Expedia Partners Award Summit 2016

Expedia organized a ceremony in Sofitel Resort & Spa and the company where i'm doing an internship (Ropsen Tour Operator) was invited as it has a few accommodations listed on Expedia.

The summit started with a nice coffee as from 9.00 am, followed by a presentation from a few members of Expedia where they explained how tour operators and hotels might become more competitive and they proposed some ideas that could be implemented in the near future. The presentation included statistics from tourists in Mauritius so that entrepreneurs who attended could figure out where potential guests were more keen to stay for their holidays. I can say that the young lady who presented learnt everything as all the statistics' figures were so easy for her where everything seemed complicated for me!

Afterwards, there was the award ceremony which took place, where the best hotels and tour operators that received the most bookings through Expedia were rewarded. It ended at 12.30 and lunch was served after.

It was the first time that i attended a presentation as such, as each time it was only the presentations at university! It was really professional and i learnt a lot of things in the tourism industry.

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!

Have you used any cool presentation software before?

Hi all, hope you had a great free week!

First of all, I would like to share my work experience in preparing my company's presentation slides. Being a property management agency, we are responsible to manage our customers' property properly, so lots of rules and policies are set and will be presented to tenants who rent the property. Usually, documents like rules and regulations as well as rent arrears policy will be filed in a booklet and our company manager will have to read through all the documents in front of the tenants to make sure our tenants have a clear understanding of their responsibilities, however, this has made tenants feel dull and boring. Hence, I have suggested my MD, Tris to present the documents in an interesting way by using presentation software to come out with animated  presentation slides. Tris has agreed the idea and gave me a deadline of this task in 5 working-days.

There are few presentation software nowadays, for example:

Emaze http://www.emaze.com/

Established in 2009, an online presentation platform that offers a wide range of templates which include video backgrounds as well as 3D animations.

Prezi http://prezi.com/

Established in 2009, a popular presentation software and also a storytelling tool that allows presenter to zoom in and zoom out the slides while presenting their ideas. This presentation software is widely used by school in e-learning.

Powtoon www.powtoon.com

Established in 2012, an online software that allows people to create animated videos and presentations. Moreover, it can be downloaded as an MP4 file or exported to YouTube.

For me, I prefer to use Prezi because its zooming feature makes it more catchy and amazing during presentation, which will easily catch attention from the audiences. Besides, no one would like to read long paragraph from the slide, so it is better to have short and less wording within slides, additional picture will be a bonus too. However, there is one thing we have to be aware of  when looking for picture from Google, the picture may be subjected to copyright. My Managing Director claimed that copyright issue is a serious concern that every company needs to avoid. After I have done the presentation slides within the deadline, I was told to check the spelling and grammar properly as there was some typing error within my slides. I felt bad because I didn't check it well and did this minor mistake that everyone shouldn't have. Besides the importance of completing task within deadline, Tris has taught me that rechecking and reediting are really important when doing a task as this will make the work looks nicer and perfect. I am really appreciated from being taught and has learnt a lot from my MD, Tris.  Overall, Tris felt satisfy on my work and effort.

On the other hand, I was assigned to collect relevant information about major media outlets in Perth that are suitable for Homes Property Management to do advertising.  

This is one of the examples:

I felt confident to complete this analysis as I have done 'Target Media' in one of my assignments -Media Strategy,  in Media Relations 250. I felt happy that I could apply my knowledge in the real-life company.

More to come next week.

Yee Ting Ch'ng

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Chivalry is far from dead

Warning: This blog entry may provide unrealistic expectations of romance.  

When my supervisor approached me with the task of writing a speech for one our clients to present to an array of HR departments I felt nervous yet full of excitement. Having never worked in the public relations industry, let alone any industry relative to my university study, I was thrilled to think that my work would be used in a real life situation. I am very grateful for completing my Commerce degree at Curtin due to its practicality however there is a definitely a different feeling of achievement when you enter the corporate world. This task was definitely the most enjoyable yet in my time at The Freeform and I look forward to sharing my insight into speech writing with you today. 

The client that I would be preparing this speech and presentation for was 2 Planets, a specialist romantic event planning company, ultimately targeted towards FIFO workers in Western Australia. The online service is truly incredible, allowing those who work long hours or maybe just lack a little creativity a complete get out of jail free card for those last minute anniversary gifts. Their products include ready-made packages with a choice of exquisite jewellery, spa treatments, flowers and more! Whilst also offering once in a lifetime experiences such as dancing lessons, getaways and wine and dine activities. More relating to the speech that I had been asked to write was the opportunity for 2 Planets to provide handyman services to a FIFO's partner whilst he is working away. 

Take a look at the 2 Planets website here! 

The brief was to develop a pitch campaign that can be used in presenting the 2 Planets service to mining, oil and gas organisations with a goal towards staff uptake and company involvement, essentially by including the 2 Planets service in their Employee Assistance Programs. It has been a fair bit of time since I had written my last speech in Public Relations Techniques 220, so this called for me to revisit the key skills. 

A speech - to be effective - must:

1. Be designed to be heard, not read.
2. Use concrete language.
3. Demand a positive response.
4. Have clear-cut objectives.
5. Be tailored to a specific audience

(Seitel 2004, 432). 

Taking all these '5 musts' into account, I began researching the audience, objectives and most importantly the speaker, as another important skill of speech writing is to get inside the skin of the speaker, as your words must match his/her personality. I have learnt a great deal during the process of this task, including gaining an insight into world of mining, oil and gas, the FIFO lifestyle, speech writing and much much more! 

Until next time...

Thank you for reading!

Rachel Chandler