Event PR - SurfStitch SurfAid Ball 2013

During my internship with SurfAid, a large part of my role has involved working with both the PR and Event Management departments on the inaugural SurfAid Ball in Sydney. This year the event was held at the spectacular Star Entertainment Centre, which overlooks the harbour and Sydney CBD! Tickets were sold to over 400 guests, with the event being attended by several Australian surfing legends, it was an incredible experience to be part of.

Prior to the event it was important to consider all our major sponsors and VIP's attending the event and incorporating these into the photography and videography briefs. Maintaining positive sponsor relationships is vital to non-for-profit events, as these allow companies such as SurfAid to put on nights such as the ball, which raise much needed funds and awareness for a great cause.

One thing I like to do before arriving to events is having a print out of all the VIP names and their positions along with a small headshot so that I am easily able to recognise these faces and make we get the right images captured on the night. I then liaise with the photographers and videographers and run through the media brief and the VIP list to make sure we all familiar on what needs to be done and can then communicate effectively on the night.

Other important part of setting up for the night was to make sure all sponsorship material was placed appropriately on the tables (this took a long time as you can imagine with 400 places to set) but was vital to maintain relations with event sponsors and promote their support and brand on the night.

Prior to guests arriving the media board was set up in a pre-determined location, although on the night the photographer and myself has to make some last minute decisions regarding lighting but thankfully it all worked out! Once people started arriving it was my job to greet guests and usher them to the media board and get their photos taken (tougher than it sounds not too many people like getting their photo taken it seems...) writing down names to match the images and also making sure the photographers and videographers had copies of the names.

There are so many parts involved with an event that all come together as an essential part of making the post event media process a lot easier! I have learnt a lot from this event in regards to the fine (but crucial) details that need to be regarded to ensure that media, sponsors and guests are kept happy. This is so important as this means that future events will have these past positive relations to draw from and can then build on these to make future events a further success. Event PR is definitely an area I want to pursue in the future!

East Coast Reflections

I wanted to use my first blog entry as an introduction to my professional placement and my current position as a student... I am in my third and final year of studies as a public relations major, studying a bachelor of commerce. And as the name suggests, I am no longer residing in Western Australia and will complete my degree as an external student in Sydney.

So I have recently (one week ago!) made the big move from Margaret River,WA to Bondi NSW to complete my professional placement at Surfing World Magazine. I have grown up around the surf industry and have worked and volunteered for associated non-for-profit organisations over the past 3 years, which has resulted in me being offered this amazing internship. After living on the east coast for ONE whole week I made the 2 hour journey up to Avalon and started my first day at the office.

For those of you who aren't familiar with surfing world I will give you a brief insight into the company... Surfing World are an Australian print magazine who are highly regarded in the surf media and have a circulation of approximately 20,000. They are closely linked to Coastal Watch, who provide the magazine with a multi-media opportunity and are the number one resource for Australian surfers. This means that my role looks at the PR and communication strategies for both Surfing World and Coastal Watch. I could go on for hours explaining how many things these guys do but for now i'll keep it short and simple, as later blogs will show this to you.

I have begun my internship at a pretty crazy time! The Quiksilver Pro begins on Saturday March 2 on the Gold Coast and as Surfing World and Coastal Watch are major sponsors of the event I have had a really interesting first week on the job. My first day consisted of compiling a list of surf industry contacts on the Gold Coast to attend 'The Garage Party' that is being presented by Coastal Watch. Before inviting our selected guests I was given the task of communicating with the printer and getting invitations printed for the event. I then worked alongside the editor to create some interesting copy that was used to email along with the invitation to our guests... On the Surfing World side of things I had to get 300 copies of the magazine delivered to the event site on the Gold Coast, as these will be sold at a pop-up store at the event. 

Another part of my internship involves working with non-for-profit organisation SurfAid, who aim to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in isolated communities (such as the Mentawai's in Indonesia) that are connected to Australia through surfing. SurfAid are closely linked to Surfing World who support the organisation through their media and events. At the moment I am working on two upcoming events for SurfAid - the SurfStitch SurfAid Ball in Sydney and the SurfAid Cup Margaret River, that will be held during the Drug Aware Pro Margaret River. At the moment I am using my local knowledge to create a database of local media contacts that we will approach within the next week with the SurfAid media kits. I am also developing run sheets for our events and have just discovered the best site for managing events (trybooking.com) have a look at the site, it's such a great system and hopefully it will help some of you out as well!!

I hope this has given you an insight into my placement... I will give more detail into specific tasks and my experiences throughout the next few weeks. But so far, I have learnt so much and I can't wait to learn more as I am given more responsibility and learn more about my organisation and my role within the team. 

Stacey Mann