It is time to bid farewell

On the last week of my internship, I was given the opportunity to attend a media interview between The Edge Singapore and Subaru. 

My colleague and I headed down to Subaru’s office where the interview was conduct. It was a great experience as I managed to see what a real media interview is like and I got the chance to interact with one of the editor.

I remember clearly in Media Relations 250 we were given an assignment to prepare our “client” for a media interview by coming up with a number of questions that could possibly be asked my the media. Similarly, my colleague had to prepare a list of questions to prepare the spokesperson of Subaru for the interview.

The interview lasted for almost an hour and everything went well. The interview was conducted on Monday, and on Wednesday, we received a call and was notified that the interview would be covered in next week’s (this week) paper. I was never expected coverage to be obtained so quickly. Just for everyone’s info, The Edge Singapore is a weekly publication.

Just incase if anyone is interested in the interview, please find below the coverage.

Another big opportunity that I was given was a chance to pitch to Nikkei, and I am glad that I managed to secure an interview with them for Subaru. The only down side is that the interview would be conducted this week and I would not be able to witness it happening.

3 months just flew by and it is still so surreal that my internship has come to an end. Last Friday, 30^th May 2014, marked the end of my internship journey with Rice Communications and it definitely has been an enjoyable and interesting one.

During these 3 months I have definitely learned a great deal that would be useful for me to continue in the PR industry. I am glad to have been given this opportunity to join Rice Communications as an intern.

Cheers,

Sheryl

Day and life in Craft!

Hello Everyone! I'm Sherrill and this is my first blog entry ever since I started my internship with Craft Communications in Singapore. I have been with Craft for close to two months, and if I have to use a word to describe how I'm feeling, it would be 'Fulfilling'.

Craft Communications is a boutique public relations, marketing and social media consultancy that specializes in travel, hospitality, food and luxury lifestyle. Craft also specializes in reaching out to the China media market as well (Source: http://www.craftc.com/)

Here is where we are located, we occupy one of the offices inside! 

As seen by the door, with the label "Craft Communications". A cozy little environment we have there! 

• Liaising with overseas media

This also brings me to my point that I'm also mainly involved in communicating with the China media. I started out translating English press documents into Chinese language, before proceeding to phone pitching to the China media and trying to interest them in our stories. I had to suggest them with new story angles that they would be interested in featuring our client in their magazines, newspapers or various publications. I mainly liaised with Bei Jing and Shang Hai media, initially, it was very difficult and challenging trying to phrase my sentences in the Chinese language because I'm unsure of certain terms. I was afraid that I would give the wrong information and causing further confusion! But after guidance from my boss and colleagues, I manage to get the hang of it and got used to it eventually.

• Drafting Social Media Entries

Besides working with overseas media, I was also incharge of drafting Social Media entries for the two of the accounts I'm currently handling. I have to upload them on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Weibo (China's version of Twitter). It was very tedious drafting out such posts weekly, because I always have to generate new content to interest our followers. Previously, I felt that uploading social media posts are one of the easiest task, but when I have to handle them, it could take me an entire day trying to draft out 12 entries.

• Follow ups, media clippings, etc...

Occasionally I would have to do follow-up calls with the local media after we have sent them a press release, checking if they are interested in running a story. Also, I would clip the coverage that features our client, calculate the media value and PDF it nicely before sending it out to the client. I figured that most of these task have to be done meticulously and neatly, there are no rooms for mistakes!

I'm thankful and happy to be part of the Craft team, I do hope to learn a lot more in the subsequent months and to see more positive results! Till my next entry! :)

A day out of the office!

Over the past few weeks, I have been focusing and collating information and quotations from various hotels as one of our clients, is intending to host a breakfast seminar for 100 people here in Singapore.

This opportunity of planning an event excited me as I find it interesting! After listing out and collating the different proposals and prices, we sent them to the client for their final decision. After much consideration, the client decided to go with Shangri-La Hotel, located at Orchard.

Last week, my colleague and I headed down to Shangri-La, to do a site visit, and at the same time, discussed with the events’ coordinator on the layout and necessities needed for the event. The contract was then sent to us the next day. After discussion and confirmation with our client, we finalized the contract and secured the location!

This was the ballroom that I did the site visit at and booked. 

(Source of photo: Shangri-La Singapore)

Another thing in relation to this that I am working on is the checklist. Basically, the checklist consists of items needed for the seminar, its due date, and who would be responsible for the item. Doing this, reminds me of projects I have done in school. Next thing on the list is to book shuttle buses for the client’s guests to transport them from one hotel to another.

As smooth as it may sound, there were plenty of ups and downs while planning and securing a location. As there would be a 4-day event held at MBS during that period, most of the guest would be attending that event and would be staying at MBS. Our client initially wanted a hotel that is located closer to MBS as it would be more convenient for the guest to head over for the seminar.

I faced plenty of difficulties while searching for a location as most hotels located near MBS were all booked out during that period, and we would be placed on waitlist and would only be notified a month before the event date. Another difficulty encountered was the clash of choices. There were some locations that we felt was perfect for the event, however the client rejected it, as they did not like the venue. I then searched for more venues slightly further away and managed to come to a conclusion with the client and secured the booking with Shangri-la Hotel eventually. 

Before heading to Shangri-la Hotel, my colleague and I travelled to parts of Singapore to deliver books from another client to various media publications. This was my first experience going around delivering items to the media. However, I was disappointed, as I did not get to experience meeting and speaking to the media as we were only allowed to drop our items at the front desk counter. I feel that meeting and speaking to the media would give me a better experience and understanding the PR industry better.

This is me carrying the items that were delivered to the media

Nonetheless, I believe I would have another opportunity to expose myself to the PR industry and learn from these experiences.

Till then,

Sheryl

One month in!

Hi all!

This is my very first post since I started internship. My name is Sheryl and I’m from Curtin Singapore.

It has been a month plus since I started my internship programme with Rice Communications Pte Ltd, and I have been enjoying myself! Just a little bit about my company, Rice Communications is a PR agency that provides strategic, insightful and customized professional communications services.

This is the logo of the agency I'm interning at. More information of Rice Communications can be found here: http://www.ricecomms.com

I cannot believe time is passing so quickly. I am very thankful for having superiors who are patient at answering my questions, clearing my doubts, and giving me work one at a time. As I am new to this industry, it is something that I absolutely need.

Even though it has been only a month plus, I have definitely learnt a great deal. There are plenty of similarities and plenty of differences between working in the real world and drafting up a PR plan and doing projects in school.

The similarities between school and working are the parts of a PR plan and other projects I have done in school. For example, press releases, media list, media pitching, media callings, media training, and many more!

However, through this internship experience, I have learnt and seen how real media pitching, media calls, media interviews, creating a media list, sending out of press releases and many more are done! Something I never got to do while creating PR plans and pitches for my projects in school, and it has been a real eye opener.

Initially, I felt that doing media calls is the scariest thing to do! What if I say something wrongly? What if I gave the wrong information? Or what if I could not answer their questions? But now, after doing a number of calls, I am kind of used to it.

Another thing that is relatively new and that I have learnt at Rice Communications is media monitoring. I have heard this term numerous times by different lecturers but I have never done it hands on. Doing media monitoring daily allows me to be updated about the happenings in my surroundings and also allows me to further understand the relationship of the news with the current clients. Doing media monitoring is to also keep a look out for any coverage or mentions of the clients.

The things I have learnt so far will definitely help me in future if I continue working in the PR industry. I am glad I took up this internship as it has taught me a great deal, and I am certain I will learn much more in the next two months. Because of this internship, I believe I have learnt to manage my time better, juggle my commitments, and appreciate other little things in life.

Till then,

Sheryl