The Importance of Research

Interning at an event management company that runs its own and clients’ events, it’s almost impossible to be left with nothing to do. With at least five events occurring from May to July- two of them being their own- work at Event and Conference Co lately has been nothing short of busy. There’s media releases to be sent out, clients, venues and special guests to liaise with, marketing ideas to be formulated and executed, and most importantly; RESEARCH TO BE DONE!

Though often tedious and time-consuming, I’ve found research to be one of the most important aspects of my work, whether it be for event planning or solely for public relations purposes. Throughout my time at Curtin, the importance of research and knowing what you’re talking about and who you’re talking to has been stressed in each and every PR unit. I’ve always been aware that there is a significant amount of research behind events, but I’ve never really understood how much until now.

This research has been centred on an upcoming formal event in July, dedicated to Perth’s emergency service men and women. With an event in honour of a particular group of people, ensuring we have the right guests, sponsors and a suitable venue has been a painstakingly long task. It has been my responsibility to create a comprehensive database of both potential event sponsors and invited guests. I made it my mission to make these databases as complete and concise as possible, considering all paid workers as well as volunteers in the metropolitan area. I then widened my search to consider other professions, such as psychologists and lawyers; that may help these service men and women within and beyond their job descriptions.

Completing this database was one of the longest tasks I've been given at my internship, and by no means did I consider it to be a complete and comprehensive list of all individuals associated with emergency services in Perth. That list could have gone on forever! For me, this task emphasised the importance of research, and just how much is necessary to contribute to a successful event. This task tested my work ethic, and made me realize how important it is to research your guests rather than inviting everyone and anyone to a formal event, or any particular company rather than targeting organisations with common interests relating to your cause.

Until next time,

Clare

The final hurdle: A successful event

As an intern at Curtin University, I was fortunate enough to be apart of the annual John Curtin Medals Ceremony for 2015. Wow, was this an amazing experience! Each year the ceremony awards individuals for their outstanding contributions to the community within their chosen field. One of the 2015 recipients was Kaye Brand, the founder of Fibromyalgia Western Australia Inc.

After witnessing the event in its entirety, I could have never anticipated how special and emotionally charged the ceremony was going to be. It was nothing like I had ever experienced before. It was refreshing but also a huge learning curve for me as I plan my future in events management.

The preparation that went into the event was quite stressful and daunting, but after seeing it all come together it was definitely worth it. For the event I was involved in the formation of the slide show, the order of proceedings and the briefing documentation. From this process, I have learnt you can never be too organised or too prepared because in events management something can go wrong in the blink of an eye.

What surprised me the most about this event, was not the set up, the perfect flower arrangement or the catering selection. In fact, it was the minor details that made the event for me. As students we are often too caught up in having the perfect order of proceedings that we forget about the ‘nitty gritty’ elements that make an event so special and memorable for those involved. Personally it was the celebration of cultural diversity and aboriginal history that made the ceremony so memorable for me.

As apart of the formal proceedings the events department incorporated a ‘Welcome to Country’. The ‘Welcome to Country’, usually preformed by Simon Forrest, is an aboriginal blessing that acknowledges the traditional owners of the land in which Curtin Bentley is sited. Not sure what I mean? Check out the link below.

http://about.curtin.edu.au/welcome/traditional-aboriginal-welcome/

I have never seen this in an event before, but it was definitely an eye opener and added a nice touch to the formalities. I’m very thankful that I got to work on such an amazing and unique event. I will take a lot away from this experience as I begin my career in events management. I hope everyone else is enjoying their internship placements as much as me!

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.

Nervous on the first date with Mills Wilson

And by the first date, I mean the interview.

Let me rewind a little bit. A few weeks ago I started to prepare for the big treasure chase. The treasure was the best possible and most compatible PR internship in town, and the chase was the application process.

It took a while to get everything ready. A PR resume is a showcase, and so I had to make sure that everything I put in there was with careful consideration, and naturally that took a while.

Once I was happy with my application, I compiled and ranked a list of companies that I would approach. I wrote customized cover letters for the favorites and started making calls.

Long story short, I was contacted by Marie Mills the Managing Director of Mills Wilson, inviting me to come in and meet her for an interview.

The interview is a critical aspect of a career of PR. At the end of the day, a bad interview = no job. So I treated this opportunity as my first assignment.

I’m naturally quite a nervous person and so I thought the more preparation I’d do, the more comfortable I would be in that interview room.

Here are a few ways in which I prepared

Dressing for success

First impressions are important and appearance is key, so I put a lot of thought into what I would wear at the interview. I wanted to wear something that would be quite fashionable, yet reserved. That would convey my personality to the “employer” without revealing too much of my personal life. I did a little research on this and came across this interesting article, which you are welcome to read.

The question all employers ask

So tell me about yourself. It’s more a statement than a question and the answer is most critical. Again, first impressions are important, and this part of the interview is where the employer gets a first real snapshot of who you are. The difficulty in answering this is the fact that you could talk about almost any aspect of your life, from where you were born to what you had for dinner last night. But you want to make sure that whatever you say in those few minutes reflects your best possible self. I made sure to prepare and memorize a summary of the facts I wanted to convey about myself in that interview. More information about those interview questions here.

Know your stuff

First impressions are important, but it is likely that the interview will last more than a few minutes so you should prepare adequately and have enough to say to your prospective employer. This is why “knowing your stuff” is vital. For this interview, I made sure that I knew the ins and outs of all the PR projects I had been involved in. I could imagine nothing worse than not being able to properly explain your involvement in an assignment you had. It sounds very basic, but you must know what you are talking about, and you should have worked out a way to accurately but concisely talk about your projects. It’s also important to research the company you are being interviewed for, because chances are they’ll be asking you why you want to work for them. Read about it here.

In the end, I got the internship. Did I make use of all the research I did? No. But did I benefit from being prepared? Greatly.

"Wait until you enter the real world"

Hi guys,

Until I’d started my internship at BCRC-WA I’d always scoffed at people who made remarks about university life being ‘the best time of your life,’ ‘so relaxed,’ ‘relatively stress-free.’ I thought these people were insane, and they drove me insane! I was always thinking “do you know how many assignments I have to do, how many all-nighters I’m pulling!?”

Now that I’m in the real workforce, so to speak, I completely understand. My stress levels are “through the roof” and I’m only an intern! 

Being that I am the only PR person here, the workload is very intensive and there’s a lot of pressure being put on me to deliver results. 

Similarly, there’s no one here to bounce ideas off in the same way there is at uni. It’s all up to you, and if something goes wrong, you don’t just get a bad mark, you get a bad reputation.

The idea that this is my reality next year is completely terrifying, but still quite exhilarating. Knowing that I’m five weeks away from being a professional PR consultant is mind-blowing. Seventeen years of schooling and it’s all coming to an end; the real world awaits me, whether I’m ready or not.

I know a lot of you guys are in the same boat here too; terrified of the reality that we will be in the workforce next year and thinking that we’re not ready for it. The truth is though, we are. We’ve studied for three years, undertaken internships, work experience, volunteered, spoken with industry professionals and so on. We are ready, and we are prepared. We just need to make ourselves realise it!

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

Ashni

Prepare, Prepare & Prepare

Hello everyone!

I would like to share my experience and what I have done in my internship this week.

This is the third week of my internship and we are getting busier as day passed.

In order to increase Homes Property Management brand awareness, I need to design name cards for the company’s employees as name card is the first impression clients get from the company. A well-designed name card would reflect well on the company’s culture and professionalism, whereas, a poorly-designed name card would not be appreciated by clients. I referred to few of the formats of name card on the Internet and without further ado, I worked on it.

I am very satisfied with the work I have done; however, the design still needed to be checked by Tris. Fortunately, without any further editing, the name card was sent for printing. I was delighted!

Name card design (front)

Name card design (back)

The next day, my colleagues and I worked on the steps needed to organize a seminar. The seminar was held to educate investors on how they could maximise their return through property management. We forecasted the amount of guest, the capacity of the parking lot etc., to search for the most appropriate venue. We contacted the selected venue to make bookings and Tris contacted two of her friends to be the speaker, which they agreed. Everything went smoothly.

For refreshments, I suggested to Tris that we could organize a buffet at the end of the seminar, as it will attract a huge amount of crowd. However, due to limited budget, buffet is out of the question, and for now, we could only afford refreshment such as snacks, sandwiches, or cakes. Therefore, I was assigned to do some research on catering service business nearby the venue which the seminar will be held and luckily enough, one of them agree to work with us.

Through this task that Tris has assigned to me, I have learnt how to work within the budget and limited resources as well as developing a practical plan to achieve our goal.

Preparation is the key to success. Working in the real world, I have learnt to plan very well and get used to anticipating potential downfalls as well as preparing backup plans for every possibilities forecasted. I felt that by preparing, I am able to get more organized to carry out my plans effectively.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin

Until next time.

Leong Chee Lek

16316641

Who are the important Media now?

Tomorrow my team would be running a media event for the launch of a NEW CAR!! I am unable to state the name of the car due to confidentiality issues. 

But during the inviting and scheduling the media partners for the event and test driving of the car, I seem to notice that there is still a very high priority given to the mainstream media. We always try our best to schedule them for the priority time slots and give them the best interview timings.

I feel that the alternative media, mainly bloggers and community influencers should be given an equal priority to the interviews. Many people these days would search forums and blogs when they are deciding to buy a car, to have a good review on these pages would be very beneficial for the brand.

I have spoken to my superior and the reason they gave me was that in Singapore, there are only few daily newspapers and news channels, on the other hand there are so many blogs out there which makes it very hard to satisfy all bloggers with what they want, the easiest way is to feed the mainstream media with the information and when they publish their articles the social media world would be able to get their information from there.

Will be submitting another post post-event!

Cheers!