Keep your finger on the pulse.........

Hi All,

If I had to value all the lessons I have learned in my placement so far, one of the most valuable would be the importance of always keeping your "finger on the pulse". This lesson is all about energy, motivation and personal drive.

My boss and mentor, Lisa Garside, six months ago on my first day at St Pat's stressed the importance of always keeping your "finger on the pulse". When I first started, back then, I did not really understand the importance of this. To keep your finger on the pulse, simply, means to keep up to date and stay in tune with everything that is going on; professionally and personally, as once you lose touch of what is happening projects begin to fail.

The reason I speak of  this 'pulse' phenomenon is because yesterday night was a prime example of what could go wrong if you lose touch. Last night was St Pat's Rack,  second ever,  'Jazz Themed Sales Night' and, as our team has been very stretched with commitments, very little time was placed into marketing and organizing the event.

As a result of the little energy we placed into the event, we expected, that very few people would show up to the event and it would be a non-event....... Surprise!!!!! It was busy as hell and turned out to be incredibly hectic and one of our biggest sales days;  raising over $1500. As we did not have our finger on the pulse we were shocked and for the whole night we were running around like headless chooks; making sales and organising food and drinks for our guests. It was extremely lucky that we had an extremely dedicated team of volunteers to assist us in all our matters.

In the end the night did run smoothly, however  it was a reality check for me which taught me the importance if keeping the finger on the pulse for all projects; not just the big ones, as it can be the small events that pull you apart.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

Peace

Jamie Lobo

First taste of CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Howdy doody everyone,

My name is Elliott Telfer and I'm back for my third blog and I dare say my most interesting and entertaining. For those who don't know me or are unaware of what I'm doing for my Internship, I am an events intern for RugbyWA/Emirates Western Force.

My main duties revolve around game days, I come in 5-6 hours before kick off, set up, prepare, and rehears for the 92 minutes of stress. Before the game I do everything from setting up the player bench to making the final checks of the team line ups before passing it on to Fox Sports. During the game I sit in the control room and act on EWF's behalf, if the venue has a problem, I relay it back to RugbyWA, sort out a resolution and consult the venue.

On the Saturday just gone (13-4-13) in our match v The Crusaders, the venue experienced its worst issue to date. Pitch invaders. not just one, or two, but five. Thankfully only one of which was prancing around in his birthday suit, the remaining four choosing comical costumes. Due to security being overwhelmed by the number of invaders, two of the remaining four invaders were taken down by a player and a member of staff from the crusaders (possibly their best work of the night). This is where it gets interesting, for obvious reasons, I am limited as to what I can and cannot say, but what I can say however as what a headache this has been for the club. The first of the five invasions happened soon after half time, however the remaining four happened in the final five minutes, when the result of the game was very much in the balance, EWF holding on to a narrow two point lead. Play was held up for several minutes as the intruders were dealt with, as a result all momentum from the game had vanished. on Full Time, the EWF defence proved too good and held on for the win (THANK GOD). 

The Crusaders, disgruntled with the fact that there was five pitch invaders, compounded by their team loss, lodged a formal complaint to SANZAR (the governing body of Rugby Union) about the management and state of nib Stadium. As a result, not only does nib Stadium come under the microscope, but so does RugbyWA. Now I can't give details of this enquiry, but I can say how eye opening it is to be involved in PR crisis management, the whole organisation is adapting PR crisis management principles, I'm just glad I know how to handle this situation!

I wish I could reveal more to you guys, I may be able to in the coming weeks, but until then take a look at this statement from RugbyWA on the matter, it may open your eyes a little bit more on why I am being so tight lipped. http://www.westernforce.com.au/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/tabid/905/ArticleID/8860/Default.aspx
I had great hopes for this blog, being able to share my experience with you, but I have to say its hard finding something to say when you aren't allowed to speak about anything!

Thanks for reading guys, best of luck!

Elliott Telfer

14284115

THE END OF THE BEGINNING...

Work experience and the pressure to attain it has always seemed like a head ache. There is not denying it, Public Relations is a interesting role... even after almost three years of studying 'PR' I didn't know what to expect in the real working world. 

PR Professional Practice has been a daunting concept since the commencement of my PR degree, I knew it was coming from the very beginning and admittedly I thought it was going to be impossible. Finding and approaching an organisation all on my own!? I have to say, looking back at the last semester and my twenty days at zero2hero, I have learnt more about the world, business,the not-for-profit industry, event coordination, Public Relations and people than in my time at University. 

This truly feels like the start of something good, as I set to graduate this year I will venture out into the big bad world and attempt to find myself a real public relations role and take all my amazing experience with me! 

Opportunities and Open Doors

I remember writing in my first blog that government work might not be for me and I wanted to try something in the not-for-profit sector. Well, it’s funny how things turn out. One of the fellow members in the programs and services department asked for my input on a survey designed for young girls to assess their physical activity levels and potential qualms they have about exercising. I was also given the proposal to look over to be able to better assess the survey and whether or not it was meeting the objectives that were set out. I fell in love with it! It was the first time since starting my placement at DSR that I was genuinely excited.

 I read through the proposal several times, I even took it home and made notes that covered the entire margin with ideas and ways I thought this project could be improved. My public relations creative juices were flowing and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet with the director of the organisation that will be implementing the program in schools next year. He too could sense my enthusiasm, it may have had something to do with the fact that I could barely sit still and my hand gestures were particularly over the top! He asked me to be the face of the program in the interim with the potential to be the full time co-ordinator in a few months. I couldn’t believe that I had found a program that embodied everything I was passionate about, exercise, health, nutrition and body image! Not only that it also made me realise that this is what I want to do in my career, I want to have a close relationship with communities and be involved in the creation of websites, the implementation of proposals and communicate messages in person not just via a media release or a press conference.

 

Lucy Morrison

Let's get ready for Mental Health Week!

Coming up really soon in October is Mental Health Week (MHW) from the 7^th to 13^th. This has been a project that I have been working on for a couple of weeks in the lead up to the events happening around Perth. Due to the fact that Relationships Australia (WA) is involved with promoting good mental health and healthy relationships MHW has been an event that we can utilize to show the West Australian public more on what we are doing. Through my work placement here I’ve realized that most young people have never heard about Relationships Australia before and the work that they do, which will hopefully be changing soon.

One of the pieces that I have been working on is the creation of a 10cm x 10cm advertisement for the West Australian newspaper. We were approached by the West to be apart of their mental health week feature and to provide a piece to go alongside the advertisement. I was given the task to contact the person in charge of the feature at the West and find out all the details on what was needed for the advertisement as well as how much it would cost us. This task gave me the opportunity to practise my phone and communication skills with a party outside of the organization (which was slightly nerve-wracking).

After I was given all the information I was now able to begin creating the advertisement and writing piece for the feature. I’ve never created an advert so it was a pretty useful tool to be able to use Adobe InDesign to create the entire thing. Let me just say how useful this program is (put your hand up if you’ve used this program and have just found it amazingly useful) in creating brochures, pamphlets and now advertisements.

For the writing piece I was given the task of promoting a new program that Relationships Australia was introducing during MHW. This writing piece was similar to a media release as it was short and to the point. There was a large amount of checking back and forth with the person in charge of the program to get the piece finished, which just showed me the importance of not just giving information but also writing it in a way which is non-offensive and in line with our organization.

If you've got time look out for the mental health week feature in the West for Relationships Australia.

I’m almost finishing my work placement here so I’ve been thinking about all the things that I’ve learnt from it. There’s actually been so much going on that I haven’t had a chance to think about it but it’s been good. Good luck to all the final reports everyone!

Angela

Through a different perspective

Hi everyone!

The end of the semester is coming to a close soon. I hope everyone has been having a fantastic time at their placements and if you're already at the last league of it, keep pushing forward and strive for excellence!

Previously in my last post, I talked about the development of a Kid's Camp The Global Good Foundation was holding at the end of April in Kwinana. I'm back to give you an update of how it went. The camp is catered to children who have been affected by all degrees of domestic violence. Throughout the 4 days at camp, the kids had a schedule of full on fun activities, from building towers with marsh mellows and spaghetti to face painting to talent night and tug of war, the values implemented in these activities were of benefit to the kids. It taught them to build confidence and trust in themselves and others, to be able to engage in team work and to understand that speaking out is a vital point in breaking the cycle of domestic violence. Accompanying the campers and staff members were the television crew from The Project on Channel 10 who filmed the campers during the course of the camp. They had come to do a short segment on the organization, the ongoing camp and to interview the founder of the organization, Tenille Bentley and my supervisor Tanya Dupagne. 

I attended the last morning of the camp which was the 21st April, a Saturday. I was amazed to see by how energetic the kids were that morning and how there were so many parents who had taken their time off to spend time at the camps with their children. It was so much fun getting the opportunity to finally interact with the children and their parents. What scared me the most was realizing that these children never behaved the part of how a survivor of such a trauma would. They were free spirited kids who were caught up with the simplistic idea of having fun just like how all kids are. Being around them made me feel like I was a kid again, the innocent perspective was heartwarming. I know it is rather silly of me to think as such, but it gave me deeper insight and helped me comprehend that this was one of the reasons why domestic violence was such a frightful topic and all the efforts I had put into my work was for a good cause. If these kids were out on the streets, you would never get the impression that something was going on behind closed doors. 

Being an intern at The Global Good Foundation thus far has been rewarding, I have learnt so much about PR and at the same time, picked up on several other lessons about life. The PR perspective has stretched across from being a technician to a practitioner. It is truly a pity that my internship is coming to a close so soon. 

At the end of it all, my supervisor had me put some quotes in a document filled with pictures as momentos for the camp participants and staff members and I am currently working on editing a video for the camp.

Please watch the television segment of the camp segment if you can :)

http://theprojecttv.com.au/video.htm?movideo_p=39695&movideo_m=184488

Until next time!

Denise Danielle Lee

14672082

Bentley Campus