Things are not always what they seem

Almost a month into my internship and I had been experiencing things I never thought I would when I decided to join ChangeU Group. First let me start by giving a brief introduction to the organisation. 

ChangeU Group is a corporate training and development consultancy that specializes in transforming corporations through mindset change, breakthroughs, innovation and greatness. The organisation was established in the year 1990 in Hong Kong (headquarters) by CEO-Founder, Robert Chaen. The company is recognised by most of the corporations based in Hong Kong and since it only branched out to the Malaysian market in 2013, they are still in the midst of breaking through to a large number of companies in Malaysia. In Malaysia, ChangeU Group is considered a small business and run almost entirely by the CEo-Founder, Robert Chaen and just recently, American TV producer, Craig Santy. Since the establishment of the firm, ChangeU Group has successfully transformed organisations from the Fortune Global 500 corporations, government sectors along with top companies such as Coca-Cola (China), Nestlé, Gap, Petronas, Public Bank, DRB-HICOM, Jardines, Swire, hundreds of ICT/MSC companies throughout South-East Asia’s Silicon Valley and many more. 

When I went in on my first day, I was rather shocked when my CEO (as off now refered to as boss) told me that I wont be doing the things I expected to do before I joined the company. I was told that I was expected to do all kinds of tasks that involved the different departments in an organisation and that involved being an editor, HR, PR Representative, personal assistant, client liaison and a few other. It somewhat demotivated me but then I figured if I had to this I would want to gain as much as I possibly can in a PR point of view. Its really a matter of approaching the situation in a whole different and that is what I learned throughout my years of taking PR units. 

Sincerely,

Kane 

CMYK, consistency and car-free day

I’ve now passed the ten-day mark of my internship at Mills Wilson Communication Consultants. I’ve done a myriad of different activities, including a big research brief for one of our client CEO’s; photo briefs, logging and captioning; a media release to send to the local paper; a letter drop around the CBD; and also went on a bit of an excursion to a printing factory which turned out to be incredibly interesting.

We visited the printing warehouse/factory in Osbourne Park to learn about the different printers they have and the advantages of each for various jobs. As I am doing a print production unit at the moment, where we edit, format and distribute the Western Independent newspaper – this was particularly informative for me. A particularly interesting fact was what CMYK means: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key, as my favourite artist James Blake has an EP called just that! Anyway, the factory had two types of printers: offset (very large older printers which use physical ink) and digital printers that use recyclable aerosol cans. I found it very interesting that the old printers are still used, as it costs around $500 just to print the templates for each job!

I’ve also been writing newsletter stories for some of the spring newsletters Mills Wilson writes for a client who develops housing estates. These have included community stories on Recycling Week, World Car Free day, tips for spring cleaning, and so on.

The feedback I am receiving from the girls in the office is proving very beneficial. I produced an event plan for the community launch of a new estate and gave it to Jess for proof reading. I learnt that there were a few inconsistencies in some of the different documents I produced and I was forgetting about critical small details needed for an event such as rubbish bins and fire extinguishers. This is something I need to work on in future.

I have been incredibly busy juggling my internship with my work and class commitments, but it’s been a great learning experience so far. I hope I will be able to successfully document it all in my report… !

Blogs and Database Management

As I am getting closer to the end of my internship at SurfAid I have noticed a considerable improvement in my work and also the responsibility I am taking on within the PR department of the company.

I was recently given the opportunity to write blog posts for the SurfAid website for the Lawler SurfAid cup. While I have read numerous blogs, I haven't had the opportunity to write one one in a professional context, and found that I enjoy writing this material. Working alongside the communications manager we looked at changing the information from the press release material from the event into a less formal style of writing for the blog, which accompanied a video from the event.

I also had the opportunity to look at the internal management of the customer database from the SurfAid website. This was really interesting as it allows to see how successfully communications are received by the database, which I think is a really effective way of looking at how changes can be made to online communications. By looking at the people who receive and acknowledge communications, alternative methods of can be made for the future based on the demographics and figures provided by this information.

Throughout my internship I have learnt that are so many different aspect to public relations as well as tools and online resources that can be used to make our job a lot easier! It's fantastic to be exposed to all these resources and have the opportunity to learn from them and also consider what I would and wouldn't use in the future.

With one week to go I am that I have a lot more confidence in dealing with corporate clients and I have noticed a significant difference in my performance and my understanding of the industry!

On The Road. .

So I'm nearing the end of my placement and after being sick for a very long time it was essential that I came back strong. Upon my return I was required to draw up the media releases for each state leading up to the national roadshow. These media releases detailed each states event and information on the oZAPP awards. The process of sending out the media releases was long but good practice in searching for the right information and resolving undelivered emails as you go. I spent the whole afternoon glued to my computer until each and every media release was sent.

One of the most important things I've learnt is that the traditional strategies, such as media releases, take a long time, especially updating the databases! But without these there would be a lot of missed out opportunities for promotion. 

During the roadshow week, the spokesperson Bill Tai visited Perth and presented at SpaceCubed. This event was really well organised and took a lot of cooperation and teamwork between staff in Perth and France. This event proved to be a great learning experience as, despite pre-planning, we were faced with communication issues and venue access problems on the day of the event. The person we were working with at the venue failed to assist us (a group of four girls in heels) as we carried six boxes of glasses and alcohol up from the basement. The event ran well and no guests had a clue about the stressful setup! 

Me and the other intern set up a table at the front to check in guests as they arrived and present them with name tags. A simple but essential job at an event. I actually enjoy tasks like that as it gives me the opportunity to organise all the information I have and give me a sense of control. Throughout the rest of the night I helped with tasks here and there and served drinks to the guests. The biggest challenge was packing up the event in time for one directly after when guests still had all our hired glasses! but we found a way around that eventually! 

Not everyone had arrived by the starting time of the event so I continued to check people in while Bill spoke. By the middle of his presentation I was able to listen in and get a feel for the content. This was an eye opening experience as I had been writing the content and working on things involving Bill for so long that it was great to finally have the chance to listen to what he had to say and add to my understanding of the oZAPP's event. There was one particular quote that resonated with me from the presentation. Bill took his passion of extreme sports to compare Lain's theory with a surfing analogy to illustrate why it is timing and not perfection that is the most important factor when developing a company. 

"Starting a company is a lot like surfing. 

There are three places you can be with respect to the wave, in front, on, or behind it. 

If you are behind, it is impossible to swim up the back and get in front to ride, being early feel a lot like being wrong, but if you hit it just right it just takes a couple of easy strokes and you are up and riding." Bill said.

I think this analogy can be applied to numerous life aspects including PR. In PR you have to be in the right place at the right time to be effective. If you let a crisis get out of control it can reach the point of no return and if you come in too early the campaign will not be effective, indeed timing is everything. 

At the end of the night I finally had the opportunity to meet the man I had been writing so much about over the last few months. Bill was a genuinely lovely guy who has immense knowledge in the social media and startup industry. It was a pleasure to meet him and it definitely added to the experience of working on the event! 

Official oZAPP image: Email signature and promo flyer 

Official oZAPP Photos taken by Maya Kavanagh

Bill Tai presenting at Spacecubed as part of the oZAPP's National Roadshow

Formal Training vs On The Job Skills

Throughout my learning at university, I have often been advised that many public relations professionals have often not undergone university degrees, and have instead simply undertaken on-the-job training. Within my placement I have witnessed this first hand as all of my colleagues have been thrown into careers of promotions and events management, and have no university education in the area.

Now that I have been working for a few weeks, it is obvious to see how this is possible. My co-workers have all had to learn the importance of documents such as media releases, media kits, and event run sheets. When you are placed in a situation, where you learn through practice rather than theory, it becomes a necessity to learn quickly through practice. This is an area in which I feel I have been able to assist in my placement. Both Metric Promotions and Pilerats are relatively young businesses and I have been able to suggest the most appropriate and professional use of these documents for different aspects of the business.

In addition to this, I now fully understand the importance of writing at a professional level. On my first day, I was asked to write a blog post for the Pilerats blog. This was something I found somewhat challenging, even though I believe that I am a competent writer, I was now required to write in a less formal, more relaxed manner. I found this a contrast to the usual professional, formal manner in which I have experience in writing for university. I hope to be able to inject more personality into my blog posts I write in the future, and I think this will be a great chance to get more practice in writing.

Here is a link to my blog post if anyone would like to have a read!

http://pilerats.com/fashion/as-bad-as-i-guana-be

I have some exciting opportunities lately, which i will share with everyone in the next few posts.