What I have learnt on holding an exhibition ALONE!

Hello guys, I have been doing my internship at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri for almost 1.5 months. Throughout the journey, I have gained a lot of working experiences and some technical skills such as Photoshop which might be useful for my future career. I have learnt another software, Canva for designing purposes in the university but not Photoshop. I was glad that I have the chance to explore another software during my placement. It is good to know how to use different types of software. As a PR Professional, I should not only know how to write (media release or speech), but also need to know how to design (poster, flyer, banner) as well. Below are the examples of the notices that I have designed to promote the events that organized by Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri.

On the first day of my internship, Ms. Sofina has told me I will need to carry out my own event before I end up my internship. It can be publicizing Pustaka or organizing any events that held at Pustaka. I decided to publicize Pustaka because one of the PR jobs is publicizing the brand to the target audience. I have used a couple of days to figure out what event should I do to publicize Pustaka. I have few options in my mind but when I think of I am the only person to do the event I became nervous. At last, I have an idea - do an exhibition at Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia. 

I have shared my idea with Ms. Sofina and she agreed on it. She said that it was a fresh idea as none of the interns ever hold an exhibition at Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia. I started to write a proposal about the exhibition to Ms. Sofina as she needed to submit to the Regional Manager for approval.

Once my proposal has been approved, I started to design the information that will need to share with the students. Then, I called up the staff of Curtin Library to seek for their approval to use their exhibition board to promote Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Miri. In the phone, they have told me the details and I decided to write them a formal letter to show my sincerity. 1 week later, my information has been put up at the exhibition board.

Although I done everything by myself, I have gained experiences and learnt somethings which I have never learnt before. For example, I get to communicate with different people. I got the chance to communicate with the Curtin Library staff and the manager who were Ms. Marina and Mr. Mac. I would like to thank to PR Internship has gave me the chance to meet them. I have been in Curtin University for almost 4 years and I have never met them before. Due to this internship, I have met them and get to know them. This is where I started to build my network.

I have also built up my confident. As I mentioned earlier,  I will need to talk to the students and approached them to tell them the benefits as a registered member of Pustaka. It took me a big courage to spoke to the strangers. However, I have gone through the hardships and have built up self-confident. It is important to have self-confident because as a PR people, we tend to speak to the strangers and VIPs and even present in front of many people.

Hope you guys enjoy the internship!

Regards,

Daphney Koh

17635884

Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia.

Garnering Social Media Interest

Everyone here knows the importance of social media I’m sure. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the best way to get attention and promote. Social media is fast, its current, it reaches hundreds of thousands of people in way less than an hour.  What makes an interesting post though? Is it the writing or the photograph that catches the eye? Is posting every few hours daily too much?

In my opinion, a post is made interesting by its writing style. No doubt a corporate representative should always be formal and professional, but on Facebook would you click on something that sounds like a formal report? I highly doubt it. The trick is to keep the professionalism but it is ok to be a little informal at times. What catches the eye and leads to people clicking on the post, or the link in the first place is not the writing but the title and the photograph attached. Limit social media posts to one post every two days at minimum but 5 spaced out posts a day at maximum. This is to avoid your followers from getting fed up but keeping them notified and reminded of your existence.

I have been one of the Corporate Communications official photographer for campus events for a while now and have been enjoying the task immensely. Photography is a passion of mine and being able to contribute to the workplace via something I am passionate about is definitely a win for me. Also seeing my photos being posted on Curtin Sarawak’s official Website and Facebook page brings me joy. One of my best photographs, and my absolute favourite to date, was taken during the Curtin International Cook Off which was held on the 11^th of September 2014. It was of one of the contestants doing a fire trick as he stir-fried the meat in his wok.

Phoenix Rising: The photograph that I took during the Curtin International Cook Off

Within 4 hours after posting the photographs on Curtin Sarawak’s official Facebook page, Ian, who is in charge of branding and advertising called out to me from his desk, “Wow! Congratulations Jo. Good job, your ‘Phoenix Rising’ photograph has garnered the most hits ever in such a short time 50 over likes”. Everyone in the office clapped and cheered for me and told me that is the most hits in a short time and that they loved the picture as well. It will make for a great outreach they said. Here is the link for the original post: Curtin International Cook Off

So to all my fellow PR393 mates, always keep in mind the powers of social media and use them wisely. It’s not just for posting banters and share Buzzfeed or YouTube links, as future PR professionals it’s a tool of the trade. Useful as well to keep in mind how PR professionals in the industry are using social media. Therefore I’ve looked up a couple of links for your further reference if you would like dear readers.

1. How PR Pros Are Using Social Media for Real Results

2. 6 Ways Social Media Has Changed Public Relations

3. Why IHOP's 'Tumblr-speak' tweets work

4. Social Media as a Public Relations Platform

Cheers,

Josephine Joeyna

Bindoon backlash

 Agricultural show season has officially finished for BAJV, the fourth and final agricultural show was located at Bindoon, located 84km from Perth. Bindoon has always been an interesting area for the organisation, with a lot of activist groups rallying against the business and their future plans in Bindoon. Being told that Bindoon would be on the more interesting side in agricultural shows in comparison to all the other ones, made me a bit uneasy about having to help run the show on Saturday but I was reassured any questions could be directed to those with greater knowledge. Friday came, we drove an hour and a half up to Bindoon to set up the show, this show was different as I was in charge of set up, the tent was larger then the others giving us a lot more room to play around with! Set up was easier and quicker than I thought, as I knew exactly what I was doing, securing everything down we closed up and headed to our accommodation for the night. Saturday morning came and this meant show day! The show was very relaxed and had a good community and country feel about it. Everyone was very nice and was interested in what we did and what we had to offer to the community. The day was filled with questions and kids playing with the diggers in the bauxite pit. This is what I was in charge of for the day, we had a competition running to see who could get the biggest scoop of bauxite into an ice-cream container, I would then weight it and take their details if they wished to compete in the competition to win a family movie pass. Photos of the activity can be seen below. 4.30pm came and we got to pack up and head back to Perth for the final pack up at the warehouse, it was such a long day and I was exhausted after but it goes to show hard work really does pay off, as the day ran smoothly and was a lot of fun!

Although they have recently closed potential operations in Bindoon as it was seem uneconomic for the time, a lot of people were still interested in what the company was doing and where they saw themselves in the future in relation to adding to the economy and providing jobs.

It was a great experience to talk to all the locals and get a bit more of an understanding for what it is all about. And about what consumers and local communities want, they just want the correct information, and to be honest and open.