Could you be the next Intern at Venn?

My time at Venn is nearly up, I will complete my internship on the 29^th of May. This year on top of my university studies I followed a dream of mine to become a qualified Yoga teacher and during my training it became extremely obvious that teaching Yoga is how I want to spend the rest of my life. Because of this I have resigned from my position at Venn in order to put my full heart and soul into teaching Yoga.

I realise that what you have just read isn’t exactly related to Public Relations or to you as Public Relations students and so allow me to make the connection. Because I have given up my position the position is now open to another intern and applications are currently open!

During my time at Venn I was given many responsibilities and allowed far more creative freedom than I ever hoped I could be given as an intern. I completed tasks such as;

• Creating blog posts, Facebook posts, Instagram posts and E-news posts. All of which I was for the most part allowed to come up with my own creative ways of getting a message across through my words. 
• I helped to plan events and the themes behind them, this was really enjoyable. Helping to run the actual events was great experience as well.
•  I was given the responsibility of all the media monitoring and the maintenance of these files.
• I was given the opportunity to create my own promotion ideas in line with the opening of the new Laneway entrance, for this I chose to hold a 2 for 1 coffee deal, which ended up being quite successful. For this I was required to carry out the promotion from start to finish, which saw me handing out coffee coupons to workers one morning.
• I was given the task of creating a media release for many of the events held during my time as intern and compiling databases of relevant media publication contacts to approach with the release.

All in all I have had a BLAST to say the least and there is always plenty of opportunities to unwind after events and have more of a social time with the other Venn staff members. The other office staff are a wonderful bunch of people, all very passionate about Venn which makes it a lively office culture to be a part of.

If you wish to apply follow this link

http://www.venn.net/marketing_intern_opportunity_at_venn

Good luck to you all for finishing up your internships and completing your reports!

Amy Taylor

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Big Responsibilities

Venn is in the midst of exciting times. On the 16th of April Venn's new laneway entrance is opening and available for use. The entrance opens right into Raine Square outside the new Bank west building and will include more seating for the café to use. Currently the public has to walk down Queen Street in order to find Venn, this new entrance is going to mean that many people currently unaware of Venn are going to stumble across it.

I have been given the responsibility of creating the publicity plan for the lane way opening. This will involve me creating the plan but also putting it into action including: creating a media release with appropriate angles, approaching certain media outlets with the plan, creating a blog post, Facebook post and Instagram post about the lane way opening and coming up with a promotion on coffee or food to celebrate the opening.

At university we gain a huge amount of experience in creating PR plans, but the plan is completely useless until it’s put into action. We don’t just finish the plan and then file it away (or drop it in our unit coordinators pigeon hole) we have to then follow it and put it into action. It will be a huge learning curve to actually have to approach these media outlets but I'm looking forward to going through the motions with it all.

I’ve already come up with a few good publicity ideas but I’ll save explaining them until I actually know they are going to go through.

Amy Taylor
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Finished at the Fellowship...for now

And so, my placement at the Fellowship of Australian Writers has been completed. I won't however be leaving, Trisha (the president) as high hopes that all three interns that completed placements at the Fellowship will stay on and help out when we can. We all plan to do exactly that.

Many past writer’s that have had the pleasure of staying at the Fellowship have commented on a certain feeling you get when you visit the Fellowship. It's an inexplicable desire to be a part of the Fellowships long standing heritage and to provide them with a helping hand where you can. So I plan to stay on and help throughout the holidays.

I can’t stress enough the level of experience I have gained during my time, I have learnt invaluable lessons about initiative and for the first time saw the usefulness in many of the things I’ve learnt during my degree. I also believe that FAWWA has benefitted from having me there during this semester.
Whilst writing my report I began to see the extent of my help at FAWWA and my recommendations come from true firsthand experience, of the organisation’s needs.

FAWWA was my first experience working in a not for profit organisation. I can see the significant difference between my experiences working for a consultancy and for a cause. A career in a not for profit organisation is now something I would truly consider and enjoy, there’s a sense of motivation that comes from knowing everything you do that day in some way is helping others.

I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Fellowship for giving me this opportunity and allowing me to be a part of this wonderful organisation

The Fellowship

Through the sheer luck and coincidence of bumping into an old acquaintance I came across a cry for help. I was presented with a brief for an organisation called the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA).FAWWA is a not for profit organisation that provides support, advocacy, training and most of all friendship to Western Australia's writing community.

The once popular not for profit was founded in 1938 and at its highest point boasted over 1000 members. The organisation was thriving, constantly holding glamorous events attended by many prestigious writers and creative people. They also were putting out a well written and entertaining monthly magazine.

However for many reasons, over time the Fellowship lost its touch. Currently standing at 150 members, the president Trisha Kotai-Ewers and other members decided the fellowship was in need of young Public Relations students to volunteer and give the organisation a new youthful lease on life. I accepted this challenge and have been volunteering for over a month already, the organisation itself is on the verge of great change and it’s an exciting time to be involved with FAWWA.

The organisation can be found in Tom Collin’s house in Swanbourne. Tom Collins was a man called Joseph Furphy’s pen name. Joseph Furphy was a writer, well known for his novel ‘Such is Life’. He built the house by himself and later on the house was donated to FAWWA for use as their office.

The house is an incredible (and freezing) place to work. At lunch time all the volunteers, current writer’s in residence and anyone else who is hanging around is invited to sit in the dining room and have soup together. At this point everyone comes together and talks, jokes and shares stories which is an awesome way to exchange ideas and thoughts.

I don’t think I could have asked for a better placement, I am given tremendous responsibility and I am treated like a professional Public Relations practitioner not just a student. I am not given tasks or jobs instead I have to look for ways I can help the organisation myself and put those plans into action alone , it already has given me invaluable experience and I am sure there is plenty more to learn and my placement continues.