Organizing the 2015 Borneo Youth Leadership Conference

I took it this time, not wanting this event to fall to the wrong hands, hands that would ruin it and hamper its progress to become what I want it to be in the future. Thus for the 2nd time I am the Organizing Chairperson of the 2015 Borneo Youth Leadership Conference.

Throughout the organization of this conference, I have learnt and enhance so many skills relevant to my future. Website design, event management, people management, problem solving, solving disputes and maintaining one's focus despite anxiety and stress. All in all it has made me a stronger person today, and I am driven to get the job done and to get it done right.

I am thankful that my supervisor agreed to hand this project to me, it has and continues to be a learning experience, and one that I am sure I will benefit a huge deal from.

Kicking it off at the Department of Sport and Recreation

Two weeks ago, I started my internship at the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR). Before I started, I was feeling kind of anxious as I had no idea what to expect. But my anxieties were laid to rest on my first day, as everyone I met in the Department were so friendly and welcoming. The communications team (where I will be placed with over the coming weeks) is quite small, but they are all especially friendly, close and funny.

The past few weeks have been crazy, and I am learning so much. Amazingly, half of the stuff I have learnt is about filming and photography, which perfectly complements PR. This is due to the fact that my table is right next to the filming crew, so they sometimes take me to different events that they are filming at, such as the NAIDOC Netball Carnival, and I get to see what goes on behind-the-scenes in making a video. 

I have participated in the following PR-related tasks so far: media monitoring, writing a media release, proof-reading the reports about their different programs (which gave me a good insight into what the DSR does), and attending their event planning meetings, one of their media events and one of their media ops.

The media event I went to was about the announcement of DSR's new online planning tool for sports clubs. Not a lot of media attended this, as I believe that it had little news value to them. But it was interesting to note that the media, who did attend the event, were only interested in asking questions about the new Sports Stadium at Burswood-this was a completely different topic to what the media event was for. As my boss told me later on, this kind of thing happens quite often. 

The media op contrasted to the media event. The media op was about the State government injecting $7.2 million into 47 State sporting associations. It focused on inviting the media to the NIB sports stadium, where around 10 young athletes from local sporting clubs and the Sport and Recreation minister, Terry Waldron, would be there for the media to take photos and ask questions. Unlike the media event, the media op was more focused on the topic. The West Australian published the resulting story: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24468553/7-2m-kicked-in-to-sports-clubs/

(Behind the scenes of getting the right photo)

Every week, the DSR has a performance review meeting with all the different divisions within the department. What I found really refreshing was that, instead of using technology, they used an old-fashion pinboard, pieces of paper and coloured markers to keep track of what each division was up to. I really enjoyed the performance review meetings, as I got to see how the communications team contributed to the overall success of the Department.  

I look forward to seeing what else the DSR experience will bring me in the next few weeks.

For the love of football

From the very first day of my internship at GO Communications (GO) I have been assisting in preparing for an event for our client Zurich Insurance Malaysia Berhad.

Zurich is running a Corporate Social Responsibility campaign called ‘Love for Football’. The campaign is in conjunction with Little League Malaysia and involves going to schools and teaching children essential football skills. Zurich will also be donating money to each school to be put towards football related expenses.

GO Communications’ role is to ensure the event gets coverage in the media. Two and a half weeks before the event my team members and I delivered the invitations to the media in the form of a yellow card. The invitations were hand delivered to about 15 media and emailed to over 50. For more information on the delivery of the media invitations refer to my previous blog ‘same same but different’ posted on 13^th June 2014.

In the days leading up to the event it was my job to call the media to get their RSVP. Unfortunately for us, most media departments do not assign their reporters until 6pm the night before. This means we often have to wait until 7pm at night before we can call them for their RSVP. On some occasions I was told to call back at 10pm. Zurich however, want to know final media numbers by 3pm the day before, a somewhat impossible task.

Today was the day the event finally took place. I woke up at 5am to arrive at the Football stadium by 6am. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself having to wake up so early, until I got to the stadium and met the event crew who had arrived at 1am in order to set everything up in time.

The event was MC’d by two local Malaysia personalities. The event program included a speech from Zurich CEO, a speech from the King’s brother, a performance by the keepie uppies and a friendly indoor football match between a local school versing some football legends and Little League coaches. The football legends include Datuk Santokh Singh and Abbas Saad who use to play for Australia.

Wondering what a Keepie Uppie performance looks like? Watch the video below.

My job on the day was to register the media and ensure they were well catered for and comfortable. It was really good to be a part of an event and see how much preparation goes into it. We ran through the script with the MC’s at least five times.

My fellow intern Felicity and I with our 'event crew' passes.

It was interesting to see the things that went wrong that you could simply never predict. During this event the wind picked up and blowing the balloon arch over and ants infested the media desk. It made me realise no matter how much you prepare something can always go wrong on the day that you hadn’t thought of. I guess now I have experienced those things going wrong I can prepare for them at future events. Note to self, always bring extra string and fly spray to an event.

Whitney

Of media releases and campaigns.

Hi everyone!

So my journey began mid of last month, and I am glad to say that I am halfway there. Two weeks of being in the Corporate Communications office has taught me some of the things every intern working in a corporate communications department needs to know.

And last Wednesday I get to draft my very first media release. My supervisor e-mailed me details of the release in the afternoon and I managed to get it done before I got off from work! Well, the media release is about the upcoming Go Bald event that will be held in campus on the 14th May. Go Bald is a campaign organized by Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society where members of the public are able to give their support to children suffering from cancer through donations and also showing their care by getting their hair shaved. But only the bold will do so and in the past years, I have witnessed girls getting their hair shaved too. Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society (SCCS) is a relief and care for childhood cancer and their annual event, the Go Bald campaign aims to raise enough money for the treatment and to help those children and their families.

As you guys know, this is the third year that Curtin Sarawak is involved in the Go Bald campaign held by SCCS. Curtin has been actively participating in the campaign to show support to all the young cancer patients. And I am glad to say that the event turned out pretty well. I remember asking my colleague the total number of students and staff that were going to shave their hair. But as the event was going on, more and more students decided to join in and get their hair shaved too. At first there only about thirty students and staffs but the number increased to almost double the initial number! Thanks to all the supportive students, the event turned out well and was better than we expected.

So a week before the event started, I was given the task to draft my very first media release. I only had about two hours to complete the given task and was glad that I managed to get it done on time. From this, I have also learned that drafting a media release was not easy. Although I have been taught different ways to draft a release, somehow, it is still different when you actually do it at work. And from the event, I have witnessed how the Corporate Communications manage the event, and how they ensure the reporters and guests from SCCS were taken care of. I saw the reporters took photos throughout the event and even got to interview some of the students who got their heads shaved.

The three brave ladies were first to go.

 Before & after.

Before I end my post, I want to highlight that media relations play a crucial part in Public Relations. And in this case, communicating with the media is a central area of activity in corporate communications. Some of the media relations techniques that have been used are press release and media monitoring. This is what I as an intern has observed throughout the event, and also for the past events as well.


Till then,
Vivian Lee
15442668
Curtin Miri

First week at Dine for Life!

My internship has officially begun after my first full day at the Dine for Life headquarters. Before I get into what I got up to I’ll give you a little run down about what Dine for Life is all about. Basically the organisation is a non-for profit high profile dining event that give one hundred percent of funds to a different human trafficking charity each year. A truly special and unique idea that has been tremendously successful in the past and will hopefully continue to be this year with my help of course.

Dine for Life was founded by two talented ladies who wanted to use their business skills to give back something to the world. Essentially, it is an event of luxury dining at twenty of Perth’s finest restaurants, followed by a secret after party, for a number of Perth’s high calibre guests. My job as an events intern will involve various tasks to initiate and plan the event and assist with public relations duties to promote Dine for Life’s objectives, before and after the event.

This week was already exciting. First on the list was to develop a telephone pitch and gathered sponsorship ideas for the ‘foodie’ goodie bags, received by guests on the evening of the event. Putting this pitch into practice will be on next weeks agenda and to me is rather daunting, however I’m up for a challenge and will learn by doing! Today, I also sent out various emails with my co-intern Sonja, to various restaurants following up on their M.O.U’s (memorandum of understanding) or basically the contract outlining what was required of each restaurant sponsor and what they would receive in return.

This week I also attended a meeting at the secret after party location (of which I cannot divulge) while the founder Andjelka discussed ideas with the public relations person of the location. The day consisted of lighting and sound discussions, then MOU and contract talk.  Overall and extremely insightful and exciting week, I can’t wait until we next meet!

The very late at night just finished my second last uni assignment (ever!!) last post

Well what a ride.

My internship at AVHI is all done, my final copy of my report has been sent in to turnitin, and I'm reflecting.

Funny, I think the most important thing I learned at my internship is do NOT let anyone who isn't 100% literate in html coding work on the website (it was Sean, the owner, and now he's probably going to be paying a lot to fix it). But at least there is a hard copy version with everything written down that I planned out, so that's a plus.

The most exciting news, however, is the contract that AVHI just landed with VenuesWest at Arena Joondalup. They're now going to be hosting a one off event with the potential for more based on the success of the first one late this year as a christmas do. It's an absolutely huge deal for such a small company, and the staff Sean met with to discuss (with a few pointers from yours truly as I wasn't allowed in!) were super excited too.

So something good to go with the something slightly bad of the website.

I've enjoyed this internship so much, I've needed the flexibility I got out of it and being able to make proper decisions and explain why I made them and be absolutely confident that I can back myself. Confidence (or faking it til you make it - I'm a very firm believer in that one) will get you so so far in life, let alone in PR.

I remember starting high school and being the shyest, meekest little thing ever. I wouldn't talk to someone unless they spoke first and constantly second guessed myself with a healthy sense of paranoia about what everyone else was thinking too.

Now all these years later (oh god I feel SO old) I'm about to graduate university and I've booked a one way trip half way around the world all on my own. Confidence and pretending not to be afraid even though you feel like you want the ground to swallow you up have been the two most precious things I have ever gotten in my life, and I've been able to use them wholeheartedly (and only a little bit faking it!) during this internship.

Goodbye scared little 12 year old, hello the rest of my life.

Fundraising for the Liver Foundation of WA

Another week another event!

This week one of our big clients - The Liver Foundation of WA had a fundraising event, it was all hands on deck as we prepared for the evening!

Once all the planning is in place and a venue  has been selected (Kailis Brothers Leederville) the hard task begins - finding event attendees! As with any event it is important that the attendees have strong association and commitment to the cause of the event. My job was to find people that were relevant and had the ability to benefit the cause of the Liver Foundation.

After what seemed to be thousands of emails back and forth we eventually had a strong base of attendees, high profile guests such as the Chief Scientist of WA, the Premier of WA and many more health based organisations would soon be attending the event to show their support and find out key information on the organisation and its main cause.

This event was held specifically to promote the Liver Foundation of WA's new 'Outback Track' initiative which took education, support and medical supplies to the remote areas of outback Western Australia.

The 32dsg team worked very hard and the event was extremely successful gaining full support from Colin Barnett, we also received numerous donations from many attendees. It was a welcoming experience working at a fundraising event and something that I had never experienced in the past.

Not only did I take away fantastic knowledge of how these events are run but also vital information on how the Liver Foundation of WA service the state and see the great work that they do for West Australians in remote and regional areas.

My time here at 32 Degrees South Group is wrapping up, next week is my last week but I am sure there is still some exciting things ahead!

OzApps Event!

OzApps Event!

One of the things that always drew me towards the PR industry was events, so I was very excited to find out that my internship organisation (32 degrees south group) was highly event focused. The first event on the agenda was for OzApps - a phone application awards program run across Australia that can be entered by both students and professionals alike.

My next week and a bit was solely planning for a single event that went for a mere 4 hours - I did not realise the huge amount of planning that went into a single event. My background in events has always been from a hospitality industry perspective, which is hugely focused on the organisation of the event over the course of the event day itself, with all the pre planning already taken care of.

At the end of all this planning the day was finally here, I was extremely excited to see my first PR event come to life, especially after all the time I had put into it. It was however a very long day for me, but I think that excited me even more! 

The event was to start at 6pm, however we were at the venue from 4:30pm doing all the preparations and organising the key speakers. Our key speaker for the night was Bill Tai - Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist and Chairman of the OzApp Judging Panel.

I had the opportunity to network with a variety of different people from students to successful professionals across a range of technology and business industries. Many of these contacts will certainly be helpful in the future in establishing myself with a PR career. 

The event was a huge success! It was a sell out event which was truly enjoyed by all who attended. The speaker was engaging and encouraged people to enter the competition and spoke with such enthusiasm promoting young innovation and entrepreneurship.

Now to wait till the next event where we do it all over again!

Till next time!

Simon

Finding the key to sponsorship in a charity context

For my internship, I thought the most rewarding experience would be to help out a charity or non for profit group, and I was correct.

Firstly, Second Chance Horse Rescue is a non for profit group dedicated to equine welfare throughout Western Australia. The organisation was established in 2006 and has rehabilitated over 120 horses, whilst improving the lives of countless others. Many of the horses that come into the charity’s care come from abusive or neglectful homes.

 The group rely heavily on the public’s donations and support, many volunteers help at fundraising events and foster the horses in care until they are adopted out. Many of these horses take years of rehabilitation and handling until they can be safely adopted. Gaining knowledgable foster carers is a major problem the organisation faces, this is an area I will be addressing later in the internship.

However organization is holding their annual Beginner’s Horse Show on Sunday the 22^nd of September at the Walangarra Pony Club in Wungong. I was trusted to create a sponsorship proposal and research potential sponsors.

Drafting a sponsorship letter was difficult as I have never done anything life that before, I had never created one throughout my uni life, luckily I found a large degree of examples on the internet to gauge the type of template that was needed.

So I got busy in  drafting up a sponsorship letter, coming up with sponsorship levels and guidelines. After that was set, I brainstormed with the committee in what benefits the organisation could offer to potential sponsors.

We came up with four levels offering a range of benefits from Facebook and website advertisement, printed advertisement in the show guide on the day of the event. Ring sponsorship turned into our largest offering as well as a free stall at the event for businesses.

The final sponsorship proposal was then submitted to the committee and that’s when my research began. Having been in the equestrian industry for most of my life I had a good idea to what businesses I should approach. I sent letters and emails to a range of stock feeds, tack stores, horse studs, vetinaries, riding schools, trainers, horse breakers. The committee agreed to focus on the equestrian industry for the time being.

My next dilemma would be to approach the committee in sending sponsorship proposals to local businesses in the Wungong area, it would mean alerting the sponsorship proposal but it might open up another key market.

We realised by invoking emotion and sympathy into these letter we got a better response by the equestrian community.  One slogan we used was "Help us to help them", we also used a number of before and after photographs depicting successful stories that the organisation has achieved. By creating sympathy for the horses and the conditions they are in, we realised the community was more willing to give. By seeing a photo on an unhealthy horse we received a greater reaction then by writing about it. I guess in this situation a photo does speak a thousand words. This approach was never been used before and we have seen a dramatic increase already in the number of sponsors compared to last year. 

After all it is a fundraising show.

I’ve had a very good response so far with many of the higher sponsorship spots already gone.  It felt great knowing that this proposal and my contribution may save a number of horses in the future. The funds raised will help provide the best medical care, training and general rehabilitation for the horses surrendered into care. It was great to know that the efforts I helped produce will give a horse a second chance at life.

Below is Second Chance's Ebony before and after she was rehabilitated 

An intern's last day.

My internship in SBO TV, Surabaya has officially ended. I started the internship on July 8 and finished on July 30.

A lot of things happened during my placement, I faced various crises and had to come up with a quick solution to help my major event to succeed. Throughout my placement managed to secure valuable media contacts, learn and develop various public relations and other business skills.

Throughout my internship I have developed my communication and public speaking skills further, and has learned negotiation and administrative skills. This internship gave me valuable experience on working with big events from clients such as Honda and Yamaha. Being a public relations intern who worked under the event department, SBO TV demanded high focus on details while managing these events.

Specifically throughout my 20 days of internship I was the gatekeeper for the YMMF (Yamaha Mio Music Festival), where I was responsible to organise 48 different event venues and permits. This event is a music and dance competition event sponsored by Yamaha as a partnership with SBO TV. It targets high school students across East Java, and is the biggest music and dance festival in the region. Various Indonesian celebrity debut performances were through this event. 

I was given additional tasks such as doing an impromptu presentation to destined schools on explaining what the event is, as well as being the PIC (person in charge) during the event date in one of the school in Surabaya - SMAN 22. For this event I work in a team of 10 main people, who were in charge of different cities during the event.

The other event, Bazaar Ramadhan was my secondary duty. In this event I was in charge to do a host briefing prior to the start of the event. Overall working in SBO TV was a lot of fun, there are heaps of memories, contacts and valuable experience to treasure.

Other than these events I was  given the opportunity to attend a photo shoot for a "For Hers" section in Jawa Pos. Additionally based on my radio announcer background I was given the opportunity to do a news voice over for a news program in SBO TV, Update Sore. 

On my last day July 30, 2013 I brought a cake to thank all my colleagues, supervisors and managers for their help and assistance during the placement. On the day an unexpected thing happened, as a colleague and a producer approached me. They offer me to be a cast in a television commercial for a furniture company named, SKEV.

On the day I took the job and did the commercial shooting in a shopping centre, SUTOS (Surabaya Town Square).The commercial is a 30 seconds advert that will run for 30 slots in SBO TV. The shooting process took half a day and a raw video on the commercial is attached below. Two days after the shooting, I was contacted by the producer to do another commercial ad for the same company with a different concept. Both advert will be used and aired in SBO TV.

All experiences attained are beyond my expectations, as a public relations intern my expectations for the internship would be to do an office job such as writing media releases and sorting incoming media releases from various companies and organisations. In reality these experiences are more exciting and will be treasured as valuable knowledge that are not attained through merely a university degree.

Animal Aid Abroad High Tea coming soon! :)

I would like to say thanks to Janet Thomas for letting me work with Animal Aid Abroad. Animal Aid Abroad is a non-profit organization which works to improve the conditions and treatment of working animals around the world. It was started in 2007; Perth, Australia by Janet Thomas and their first project was in Alexandria, Egypt. They have started to expand their operation in some countries such as India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Israel, Tanzania, Thailand and recently in Indonesia.  AAA projects are aimed to help working animals including horses, mules, donkeys, camels, elephants, fogs and bullocks. These animals suffer because of overwork and are also underfed, mistreated, and appallingly undervalued.  For more information about AAA I would like to invite everyone to visit

 http://www.animalaidabroad.org/

My job this time is to help out with the event, High Tea in 18 of August 2013. The event will be held in Joondalup Resort from 1pm until 5pm.  It is a perfect opportunity to get together with some friends while enjoying the best view of Joondalup Resorts poolside. It is not only that, you have a chance to help abused and neglected working animals at the same time.

Public relation plays an important role for gaining public attention/awareness and it will definitely help non-profit organization as PR offers low budget. My first task was to promote the event with very limited budget. I preferred to put most of information online because it would not cost so much. Facebook, twitter and some of advertising websites are good sources to promote the event. I also put some flyers at some places and tried to send some media releases. The good news all the tickets are sold out. Thanks everyone for your support! 

This is one of the best opportunities for me to learn about how the event will run. AAA have arranged some events throughout the year to raise some funds and to increase awareness of people about what they do and why. This time AAA high tea will be about celebrating AAA works so far and to get more people's awareness about the projects that have been running.

There are many people who are not well informed about the projects and about those animals’ conditions.  There are animals who are still suffering a lot and they need a lot of support.  Therefore, the high tea will give opportunity for people to show their support and to change those lives from unfortunate into fortunate. :) It is a positive course for sure.

I love working with AAA because it is my passion. I love animals and one of my dreams is to help those unfortunate animals. I was born in a country where animals are still unfortunate.  This is why I want to help them and through AAA I have a chance to make a big difference.  Of course, if you love job, you will do your best and so do I.  :)

Working with a non-profit has a lot of benefits especially when you start your career. I have met a lot of amazing people and got to know them on how they manage the organization. Most of them are full time workers but they have put so much effort in the organization.  It is not easy to run an organization when you do not have much time. But, AAA has been doing well so far because they have a lot of amazing people to work with. 

Well, working with AAA has not only given me opportunity to learn about organization but also a chance to change the world! By working with AAA, you will get the best feeling ever because you will save so many lives.  Those animals deserve better life and we definitely could help them.  :) I am glad to get involve with this organization.

Because we are going to run an auction for the high tea, my other task is to find some stuffs that can be used for the auction.  I have met awesome people who were happy to donate for this cause.  Probably if you have something that you do not use anymore, you can donate it to us too. Why not! It is an amazing opportunity for you to change the world.  It means so much for us and those animals! :) You can contact me through email: debbiesatyawaty.1991@gmail.com or call me on 0430166607.  Thank you. . Looking forward for next month’s event!

Branding: Much more than just a logo

I am now 10 days into my internship at Corporate Sports Australia working on the Chevron City to Surf for Activ and I have very quickly realised the importance of corporate branding.

Branding is defined by the American Marketing Association as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. 

In the instance of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, branding is vital due to partnership and sponsorship agreements made with external parties.

Every piece of documentation including but not limited to; press releases, emails, newsletters, event guides and marketing material needs to have the official Chevron City to Surf for Activ logo on it, as seen below.

Additionally, in written communication such as emails, press releases and published media it is essential that the event name is written in full, being the 'Chevron City to Surf for Activ' not the City to Surf or Chevron City to Surf.

Even when emailing press releases I am required to include a disclaimer note reading:
**Note: Please be sure to refer to the event by the official event name 'Chevron City to Surf for Activ' in all media.

By mentioning the disclaimer in my email I have reiterated the importance of branding and secondly I have covered myself in the instance that the event is not referred to correctly.

Due to Chevron's agreement as the exclusive naming rights sponsor for the event, Chevron must approve all logos and marketing material that is produced. This communication between Corporate Sports Australia and Chevron regarding the branding of the event allows both parties to have a sound understanding of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ brand and what it stands for within the community.

The first press release I produced I had several instances where I referred to the event as the 'City to Surf' but today having produced 15+ press releases it has become second nature to write the event name out in full.

In the instance of events; branding also allows the public to make the connection between the event and social media initiatives. In the case of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, the hash tag #CTSjourney is being used via social media platforms including Twitter and Instagram. Through the branding efforts made by Corporate Sports Australia and associated parties this hash tag is immediately recognisable to the public to be in relation to the Chevron City to Surf for Activ.

So far I am very much enjoying my internship at Corporate Sports Australia and am looking forward to seeing all the behind the scenes preparation come together on the 25th of August. I look forward to updating you all on my progress and sharing my experiences with you.

Event Co-ordination, the many levels.

Hi again!

In March, i was given the task of arranging and gathering all the neccessary contacts and information needed to plan an event for the company that would be held at the end of the year. From my previous experience, the people here would rather spend months planning and ensuring the right information, target audience and media relations are there for your event, than rushing it and gaining no attention at all.

So, i began my first step in formulating what kind of event i wanted and the important stakeholders that need to be present at this event. For this, i quickly thought back to PR 201 and PR Media where we learnt about stakeholders and how to formulate and event timesheet. It was so crucial i understood all my stakeholders firstly because at even'ts like this my company needs the attention and awareness about their products and services and if i did not get it right the first time, i will be putting the company's reputation at stake.

It was also crucial i understood the many levels of authority i had to get passed in order to get my invitations and media releases passed on to the right person. The level goes as follows:-

1. Send an enquiry to the organization
2. Call the supervisor or general manager
3. Set up a business proposal meeting
4. Discuss and propose why they should attend your event and what benefits they will recieve
5. Confirm Attendance.

I learnt that sending an invitaiton doesn't always guarentee attendance, sometimes we have to set up meeting and dinners to attract their attendence and it was very normal in Asia to have business meetings such as these to show how willing and how much effort we are willing to put in to get the money, awareness or sponsorships for our events.

Thanks for reading, more to come!

Jun

Shake and Sign

World Meningitis Day was held on April 24 2013. It is a global annual event that raises awareness of the disease. This year the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) spent the day at Perth City Murray Street Mall alongside their organisation member the Meningitis Centre, raising awareness of the need to get government recognition worldwide to put prevention vaccines into their National Immunisation Programs (NIP). This was the first time the organisations had held a booth in the city.

The day was a new experience where I had to step out my comfort zone and go up to people and ask them if they knew about meningitis and would they be interested in signing the petition to help prevent meningitis. This proved to be a bit of challenge as some people are against vaccines and some people think you’re trying to sell them some sort of product or take their money and therefore ignored me. Some people were the opposite and were willing to sign the petition and were happy to be provided with information about the disease. I also had to shake the donation tins during the day which also had its challenge as I didn’t want to make people feel like they had to donate. Despite the challenges of shaking tins and signing the petition it was a fun day out of the office and a great opportunity to get the message about meningitis directly into the community.   

Our target on the day was parents and grandparents with young children. Balloons, stickers and brochures where given out on the day. I was surprised by how successful the uses of balloons were to gain attention from children and to draw in parents.

The Meningitis Centres ambassadors Brett Sheehan father of a survivor and survivor of meningitis Adam Selwood attended the event to assist in getting people’s attention and share their experiences with the disease.  Survivors of meningitis and their families and friends also attended the event.  This created a great atmosphere where many parents, grandparents and even young people were provided with plenty of information about meningitis, signed the petition or donated to organisation. It was great that it was school holidays so there were plenty of parent and children around the city.

The event was covered by channel 10 news on the day where they interviewed Adam Selwood and Brett Sheehan. It was great to get to have this media attention.

It was a great opportunity to see how a non for profit organisation engaged with the community and raised awareness.  I would say it was a successful shake and sign event.

-Alyce

The First Glimpse...

Walking between classes on campus yesterday I stumbled across a poster that I had been involved in creating!
It was very rewarding to see the blurbs that I had written looking very pretty and professional in the real world! Although I had previously seen a soft copy of the poster, seeing it large and in public, presented for all to see was a great feeling!
I had done blurbs for a series of five posters advertising the various volunteer programs that CV! run, so over the last two days I have seen all of them dotted around campus. It's nice to see that your hard work as an intern is actually being used and isn't just a waste of time!

You can check out some of the posters via the Curtin Volunteers! Facebook page if you would like: www.facebook.com/pages/Curtin-Volunteers/156834335340

 

I'm just over my half way mark at Curtin Voltuneers! and am still thoroughly enjoying my time there.
I'm well underway in planning my allocated event (Cheers for Volunteers!- the organisation's final social event for the semester), however the realities of just how intricate event planning really is is starting to sink in!

Every possible scenario must be considered along with a variety of social and ethical isues that need to be thought of when planning a social event with guests from a wide variety of demographics.
I have decided on themeing the event as a short film festival, which is proving to be a lot more time consuming than first thought!

Not only is planning the event quite involved, it is also tedious. As I am an intern all of my ideas and plans have to approved prior to me going full steam ahead which delays the planning process as managment have higher priortites than deciding between a selection of themes and venues! Of course I understand that you can't simply give an intern control of the event organising reins and organise an event that could go horribly wrong without guidance! I cannot wait, however, to be working in the real world of PR and to be given a bit more freedom when planning events!

I truely have learnt a lot about what it is like to work within a small team, where even though the marketing department are classified as "marketing", at least half of the tasks that they complete are essentially public relations processes and projects. It is amazing how many organisations don't classify the work that there marketing department are doing as PR!

Being the Insider

I am undertaking my PR placement at Shine Communications, a home-based PR consultancy with an array of clients, mostly comprising of not-for-profit organisations. One of which is the Dogs' Refuge Home in Shenton Park whereby all media relations is conducted free of charge. 

The Principal of the consultancy, Ruth is a huge dog lover, not only volunteering her public relations services but also volunteering her services as foster carer for some of the abandoned dogs. As part of my internship I have been predominately doing work for the Refuge - writing media releases and compiling media clippings. I too, share a love of dogs and find the work the Refuge does truly incredible. I feel honoured to be able to write about their loveable, four-legged friends and get the chance to play a role in their adoption. 

A few weeks ago the Dogs' Refuge Home held an event, where Koko aka star of the film 'Red Dog' was the star. Having passed late last year of a heart disease found to be quite common in dogs of his breed and build, his owner Nelson Woss began The Healthy Hearts for Dogs' campaign promoting awareness of the disease through social media and promotion to dog owners and vet clinics. The event was centred around this campaign and worked similarly to a press conference whereby there were a number of speakers on behalf of the campaign outlining the cause for promotional purposes. There were a number of journalists present from community newspapers, Channel 10, 7 and 9 as well as film directors filming the whole presentation for a documentary being made for the campaign.

It was an incredible experience, getting to see all the journalists frantically jotting down every word Nelson and the rest of the team were saying (Nelson had the crowd in tears) and also getting to be a part of a promotional event which was put together for such a worthy cause. It was so interesting seeing how these events all come together. Ruth and I attended just to support the President of the Refuge so it enabled me to sit back and watch how everything unfolded. 

The following day there was a segment in the Subiaco post about the event and there was even a segment on 7 news dedicated to it. Getting to see what I had seen in real life, be broadcasted on the news and also published in a newspaper was pretty surreal - like I was now part of that crowd who had the inside scope.

9 days into my internship, I would have to say this is the stand out of my experience so far and I know there is plenty more exciting things to come, of which I am more than ready to get my teeth stuck into!

IN THE DEEP END

Every new challenge you face in life is likely to push you. This internship has most definitely been no exception having thrown me straight into the deep end.

Let me begin by telling you about how my placement started…

It was Thursday afternoon and I had been unable to focus on anything all day knowing that I had an Interview at 1pm with my potential placement employers. Professional presentation in check, my head held high, I marched into my interview determined to walk out with a secured placement. What I didn’t know was how much more I really would leave with.

My interview very quickly turned into somewhat of a client briefing and not only was I in but I had a media launch to organise in less than two weeks.  Filled with excitement I left the office on somewhat of a high thinking…

Invitation

Guests

Media

Event plan

Running sheets

Room setup

Champagne

Food

High tea

Fun

Fun

Only for it all to come crashing down the second I got home to realise how much work I had to do and how little time there really was.  With my mind working overtime, the settling thought was knowing that I didn’t need to worry; I know what I am doing.

Without even realising it I went into autopilot starting the procedure I needed to. It was at this stage I truly realised that Curtin and my degree have prepared me for my first step out into the real world and I have enough knowledge to really tackle this placement head on.

Communication and Realisation

Reflecting on the PR internship, which culminated in an end of year party, I can say Teamwork was a wonderful experience. The multiplier effect is vital in event management.

The result is reached and the joy shared by everyone since the objective was set and attained together. I have learned the joy of collaborative work: a suffering, which finally produces success and enjoyment for the clients and our team.

Each one has fought to stay focused on the main objectives of the firm, and it has been an excellent way to create a synergy. Working together at individual tasks is necessary for the achievement of a common project.

In a professional setting the challenge is the whirl of contradictory priorities. These motions create difficulties in relationships and may reduce efficiency and productivity.

I believe from the limited experience I had during these 20-day internship that most human enterprises cannot be achieved without unity and coordination of some sort, at least among a good part of the group. All the energies should tend towards the same goal, then and only then can a higher degree of experience can be obtained.

The question is whether the motivations of the different persons involved in a project are compatible, convergent and complementary. In an enterprise, most persons are there for pecuniary reasons, others for formation purposes, career paths… When these motivations become second to the overall business objectives, communication flow is optimal. Two key linked concepts: communication and realisation.

I am infinitely grateful to Lilmans Services Team for this excellent opportunity for growth and their welcome, and for the existence of the PR393 module for providing such a space during university years…!

First Day

Note: Again, I apologise for the tense.

 

Today was my first day at the Glory and straight away I realised that Public Relations isn’t strictly what I’ve always expected it to be from studying it in a textbook. That is, the only way to really learn about PR is to be a part of it. To be honest, I didn’t do a hell of a lot real work today, though I’ve got to write a couple of articles tomorrow. Apart from conducting a couple of interviews, what I did was observe for the most part. I watched the way the Media Manager interacted with the players, how the Community Manager interacted with the participant’s parents, etc.

I spent the afternoon at a Glory clinic for junior soccer players in Sorrento. There were about 50 kids down there and about half as many Glory staff/players as well as a number of parents and one Community News photographer. The event was the responsibility of the Community Manager so I was lucky enough to speak to him as well as a number of the players and get there thoughts on the importance of events like these. I was surprised to hear how much the players seemed to enjoy them, I would’ve thought they’d consider them a bit of a burden.

One thing I realised is I’m going to have to keep myself in check for a little while, because as I was meeting the players I couldn’t help but think things like; “Oh crap, that’s Bas van Den Brink.” I’m going to have to put being a Glory fan on the back foot for now.

This photo belongs to Perth Glory.