Events = Exhausting Stuff!

Hi again,

I was super busy at the Association for the Blind of WA as I completed my 7th week of my internship. This week was filled with the final preparations for our participation in the Perth Fashion Festival (PFF). As community partners of the festival, Guide Dogs WA are the beneficiary of some of the events, which presented us with a number of tasks and free gifts (tickets!). I learned that the coordination of events is exhausting and stressful - because as my supervisor assured me - you cannot control what other people do, you just have to do the best you can and hope for the best!

Ticket allocation and distribution was one very important task that I was responsible for. Last minute drop outs from confirmed attendees was something I had become familiar with, and replacements were sought to fill the spot. We received tickets on Tuesday, and they needed to go out straight away to our attending clients, as the first event was Thursday night - giving us only 2 days to hope the mail system worked efficiently in! Before posting out all tickets, I photocopied all tickets just in case there was a drama with the post or someone forgot their ticket on the night - this is something i would definitely recommend for event managers, especially if tickets are sold through a third party, as it gives you that extra bit of assurance that your guests can attend.


On Thursday, the first event that Guide Dogs were involved in was held. The Restyle on the Runway event this year featured two of the Associations clients, Erin and Claire McGlew walking down the runway with their respective Guide Dogs. The event was a great success, and the girls and their dogs really did steal the show!! Alot of work was involved in the preparation for such a great outcome, both before, during and after the event. I worked alongside the girls and the organisers of the Restyle event to ensure everyone was aware of running schedules and start up times etc. I also worked alongside PPR, a consultancy public relations firm in WA who is managing the public relations for PFF to handle media enquiries about the girls. In the lead up to the event and after the event, I had to work closely with the girls to organise interview and filming times with media - Before the event, the girls featured in the nightly news on channel ten, and were interviewed by channel nine and Fashion One after the event. I was also responsible for taking photos during the event, and the photos had to be sent back to office so they could upload them onto social media - This task was much more difficult than expected!! However, as I said, the event was fantastic and everyone left smiling, including myself even though I was exhausted from running around taking photos and navigating the girls all day! Below is a link to some news coverage of the event - the last photo is one of the girls on the runway!!

http://www.novafm.com.au/article/perth-fashion-festival-2012-restyle-runway

Next on Thursday, we attended the Morrison rehearsal as we had to prepare our PR Guide Dog Gidgee for the runway! Whilst I personally didn't have much to do, it was good to see the backstage happenings of a fashion show- and I even ran into a fellow Curtin PR Intern whilst  I was there! I also took photos of Gidgee rehearsing for  the event so we could put them up on social media! All guests who attended the event had a great time and reports about the audio description were glowing!

The last event i attended this week was the Myer Fashion Luncheon - and boy was this a FANTASTIC event. With only a slight hitch in prior to the event starting, where rain was POURING down outside the venue and everyone who had gotten all dolled up was getting SOAKED the event went off greatly! After navigating our blind clients from the rain through the crowds into the venue, we organised the audio description - which was reported to be wonderful by all clients. All our clients had a fantastic time, being blessed by having exclusive photos with Mel B and Kris Smith! Boy was that exciting.

So after a very eventful week, all feedback has been glowing, and all my efforts paid off! I have learnt that organising events is an exhausting business, but provides a buzz like no other!

Thanks! Prue

The joy of being published!

Hi everyone,

 

This is my third blog post, and I am just over half way into my placement. I mentioned in my last blog that I had been preparing a media release to encourage members of the community to become Puppy Raisers. After I had gotten approval for the media release by all departments involved, I sent out the media release to MANY community newspapers. After about 3/4 days, I hadn't heard anything from any of the outlets I had sent the media release to, so I thought back to what our tutors had said about media release distribution (I was once again happy that I our tutors are full of relevant and practical information) and decided that I would ring each of the contacts I had sent the email to and follow up, asking if they need any further information. This was a daunting task, especially as an intern because I lack experience and reputation, and I felt like I was annoying journalists by ringing them. However, once I had rung everyone and left messages with them about needing further information or photo opportunities, I realised the importance of this task. Following up with journalists allows us as Public Relations representatives to show that we done all that we can to get our messages out.

 

Well my efforts paid off, because that afternoon I received an email from the Canning Examiner asking for photos to go with the media release to create a story for their next edition. I was so excited about the response, but knew that I needed to act promptly to ensure they would still use our story. I was so excited and proud when I saw the story in the Canning Examiner Newspaper. It was probably the best feeling knowing that I was the person who had spearheaded this story! Below is a copy of the story that was published.

 

 

 

The radio station 6PR also contacted me to arrange an interview with a 'sensational talent' to go on air for their night program. Again I was pretty pleased with myself, but had to act quickly because I had to find a current puppy raiser for the interview, get them approved by all relevant departments, prep them and let 6PR know their contact details all before 5pm THAT DAY! Again, the interview was a success and went to air the following night!

 

Finally, another newspaper contacted me back, asking if they could interview and photograph a puppy raiser that lives within their area. After finding a person living within their jurisdiction, I once again sought approval from the departments and contacted the talent. I am still waiting for the next edition to be published to see if the story made it in, but fingers crossed!!

 

I have learnt that trying to get stories into newspapers isn't just about writing and emailing out media releases. It involves a whole lot of approvals to ensure messages and information is accurate, following up, acting promptly to provide further information and scanning newspapers to see if the story has made it. It may be a full on process, but it's definitely worth it when the media release creates a story that has been published for your organisation. You really feel like you have contributed to the organisation!!

 

Coles Visit

Hi all,

May is here! I am now left with 2 more weeks of Internship with Association for the Blind of WA- Guide Dogs WA.

The reason why I'm enjoying myself at charity organization is because it is more event based, I found out that I have so much lesser media releases to write as compare to my friends who have their interns at PR consultancies. In terms of event based, most of my job scope revolve around preparing materials ready for events, and I get to move around a lot instead of sitting in front of computers.

As mentioned in my previous post, I was involved in International Guide Dogs Day last week. Other than that, I've been travelling around Perth to visit Coles. Coles is working with Blind Association in a long-term project, in which Blind Association are placing their (model-dogs), which is the big version of mini-dogs into every Coles in Perth. Therefore I have been going out with one of my collegue, who is a mini-dog coordinator and one of our PR dog- Gidgee, to place model-dogs. The places we had been visiting is quite new to me, yesterday we travelled to Butler, which is a completely new place to me. We've been out for 4 times since I joined Association for the Blind, we had successfully placed 15 model-dogs.

According to my collegue, model-dogs in Coles will help her collect at least 50K per annua, which definitely added fund to the association to provide more services to the blind, vision impaired or to train at least 1 more guide dog.

 **If you see the doggies at coles, kindly drop some coins in it. Even a 5cents matters!**

Another update: V8 SUPERCAR DRIVERS VISIT ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND- GUIDE DOGS WA  on 02 May 2012.

Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes from Team Vodafone visited our office yesterday.
I was there to meet the real person!
Share couple of photos below:

Craig Lowndes & Jamie Whincup with Calvin & Gidgee

Let's see how well they perform on model cars?

Thank for reading. See you guys soon!
Philoemina Lee
Bently Campus


                                                          ----END OF POST----

First Week @ Association for the Blind of WA, Guide Dog WA

Hi everyone, today ticked off my first week of internship with Association for the Blind of WA, Guide Dog WA. Began my internship on Monday , that was my first job ever working in a NGO and sit in for a "9-5" job, I was being placed in Community Relations (CR) department and I have nine others colleague to work with. CR team has to look over ways to improve the funds that are going into the organisation, and everyone of us are being assigned to look after each of the program that are currently running in the association.

Association for the Blind of WA, Guide Dog WA's income are mainly depending on the donations from Corporate partners and general public, CR team had to work on the following channel to try to get as much help as possible:

1. Telesales- There will be a team of ladies that sit in the office and make phone calls to people in our database, encouraging them buying our Association's product, encouraging them to donate.

2. Direct Mail- One of CR team member is in-charge of this program, which is to send out 4 mails annually to those that has been donating to association, and 2 mails annually to those that are potential to be a donor.

3. Bequest- Another lady in our CR team is managing this program, this program is encouraging people to leave a gift for our association in their WILL.

4. Puppy Pals (known as puppy club last time) - This program is encouraging people to sponsor our puppies's breeding , while puppies are undergoing training to be Guide Dog.

5. Mini-Dog- This section of fund-raising is having the association's "plastic" dogs to be out in shops and supermarkets, encouraging publics to leave some coins into the mini-dogs.

6. Sponsors from Corporate- My supervisor is looking after this part of the fund-raising program in the association, allias with corporates to source for any possible sponsorship or funding to our association. I am currently working in this section.

There are major fund-raising events which the CR team will get involve throughout.

My work load for this first week were pretty easy-going, mainly doing on some admin work. At the same time, I was being asked by my supervisor to plan a fund-raising event through movie. I am now still at the planning phase, I will announce the details of the event if it is successful at any time soon.

There are some facts that I would like to share with regarding Association for the Blind of WA, Guide Dog WA.

• People may be unaware that our association does not only provide Guide Dogs to people who are blind, we still provide a whole range of different services; Education, "Vocal" library, skill classes (sewing, pottery), Counselling and etc.
• Association for the Blind does not only provide services and care to those who are legally blind, but also those that are vision-impaired.

NEXT BIG EVENT COMING-UP :

INTERNATIONAL GUIDE-DOG DAY (25th APRIL)

STREET-APPEAL (27th APRIL) -

Association's staff will be out on CBD streets at 7-9(am) with mini-dogs collecting money.

As a uni-student, you can help the association even by donating $2 monthly.

Philoemina Lee (14347681)

Curtin Bently