I had known I’d be doing this unit for
nearly 3 months, I had all of the 3 month University break to look into
different placements and what I wanted to do but, being my ‘ill find something,
it’ll be fine’ leave it the last minute self, I found myself in a panic and
absolute chaos trying to find a placement. The panic started to set in the
first week leading up to the start of semester I eventually started sending out
emails and calling places that I really had an interest working with however,
there was no answers immediately and I started thinking that I was not going to
find a placement. Everywhere I contacted had seemed to already have interns or
didn’t need interns at this stage of the year. As I got desperate I frantically
‘googled’, emailed and called any places not minding where my placement would
be, just anywhere so that I could graduate this semester. I eventually found my
self with an offer from Momentum Events, which sounded like a great placement,
but I just had a gut feeling that there was something else that I was meant to
be doing. I emailed a few more places that I was highly interested in and what
I want to pursue after graduation, in the areas of fashion, events and music. I
was extremely excited to find an email the following day from Sunset Events,
one of the places I was extremely interested working at. Madi, the Admin and
Events Coordinator said that there may be a position available for me as the
‘Groovin’ the Moo’ festival is coming up and help would be needed on the event.
I was extremely enthusiastic about getting this position and I think that’s the
reason that Madi ultimately offered me a position.
As I rocked up at their ‘office’ I was
slightly confused, in my nice business wear, expecting to be interviewed in an air-conditioned
office I had found myself in a large misplaced shed in a backyard in Fremantle.
The girls were all nicely dressed, but not in business clothes but, rather
casual trendy clothes, feeling totally uncomfortable in my outfit and out of
place. However, Madi was extremely nice and at the end of the interview I asked
her ‘ so I’m assuming I don’t come dressed like this to work’? She answered
saying that if I wanted to I could wear my pajamas to work because she certainly
does half of the time! After that I couldn’t wait to start the following week!
On my first day I was set to work on some
basic tasks as Madi had said there was not much preparations for me to do for
Groovin’ the Moo yet but, when it came time there will be a lot of work and I
will be not only doing public relations but a little bit of everything as well
as attending the festival with the rest of the team! My first task I was given
was to create excel spreadsheets for up and coming artists who were emailing
Sunsets, interested in getting exposure and playing at events. The spreadsheets
were also used to keep updated with who Triple J was featuring on their station
and up and coming artists they were also playing. Lastly, I used the
spreadsheets to record artists that played at Sunsets 2013 festivals and
whether they were local, national or international artists. The reason for the
spreadsheets is so that Sunsets can stay up to date with trending artists, who
plays where on what stages and what artists that are trying to break through
the music scene are extremely imminent on getting their music out there.
On my second day, I rocked up to find a
list of things on my desk to do. Some were PR related items; others were admin
types of jobs. One of my tasks was to set about writing out answers for the
Fremantle Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2013, which Sunsets was entering.
This was challenging as I had a small amount of background knowledge of Sunset
Events, but I was surprisingly able to write a fare bit with success and also learning
a lot more about Sunsets. Secondly, I was asked to change the ‘about’ section
on the Sunsets website as the last person who had done so was not so literate
and there was many grammatical errors and inconsistency’s. I enjoyed doing this
task and using the first paragraph with persuasive and emotive language to
encourage people to keep on reading, which I felt what was missing from the
previous ‘about’ section.
Lastly, I was asked to compare survey
results from 2012 and 2013 about the 2013 Southbound festival. The data
collected needed to be analyzed to understand any trends or large differences between
the festivals in the previous year. It was interesting to see the changes in
responses one year on and one highly notable trend was that in 2013 people were
much more environmentally conscious, which I think Sunset will notably take
into consideration for Southbound 2014.
I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks
bring, especially leading up to the festival and what other tasks I will be
instructed to do. But, for now I am glad to have found a placement and finally
on the pathway to graduation.
Speak soon!
