An invaluable experience

Before I started my internship, I was positive I wanted to work in-house PR. However, after my time at Go Communications in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia I have learned some important lessons about effective public relations, and I will definitely consider working in a consultancy when I graduate. 

Some things I learned from my internship in Kuala Lumpur;

1. Team work - Throughout my degree, almost every unit has included some kind of group work. I saw first hand the benefits this could have when at the Go Communications office, where my team often brainstormed ideas at lunch or called a team meeting to discuss ideas for a client or upcoming event. The reason this worked so well, was because in these meetings everyone was given an equal say, and everyone’s ideas were considered. PR is often about engaging with a large audience, so interacting with your team - who all have different views - will help you achieve this.

Image - Fradley Croft

2 - Thinking outside the box - One event required my team to get creative for a Halloween-theme launch. This taught me how to bring a little fun into public relations work.

Image - Growing Up With A Disability

3 - Don’t get overprotective of your work - I had more than one idea knocked back during my internship, and this helped me view my work impartially, and edit it without restraint. I think we all get a bit overprotective of our ideas and work, especially when we put a lot of time and effort into it. But to be an effective PR practitioner, I understood sometimes it’s better to step away and try something new sometimes.

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4 - Think about how your message could be received by a range of people - I think growing up in Australia I have a relatively good idea about how people might interpret a message. For example, when watching the news, I can see a headline and predict how a number of people will respond to it. I now know I definitely took this knowledge for granted, because interning in a different country, I understand you must thoroughly research the cultural values of an audience.

5 - Take advantage of your seniors - As I learned writing my first press release, even though you've done it countless times at university, doesn't mean you know everything. Ask your supervisors any questions you have (It's better to ask too much than make the mistake). They know so much more than you do, and they can help guide you in the right direction. 

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6. Don't take tasks for granted - Not everything you're given is glamorous or a hard-hitting press release. That doesn't mean it's not equally as important, you can still take important lessons away from it. And if you do it well, it proves your commitment to the job. 

 Image - The Office, NBC

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7. Good Attitude - I can't stress enough how important it is to have a positive attitude to everything you do. This relates somewhat to the 6th point, but if you have a good attitude it will not only make the task easier, but it shows in the quality of your work. 

Image - Positively Present

And now I'm back in Perth, and it's almost time to start looking for jobs. I worked with some fantastic people at Go Communications, and I have a wide range of work to add to my portfolio. My internship has not only further honed my writing and communication skills, but it has allowed me to broaden my understanding of PR and how it relates to different countries and cultures. I would highly recommend future students to consider interning overseas. 

Whitney Slater

Curtin Bentley 

A Big Help. .

I know that I have now done one blog too many but I felt like there was so much more to share about my experiences in the 'real world'. 

Following the oZAPP Award Roadshow I checked off another step in the PR plan I established at the beginning of my placement. The 2012 oZAPP Awards is a competition following on from last years WApp Awards. Both competitions have the same concept, however the competition is now national and is open to all states throughout Australia. 

Following the launch of the winning concept from last years awards, I developed a media release and fact sheet and distributed it to all Western Australian media outlets. Tim and Leon, the winners from last years awards, were at the roadshow event and once again I was able to meet the people I had been writing about so often. Their app, the Big Help Mob, is a fun, creative approach to community service, attracting hundreds of people who had never volunteered their time before, to helping out causes throughout WA. The ABC news report on their app can be found here. For more information on the WApp Awards and the winning app click here. 

Official oZAPP's photo: Left to right: Leon Delpech, Bill Tai and Tim Kenworthy

Once the media release was completed and sent out, my next task was to update the national educational institution database and develop an information pack on the awards that could be distributed to all Universities and TAFE's around the state to generate awareness among university students. These information packs included a cover letter, fact sheet, media release, social media links and poster. 

I also had the chance to challenge myself by writing a package for a client. I spent a day researching and developing pages on the company, the experience of the team and the the proposed establishment. This experience taught me that my writing strength is in PR media and plans and it is a lot less natural for me to write documents of this calibre. Throughout my placement I had the chance to work on them twice and my supervisor sat down with me and went over the way she altered them for the client. I learnt that it is definitely a lot harder for me to get this work out but I definitely want to practice and learn how to do it for the future. 

Being my last week the work load was massive as I worked through to have everything completed! I took out the PR plan i developed at the beginning and had a meeting with my boss about the next steps and how the PR could be altered to attract a larger audience. I also had the opportunity to experience the planning, execution and aftermath of a radio interview that took place and how feedback is given to the client, and social media comments responded to. 

The experience working on this event has been amazing! It has taught me that you can't always anticipate the reaction of the media or the public and that sometimes your original plans need to be altered in order to gain greater success. The concept of the awards is incredible and it focuses in on a developing industry, however for some reason the public and media's interaction has been limited and hasn't taken off as anticipated. I have also learnt that every client is different and you have to speak and deal with them in a way that shows them how integral each part of the plan is without undermining them. On top of all these lessons, one of the biggest lessons I had was at our goodbye drinks. The social media coordinator was on Facebook and the alarms went off and within seconds all three people were on the phone and social media responding to the issue. The lesson: there is no weekend for social media and it is essential that you monitor it at all times. PR does not sleep and you never know what can happen out of the office! 

It may be the end of my placement but its not the end of my experiences at 32DSG. I am staying on a day a week to see how the oZAPP Awards pan out and have been assisting here and there, taking on every learning experience that I can! 

Job Opportunity

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone is travelling along well at their placements.

The company I’m completing my placement with recently gave me a job opportunity and last Wednesday Rebecca Cole director of Networking WA took me out to lunch to discuss the particular roles I would be suited to in the organisation.

Firstly I’m going to discuss some of the issues presented throughout the company, and show how my new position will influence these issues becoming minimised. The structure of staff is a significant issue in the company; staff take up responsibilities and duties that are not specified in their role as there is always so much to do in the organisation, though this causes tasks to become hard to manage or forgotten about due to staff having so much on their plate their priorities become mixed up and mismanaged. The other major issue is time management, when aspects of the events or other tasks needing to be completed are left to last minute it causes stress to the staff and pressure to rush duties that need more time spent on them, this issue happens a lot in regards to events everyone in the office will be working so hard on one event that others are left to last minute and then rushed and not organised as best they should be.

As Rebecca and I both notice these issues she believed I would do a great job as project manager of the company and personal assistant to her as she believes that I am very organised and “bossy” when it comes to things needing to be done. Therefore I would be responsible for delegation of tasks to employees, making sure employees completed the tasks on time and followed up if necessary, this way things wont have been forgotten about or left to last minute and priorities will be in correct order as I will stay on top of everything. As well as this role I will also assist in the marketing and PR of events that the company organises.

In regards to the personal assistant role, I will assist Rebecca with her time management and help with correspondence to clients and customers with regards to email, telephone and meetings.

I am really looking forward to this position at the company; I will be working three days a week while finishing my uni degree.

I am also looking forward to the Fashion Icon High Tea that Networking WA is organising and the fashion festival opening launch luncheon (that Rebecca has kindly purchased a ticket for me) both events held next week during the fashion festival, both events are going to be so much fun and I look forward to sharing them with you all soon.

Tess Edwards

14262807

Good news, everybody!

This is my last blog post for PR393, so I thought pretty hard about what I wanted to say. I was going to end with a few pearls of wisdom; some do's and dont's of the consultancy world from my experience; my top tips for getting through a month of real work when you're used to sleeping all day and scraping by with credits.

I'd even written a draft.

That all changed at 9am yesterday, so instead of wise words, I'm going to leave you with a story. It begins at the PPR office in Subiaco at 6pm two Fridays ago.

Friday July 29, 6pm:

I was on my way out of the office after my last Friday drinks, having said goodbye to the people who had been my colleagues for the last month. I decided to stop in a Peter Harris' office, even though I'd only properly met him a few hours beforehand (he'd been on holiday for three weeks then playing catch-up when he got back).

I caught him just as he was shutting down for the night so we chatted as we walked to the reception area. He thanked me for my month's work and I thanked him for the opportunity, all of which seemed pretty standard.

Then he mentioned one of the Senior Consultants had made special effort to go to his office and tell him how impressed she was by my work, which in itself is an amazing accolade. When he told me he was willing to work out a one-day-a-week work experience deal with me "if I wanted it," I jumped at the chance. We agreed that he would work out if there was work and a desk for me and I would call him in a week or so.

Monday August 8, 9am:

At 9am on the dot, my phone rang and woke me up. It was a blocked number, meaning it was either PPR or a telemarketer. I took my chances, put on my faux-awake voice and answered.

On the other end was a very busy sounding Peter Harris. Then again, he always sounds very busy. He told me "things have changed" since I left, so I expected him to tell me the opportunity was no longer there; I was fine with that, like I said the acknowledgement in itself was enough.

He then offered me the ideal opportunity. He said there was a position available three days a week, paid, until the end of Perth Fashion Festival.

He wanted me to take on a Junior Consultant role for the PFF on a part-time basis.

Naturally I accepted the offer without the slightest hesitation, and am now officially an employee (well, short-term contractor) for Professional Public Relations. This, combined with booking my first proper holiday in a couple of years made yesterday probably the best Monday I could have had.

The Lesson:

I guess the lesson in this is to just do what you do. I worked hard, like I do at Uni. I socialised, like I do at Uni. By being there, doing what was asked at the highest standard I could and constantly reminding everyone how keen I was for more work, I suppose I made a good impression.

Part of it was luck; in the work I was doing, the timing of PFF and the fact that I have two days of classes a week. Part of it was working hard and proving I'm capable, something they obviously saw.

Either way I'm incredibly grateful for this chance, but now I have to end because I start tomorrow morning with a product drop to Dianella before 8.45am.

I wish everyone the same good fortune I had, and remember to work hard!

I'll probably see you all this semester, and if not best of luck for the tail end of your degrees. If you want to chat more, find me on LinkedIn, follow @momo_mjr on Twitter, or find me on Facebook.

- Morgan Riley