The week upon
my arrival home from a holiday in Japan, I was due to start my internship with Momentum
Forum Events. Much to my excitement and nerves, this fell on the day of one of
the company’s biggest annual events- The Australian Trade Access International Women’s Day
Luncheon 2016. I can safely say this was a hectic way to commence my
internship, but I felt it worked out to be the perfect initiation.
After some understandably
rushed introductions to other interns and staff, I began my day working the
luncheon at the Pan Pacific hotel. Firstly I was talked through the event’s
run-sheet and got given an updated version with one or two time alterations to
the schedule. Seeing this brought me back to an assignment from the PR
Techniques unit!
My duties
for the day weren’t all particularly structured, some of them were just problem
solving situations. As well as assisting my supervisor in completing all kinds
of tasks; such as ensuring items were in the right place at the right time-
including flowers for awards, sourcing more envelopes and pens from the hotel,
and distributing the correct amount of menus, tags and labels at each table.
Now this was an event with attendance of 400 plus guests, so ensuring each
table was properly laid with everything in the right position and order was vital.
Things got slightly confusing when we had a few of us organising the tables but
doing them differently- communication is key! Something I also learnt was how
fast the preceding hours building up to an event go, in addition, how precious
time and organisation is of every tiny, minuscule detail is.
As people
started to flood through in large groups, I was greeting guests and assisting
them in finding their table numbers, answering any queries, as well as selling
the ‘Kiss Violence against Women Goodbye’ t-shirts. I also had to get people to fill
out the door price entry form and sell raffle tickets.
Working at
this large scale event reiterated to me how on the ball and vigilant events managers
are required to be. You must be able to improvise in problematic situations and
have fall-back plans and protocols. Which is all information we have been taught
at university and heard from the industry experienced staff, but it is very interesting
to see in all in action.
Overall the
event ran smoothly and was a great success, with only a few minor hiccups of
running out of raffle tickets and seating arrangement confusion. The day flew
by and before I knew it we were packing up. I loved that this event had a
diverse range of elements to it with its various guest speakers, performers,
having a live auction and a fashion show. I was able to get a taste for many
different event aspects and it tested my adaptability.
It was an enlightening
experience, which well-equipped me with insight into what a Momentum Forum
event looks and runs like behind the scenes. I found it very beneficial in
helping understand the company’s expectations and everyone was more than lovely
to me, which has assisted in turning my anxieties about the internship into
excitement!
Hope
everyone else is enjoying their placements, thanks for reading!
Bianca
