Event PR - SurfStitch SurfAid Ball 2013

During my internship with SurfAid, a large part of my role has involved working with both the PR and Event Management departments on the inaugural SurfAid Ball in Sydney. This year the event was held at the spectacular Star Entertainment Centre, which overlooks the harbour and Sydney CBD! Tickets were sold to over 400 guests, with the event being attended by several Australian surfing legends, it was an incredible experience to be part of.

Prior to the event it was important to consider all our major sponsors and VIP's attending the event and incorporating these into the photography and videography briefs. Maintaining positive sponsor relationships is vital to non-for-profit events, as these allow companies such as SurfAid to put on nights such as the ball, which raise much needed funds and awareness for a great cause.

One thing I like to do before arriving to events is having a print out of all the VIP names and their positions along with a small headshot so that I am easily able to recognise these faces and make we get the right images captured on the night. I then liaise with the photographers and videographers and run through the media brief and the VIP list to make sure we all familiar on what needs to be done and can then communicate effectively on the night.

Other important part of setting up for the night was to make sure all sponsorship material was placed appropriately on the tables (this took a long time as you can imagine with 400 places to set) but was vital to maintain relations with event sponsors and promote their support and brand on the night.

Prior to guests arriving the media board was set up in a pre-determined location, although on the night the photographer and myself has to make some last minute decisions regarding lighting but thankfully it all worked out! Once people started arriving it was my job to greet guests and usher them to the media board and get their photos taken (tougher than it sounds not too many people like getting their photo taken it seems...) writing down names to match the images and also making sure the photographers and videographers had copies of the names.

There are so many parts involved with an event that all come together as an essential part of making the post event media process a lot easier! I have learnt a lot from this event in regards to the fine (but crucial) details that need to be regarded to ensure that media, sponsors and guests are kept happy. This is so important as this means that future events will have these past positive relations to draw from and can then build on these to make future events a further success. Event PR is definitely an area I want to pursue in the future!

Dressing up and looking up!

Hey everyone,

This unfortunately is my last and final blog post so please don't get emotional!
Over the last 2 months, I have had an amazing experience working alongside the events management team at PMH Foundation. Throughout the 2 months I have better grasped the relevance of public relations in everyday business as well as within the not-for-profit industry.

Throughout the last several weeks, much engagement with stakeholders as occurred in relation to the upcoming 'Bear By Night Ball'. It has involved informing guests online on the latest updates including sponsors as well the production and delivery of invitations. This involved tiresome work in the office, packing and sealing envelopes which is always fun... But seeing the invitations for the first time was an exciting experience considering all the time and effort that has gone into making the invitations alone.

As I stated in my previous blog, I was in the process of planning an upcoming corporate sports day package for the foundation. There has not been much progress on this apart from more site visits, visiting potential sports grounds to get a better feel of what we are trying to achieve. Through several relationships existing at PMH Foundation, we have visited one sports facility that looks extremley promising! It is unfortunate I will not be assisting in the completion of this package but I can gladly say I will be watching its progress from within the foundation as I was recently offered a casual job! *cue celebratory music* Not much details on the position but I will be moving in with the marketing team and expanding my horizons even more, so wish me luck!

One... interesting... task that I had undertaken in the last week though involved me getting hairy and sweaty.... literally. As one of the volunteers could not make it in on the day of a hospital visit, I happened to be the back-up and was asked to be the foundations mascot, Stitches the bear. This involved me walking around the hospital cheering up the sick kids with free hugs and free gifts, dressed as Stitches. It was extremely hot in the massive costume but was actually good fun as I was able to be a kid again, jumping and dancing around. Apart from having fun, I was also able see how the foundation makes an impact on the sick children at PMH. The picture below gives you an idea of the craziness I had whilst being Stitches!

Again, this professional experience has been amazing and worthwhile. I am so thankful for my time spent with Simone, Guy and Lauren in the events team as well as the rest of them team at PMH Foundation! Hope everyone else had amazing time like myself and good luck with everything else!

Brodie

:)

it's just not the same without Gravy... Part 3

Introducing to you… Gravy client number 3: The McComb Foundation.
The McComb Foundation is a burns research foundation founded by Professor Fiona Wood and operates as a not-for-profit. Gravy's main involvement in the foundation is organizing and managing every aspect of their annual charity ball – The Burns Challenge Ball. Other undertakings by Gravy include basic communication throughout the year via e-Newsletters, social media and website updates. However, most communication happens around ball time with relevant information regarding the event.
The Burns Challenge Ball 2012 will be held on Saturday, October 13. I have been with Gravy for about 9 months now, so have seen the last ball through and can’t wait to get this one on its way also. This year’s ball is particularly special because it marks the 10 year anniversary of the Bali bombings; where Fiona Wood travelled to and assisted in the emergency medical response for burns victims.

This week, Ivana set out a few tasks for me regarding our McComb contract. Firstly, there were ball related jobs to get done. This included updating the mail-outs (both by email and post) of the following documents:

·        Request for prize donations – this will be sent to both previous prize donors and potential sponsors and;

·        Request for volunteers – this will be sent to our volunteer database as well as selected university Marketing Schools calling for work experience students (including our very own PRSC, you may have remembered the email regarding the ball last year!)

As these documents had already been created for last year’s ball, they only needed a simple update of information.
Secondly, I was asked to find a multimedia expert or film maker to create a promotional video for our 2012 ball, using the footage filemd from last year’s ball. This film is intended to be used for promotional purposes via the McComb website and social media channels. As The McComb Foundation is a not-for-profit, the budget for this video is extremely small. Although Fiona hadn’t given us a particular budget to work with, I was set out to gather various quotes at the best price they could do for the foundation and thus work out the best solution from there. I contacted about 5 multimedia organisations, explaining to them The McComb Foundation and whether they could offer a discount and consequently be credited a McComb sponsor. I also took the initiative to contact various university multimedia departments and see if this is a project that could be offered to students as a work experience venture – surely it isn’t just us PR students that seek work experience! And apparently, it isn’t! Responses thus far are positive and will be discussed in a meeting with Fiona the possible path to go down.

My next task wasn’t ball related, but demonstrates how Gravy helps McComb in additional promotional ways to gain awareness and, most importantly, increased funding. McComb has recently had the opportunity to be affiliated with the wonderful initiative “Plates for Mates.” “Plates for Mates” is an initiative set up in support of the McComb Foundation and Matt Golinski, an Australian celebrity chef who, on Boxing Day, was in a horrific house fire which left him severely burned and his wife and three daughters dead. The foundation was set up by friends of Matt’s who aspired to support their mate through his recovery, whilst helping other burns victims – leading them to decide to partner with McComb. “Plates for Mates” has already received a huge media response (especially because one of the founders is MasterChef judge, Manu Feildel) which, in turn, also creates awareness for McComb. It seems as though most of my job has been done for me, right?! However, we wanted to push this as much as we could on our part also. This lead to my tasks of:

·        Creating a short newspaper style article which will appear on the McComb website;

·        Creating an email-out which was sent to our somewhat 600 person database (including sponsors, donors, supporters and previous ball attendees) and;

·        Telling the Facebook and Twitter world of the initiative via the McComb accounts.

Take a look below at the article I created for the website (alternatively, check it out on the website: www.mcomb.org.au)

 

And that is a very humble introduction of The McComb Foundation! However, there will be many more posts from me regarding McComb, especially as it creeps up to ball time in October!

Until next time…
--Sarah