Hectically Busy yet Refreshing

It's been a long time since my last post. Even though it's already in August, I can still remember my most hectic week of internship. Do you still remember my previous post about me having a ‘surprise’? (No? here’s the reminder. I was asked to write MD a speech for the Hari Raya Goodies Presentation Ceremony). This post will be the part 2 of the ‘surprise’ post. Well, I wasn’t given another surprise. What I mean by saying part 2 is the Hari Raya Goodies Presentation Ceremony.

Planning and organising an event is not an easy job, a lot of preparation was needed. Since the event was a collaboration with the Welfare Department, a lot of communication was required between us (my colleagues and I) and the officers from the Welfare Department. Other than the officers, we also had to contact the VIPs, journalists, hamper wrapping service provider, florist, and so on. Just like what we have learnt in the PR Techniques unit, I had to prepare the event running schedule, a speech for the MD, media release, make sure the venue was set up well, and so on. This was really a good opportunity for me to put the knowledge I have into practice.

On the day of the event, me as the PR of the hotel was responsible to receive and entertain the journalists. I was nervous because I had no idea what to talk with them. However my colleagues were with me and they have helped me a lot. In the beginning, I thought (and I’ve always thought like that) a PR could only talk about the company or client with the journalists or media but I was proved wrong. I noticed that you can talk about other topics with them other than your company or client. One of the journalists told me that they would feel uncomfortable and would not be so impressed with you if all what you talked was about the company or client, hence ruining the relationship. Gratefully everything went well and once again it proved that good communication skills are essential to maintain good relationship with the media outlets.

Being a PR professional who represents a company/client, our attitudes and the way we communicate are very important. Do you know perseverance and patience are also one of the communication skills? Before the day of the event, I had to call the VIPs (or their secretaries) to confirm whether they were coming to the event. Making the calls was not a big deal, not reaching and getting answers from them were the problems. So I had to keep calling until I got the confirmation. Calling for confirmation really requires perseverance and patience.

Below are some of the photos taken on the day of the event. 

The goodies/hampers that were given to needy.

 Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development giving her speech.

Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah presenting a hamper to an attendee.

Chang Song Enn

15597157 / 7E1A8451

Hari Raya Version of Santa Claus

Throwback to the Hari Raya celebration in July!! As a Malaysian, I grew up experiencing all kinds of festivals celebrated by different races in Malaysia. However it was my first time celebrating Hari Raya (a Muslim festival) with non-friends. (Don’t we normally celebrate festivals with our friends or at least those whom we know only?)  The hotel that I had my intern with has a lot of loyal/frequent Muslim customers as well as government officials and agencies.  Therefore the hotel has decided to offer a simple expression of gratitude for their support by sending them gifts and greeting cards. This was also to strengthen the relationship between the customer and the hotel. That’s when I started to feel like I was a Santa Claus. Well, a Hari Raya version of Santa Claus (instead of the one we see during Christmas).

A week before Hari Raya, my colleague and I sorted out a list of frequent Malay customers, both local and Bruneians. After that, we started to prepare the Raya gifts (hampers and cheese cakes) and greeting cards. When everything was done preparing, my colleague and I went out to deliver the gifts and greeting cards. For non-Mirians and Bruneians, we only delivered hampers and greeting cards.

The gifts prepared for our loyal Muslim customers.

As far as I know, Santa Claus delivers Christmas presents with the help of flying reindeer. So I’m not sure whether he has ever encountered the problem that I faced. Delivering greeting cards to our customers who are not in Miri required postage but I totally had no idea about the postage rate. (I believe I am not the only one who doesn't know about the postage rate as we rely more on e-mails nowadays, which is not good). However with the help of my colleague, I managed to fulfill the task.

The domestic postage rate - RM0.80.

Facts proved that the younger generation like me is relying too much on the technological but still there are some things that are required to be sent by post/mail. Thus I call this a lesson learned. We as PR professionals, it is very important for us to have flexibility in communication.

Chang Song Enn

15597157 / 7E1A8451

Not Stated in the Job Scope? Definitely Not An Excuse

Time flies as though we were in a time machine. Who else agrees with me? In a blink of an eye, it’s already the third week of July which also means that I've been working as a PR professional for two weeks.

Media monitoring has been my daily task now. The first thing I do every morning after I arrive in the office - switch on the computer, open the hotel’s Facebook page, check and reply the inbox messages and comments. This isn't boring as the inquiries I get are always different. What kind of bores me is reading several copies of newspaper every day. I have to search for the news that is related to or about the hotel. Cut, paste and file it (if there’s any). Other than the news of Dynasty Hotel, I also have to do a competitor analysis - look for news about other hotels in Miri to analyse what they have done. However this does not happen every day. This kind of news just doesn't appear in the paper every day, which means I do end up getting nothing sometimes.

Just when I thought my second week was going to be just like my first week of working, here came a surprise! Okay, I was shocked instead of surprised. I was asked to prepare a speech for our Managing Director for the upcoming event, Hari Raya Goodies Presentation. I know there is an event next week and I know the MD is going to give a speech but little did I know I had to prepare the speech. I have written speeches before but none of them was a “real” one, they were all for assignments. I totally did not expect I would be given this task as it was not stated in my job scope by the supervisor earlier. I worried too much thus I have spent three days to write a speech (what a shamefully long time to write a speech). Gratefully, my supervisor did not reproach me for spending that long but she did point out my shortcomings. She also told me she has helped to do some editing (I believed it was a lot though she said some).  

Anyway, it is good that my shortcomings have been pointed out so I would know what and where I should improve on. I have also learnt to be prepared for any task assigned to me. “Not stated in the job scope” is definitely not an excuse for not doing the task well. 

Chang Song Enn

15597157 / 7E1A8451

Better Than I Imagined

Hello peeps!

Here comes my first PR393 blog post. I'm finally doing my placement at Dynasty Hotel, Miri after a long preparation (reading the modules, finishing the summative quizzes, sending out CV to a number of companies, requesting for placement approval, you name it).

After the first week of my internship, I would say, everything is better than I imagined. I have imagined how the working environment would be, how would my supervisor and colleagues treat me (in a bad way of course), what tasks would I be given and so on. So just like anyone of you, I was so nervous and worried on my first day of working. I was afraid that I could not get along well with my colleagues. However my first day went well, so as the next few days. On the first day, I was brought to every department in the hotel and my supervisor introduced everyone to me. I couldn't remember all their names but I am still working on it (as a PR of the hotel, it’s good to know everyone of them right?).

There are five people in the department that I’m placed in. Unlike what I have imagined (I thought they would treat me like an office girl, asking me to run errands), they are so amazingly friendly and helpful. They have helped me to adapt quickly to the working environment. They have taught me a lot.

My first week started off with doing media clipping, taking event/banquet order, communicating with every department regarding the upcoming events, designing flyers, brochures and table menus, being a translator, write for the website and social media page.

A sneak peak of the still-in-progress brochure

Working as a PR professional, I've realized the importance of professional communication as I was taught in the PR units as I have to deal with different kinds of guests every day and there are non-stop incoming phone calls all-day-long.

I’m glad that I have the opportunity to work as a PR professional, not just getting the PR knowledge in class. A week has passed and I’m getting in love with what I’m doing now as a PR professional. I’m looking forward to see what else I will be exposed to for the rest of my one month internship.

Chang Song Enn

15597157 / 7E1A8451