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

Nervous? Excited? Or both?

Hi everyone!

This is my first time to do my internship and I'm glad that I'm able to work in an international PR firm located at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is only my first week of my internship and I would like to share my experience.

Well, I guess everyone was having the same feeling as me on the first day of internship. I'm nervous to work in a new environment yet excited to meet all the new people in the new place. Luckily, my working environment is so nice because the office and my colleagues are very nice!

On my first day of internship, the office manager gave me a briefing about the Do's and Don'ts in the office. Also, i was told that I have my own email and required to create a signature for my own email. Moreover, I need to read the office policies and do three tests about the policies. I finished on the first day as my supervisor was outstation that day. So now I have my own email and email signature. That's really cool as I feel like I'm really a PR professional now!

I met my supervisor on the second day of my internship. He was really busy so we can only meet up after lunch time and he briefed me about my job scopes. And finally I started to do my first task which is searching for bloggers' information.

On my third day of internship, besides doing the blogger list, I was asked by other department to proof read the Chinese version media release as I'm the only intern who can read Chinese. So, I tried my best to correct the grammar and the flow of the media release.

Fourth day of my internship was really exciting as I was asked to help out in an event! It was an event held in the town of Kuala Lumpur to promote the client's products. It was really a good experience for me as I learnt how to deal with the media and the roles of PR practitioners in an event. The event finished at 8.30pm. Due to the privacy policy, I can't upload the photos that I took. So sorry I can't share the photos that I took of the event!

Friday, which is the casual day, everyone in the company is allowed to wear casual! And it is the day where everyone needs to submit the time entry and claims form. I don't learn how to do the time entry yet as my supervisor didn't teach me and I have another project need to do, a competitors analysis of a client.

That's all for my first week of my internship! More to come next week! :)

Crisis Management: Being Ready 24/7

Hi Everyone!

This is my second blog contribution. Instead of pointing out my daily routine at work, let me share more on my thoughts on the topic: Crisis Mangement.

I've been working in CROWD (A boutique agency in Singapore) for more than two months now. Some days consist of routine deskwork, while other days gets a little more perked-up. 

Well, I wouldn't exactly say meeting a crisis is exciting for account managers, it is however an eye opener for me. I’d be sharing three cases of crisis management from various incidents:

The first crisis ignited by a protest from an activist group, whom publicly displayed their unhappiness towards our client for supporting animal cruelty. The activist group involved was PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), known for their strong believe in animal rights. I will not divulge too much information due to sensitivity issue. But in a nut shell, PETA did managed to get it's message thru to the media. As a result, the news featured had reflected negatively on our client's reputation. I recalled having a discussion once during International Public Relation 340 module, that activists group have obtained a higher power of influence to the public than before. Therefore, it is important for companies to work with activists group rather than going against the tides.

The second crisis happened during a sports competition. The roof of the event venue was reported leaking due to heavy downpour and poor maintenance of the infrastructure. The leakage had delayed the match schedules, as the slippery floor needed constant cleaning. This issue had caused some displeasure amongst top-notch athletes and reflected badly on the event venue. The crisis did not directly affect our agency as we were not representing the event venue. However, our agency do have to give an official statement considering that we are the media liaison for the event. During such times, it is important to draw a clear line of whose responsibilities should it be, to refrain from getting  unwanted complains. 

Last (and hopefully the least), was an internal management crisis happened just yesterday. An athlete from the Singapore's team had abruptly announced his/her departure from the team prior to an upcoming international competition. As a result, the players list needs to be restructured in order to replace the athlete's position in the competition. The athlete's departure was based on his/ her own accord, thus I would say that our client, the sports organisation, was being "blind-sided".

These three crisis that I've mentioned above might be familiar to some. There may even be some resemblance to scenarios given in previous exam papers. Through this series of unfortunate events, I've observed and learnt how to handle such sticky situations.

• It came to my realisation that crisis can never be anticipated. We are however, able to get ourselves prepared with a contingency plan. 
• In times of chaos, we need to stay calm and resilient. 

• As client's representative, we must always ensure  that our client approved the official statement given to the media. 

• High efficiency in delivering official statement to the media would reflect well on the client's reputation.

• Account manager needs to brief their client clearly on the boundaries of information being divulged to the media. 

• Lastly, committing to the job meant committing to a silent agreement to be contactable at any time of the day. This meant sacrificing your personal time even on a weekend. When crisis occurs and the call arrives, you need to be on your way.  

Well, are you up for such commitments?

Till my next post,
Candice

How to stand out from the CROWD?

Good day everyone!

This is Candice from Curtin Singapore. I am very psyched to embark on this internship journey, which also marks the last semester of my studies. Personally, I felt that the internship program was appropriately designed which allows students to display what we have learnt in the classrooms, onto real life situations. Furthermore, to gain valuable insights from the Public Relations sector which was not taught in school. After much anticipation, this is the time to get our hands dirty!

I am currently interning in a boutique agency, named CROWD. Here's four things you should know about CROWD:

1) Our passionate team of PR professionals understands the importance of engaging audiences. Dynamic and cost-effective, but creative solutions are our mantra.

2) When we say something, we do it, and we do it well. We know the media and we know what they want. Simply put, we get results.

3) Let us over-deliver and overwhelm you with what can be achieved. The results speak for themselves.

4) Our services includes PR & Communications, Social Media management, Event management, Crisis management and Influencer Marketing.

(Source: CROWD Pte Ltd)

It has been a good one month working in CROWD. For my first post, I would like to share about my personal thoughts on three skills that I have picked up along the way.

Sending press releases to media
I remembered the first time I was tasked to send out a press release to our media friends. Even though I didn't had the chance to craft the press release, (Understanding that this is only the beginning of my internship), I was given the chance to craft the email message nonetheless! It was a mixed of excitement and nervousness. Thoughts running through my mind were "What I should write?", "How should I craft an eye-catching email subject?", and not forgetting, "Am I able to impress my supervisor with my writing skills?". I wonder have anyone felt the same way before?

Time also plays a crucial part in sending out press releases as it determines news worthiness. Therefore we need to be swift and precise when sending out press releases. To assure that information are accurate and timely. 

Media Valuations
Valuations.. Valuations... I have heard about valuations briefly from my lecturers but never came about to learning the formulas to calculate the magical sum. I have never thought that calculating valuations had to be so precise till the extend of measuring newspaper coverage with a ruler! I got hooked onto calculating valuations as I felt that it gives the agency a sense of achievement for the efforts they have put in to garner features for our clients.  Also, each valuation is one step nearer to our KPIs. 

Newspaper Summaries
To be honest, reading newspapers daily is my least favourite task during this internship period. However, looking on the bright side, this helps to train my patience and attentiveness in searching for news articles. Scrutinizing on every headlines to ensure that all possible features were not missed out. Thereafter, I would have to translate these articles into simplified pointers for our clients' easy reading.

I believed the three tasks mentioned above are some common duties of a PR intern. This marks a good beginning of discovery and learning the rightful skills to be a professional public relations practitioner.

Press on, my fellow comrades!

Till then,
Candice