My time has ended... exciting experience ahead!

Unfortunately my time at 32 DSG has ended!

I learnt more than I ever thought I would from the whole experience. It was amazing to see how a PR consultancy works from the inside and see how much work and editing goes into a media release or how much time is actually put into a small four hour event. It has truly put the whole industry into perspective for me and I cannot wait for what is in store.

My supervisor was nice enough to pass my details on to a friend at Lux Events, a premier Perth Event company and I start with them next week! And here I was thinking I would have a break from working two jobs. I am very excited to have another opportunity lined up and I will take many experiences and skills that I have learned in PR over my time at 32 DSG with me.

I am left with some thoughts on the PR industry, particularly the consultancy sector.

Public Relations is crucial to any organisation, it makes me wonder why some large organisations seem to ignore this fact.

Working for a small firm I realised how important internal communication is - I can only imagine of how important it is in a large firm/organisation. It will certainly be an experience I take with me onto my new ventures - proposing new and efficient ways to communicate and store all the information necessary to run a successful organisation.

I now cannot wait to get my hands dirty in Events Management and let my PR side take the back burner for a while. I am sure I will be back as I cannot say that I have disliked any part of my internship.

All the best to everyone in their future endeavours!

Thanks for reading!

Simon

Fundraising for the Liver Foundation of WA

Another week another event!

This week one of our big clients - The Liver Foundation of WA had a fundraising event, it was all hands on deck as we prepared for the evening!

Once all the planning is in place and a venue  has been selected (Kailis Brothers Leederville) the hard task begins - finding event attendees! As with any event it is important that the attendees have strong association and commitment to the cause of the event. My job was to find people that were relevant and had the ability to benefit the cause of the Liver Foundation.

After what seemed to be thousands of emails back and forth we eventually had a strong base of attendees, high profile guests such as the Chief Scientist of WA, the Premier of WA and many more health based organisations would soon be attending the event to show their support and find out key information on the organisation and its main cause.

This event was held specifically to promote the Liver Foundation of WA's new 'Outback Track' initiative which took education, support and medical supplies to the remote areas of outback Western Australia.

The 32dsg team worked very hard and the event was extremely successful gaining full support from Colin Barnett, we also received numerous donations from many attendees. It was a welcoming experience working at a fundraising event and something that I had never experienced in the past.

Not only did I take away fantastic knowledge of how these events are run but also vital information on how the Liver Foundation of WA service the state and see the great work that they do for West Australians in remote and regional areas.

My time here at 32 Degrees South Group is wrapping up, next week is my last week but I am sure there is still some exciting things ahead!

OzApps Event!

OzApps Event!

One of the things that always drew me towards the PR industry was events, so I was very excited to find out that my internship organisation (32 degrees south group) was highly event focused. The first event on the agenda was for OzApps - a phone application awards program run across Australia that can be entered by both students and professionals alike.

My next week and a bit was solely planning for a single event that went for a mere 4 hours - I did not realise the huge amount of planning that went into a single event. My background in events has always been from a hospitality industry perspective, which is hugely focused on the organisation of the event over the course of the event day itself, with all the pre planning already taken care of.

At the end of all this planning the day was finally here, I was extremely excited to see my first PR event come to life, especially after all the time I had put into it. It was however a very long day for me, but I think that excited me even more! 

The event was to start at 6pm, however we were at the venue from 4:30pm doing all the preparations and organising the key speakers. Our key speaker for the night was Bill Tai - Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist and Chairman of the OzApp Judging Panel.

I had the opportunity to network with a variety of different people from students to successful professionals across a range of technology and business industries. Many of these contacts will certainly be helpful in the future in establishing myself with a PR career. 

The event was a huge success! It was a sell out event which was truly enjoyed by all who attended. The speaker was engaging and encouraged people to enter the competition and spoke with such enthusiasm promoting young innovation and entrepreneurship.

Now to wait till the next event where we do it all over again!

Till next time!

Simon

Do I want to do this for the rest of the foreseeable future?

The PR journey is almost at its end, the only thing standing between me and my degree was PR393.

I began my new PR career at 32 Degrees South (also known as 32dsg),  a communications consultancy based in Shenton Park. I had always seen the PR industry as highly impressionable, with the fancy office and the tailored suits worn by what seemed to be business gladiators who would manage the commercial world from behind a desk - well I got that wrong. To my surprise there was very normal people in a funky and artsy office, going to casual business lunches and organising events in a fun and innovative way; this was something I could get used to.

Theres always those initial nerves of going into a new place, but having done some previous work experience in the PR industry I knew what to expect. I was very warmly welcomed by a very diverse group of consultants that ranged in age, areas of expertise and years in the industry. I immediately soaked up all the information they threw at me, the more I could absorb the better.

The range of clients was exciting, I could not wait to get to work. There was Omnivore - a french food festival, D&AD - a design and advertising awards organisation, OzApps - a phone application competition and The Liver Foundation of W.A.

Luckily for me, I did not have to choose and was able to work on all of them. OzApps and D&AD were first up, my task was to source media and key department contacts from Australian and New Zealand universities so that the awards could be introduced to students. Before I knew it there was hundreds of contact details that I had sourced from a range of universities, the next challenge was getting in contact with them all to introduce the idea. I had never thought that a simple telephone call would be the main use of contact in the PR industry - I guess email had always just seemed the more formal and logical approach to me in the past.

32dsg was highly focused on events, which was always something I had enjoyed doing in both my studies and part-time work in the hospitality industry. It was shocking to see the difference in how events are handled between the PR and the hospitality industries and the different approaches that are used. Months of planning go into a mere three to four hours of an event, which was something I was not familiar with.

The experience so far has been a huge learning curve and I look forward to what is ahead of me.

So, do want to do this for the rest of the foreseeable future? 

I most certainly do!