Please Help Save the Dolphins

----posted on behalf of Vivien Lee -------

We did a lot of group assignments and projects in school, coming up with PR plans and brainstorming all the strategies and tactics, but we never really put them into action before.

Yesterday (27/05/2011), I just witnessed a press conference and it was indeed an eye opener for me! In my whole life, I've never really watch/see/be part of a press conference other than through the TV screen. The organization that I'm in now called ACRES had a mini press conference on Friday for our Save the World's Saddest Dolphin Campaign. This is the official website: http://www.saddestdolphins.com/

We were not allowed to speak a word to anyone else before the launch of this campaign. Preparing media kits, sending out press invites and keeping in contact with the media to confirm their attendance were part of planning stage for this press conference.

The press conference went smoothly. I would say we did not have alot of media coming to our press conference but at least the local main media did came and they covered our story. We had our press conference in the morning and at about 2pm, the news was already up. We were very excited to see our news being covered!!

If you are interested, this are some of the links:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1131539/1/.html
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=203847359656787&set=a.203641033010753.47265.202965303078326&type=1&ref=nf

One thing I found out from our local media which is very different from what I usually see on TV is that.... they were really quiet during the Questions and Answers section. There were only about 2-3 media asking questions while the rest just sit and listen. I wondered why, do they really have no questions? Or were they too shy to ask? I found out from my director that its because most of them are selfish. They want to keep the questions and answers to themselves and not share it with other media. Meaning, if they have further questions, they rather speak to you privately or call you. That was not what I expected initially because I expect media to be very enthusiastic and bombard you with difficult questions which you cannot answer. What an eye-opener indeed!

Any way, after the press conference, we had our roadshow campaign for this event and its ongoing throughout the weekends. Through this campaign, ACRES hope to raise more awareness about dolphins in captivity and hoping Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) would shelve their plans of bringing in 25 more dolphins (two of them already died since last year) into their new attraction - Marine Life Park. Since I'm here, I should also make use of this social media platform to pass this message around to all students of different campuses (:

What you can do to help: Go to our fb page "Save the world's saddest dolphins", like the page, share it with your friends, upload photo or video to urge RWS to let the dolphins go.
Local (Singapore) students, you can come down to Fareast Plaza Level 2 Concourse to help us! We have a video and photo petition going on until Sunday (29/5) 9pm.

Everyone can make a difference!

So please help!! Thank you!

Vivien Lee
Curtin Singapore
14536913
--
Best regards,

Vivien Lee

Fulfilling experience

----posted on behalf of Vivian Lee-----

Last friday was the day of the event I was helping to organize - ACRES
10th birthday gala dinner. This is the first time I'm taking part in
organizing such big event and actually executing it. Now I'm having
some withdrawal syndrome.

When we were all preparing for the actual day, we can't wait for it to
be over because nothing is ever an easy task. Everything was in a rush
and there is always endless things to check. Now, I kind of miss the
whole event. Your colleagues thanking you and all the praises make you
feel that every hard work and effort you put in is worth everything.

I wanna share some pointers that I've learnt from this event.

1. Finding sponsorship is never easy.
No one likes to do things or give their products away for free. After
they gave you a confirmation, it's all about calling and always
updating them what's happening, keeping in touch, make sure you thank
them lots and make them feel appreciated. Even if they agree on
helping you at first, they might pull out at the last minute for any
reasons. So......

2. Always have a back up plan and expect the non-expected.
We experienced some performers backing out because of personal matters
three days before the event. Also, people tend to be late, thus we
must always be prepared that show might be delayed and of course,
those who are on time will be unhappy. Hence, we need to be really
polite and always thanking them and apologize for anything. This goes
back to building good relationships.

3. Introduce yourself and make contacts.
During an event, you may or may not have met all the people yet
(sponsors, venue person-in-charge, all performers). So it is always
good to say hi, introduce yourself as they might be of help to you in
the future.

4. Volunteers management.
Once again, we couldn't have possibly done it if not for all the
volunteers that were helping us. They are the second most important
asset in an organization. It's always better to have a good
relationship with them.

Next step will be doing post evaluation and maintaining relationship
with our supporters which I will cover in my next entry!