BANG..... THE END

Fifth week

The last week, was an enriching ending. The week started with doing a list of tour operators and airlines as there were mails to be sent and I had to search for emails and phone numbers. I had to look at the website of the tour operators or the airlines to find a contact person, number or email. After that I had to contact   the company, get the name a responsible person and their email address. It was all about research and making calls. In many similar situations, you also realise that the Internet become your best friend because before calling a company, you go through their website to see if they have any details.

My last two days were very enjoyable because, a student in her last year of college came, and wanted to have talk about the function of the company as it was for her project.  So we had to prepare the conference room for the next day before 11 O’clock. There were 20 students present so some refreshments had to be prepared.

On the day of the meeting, the promotional video was shown to them, then the consultant talked a bit about the company’s history, and overall about the different departments. At the end the students were given a book, a promotional video about Mauritius and a map of Mauritius, which is usually given to tourists who visit the company. Although it was not something official or a a big event, but it was interesting to be put into last minute situation and how to tackle it.... 

Some points to remember, whether it is a meeting, conference or  and important event, it is important to do a check list and to make sure that all is in place before the event.

So, that was my last week and my last post

Overall it was a good experience as I have seen the importance of PR in a company. When dealing with tourist, it is important that you bear in mind that you are representing your country and the company, thus it is essential to give a good impression. 

New week, new challenges!

After the routine aerobic workout on Monday, I volunteered to help my supervisor and a couple of librarians to move the stacks of newspapers from the first to the ground floor. It was definitely an extra session of working out!
I, then helped them to sort out the donated books by the public to the library.
The library has an ongoing program where the public are welcome to donate their unwanted books to the library; given that it is still in good conditions.
However, some members of the public are rather ignorant on that fact where they just drop any used books into the donation box. Most of the books donated are not suitable for shelving in the library as some are irrelevant, too worn out and outdated.
There were two stacks of English novels donated to the library but the library can't accept it due to the condition of the books. These books are still readable but they refuse to take it in as they do not want the library members to complain on the selections of books offered.
So instead, I offered to take the books home and they happily accepted my offer. It was definitely a win-win situation as I am a book-lover!
Later that day, I was to design an event poster on February's event in conjunction with Minggu Warisan Bumi Kenyalang. The poster that I have to create was of a talk on Pua Kumbu and its revolution.

     To the Iban of Sarawak, the pua kumbu is not just a blanket. It is a sacred ceremonial and ritual     textile. The word pua in Iban means 'blanket', kumbu means 'to wrap'. Together, the two words mean a 'grand blanket'. However. the pua kumbu is very seldom used as a sleeping blanket. It is reserved for the times when men and women seek an encounter with the spiritual (Fascinating Malaysia 2015).

I had a good time researching on the information needed for the poster after consulting the staff in-charge of the event. Not only did I deepen my knowledge on the local Iban culture, it also made ma aware of the significant research works by the speaker.

Besides that, I'd joined the first staff meeting they had with the CEO. She flew in from Kuching that morning for the general staff meeting with library's staffs to the the updates as well as summary report of 2014's progress.
During the meeting, I were to introduce myself to her in front of all the present staffs and she wished me well for my internship period hoping that both I and Pustaka will be able to learn from each other during this period of time.
It was a little scary having to talk in front of everyone but they were supportive of me by calming down my nerves during the meeting.
Aside from that, one of the job scopes of being in the Corporate Communications department is the monitoring and reviewing of customers' feedback; be it compliments  or complains received. Compliments are taken into account as well to motivate and appreciate the works or services of the staffs to the users.
These feedback are important for the organization as it can help to improve on the services and the conditions of the facilities for the comfort of the members as well as users.
I believe it is crucial to motivate the staffs as it will not only boost up their job performance but also making them feel that their presence in the organization is important.
It made me realized that in a working environment, one need constant motivation during work to achieve better work performance.
These complains and compliments; be it verbally (which the staff will record it down in a verbal customer feedback form), through voicepoint or written sources, it must be carefully evaluated and attended to according to the level of of compliment or complain.
Each complains are to be investigated by the unit leaders and they have to report on their actions in overcoming the same occurrences of complains taking place in the future.
It will then be relayed to the complainers in regards to their feedback. This is to ensure that it is fulfilling the objective of serving the local community.
For the week, I have learn a lot on how it is important to maintain the image of the organization, just as what we have learn in class!

Till next time...

Cheers!
Alyssa Chin

The final day has come!

It’s the evening of Sunday the 3rd of August and the event we have been working on for the past few months has come to a close and what a success it was. This years Curtin Open Day attracted record numbers, the sun was shining and the day ran smoothly. 

When I arrived in the morning I felt immediately the positive vibe that would echo throughout the day. My role on the day itself was to over see the Fun Zone and be the first point of contact for any problems that may arise.

I arrived early and helped Andi and Chris Kelly - the entertainment contractors,  set up for the event. Soon enough the entertainment for the event arrived. I got to see everything I had booked for the area in the flesh and watch it all come together. On the day I had primarily an events manager role as I had to make sure everything ran smoothly in my area and help bump in and bump out the event.

I followed a running sheet like the ones we first learnt to use in PR techniques and I applied knowledge from this unit and previous work experience. Before I had assisted on large scale events but never been the primary contact. The day was exciting and I found ran exceptionally smoothly - I like to think this was because of our planning. I also think this was because of the committed nature and efficiency of the volunteers, without them an event such as this would not have ran as smoothly as it did.

The animal farm, the circus performers and the roving entertainers arrived. Upon reflection I can’t believe the variety of people this event allowed me to work with, as I walked around I got to see all the components we had booked come together and the satisfaction was intense. 

Here are some photos from the event:

Roving entertainers

Bucket basketball

A little pig from the animal farm

Markets Under The Pines

The Fun Zone

Seagulls interacting with characters

The event itself was the least stressful day of the internship, although there were small problems - team work and problem solving eliminated these easily. I had to make direct calls to the electrical and organise power for a variety of acts, along with helping to smooth out a few minor hiccups with the bouncy castle.

To see an event as large as this come together was an overwhelming feeling, it was like all the meetings, ideas and  bookings all merged as one. The day drew record numbers and the reception from the general public and Curtin staff was all positive.

I found that my internship was primarily an events and project management role, but on the day I can see how vital events are to the art of public relations. Curtin Open Day helps communicate to the public Curtins values and overall image, it involves strategic employee communication and team work, it is about creating and maintaining relationships with a variety of stakeholders - which is exactly about what the core of Public Relations is all about.

Be PRompt. Be PRecise. Be PRimarily Trustworthy and consistent in every aspect.

Holiday Greetings!

As in all things in life, there comes a point where they must end. My internship at PPR will be over this week, and with it comes new insights into the world of PR and how things work. The fact is this: PR is business. Ethically correct business, targeted and meaningful, but business nonetheless. Clients and accounts need to be managed and looked after, in the same way a balance sheet in Accounts must balance.

Value is a subjective idea, but in PR value is reputation and time. A strong reputation ensures a lengthy relationship, and in turn there is the upselling that inevitably occurs, leading to increased business.  The interpersonal aspects of PR are based on consistency, awareness, and the acts of servicing clients as if they were the most important people in the world, as is expected. This may seem out of place, but if I were to use one word to describe PR as it appears to me, that word would be ‘thoughtful.’ In the way business interlinks, in the way solutions are creative, and in the way clients are kept satisfied- the essential ‘thoughtful.’

There is a lot more I could say, but stealing away the veil that hides the experience would be a crime. So I will leave you all with this.

Be everything you can be. You have 86 400 seconds in each day to paint the stars on the sky of what will be your careers, and your life.

Farewell and good luck to you all.

Yours sincerely

To succeed in the world of social media be transparent and engaging!

My usual mornings at my internship include sipping a take-away coffee whilst reading up on industry blogs and researching social media strategies. One interesting analogy I came across was through a column written by Trond Lyngbo involving the peppered moth. These moths, once white with black spots, faced a strange challenge in London during the Industrial Revolution where buildings and trees turned black. The light coloured moths could no longer hide against this backdrop, however some survived by turning black themselves.

The lesson learnt from this moth was clear – to survive you must adapt and change with your environment…otherwise you’re dead! This parallel relates to how social media has shifted and how it is imperative to adapt to these changes within the world of social media, if not, you have less of a chance in succeeding. This article greatly interested me as one of my main priorities and tasks within my internship is social media management. 

Social media is changing every day, from new hashtags to new apps, there is never a dull moment! I have already become knowledgeable on a range of mediums of social media networks that I had previously never heard of. Google +, Twitter, Facebook, Instragram, Pinterest, Weblogs, YouTube, LinkedIn and the list goes on...

I am responsible for uploading daily posts and monitoring comments for an array of our clients, which can be quite a tedious job as controlling messages on the digital world is becoming seemingly more difficult. As fourth year public relations students we are all familiar on the importance of transparency for an organisation. Essentially, social media management is all about maintaining this transparency, customer engagement and openness.

It was an exciting opportunity to finally put these years of university theory to practice. My first encounter was responding to a customer complaint on one client's Facebook page – to say the least, this customer was not afraid to speak their mind.  It was my duty to resolve this conflict by responding to the post with a resolution and reporting back to our client. As I’ve learnt through my PR studies, it is essential to deal with these issues online by being wary of censorship, as the way you are seen in the public eye with issues online can either enhance or break your reputation.

This week I was also exposed to the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and in today’s digital realm it is more important than ever and still evolving! Many of the campaigns that I’ve been working on involve SEO, by using social media as a means of multiplying the impact, essentially through creating a viral word-of-mouth newsflash. 

A new task I was given this week was to develop a campaign for The Tradewinds Hotel and more specifically their Christmas functions. The campaign will revolve around generating awareness of this venue as an ideal solution for work colleagues, social groups or family/friends to socialise during the festive season. 

That’s all from me for this week - thank you for reading!

Rachel.