Final thoughts and recommendations for the Fellowship

Hi everyone,
Officially, my placement with the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA came to an end last week. However, I will be staying on to assist in the management of the Mattie Furphy House opening discussed in my last post.

Looking back on my time with FAWWA, I believe I have learnt a lot about the practice of public relations in the real world. I was able to complete a number of tasks which had a direct correlation to what has been taught at university. This included the production of regular media releases, the implementation of more effective clerical systems, event planning concerning the Mattie Furphy House opening and a wide range of other tasks.

I would like to think that the experience has been not only beneficial to me, but also to FAWWA now and into the future. As outlined in my report,I have listed a number of public relations recommendations aimed at helping the organisation meet its short and long-term goals. These included suggestions to broaden FAWWA's membership base my targeting young writers. A high school literary prize and workshops for teenagers were some of the recommendations.

I also thought FAWWA could contribute to local newspapers through the production of a weekly book review column - something which would help gain exposure within the community. In turn, this would help attract new members and increase FAWWA's current revenue stream.

My final recommendation centres around the creation of a public relations handbook FAWWA would use to guide its future strategies and programs. This document would include an understanding of the organisation's communication objectives, key message and a breakdown of each individual's role with FAWWA.

Thanks for reading,

Dean Stacey.

Two for one - Event Planning and Media Engagement

Hey everyone, 
While my official 20-day placement with the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA) will soon come to an end, there is still one more major task which I'm helping to implement.

The Fellowship is busily preparing for the opening of Mattie Furphy House - a retreat for visiting guest writers where workshops and classes are held. The opening is set down for October 17 and represents one of the most significant events in the Fellowship's long history.

Among the distinguished guests attending are Heritage and Local Government Minister John Castrilli, Minister for Culture and Arts John Day, Governor General Malcolm McCusker, as well as numerous dignitaries from the Department of Culture and Arts, local government representatives, university professors and other industry professionals. 

The timing of the Mattie Furphy opening provides an opportunity for me to practice event planning skills which I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to complete. So far I've been responsible for creating an electronic invitation, helping to organise catering and drafting a media release. 

Due to the number of high-profile dignitaries who will be attending, FAWWA identified an opportunity for media coverage. This is an area the organisation is largely unfamiliar with.   

Next week I will send out a media release to the West Australian Newspaper, Sunday Times, Western Suburbs Weekly and Claremont Post in the hope of securing a photographer for the opening. It is our aim to have photos of the opening published within the newspapers' social pages. 

All things going smoothly, I'm pretty confident that this will happen because of the number of high-profile people who will be attending. This should make the event attractive to the newspapers. 

Thanks for reading. 

Dean Stacey

Behind the scenes - media engagement

Hi fellow work placement students,
Today's blog entry outlines some of what I've been up to in the past month working at the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA). Specifically, I'll take this opportunity to detail the responsibilities I've had in relation to media interaction.
Early in my placement I was asked to prepare several media releases promoting upcoming writing workshops hosted by FAWWA. This media releases were distributed to community newspapers throughout the western suburbs.
The template I created for the media releases is now on file and will be reproduced in coming weeks as we gear up for the special opening of Mattie Furphie House - a writers' retreat in Swanbourne. The official opening of the house is set down for October 17 and preparations are in full swing. The Governor General Mr Malcolm McCusker will be among the special guests attending. His presence provides a unique opportunity for FAWWA to receive media coverage in the West Australian Newspaper. As I'm writing this blog, I'm also preparing a media release which will be distributed in the hope of securing a photographer for the event. It is hoped we will have photos of the event published in the newspaper's social section after the opening.
Interacting with the media has formed only part of what my overall responsibilities with FAWWA, but it is still a very interesting aspect of my placement. 

Dean Stacey

Working towards 100% satisfaction

Last week i designed a feedback form to be distributed to FAWWA's members , the idea behind this was to find out what they most enjoy about being a member and which benefits are most important to them. This information can then be used to improve the membership and make it more appealing to the public.

The membership fees are one of FAWWA's biggest revenue sources and so it is important to try and maintain the current membership numbers, attract more new members and more than anything make sure the members are happy with their relationship with FAWWA.

This week i recieved back many filled out feedback forms. I began to collate the data and responses in excel, even though this is a PR internship i found that my marketing research experience and skills came in incredibly handy whilst doing this.

I have found in other occasions that not only my PR skills but my marketing skills also have been greatly put into practice during my internship, which i am very happy about. I feel that sometimes the line between PR and Marketing tasks can blur and it is sometimes hard to distinguish which category a skill or task would fall under.

In my opinion putting into action plans that may help to increase membership can be looked at as marketing, because it is involved in raising profit or revenue. However if these plans involved creating better communication between the organisation and it's members , then that is probably classed as PR. Are there any marketing+PR majors that agree/disagree?

Anyway, once all the data is collected i plan to create a small report to give to FAWWA's president. From this report i hope to help her decide on how to improve areas that the members aren't 100% happy with. Which should mean some more positive changes to be put in place by the other interns and I.

The 5 rules of having the governor of WA attend your event

This week the other interns and i were given the run down on an event we will have to plan and it's no small, casual event.

FAWWA operates out of two heritage buildings. One is named Tom Collins house (after Joseph Furphy's pen name) and the other is Mattie Furphy house (Joseph Furphy's wife). We have been put in charge of the official opening of Mattie Furphy house. The event will be attended by FAWWA members, committee members and the governor of Western Australia.

The first thing we encountered was the requirements of those running the event the governor is attending. There are actual, formal rules that must that you have to abide by and so i've collected some of the most interesting ones to present to you all;

The 5 rules of having the governor attend your event

1. You must greet the governor at his car.

2. You must play a certain number of bars from the Australian national anthem upon the governors arrival.

3. You must refer to him as his excellency when you first greet him and then governor from then onwards.

4. If you wish for the governor to make a speech , you must write the speech for him and submit it to be approved by him.

5. After the governors attendance has been approved for your event, you must have an official invitation sent to him three months in advance.

I found this really interesting , so i thought i would share it in my blog. I had no idea that there would be these sorts of requirements. It's also going to be a little bit nerve wrecking making sure these requirements are fulfilled!