Just thought i'd inform you all that today I had a brain wave and realised the importance of ethics in Public Relations Events Management. Looking back to my arrival in Busselton to begin my internship with CinefestOZ film festival, the first thing I was asked to do was to sign a Non-disclosure Agreement. Myself and all the other interns were then told about the importance of maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of the sponsors, film producers, jury members as well as the actors, actresses and their families. To be honest, at the time it reminded me of a repetitive university lecture - of coarse i'm not going to sell their information to the newspapers! And i'm organising an event... I'll probably just be setting up marquees and printing our door lists, how could i breach copyright? But at the time, I didn't realise how exposed I would be to their personal information and whereabouts, as well as unreleased information about the Premiere films themselves.
As I was put in charge of the VIP's and sponsorship side of the festival, I was in charge of booking individuals accommodation, flights, tickets and anything else they required, as well as creating databases and Excel Masters as a record of all their individual details and plans. CinefestOZ has an agreement that they will no disclose information about these clients, especially to the media unless pre-arranged, or about the premiere films themselves. The copies of the films within the cinemas were kept under tight surveillance, and we had to organise security for the film premiere's, to ensure that no guest was filming within the cinema on their phones etc. They have certainly chucked me in the deep end for this internship, which is great! I feel like I have learnt so much!
Another ethical lesson I learnt was about unclassified films. We had a few screenings of children's films throughout the festival which were not yet officially released, so were not yet classified. Unfortunately despite trying to make it clear on our website, app and brochures, we were therefore not allowed entry of minors into the cinemas legally. Many people were upset as they had arrived and were denied entry, so I had to use my big smile and try to help them understand our reasonings. Not always easy!
But thats all for me today! Hope you're all having a fabulous time and learning as much as me!
Bye for now,
Verity
