Camera Crew, Photographers, Reporters. No time to second guess myself.

Tuesday was the day I had my first interaction with official film and media crew. For me this is a big step in the PR world. There is only so much theory you can learn about how to deal with media, but my first hand’s on experience proved to be a worthwhile one.

Due to the birth of the new prince, as soon as we arrived at the office at 9am the phones were ringing. Initially it was Channel 7, requesting if we had a baby born around the same time or with any similar characteristics of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new baby boy. One of the PR officers were placed in charge of dealing with this. We found one baby boy whom was born at a similar time as the prince, but with the exact same weight. After many calls back and forward between Channel 7 and the PR officer, it was established that yes, a story was going to be run on this newborn for the 6pm news. By this time the PR department has also been contacted by Channel 10, Woman’s Day and the West Australian all wanting similar stories. Personally I did not see the importance of the story, more the birth of this boy with similar features to the prince as a ‘fluff piece.’ But none the less this newborn baby was attracting quite a bit of media. It was my job to help control the situation and have the best outcome possible of the full shoot about to take place.  

I took this situation as a great opportunity for me to ask lots of questions to my supervisor. My first question was how the situation was handled. The lessons I learnt were as follows:

• The patient always comes first. It needs to be made clear that their comfort and wellbeing is our number one priority. We are doing the media a favour therefore they need to abide by this. Make clear to the patient that at any stage  they feel uncomfortable the interview can be stopped. We as a public relations officer are there to support the patient acting as a mediator if necessary.
• Usually hospitals do not give ‘exclusive interviews’ (the story to just one media outlet). This is only done by through the request of the patient. Even in that instance it is usually because the media station got in contact with the patient, telling them to request this. In my case, this did not happen. Due to the nature of the patient (just giving birth) we requested that only one film crew and one newspaper crew were to be present at the interview. Due to Channel 7 and the West Australian being the first to contact us, they were given the opportunity. All other media outlets were directed to them to gain footage. Phone interviews could be requested if required. When speaking to Channel 7 and The West, they were made aware that it was not an exclusive interview, and if requested by other stations they were to share the footage obtained.
• Media at no stage are allowed in the Hospital unattended. This is for security and patient confidentiality reasons.

Once this had all been arranged, at 1:30 pm the interview was to take place. Myself and the other PR Officer caught a taxi over to Kaleeya Hospital (a part of the Fremantle Health Service) to meet with the patient and media crew. This was the time where we reassured the patient that we were there for them. At this time we also required forms to be signed stating they were happy to be interviewed and have their photos taken. After this we went downstairs to meet the media.

From there on the day ran smoothly. It was my job on the day to be in the room during interviews, but also accompany the media in and out of the buildings. During conduction of interviews, the PR officer does not do much, rather stand there and act as support if needed. This could be in relation to inappropriate questions asked or the patient getting tired and worn out (wanting to stop). It is the behind the scenes and preparation where a PR officer conducts the most work.

Overall I found this a very rewarding exercise I was allowed to take part in. When the footage was shown on Channel 7, 9 and 10 on the evening news, along with page 7 of the Wednesday 24 July West Australian. I had felt this sense of accomplishment. Despite not actually writing the article I felt very proud that as an Intern PR Officer I has help create this news story. It was not until the day had ended I realised how tired I was. I constantly had to be switched on, remembering the conducts and guidelines that needed to be abided by, acting friendly as possible, but also conducting myself in an assertive yet professional manner.

The hardest part of the day for me was not letting the media push me around. They wanted information and they wanted it fast. They took it upon themselves asking myself and the other PR officer personal questions about the patient before we had even got to their room. We were not allowed to disclose this information to them, so a firm foot needed to be put down, explaining were not allowed to release this. The lady from Woman’s Day was also quite rude due to the lack of time she was allowed with the patient. I pleasantly reminded her that 12 hours ago this woman had given birth, and due to that a small interview was all that was available. The patient needed rest and was doing the media a favour. After being reminded this she was not so pushy towards me and was grateful we provided her with any coverage of the story at all.

Overall from this experience I feel I have gained confidence. One month ago I would not have felt completely comfortable dealing with this level of media. Now I feel I am confident enough to be assertive, pleasant and knowledgeable enough to run a similar situation on my own. My PR perspectives on these situations have also changed. Previously I thought a PR Officer had a more dominant role. But rather it is my duty to act as a mediator in this situation. I allow the media to get the shots they need (if appropriate) whilst monitoring the situation. 

A taste of working in events

A couple of weeks ago I had a tremendously exciting time at my work placement attending and helping out at not one but two Scitech events! One was the adults only evening, Scitech After Dark, that I had done promotional work for. The other was a Rio Tinto Partnership Day where the collaboration between Rio Tinto and Scitech was celebrated.

Both events were a tremendous success with tickets for After Dark selling out and the Rio Tinto Partnership Day saw both Scitech and Rio Tinto families alike having a fantastic day out enjoying the range of exhibitions and shows that had been brought along to the Claremont Showgrounds. 
This event was planned after Rio Tinto’s declaration they would be renewing their partnership with Scitech for a further five years showing the decade long partnership is still going strong.

At the event I spent the morning with Scitech photographer Miles as he made his way through the venue setting up shots with children interacting with Scitech staff and exhibits. It was my job to assist with setting up shots as well as interviewing children’s parents. This involved ensuring photo release forms were signed as well as identifying what area families were from and discussing what parts of the day families were enjoying the most, in order to gather any quotes that could possibly be used in a post event press release.

This was fast paced and I had to work quickly but efficiently – ensuring that I didn’t miss collecting the details of any children before moving onto the next shot – but also making sure I was having calm and enjoyable interactions with the families rather than making them feel as though they were being rushed. I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable experience.

That evening it was time for the next event – After Dark. After seeing that a blurb I had sent off to the Weekend West had been published in the events listing of Seven Days I was feeling pretty positive about the heavy promotion that had gone into the night. And it definitely paid off!
Hundreds of science and sci-fi enthusiasts wandered the floor exploring the exhibitions – many of whom were dressed in their best impressions of various science fiction characters. It was incredible to see everything come together and all the visitors enjoying themselves and embracing the theme of the evening.

To top the evening off we had social photographer Cheyne Tillier-Daly respond to a media alert I sent out the week before who then came down and took photographs for the West Australian on the night. These were published in the Wednesday paper on 17 April.

ITS A WRAP!

#4 ITS A WRAP

Perth Fashion Festival 2012 is over! The week went by so fast; it was a blur of excitement and exhaustion. Its been a week since Day 1 and I am still recovering!
Whilst I have worked in events for a couple of years now, I have not experienced a week long event. It is so much different to an event that goes for one night, or one day. You really cannot prepare yourself for something like PFF if you haven't worked it before.

Some of my highlights from the week were:

1. Social Media

I was one of a few girls on the PFF Instagram during the week! It was an amazing experience approaching 'celebrities' to take photos of them, or capturing a run way show and then uploading it to see so many people 'liking' and commenting. Whilst it was fun, it did come with great responsibility. There were PFF rules about how and what we upload, concerning boarders, filters and tags. This task really helped me understand the power of social media and how important it is in the public relations industry. 
On a personal level, taking part in the PFF Instagram was also very effective from a networking point of view. I had underestimated the impact social media can have on your work life until this experience. Through Instagraming people I met lots of designers, bloggers, stylists, industry people and journalists, who after meeting, I followed their Instagram from my person Instagram account, with them following me in turn.  
With my online presence now existing in a work environment as well as personal, I have taken on the responsibility of 'cleaning' up my own social media. Yes it is a bit of fun, but it is important to give off a professional, 'ideal' online image. 

2. Watching 'my' event

There were two PFF events I solely focused on during the Festival, as my boss was the Project Manager for them. The great thing about this industry, is that you have something tangible to show for all your hard work. It was an incredible experience to see it unfold first hand, as well as to read all about it in the media the next day. Such as on The West:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/full-coverage/perth-fashion-festival-2012/a/-/article/14923523/local-collections-hit-the-mark/

3. Networking

The amount of people I met and the relationships I have gained as a result of working throughout the PFF week and my internship there for the past 3 months are invaluable. On a personal level, I have made some great friends and on a work level, I could not be more grateful for the experience and the doors it has opened up. 
In the PR world, you never know who is watching, who you will meet, or who a person is, so my greatest lesson learnt is to always be professional, always be presentable and always be on your A game, no matter what your feeling on the inside. Events is very hard work and long hours, which often goes unnoticed and unappreciated, so you really need to develop a thick skin. Go out of your way to introduce yourself, don't be shy and make an effort with everyone, because you don't know who they know. Perth is a small city, use every opportunity you can to network. 

ITS A WRAP

The Festival was so well received and it's amazing feeling knowing I contributed to it. I have decided the PR industry, in particular, Events, is definitely the area I want to work in once I graduate soon. Hopefully I made a good impression at PFF and they will consider me for next year!

Let's get ready for Mental Health Week!

Coming up really soon in October is Mental Health Week (MHW) from the 7^th to 13^th. This has been a project that I have been working on for a couple of weeks in the lead up to the events happening around Perth. Due to the fact that Relationships Australia (WA) is involved with promoting good mental health and healthy relationships MHW has been an event that we can utilize to show the West Australian public more on what we are doing. Through my work placement here I’ve realized that most young people have never heard about Relationships Australia before and the work that they do, which will hopefully be changing soon.

One of the pieces that I have been working on is the creation of a 10cm x 10cm advertisement for the West Australian newspaper. We were approached by the West to be apart of their mental health week feature and to provide a piece to go alongside the advertisement. I was given the task to contact the person in charge of the feature at the West and find out all the details on what was needed for the advertisement as well as how much it would cost us. This task gave me the opportunity to practise my phone and communication skills with a party outside of the organization (which was slightly nerve-wracking).

After I was given all the information I was now able to begin creating the advertisement and writing piece for the feature. I’ve never created an advert so it was a pretty useful tool to be able to use Adobe InDesign to create the entire thing. Let me just say how useful this program is (put your hand up if you’ve used this program and have just found it amazingly useful) in creating brochures, pamphlets and now advertisements.

For the writing piece I was given the task of promoting a new program that Relationships Australia was introducing during MHW. This writing piece was similar to a media release as it was short and to the point. There was a large amount of checking back and forth with the person in charge of the program to get the piece finished, which just showed me the importance of not just giving information but also writing it in a way which is non-offensive and in line with our organization.

If you've got time look out for the mental health week feature in the West for Relationships Australia.

I’m almost finishing my work placement here so I’ve been thinking about all the things that I’ve learnt from it. There’s actually been so much going on that I haven’t had a chance to think about it but it’s been good. Good luck to all the final reports everyone!

Angela

Last few days... offered a job!

Super excited about this being my last post, I can now start writing this huge report! I honestly don’t know how in a few thousand words I can describe what I’ve learnt and explain what I’ve done it doesn’t seem to serve the experience justice. To say the least I have done way more than I thought I would or could do and I’m so stocked with the whole time at my prac place Gymnastics WA.

During my time over the semester I have designed and written a sponsorship package, written many media releases and liaised with many local media personal, organised photo shoots and liaised with some well-known journalists and set up a webpage and produced a heap a news bulletins, just to name a bit.

The coolest stuff i've done laterly has been organising media. I've been the Media Officer at GWA since the start of term and have built great contacts, the event I'm involved with is recieving coverage from The West Australian and Not Another Footy Show, and I'm in talks with Foxtel and Channel 7!

What I have learnt has been through doing and its pushed me out of my comfort zone which has challenged me. Working at GWA where they don’t have a public relations person meant I had to jump right into the deep end and apply my knowledge of the skills I had learnt at uni in theory into practice.

The hardest thing for me to overcome was learning through doing and the mistakes I made because I prefer to learn by watching first. This meant I learnt through my failures and by the things that weren’t great, which was a reality check for me, in that in the real world you won’t be told what you’re doing well necessarily only by the things that need improving.

The greatest improvement for me has been my writing, I honestly struggled to write a media release at the beginning of my Prac, now I can write one in 5 minutes no problem. I knew before my work experience that I was well spoken in person but I found this hard to translate into text, this has been something that I’ve defiantly improved with.

I have seen firsthand a well-run organisation that doesn’t utilise the benefits of public relations and have seen how quickly it has benefited from someone implementing public relations techniques. Through my experience I have learnt so much (cliché I know) and have surprised myself. I surprised the event partner too, he offered me a job!

So goodbye blog and good luck to everyone with their reports

Peace out trouts

Pick and Choose

Hello again,

We have heard it time and time again - how small is Perth?! It wasn't until I started my internship at Detail that the Public Relations world is even smaller. Within the context of the media - everyone knows everyone. It is crucial that you ensure that you don't step on anyones toes, because it will be known throughout Perth by the time everyone has had a chance to open their next email!

Taking this thought into consideration, you must look at the way that you liaise with different media groups when publicising an event. Due to Perth having only a couple of major newspapers, The West Australian and The Sunday Times, PR practitioner must ensure they know which one is more important to be covered in for their client.

For example, The West Australian isn't going to publish an editorial piece if The Sunday Times has already done so - and vice versa. This is where you must make your choice, and ensure you are not pitching to both publications at the same time.

With blogs being another popular source for exposing events, clients etc. it must also be understood that a small blog doesn't receive the information or interview before your most important publication does, otherwise you will lose a for maximum exposure!

For the Fremantle Festival that is coming up at the end of October we have been purely focusing on long lead magazines, which would be the ideal avenue to promote the event. It has been difficult with some publications seeing a lot of them have already spoken about the event in the past and are always wanting something fresh and exciting. This is where we come in - thinking of a new angle to pitch the event from!

Hope everyone is enjoying their prac's and I am sure if you are anything like me you would have to agree that the work experience we are getting is absolutely priceless!

Brooke x