The Principal of the consultancy, Ruth is a huge dog lover, not only volunteering her public relations services but also volunteering her services as foster carer for some of the abandoned dogs. As part of my internship I have been predominately doing work for the Refuge - writing media releases and compiling media clippings. I too, share a love of dogs and find the work the Refuge does truly incredible. I feel honoured to be able to write about their loveable, four-legged friends and get the chance to play a role in their adoption.
A few weeks ago the Dogs' Refuge Home held an event, where Koko aka star of the film 'Red Dog' was the star. Having passed late last year of a heart disease found to be quite common in dogs of his breed and build, his owner Nelson Woss began The Healthy Hearts for Dogs' campaign promoting awareness of the disease through social media and promotion to dog owners and vet clinics. The event was centred around this campaign and worked similarly to a press conference whereby there were a number of speakers on behalf of the campaign outlining the cause for promotional purposes. There were a number of journalists present from community newspapers, Channel 10, 7 and 9 as well as film directors filming the whole presentation for a documentary being made for the campaign.
It was an incredible experience, getting to see all the journalists frantically jotting down every word Nelson and the rest of the team were saying (Nelson had the crowd in tears) and also getting to be a part of a promotional event which was put together for such a worthy cause. It was so interesting seeing how these events all come together. Ruth and I attended just to support the President of the Refuge so it enabled me to sit back and watch how everything unfolded.
The following day there was a segment in the Subiaco post about the event and there was even a segment on 7 news dedicated to it. Getting to see what I had seen in real life, be broadcasted on the news and also published in a newspaper was pretty surreal - like I was now part of that crowd who had the inside scope.
9 days into my internship, I would have to say this is the stand out of my experience so far and I know there is plenty more exciting things to come, of which I am more than ready to get my teeth stuck into!
