Signing out :)

Ahh isn't it lovely, to have completed your report, finally be free of the stresses of the week, only to realise I still have one blog outstanding - lucky I have something to share :)

Throughout my placement at Mellen Events, I have really been exposed to the concept of integrated communications. If I have said it once, I have said it 1000 times, I truly believe in order to successfully interact with your stakeholders, specific concepts of communications must be integrated, and you may actually be working against yourself to keep everything so separated.

Advertising, marketing, PR. They are all simialiar in some ways, but before I started at Mellen Events, I didn't quite realise how far the integration of PR activities actually span. If we look at the Operations Manager, her role is to liaise with local councils and governments a lot of the time, working on those relationships and building news once for concert venues and events locations. She is also the internal communicator, who links all the either departments together, so everyone is on the same page and aware of each others roles and activities.

Then the actual event coordinators and managers, who are constantly working with stakeholders, and maintaining partnerships and sponsorships. They are also working to satisfy their largest stakeholders, event patrons. Not to mention the absolute NEED for contingency planning in every aspect of an event. They need to have a plan for when a show is cancelled, moved or postponed, erergency procedures, ways to deal with budget limitations etc. Its just so interesting to see how, what I initially thought was solely one profession and skill, can be worked into so many areas of business.

I am so glad to have learnt so much from my placement. I hope you have all enjoyed this unit as much as i have :) (especially writing the report ha ha)

Good luck with all your future endeavours and of course exams,

Mel
xx

Go time!

Hey all!

So this is my third blog, and no matter how complex and varied day to day PR activities can be, I always find myself wondering what topics to address in each post. This time, after having attended my first big event in a professional context, I thought I would share my experiences, and how, unexpectedly, my PR skills were put into action on the night, and not just in the lead up to the event.

So Mellen Events first event of the season was Godskitchen 3D, on Friday night at Metro City (I did mention in a previous blog my attendance at Thirsty Merc gigs, but due to the small scale of the event, I found myself offering my friendly services on the door rather than assisting in the actual event proceedings). I thought I would be required to do a similar job this time, since I am very new to the game and haven't had any hands on event experience as of yet. But Mellen had other ideas for me, getting me involved in everything from the get go! I got to the venue a couple of hours before the artists were due to arrive, to set up the venue and backstage rooms, and ensure the artist riders and requests were all good to go.

I was the first point of contact for the VIP prize winners of a competition run through Facebook. After organising a hotel room and limousine ride to the event, I then had to meet the guests and welcome them on behalf of Mellen Events before escorting them to their VIP designated area for the remainder of the night. Throughout the night, I was to make sure that they were happy and generally having a good time.

I found that for most of the night I was ‘checking up’ on the artists and VIP guests to ensure that all their needs where met. This was an eye opener to me, to show that the nurturing of relationships doesn’t stop once the planning stages of the event are complete. I had to make sure that a positive and professional impression was left on behalf of Mellen Events, so that the artists had a good experiencing dealing with us, and would consider doing so again in the future, as well as giving the VIP’s a positive experience to discuss on our social networking pages, which they did.

I often had a hard time pin pointing PR activities on event days; it was obvious how they are implemented in the planning stages, but I was lost as to how a communicator can help on the day. But that was exactly it, my job was to communicate! I have discovered from this experience, that PR professionals are required to maintain relationships before, during and after the events (I am now speaking with media guests from the night, to encourage positive reviews in their publications). Even if it was just having a casual chat with the event staff, patrons or artists, I was providing my assistance wherever it was needed to maintain that positive and professional impression of the company.

Feel free to share your events experiences too! Each and every event is different so I am sure there are so many other examples of PR being activated on event days :)

Thanks,
Mel

Full Time Mellen

Hello again!

It been a while since I have posted anything, so I thought it was about time to get cracking with my updates since we are so close to the end of the semester.

Well, I have officially completed my 'internship' with Mellen Events, but I was lucky enough to be offered a full time role as Marketing Assistant. I am pretty much there to assist both the marketing and advertising managers which naturally incorporate a lot of PR style communication too.

Recently, I have been given the lovely job of maintaining and updating the website. After lots of training sessions, and the launch of the new and improved site, my new role wasn’t too difficult to adapt to, as for the past 2 years, I have worked in the website office of UWA. It is so interesting to be able to have worked in 2 completely different industries, doing virtually the same job, noting many similarities and difference that lie between the two. The main difference that was very clear from the beginning was the style of the website, the style of writing required and quite obviously, the nature of the news updates.

I am given a lot more freedom with the Mellen Events website, to write short and sharp news items about upcoming events or recent news that may have relevance to a particular act (the most recent being the tragic news of DJ Mehdi's passing, who was due to play at Summadayze in Jan). The content that I am writing about it also a lot fluffier and interesting (to me) than the types of news items that are being published on the UWA website. I have also been involved in the up keep of Mellen Events on their social media channels, relaying stories and items of interest to the people monitoring those. Having an integrated online environment, means that all of the Mellen's online stakeholders are constantly kept in the loop with what’s going on, and a lot more value is added to the "website experience". This integration is evident on the main website, were a live feed of Facebook is on the home page, as well as links to twitter and the Mellen Events YouTube channel.

As part of my role as Marketing Assistant, I am also responsible for the assigning of media accreditation to media outlets, photographers and reviewers. This means constantly research media outlets that would suit particular shows and liaising with these people to allow access to a show in return for media space and after show reviews.

So the latest update in my role is my assistance this week at the Thirsty Merc gigs around Perth. I guess this is the exciting part I have been waiting for, where I can actually experience what all the hard work has been for. I will make sure to update at the end of the week on the goings on of the gigs, and hopefully by then I will have gained even more experience and knowledge in the events industry..

Until then,

Mel x

The adventures of a Mellen...

Hello,

This is now my 4^th week with Mellen Events and (like most others) I figured it’s about time I started sharing my experiences with the Mellen crew. Mellen Events are Perth concert promoters and are the cool kids responsible for some of the festival season greats, like Summadayze, Future Music and A Day on the Green. I had been doing a bit of volunteer work with them before I was offered my placement, which was a good way of worming my way into their office. Since then, they have offered me a full time position to commence once my prac work is completed, which is a little bit exciting!

Beginning my placement at this time of year, initially I thought, probably wasn’t the best move. It’s winter! Which means it’s the off season for the outdoor events industry. I was even considering putting this unit off until next semester. But recently, work has literally been thrown at me, since the preparation and event announcements start rolling out around August/September. When I first started I was given the basic office duties that the typical junior team member gets loaded with. It was a little disheartening to know that 3 years of uni was going to get me cleaning out stationary cupboards and reorganising filing. But, I soon realised, no matter how minor a job may seem to you, it is necessary for the smooth sailing of the entire organisation (even if it means finding a pen is made a little easier).

As the weeks progressed I was given more responsibility. They had me driving down to the Swan Valley to engage with the locals and gain their support for local council approval, for a new concert venue. This was extremely important for the company, as the council is ready to make their call, and their final decision comes down to the local residents and their opinions. Keeping these relationships with the local community has been an ongoing task, as Mellen Events has hosted many events in the area over the years.

Working with the Marketing manager, I have also been asked to send media mail outs to the subscribers of their website, as well as press releases local media for upcoming announcements (anyone checking out the Wombats or Godskitchen 3D?). Daily media scans are extremely important to look at any press the shows are getting, and then making a portfolio for each event. I have also been compiling a database of online media outlets where press releases can be sent. An idea I offered, was keeping popular music blogs updated since the blogosphere is gaining a lot of momentum in this digital age!

At the moment, I’m setting up a street team of volunteers to help promote specific events around popular night spots. It’s easy to find people to volunteer when you bribe offer them tickets! This will be an ongoing task as more events are announced, particularly the summer festival favourites!

An exciting (and daunting) new task I was given this week, is writing a proposal to secure a celebrity guest to appear at one of next seasons biggest events on the Mellen calendar (I’m sworn to secrecy, as to who and what) so this will be a great opportunity to see just how persuasive my writing can be.

Looking back on my last 7 days at Mellen, I guess I have been given quite a bit to keep me busy once you add it all up. I have decided to stick to my guns and report on my experiences this semester (yay, to graduating this year!!) since the work is building up now! I’m also pretty excited to see how my role follows through over the whole season, since ill be there for the summer too, and the sort of valuable skills I will learn by putting the years of theory into practice!

Mel

(ps - Any one wanting to volunteer with Mellen Events for free tickets, facebook me!)