What makes writing so important?

Hi all, 

Looking back at my 20 days spent at Woodside, I’m realising how important the writing skills of a PR consultant are.

The Oxford dictionary defines writing as the activity or skill of marking coherent words on paper and composing text.

Writing is therefore the vital means of communication within an organisation as it is the primary basis upon which our work is expressed.

Always paying attention to the grammatical errors, to the tense you use and make sure you use the active rather than the passive voice is essential.

I paid lots of attention and time proof reading my work when my mind was refreshed to make sure I didn’t left any basic errors behind.

Good style and quality writing is an essential PR job skill, as most of our tasks require writing convinced and effective documents. I’ve done a multitude of re-writing tasks, and found it quite hard sometimes to keep the meaning but change the structure of a sentence or paragraph. Use different words, find synonyms, keep the information and change the orientation of the sentence. That’s the magic skill of a good PR consultant.

I believe that experience and practice are the only way you can improve your writing skills, and I thank Woodside for the great experience opportunity I had.

Happy writing throughout your careers!

Cheers

Alice

A busy week without the pressure

While the pressure wasn’t as intense as it has been previously, this week has been a busy week. The tasks I have been given by my supervisor lately have been quite diverse and this week wasn’t any exception. Last week I was asked to assist my supervisor with a client’s annual report. My supervisor and our graphic designer worked really hard to have the text and layout of the report ready for client approval. My task for this was to proofread over 60 pages of the 140 pages word for word and ensure the table and note numbers were relevant to each section. I have to be honest, my brain was exhausted by the end and I wasn’t making much sense. However, it was a nice thought that even a simple task such as proofreading is just as important to ensure consistency and even the smallest error doesn’t make it through on the final version that goes to print. On Wednesday, the artwork was finished, the client approved it and it was finally sent to print. It was a big effort by the team and especially the graphic designers and project manager to get it done by the deadline. I learned that missing a deadline for an annual report is something that you don’t want to happen as there are statutory guidelines that can result in serious consequences.

This week my daily tasks included auditing a client’s website to ensure the messages communicated in their company presentation and investor fact sheet were consistent with those in their website. It was my job to check all the communication materials and write suggested changes to be made. I also researched competitors’ websites to see if there was links or information that our client should have so they aren’t at a disadvantage. Another task that our junior team is still currently working on is conducting and compiling research for one of our clients. Our client is a not-for-profit organisation that is seeking funding or sponsorship from large corporations in Western Australia. We compiled a list of possible companies and organisations to provide funding to our client and researched the grants and sponsorships that are available and the processes to apply for them. While it may seem like a very simple job, there were A LOT of companies to look at and it was very time consuming. We completed the research but the document is still being edited to cut it down as it was over 60 pages long.

Another project I have been working on is safety posters for one of our clients. I wrote the design brief to go to our graphic designer regarding the design and changes to be made to the original posters. It’s exciting to be able to liaise with the client and the graphic designer who makes their vision come to life. It is a very interesting process which I really like being a part of.

Being at a consultancy firm, you work on a number of different projects for different clients. Each project is unique and interesting in its own way and can expand your skill sets. But I have found that as a consultant, you need to learn to multi-task and juggle a number of different projects at once. I have found this difficult at times but am managing my time management skills better. My aim for the end of my work placement is to improve my multi-tasking skills and work more efficiently on each project but I am aware that this does take time to perfect.

Meaghan King

Curtin Bentley