Dean Stacey PR393 Blog One
Curtin University
Hello everyone.
Currently I'm in week two of my placement at the Fellowship of Australian
Writers (WA) - a non-for-profit organisation which provides training, support
and friendship to the state's writing community. The Fellowship (FAWWA) is
based in Swanbourne and operates out of a heritage-listed cottage. It is
staffed by two women who work Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Have a look at their website or Facebook page for my information -
www.fawwa.org.au, http://www.facebook.com/WAwritersfellowship.
The real benefit with this placement is the opportunity to work in
conjunction with another PR student to help FAWWA better promote itself. Rather
than having an established public relations department, the organisation relies
on the existing staff to handle every aspect of daily operations. Because of
this, we have a fantastic opportunity to put the knowledge learnt at university
into practice. It is also beneficial that we are able to manage all PR related associated
tasks by ourselves (in consultation with staff). This means we don’t have
someone directing us what to do and allows us to show initiative.
Initially I was sceptical as to how significant the role of public relations
would be in the organisation's day-to-day running. However, after my first day
I'm pleased to say that there appears ample opportunity to put into practice
the skills learnt at university.
Below is an overview of what tasks, ideas and skills I've been able to
utilise so far.
- Administration/organisational skills: We have created a file-sharing
system known as Dropbox where staff can save information and items. Dropbox
allows those with access to view, edit and contribute to one another's work.
Examples of documents we've placed into the system include a database of
current members, membership forms, templates for media releases etc.
- Media releases: FAWWA hold regular workshops and events with established
writers. These workshops are attended by members and the general public. In
order to raise awareness, I created a media release which was distributed to a
newspaper in Rockingham and subsequently was published last month. This media
release now serves as a template for future releases and includes the FAWWA
logo, contact details etc.
- Promotional material: In order to attract new members to I created a
postcard which will be dropped into mailboxes and distributed around university
campuses. The postcard was modelled on a similar design the organisation had
used in the past. I created the card using a web-based printing company which
FAWWA has an account with. The postcards are currently being printed and
readied for distribution.
- Website and Facebook authorisation: We have been given access to modify
the organisation's website Facebook and website. This allows us to update new
material such as upcoming workshops, call for membership renewals and correspond
with members.
There is plenty more we've been tasked with, but in the interest of keeping this blog to a reabable length, I'll leave it there for today.
Thanks
