End of the Season

This has come to be my last post and I am excited to say I have had my fair share in learning about planning events and part-taking in them. Having worked backstage at four 'An Evening on the Green' events, at Summadayze Festival and Future Music Festival, I have shared the stresses, excitment and satisfaction of producing each show with the team at Mellen.

As I was a helping hand, I was able to oversee mosts processes undertaken and helped out where I could. I even had the opportunity to become a team leader backstage at Summadayze Festival and had people under me where I would delegate different tasks to them. Knowing my work and enthusiasm had not gone to waste was a great feeling and having the opportunity to partake in the show proved to me that this is what I want to be doing.

Summerdayze Artist Area Backstage 2012                           Summerdayze Main Stage 2012

 

All of the media watching, uploading information to websites and promotions were all about this one day. Even though I do wish I had more of an opportunity to help out with interviewing artists and writing articles on them, even produce media releases, it has given me the desire to head back to Mellen Events or elsewhere and show off my writing skills more.

Having the opportunity to work at Mellen has definitely opened my eyes in what I see myself doing in the future. Even though I didn't spend as much time as I had hoped in public relations compared to marketing, I found my passion was with event planning. In saying this, it is very true that marketing, public relations and other related areas all intertwine to get the job done right. My university degree has definitely helped me in doing the job right.

I am lucky enough to have Mellen ask me back for next festival season ... who knows where it will lead me but I'm sure it will be to bigger and better things!

Good luck to everyone with the rest of their placements!!

Faster Louder Stronger

The best thing I have found here at Mellen is everyone works as a team. Weekly meetings are held where the staff are able to discuss and explore upcoming events, convey new ideas and make sure everyone is keeping up with deadlines.

With starting my placement just before event/festival season, I have come to see how much preparation is done for each individual show. And even how fast-paste it is.

Weekly advertisements are essential and done on print media, TV, and radio stations. Street promotions are the funnest to be apart of, with it being used as a tactic for when a show is approaching and increased awareness is needed. Mellen holds promotional activities at various venues around Perth. The main aim of this is to form hype and excitement for the shows and (hopefully) result in increased ticket sales.



A task I had been assigned is to place all our upcoming events onto Faster Louder Stronger website. This website is used by event promoters to showcase what is to come for future concerts, events and festivals. A great way to increase awareness. I have also been uploading all survey data conducted by the public from each show into databases. The most valuable information used is the demographics that come to each show and the use of their contact details to provide them information about upcoming events. I am also filling out relevant forms to Tourism Australia to have our future shows on their domain.


Over the last few weeks I have even been working on database graphs to show how many tickets are selling on each day in conjunction with what media outlets had been used. It is very interesting into what media reaches the public and what effect is has. I do believe this has been of value to the company and research been done has helped them provide the most effective communication channels.

With the festivals fast approaching, I have been working closely with the event coordinators and will be working backstage on the days. I am very intrigued and excited about this as it is another dimension of the industry I want to explore. Having worked at previous shows with Mellen already, the experience I have gained is huge. I am continually learning more about the industry each day, knowing every show is different and you should go into it with all guns blazing!

I hope all of you are enjoying your work experience as much as I am!

Rain, Hail or Shine: The Show Must Go On!

I'm sure there are a lot of people who hear me say 'I am working for Mellen Events' (who produce shows as I have mentioned in my first blog, Summerdayze, Godskitchen, An Evening on the Green, Future Music Festival and numerous concerts), and think its all about meeting artists, knocking back a few drinks with them on the day and listening to cool music. Don't get me wrong, the job definitely has it's perks but everyone within the company works their butts off to make these events possible!


I had the opportunity to work backstage at the evening on the green event, Shade'. Mellen Events motto is Rail, Hail or Shine, the show will go on. And man did it rain!! I came here wanting to gain experience and experience is definitely what I'm getting. As the event was held at The Esplanade, the dressing rooms where all outside (in caravans). The whole day was full of placing and carrying everything into the artists rooms and making sure everything was set out perfectly for the night (whilst running through torrential rain). From the moment I stepped out my car at 6am I was drenched! The sound guys even had to stop as the lightening was coming to close to the stage. Back in the office, the Mellen team were being slammed with phone calls on whether the show will go on or will refunds be needed. Consumer Relations and keeping the public informed of what was going to happen was difficult as the weather was so unpredictable and Mellen wanted to wait as long as they could before they would cancel the show. Literally 10mins before the gates opened the rain stopped and it was the clearest, most beautiful night we could have asked for!

Having the show 'go on' was the best satisfaction for me as we all had worked so hard to get the job right. Not just on the day but previously leading up to it too. It really gave me an insight into how events don't always go to plan but providing the right contingency plans and mind set, the show will still run smoothly in the end.

It also showed me how much of a workout an event can be too! Lifting, moving and organising things the whole day and night proves you gotta have stamina in the game :)

In the end, partaking in a show is great experience and I would recommend it to anyone. The stress, the excitement and the satisfaction all come together and I am loving every moment!

Mellen Events: Show Time

Hi all,

My name is Danielle Gough and I am (like a lot of you) on my last leg of University completing a double major in Marketing and Public Relations. I am excited to finally start my blog and hope you get enjoyment out of reading it. I had the opportunity to complete my placement at the start of this year (2012) for reasons too long to explain I missed the opportunity to blog at the time. To my luck I have been allowed to enter the world of blogging and will take you through my journey from start to finish.


Mellen Events  
When I first thought about where I would like to do my work experience I never thought I would have had the chance to work for one of the leading promoters in concerts, events and festivals in both Western Australia and nationally. In my first week of being there, I was sure glad to have the opportunity.


With holding such well-known events such as Summerdayze, Future Music Festival and other concerts such as 'A Day on the Green', I was eager to get started and see what the 'real world' in PR had for me. 

Roles of Public Relations
Originally I thought I was going to be placed in a set PR position, I was quick to realise each title role within the company (Events Management, Marketing, Operations Manager) intertwined public relations in one way or another. Primarily I have been placed in the department of marketing and advertising. This department has a great deal to do with media relations, with one side ensuring the media coverage in key publications, through media statements and organising interviews with touring artists, and the other having to book controlled communication, through advertising.

Media Watch
This leads to my first assigned task of 'Media Monitoring'. Media Monitoring is a weekly task undertaken to monitor the output of the print media concerning particular published adverts. My task was to find the advertisements and articles in print media for Mellen Events upcoming shows and keep record of each in a portfolio for future reference. An example shown below.

Upcoming Opportunities
In the upcoming weeks I am going to prepare a graph comparing the amount of tickets sold per day (for each event) against the marketing promoted in the areas of media relations, community relations and online communication. In theory, results will show what type of communication reaches target audiences the best, giving Mellen Events the advantage to stream forward with the strongest channels.

Objectives
So far I am loving my time here with music being the focus of 'work'. I am very lucky to be involved in a work environment that interests me. With giving a helping hand in the up-coming promotion stages of each event, I am keen to see how each event runs on the day. Hopefully if I show enough initiative I will be lucky enough to work behind the scenes on the day of the event too... 

I will keep you posted!