a guest a special day”. It is an ongoing weekly activity that to engage with guests and enhance reputation.

iu Hotel is a very new budget hotel brand under Plateno Hotel Group, the biggest hotel group in China and the top 7^th in the world. Since the whole week is raining quite often. I was thinking to decorate a romantic room. Hopefully this would make a couple feel warm and surprised.

On the Tuesday department meeting, I did a presentation to show my colleague about the idea.

 

Once my idea was agreed by my colleagues, I started preparation. And I was given 1000 Chinese Yuan (660RM) for this week’s special day.

Firstly, I select a hotel branch that is the nearest to our office, so that it is convenient and easier to be controlled.

Secondly, I communicate with the hotel branch manager about the plan and get her approval. And also she is going to reserve a room with a king-size bed for the day.

Thirdly, I list down all the things for decoration and gifts and careful decide where to buy or get sponsorship. We contact Daxiang, which is a very popular condom brand among young adult in China. That matches our target segment of customers. And we also have wine sponsor as well.

Fourthly, get everything ready one day before the activity. Check carefully to make sure they are safe and have least negative impact. For example, the sticker that we use to sticker balloons on the ceiling MUST be removable. So that it won’t hurt the surface of the ceiling. But it also has to be sticky enough to last at least two days so that it won’t fall down in the middle of the night to scare my guests. I was enjoying improving these details that my colleagues think I am quite considerate and organized ;)

To make it more efficient, I prepare a sketch of what to expect and the positions of everything.  

(bed deco)

The noon after guest check out, we went in to decorate the room. We took less than one hour to do everything and clean and leave. The hotel branch is satisfy with our works. And the night, we suceffully have a young random couple to stay in the room. I have heard the staff said that when the young lady open the guest door...Her mouth was like an" O" and said she love it so much. And of course both the couple and we post on social media and a lot of people reply to ask where can they get this! 

So this is the room and me holding the really nice flower....Just wish it was a better weather. But yes, we made a nice day and a nice memory for a guest. And less than half of the budget was spent. 

Have a nice day!

Claudia Xinyin Xie

Emergency could just happen next second: be prepared and alert!

The first day I join the PR-branding and development dept., my manager Yi gave a short brief of my daily job and told me never shut down phone and keep in contact. I didn’t really alert.  

It was Sunday morning; I was on the way to church.  I received a call from Yi, saying that a girl just committed suicide in one of our hotel branch in Hunan Province. She asked me to chill and just focus on one thing – monitoring media, from all sources! “If there is anything being report, even a single sentence, you have to record down whatever you find, and keep updating on our PR private chat group. Do not publish anything on our social media platform without my authority because the issue is now under police’s investigation.” She hung up, following by a message given me the details of the issue.

To be honest I was nervous because I don’t know what will happen the next second. And so of course I drive home and search for media reports from online media, TV, and social media keywords for a whole day.

Via the chat group I know that every one of us have our own roles. 

One colleague is standing by all the time to educate the hotel branch manager how to handle media. As it is located at another province and our PR people from headquarter are not able to present in front of journalists and cameras right away. 

Another colleague is to prepare several official written announcements, just in case the issue became crisis and we have to response immediately. 

One colleague is to deal with IT department and make sure booking channel is shut down so that no more guests will come to hotel before police release the block. 

And one colleague is to make internal report to all the employees who are working for this hotel brand. This is to make sure that they are informed and alerted so that they will not trust any rumours from the public. 

Manager Yi is the one in charge of managing every link and decides what to do next.

Two days later, the girl was found not a guest of our hotel. She failed her job interview and then went to one of our hotel branch to find her friend, but in the end she cannot make herself out of the blue, she jumped out from the building and ended her life.

It took about 10 days and finally the discussion on social media cool down and faded from the public. By the effort that our team done, our hotel brand did not involve in the hot discussion. WOW! I was so proud that I was part of the team. And I believe we managed it calmly and pro were because there is a mature emergency handling plan and the people and time were well organized.

After we summarized the whole case into document form and put it in cabinet, I asked manager Yi, can you tell me how you can organize it so well. She said, as a PR person in a leading hotel company that have 3000 hotel branches around the world, emergency happen almost every day. You have to be prepared and alert! Just make sure your heart is in good condition and enjoy your PR challenges! "


Enjoy your PR day! 
Claudia Xinyin Xie

Celebrating World Teachers' Day

Hi there,
Its me again, Jacky.
Today I want to share to all of you the latest event that I have worked on lately which also organized by me personally. I am happy to have the privilege of executing this event with the foster children under Interhill Group's care. This event is joined by ten children from Kampung Wireless and three mentors from The After School Project. The children did arts and crafts such as drawing, coloring cut-out cartoon characters and writing a message showing their gratitude for the teacher. 

According to UNESCO, It is perceived that educators are not just a way to executing instruction objectives; they are the way to maintainability and national limit in accomplishing learning and making social orders taking into account information, qualities and morals. On the other hand, they keep on confronting difficulties achieved by staff deficiencies, poor preparing and low status. 

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics calculated that in order reach the goal of universal primary education by 2020 recruitment of a total of 12.6 million primary teachers is needed. World Teachers’ Day falls on the October 5 highlights the fact that teachers must be empowered as a critical step towards quality education and sustainable societies. Interhill’s motto is “Committed to the people” and their education initiative is align with the concept of the world teachers’ day, I took the chance and organized an event with the After School Project to educate the younger generation to be grateful towards their teacher. 

Before putting this event in word as proposal, I had to pitch to my supervisor whom very supportive of me. As soon she approved it, I wrote the proposal for her to send it to the director and after that I developed a list of itinerary for myself in order not to miss out on any details and arrangement. Below will be the checklist that I have developed.

• -       Confirm date, time and availability of the children with En. Juih (Kampung Wireless caretaker/guardian)
• -       Process estimated budget for activity and submit to Ms. Agnes
• -       Draft a pre-media release
• -       Arrange for food and beverage for the children, mentors and guardians during the event
• -    Buying necessary items for the event (gifts, colour paper, glue sticks, scissors and colour pencils)

On the day of the event, everything went smoothly as expected. As an intern being quick-witted is needed when we are deal with events. At first we were expecting the arrivals of 15 children, but there are complication between the children and the caretaker. In the end, we are able to accommodate with the amount of ten children and we proceed with the event. From this lesson, I was able to learn to adapt and think fast accordingly.

I Saw You in the Newspaper!

Good old traditional media!

Yesterday we were contacted by a man called William, to inform us that he had been observing the progress of the After School Project over the local newspapers and he wanted us to take the children of his longhouse (RumahAmpik) into our program!

The After School Project is an educational program where we ‘foster’ groups of children from the community and carry out various educational activities with them, to teach them that learning can be a fun and rewarding experience. We currently have three groups of children under our charge, which are the Kompleks Hamidah Yakub orphanage, Rumah Anak Amal Kesayangan Kami orphanage and the children of the nearby community in Kampung Wireless.

We were invited today Mr. William’s longhouse to meet with the village chief and his assistant and during our meeting they told us of the high dropout rate of their village, as well as the high marriage rate, especially of those under 18-years-old. These marriages were usually due to unplanned teen pregnancy and are legal in Malaysia, as the parents of the under-aged individuals gave their consent. Something Mr. William said really shocked me and made me realise that the After School Project and the education it brings really is important.

“Parents protect our children, saying ‘don’t scare them, let them be!’ but when they get older, they get wilder. They say ‘help them, but don’t scare them, let them be!’ and later when they’re young adults, they are set in their ways and cannot be changed. They are poor and will always be poor because they are uneducated, all they can do is mix cement and sit in guardhouses. They are poor, so they drink, which makes them more poor; this makes them sadder, so they drink some more. Their parents say ‘help them!’

How? It’s too late.”

Traditional media has a way of reaching the local communities that the internet can’t, not just because they might now have internet connections where they are but because there is something about an article in the newspaper that says something about an organisation’s reliability. Aside from that, it doesn’t take any effort or commitment to comment on a post on Facebook, but it takes a certain amount of conviction and investment in a situation to call a phone number on a newspaper article, talk to a receptionist and wait to be transferred before asking for help from a complete stranger.

Hopefully, after meeting with him and discussing the situation with him, we can help him and his people in the future.

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.

Friday 13th wasn't that bad after all!

Friday, February 13th marked the last day of my internship with Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri. I know, some would say Friday the 13th is actually a bad day (due to some superstition),
but in fact, it was a good day for me. As it was the last day of the internship, the morning started with myself preparing and going through the final notes of my internship conclusion presentation. It was done in front of the Regional Manager, my workplace supervisor and the senior officers. No doubt, I was very nervous in the beginning. However, as time went on during the presentation, I managed to relaxed myself and deliver my presentation as well as video assignment to them. I was given the
chance to create a promotional video for Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri by my supervisor and they were in fact, seemed pleased that I had managed to complete the final task that was given.

Throughout the 30 working days duration, I've learnt lots on the working world particularly on governmental organisations. I've learnt on how to adapt fast with other people in the organisation and how important it is to ensure good relationship with your co-workers. It is always good to be humble and willing to learn, especially when you are new to the job. I've also learnt to not underestimate my own capabilities in producing great work and task completion.Aside from that, I've learnt on how to assist others without counting on them to ask for assistance as well as polishing my  event emceeing skills. The feedback that I've got from my supervisor as well as fellow senior officers were overwhelming and definitely a confidence booster for me in the future!

I thanked with all my heart to Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri for being so friendly and accepting towards my presence in the organisation. They not only taught me on how
to function and work as an employee in the organisation but also as a part of their work-place family. It was definitely a worth-while experience despite the short duration of internship time.

Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri, thank you for the valuable learning experience!

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.

Building Muscles During My Internship!

Hi everyone,

A few weeks on to my internship now and all I can say is that "I LOVE IT'.
As mentioned in my previous post I love social work and my PR department focuses on corporate social responsibility.. What is better than to get paid to help people!

Updates on my event. So, my event is around the corner, in a couple of days. The name of the event is called The After School Project: Step by Step with a slogan of 'Let us Preserve, Let us Give". The aim of this event is to allow our target audience the orphans from 3 different institutes to  partake in this educational session. 116 orphans will be learning about preserving nature, giving back to society and how to care for animals.

The 2 organisations invited to participate in educating the children include: Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and Zero Strays Miri (ZSM).

Please visit their link for more information -

https://www.facebook.com/MiriMNS

https://www.facebook.com/ZeroStraysMiri

Preparing for this event is hectic as this is the largest event our company is organising. Moreover, there are many other events going on during the same month. 

TASK TO BE DONE IN ORDER TO PREPARE FOR THIS EVENT: 

1) Detailed Public Relations Plan 

(This includes contacting personnel from MNS and ZSM to set up a meet, several meetings, designing banners and flyers, budgeting, venue booking, catering, getting participants, participation forms, equipment rentals, transportation for the children, contacting volunteers and mentors etc).

2) Preperation of  press release to announce the event.

3) Faxing press advisory to invite journalist for the event.

4) Preperation of press release to be published after the event.

5) Preparing logistics needed for the event.

6) Designing and preparing a display board for Interhill's CSR Projects. 

(This display board had me printing pictures, then cutting papers, after that laminating the pictures and cut them again. I never knew all these details are time consuming and extremely tiring but I enjoy doing them.

I must say that I am glad to have the knowledge on writing excellent press releases and PR plans as these are exactly what was thought in our PR units. What I love about PR is that all the techniques we learnt from our units at the university allows us to apply them in real working environment. 

Attached below is a banner for my event, a group photo between Interhill Staff, MSN and ZSM for the press release and finally my display board (80% done). 

Flyer for After School Project; Step by Step

Group photo for press release

Display board for the event highlighting the past events from the CSR department

That is it for now! Going to continue working on my event. Till next time!

Best regards,

Sterwina Kho 

New week, new challenges!

After the routine aerobic workout on Monday, I volunteered to help my supervisor and a couple of librarians to move the stacks of newspapers from the first to the ground floor. It was definitely an extra session of working out!
I, then helped them to sort out the donated books by the public to the library.
The library has an ongoing program where the public are welcome to donate their unwanted books to the library; given that it is still in good conditions.
However, some members of the public are rather ignorant on that fact where they just drop any used books into the donation box. Most of the books donated are not suitable for shelving in the library as some are irrelevant, too worn out and outdated.
There were two stacks of English novels donated to the library but the library can't accept it due to the condition of the books. These books are still readable but they refuse to take it in as they do not want the library members to complain on the selections of books offered.
So instead, I offered to take the books home and they happily accepted my offer. It was definitely a win-win situation as I am a book-lover!
Later that day, I was to design an event poster on February's event in conjunction with Minggu Warisan Bumi Kenyalang. The poster that I have to create was of a talk on Pua Kumbu and its revolution.

     To the Iban of Sarawak, the pua kumbu is not just a blanket. It is a sacred ceremonial and ritual     textile. The word pua in Iban means 'blanket', kumbu means 'to wrap'. Together, the two words mean a 'grand blanket'. However. the pua kumbu is very seldom used as a sleeping blanket. It is reserved for the times when men and women seek an encounter with the spiritual (Fascinating Malaysia 2015).

I had a good time researching on the information needed for the poster after consulting the staff in-charge of the event. Not only did I deepen my knowledge on the local Iban culture, it also made ma aware of the significant research works by the speaker.

Besides that, I'd joined the first staff meeting they had with the CEO. She flew in from Kuching that morning for the general staff meeting with library's staffs to the the updates as well as summary report of 2014's progress.
During the meeting, I were to introduce myself to her in front of all the present staffs and she wished me well for my internship period hoping that both I and Pustaka will be able to learn from each other during this period of time.
It was a little scary having to talk in front of everyone but they were supportive of me by calming down my nerves during the meeting.
Aside from that, one of the job scopes of being in the Corporate Communications department is the monitoring and reviewing of customers' feedback; be it compliments  or complains received. Compliments are taken into account as well to motivate and appreciate the works or services of the staffs to the users.
These feedback are important for the organization as it can help to improve on the services and the conditions of the facilities for the comfort of the members as well as users.
I believe it is crucial to motivate the staffs as it will not only boost up their job performance but also making them feel that their presence in the organization is important.
It made me realized that in a working environment, one need constant motivation during work to achieve better work performance.
These complains and compliments; be it verbally (which the staff will record it down in a verbal customer feedback form), through voicepoint or written sources, it must be carefully evaluated and attended to according to the level of of compliment or complain.
Each complains are to be investigated by the unit leaders and they have to report on their actions in overcoming the same occurrences of complains taking place in the future.
It will then be relayed to the complainers in regards to their feedback. This is to ensure that it is fulfilling the objective of serving the local community.
For the week, I have learn a lot on how it is important to maintain the image of the organization, just as what we have learn in class!

Till next time...

Cheers!
Alyssa Chin

Entering the New Year as a Public Relations Intern

I started the New Year with the nervousness of being an intern at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri. It is a digital library in Miri, providing various services and facilities for the local community.
First day came and I was nervous as wreck (with a tad of excitement), even from the night before. I couldn't sleep well as my brain went into over-drive and I was thinking of all sorts of scenarios that can happen to me at the work place; of the working environment, the staffs and so on.

Upon arriving, I was greeted warmly by my supervisor, Miss Sofina and she showed me to my table.
As each staffs arrived in the office after the New Year holiday, I was introduced to each one of them and I have to admit, I was shy in front of them but they are very friendly and quickly made me feel comfortable in the office.
Being able to converse in the local Sarawak Malay language was definitely a perk as they began to chat and asked me lots of questions about myself to make me feel at ease with them.
Despite being the "newbie" in the office, they made me feel as if I have been in the organisation with them for a long time.
The first task of the day was the briefing on the organisation and Corporate Communications department of Pustaka itself with the assistance of Fail Meja (Desk File) which contains much information of the organisation including the organisational chart, the work procedures etc. by Miss Sofina herself.
Later on, I was given the tasks to create a promotional poster for an upcoming event at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri which as "Renal Diet" health talk on January 17th. I have to admit, I was quite rusty with the designing works as I have not been doing such work for a long time.

Also, I was to compress the 3 pages brochure into a single page leaflet as to test my understanding in English and Bahasa Malaysia knowledge alongside my creativity in designing leaflets to attract more new memberships to the library. This was done in dual languages; English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Another assignment was given to me was to complete a written assignment comprised of four main questions given by my supervisor.
Instead of feeling overwhelm by many assignment tasks in the first day, I was actually excited and happy to be receiving these tasks.

Apart from that, throughout the week, I was also given tasks of producing two media releases where I am to write about Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri's welcoming its members back for year 2015 and on the 8th Sarawak Local Content Competition, which is one of the upcoming events to be held at Pustaka.
The real challenge was when I had to brush up on my Bahasa Malaysia language as I do not use it often in my daily life. The Oxford Dictionary and Google Translate site was my best friend when I was doing the Bahasa Malaysia media releases.
However, despite the minor difficulty, I was able to complete all of my given tasks on time and even got the media releases to be printed in the local newspapers such as The Star, The Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo.
Apart from that. the promotional poster that I've created was immediately displayed in the building and was uploaded to the website as well as their Facebook page.
It was definitely a "feel good" moment seeing my own work being printed out as well as posted online for all to read and see!

Week two started with a simple aerobics exercise with the staff. It is a weekly routine where every Monday is started with the aerobics exercise session to refresh an prepare the body for the day ahead.
Throughout the week, I was to research on suitable quotes to be use for promotional events, creations of notebooks and so on. These quotes must be relevant in promoting the reading habit, the significant roles of a library as well as the importance of knowledge and information.
Aside from that, I sat in a meeting where I get to see how the organisation plans for an upcoming bug event which is the Land of the Hornbill Heritage Week (Minggu Warisan Bumi Kenyalang). It's interesting to see an actual meeting take place and despite being new to the subject of the meeting, I was asked to give my suggestion on the event.
Besides that, I've also been taught on doing newspaper clippings in which I get to file the media releases that I've created the week before!
It definitely motivates me in being better and to do a better job for the remaining time of my internship.



Till my next post!

Alyssa Chin.

Show Them What You're Made Of

Hello fellow interns, my name is Josephine Joeyna Ak Joseph Jantan,  I’m in my final semester of my Bachelor of Arts, Mass Communications degree, majoring in Public Relations and I’m interning full-time with… *drumroll please* Curtin University Sarawak’s Corporate Communications Department.

A lot of my friends were surprised when I told them that I will be interning with Corporate Communications and some seniors even told me that interning in the university will be a bore as I will probably only be given newspapers to read and to do media clippings.

After the end of my first week here, I can say that there has not been a boring day in the office. The office is always bustling, colleagues are nice and friendly and are always eager to share their knowledge of the corporate world with me. After the first three days, I actually look forward to my early mornings (though I am not much of a morning person) when I get to walk into the office, greet everyone good morning, make myself a steaming cup of coffee and then sit at my desk reading the day’s newspapers and updating the rest on current news every once in a while.

A week in and I already feel like I am part of the Corporate Communications family. When it gets too quiet in the office, Ian or Flynn would pipe up with a funny or witty comment on something they stumbled upon on their Facebook newsfeed or they would ask me if I read anything interesting to which will lead to short interesting discussions.

Whenever I am done with the media clippings I would ask around to see if anyone had anything for me do. My colleagues were more than happy to pass some work on to me, especially if it includes walking all the way to the other end of the campus to take a group photograph for a press release, and I did not mind doing it. In summary of what I have done this week, I've taken photographs of 3 events and they were used to accompany media releases sent out to the press, I've drafted a media release and a press conference invitation to the press, done a week’s worth of media clippings and kept the Monthly Activity Report updated with the week’s media analysis.

It felt amazing to see the picture I took printed on one of the first few pages of the local section and it was printed in colour! I am sure I was grinning like a Cheshire cat while filing that media clipping away.

In conclusion though, my advice is don’t believe in everything people tell you about their experience of interning. Everyone walks away with knowledge but not everyone’s journey will be the same. Just be yourself, keep an open mind and don’t be afraid to step up and ask for something to do if you end up just sitting there at your desk doing absolutely nothing important. In this case all I really did was to take the initiative and opportunities came my way. So I say, to all fellow PR393 students, head out there and show them what you’re made of!

Cheers,

Josephine Joeyna