The end of a story. The beginning of many.

Dear All,

Time flies.

I ended 3 months internship with Sarawak Oil Palm Berhad (SOPB). There were a lot of wonderful experiences that I gone through and learnt a lot PR practices from my supervisor as well as my executives.

The most enjoyable task that given to me was taking photos during internal and external company’s events. I never used a professional camera to take photos until I entered SOPB. My executive, a professional photographer with more than 8 years experiences, taught me how to use the DSLR camera as well as basic Photoshop skill. He always gives me chances to take photos. These chances explored my communication style as well. As a photographer, I need to stand in front of the public and stay calm in order to take a good photo.

Me behind the DSLR!

Photo taken during Taman LambirJaya Launching

Crowd in the house

Other than photos taking class, I involved in event management as well. Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important festival for Chinese. We organized Chinese New Year and Deepavali Combined Celebrations at our executive chairman’s residence. This was the first time SOPB organized this annual event at his residence and this is a very challenging event for us. We were advised by not doing too grand but not too simple for this event. However, we managed to held this event successfully and a lot of “thumb up” from the participants, especially our top management!

Decoration works in progress

Arranging the food station

Kolam decorations for Chinese New Year and Deepavali Combined Celebration

SOPB annual dinner also held at the end of February. Annual dinner committee team was led by our PR assistant manager. I been assigned a task from him, which was making a 2015 milestones slideshow for the opening of annual dinner! After he expressed the message that needed in the slideshow, I began to prepare the suitable photos to put in the slideshow. Initially I used PowerPoint to compile the photos, but too time consuming. I chose Window Movie Maker then to do the compilation and the video was accepted by them. Until today, I still remember my feeling when I saw my work displayed on the screen and everyone in the hall was watching it.

Screenshot of the Opening Video

February is the busiest month during my internship. Many events in a row and this exercised me the importance of time management as well as teamwork spirit. As a PR practitioner, we always need to expect the unexpected. In this face-pacing industry, none of us knows what will happen tomorrow. Therefore, I bear in my mind that always prepare for challenges. 

Last but not least, some photos during the set up of Chinese New Year decoration to end my blog. 

DIY-ing the decoration item

Hanging the "Tang lung" on the tree

Coloring the "Jing Li Yu"

Figure out how to hang the red cloth on

Final product at the main entrance

"Tang Lung" Tree done as well!

That’s all from me and wish everyone all the best in your future. Thank you and have a great day!

PR Team during the last event - Colour Rush 4.0!

Warmest Regards,

Chung Jia Yiing

17136837 / 7e2a1122

Curtin University Sarawak, Malaysia

The race that kind of pauses the office for half an hour

By far the most enjoyable task I had during my internship was organising the staff Melbourne Cup lunch. Whilst by no means a large-scale event, it lasts just over half an hour, is set up in the warehouse the company operates out of and people generally stand around instead of sitting, it still came with its own set of challenges.

Whilst the idea I've always had of Melbourne Cup lunches is semi-formal dress and nice sit-down lunches, I soon realised that wasn't anything like what the corporate culture or the facilities of Printforce needed. Considering the staff is made up of customer service reps, printers, dispatchers and other various administrative staff we don't have the luxury of spending a long time sitting down and eating nor would a lot of the staff members want to.

Instead we set up the big screen television in the dispatch area, opened the huge roller doors and everyone stood around eating and drinking (there was champagne but the printers were kept far away from it) as we watched the race.

The major responsibility I had before set up and organisation on the  day was catering. The company has used the same catering company for the last few yeas of Christmas and Melbourne Cup lunches, however the receptionist who has organised these menus over the last few years has gone on maternity leave, so I was left to pull together invoices from previous events when trying to figure out which food platters to order.

I had to take a lot of things into consideration, vegetarian options, the fact that the food had to be predominantly finger food due to the stand-up nature of the event and things that could suit everyone's taste. It was definitely a little intimidating because the company is so small people don't have an issue offering advice if they think you made the wrong choices with the catering. The other thing we had to consider was the prices of the platters had gone up; the usual budget is $15 per head however if I stuck to that budget we'd have had less food than in previous years and therefore might not have enough. In the end, after talking to the accountant, we decided to go with as many trays as last years lunch instead of a set budget.

One table worth of beautifully presented food

The other thing I had to organised independently of the caterers was buying soft drinks, alcohol and utensils in my own personal time. As someone who doesn't really drink champage I was pretty worried about getting a good kind, but no one complained so I counted that as a win.

The one thing you can't have a Melbourne Cup without is an office sweep. I spent the Monday before, and parts of Tuesday morning where I wasn't setting up, running around the office trying to fill enough spots of our sweep. It was pretty fun, I'd never been involved in a Melbourne Cup Sweep, and my horse came last so at least I got my money back.

The actual day was pretty hectic, though nothing as hectic as the major events it seems people have been involved in reading other blogs, lots of running around, filling the last few spots of the sweeps, getting the tv set up, clearing the production area out so there was room for us all to stand and making sure the food arrived on time and was what we ordered.

What I'm sure all Melbourne Cup lunches look like

It was really rewarding to hear so many people come up to me at the end of the lunch and tell me how much they enjoyed everything and how well I'd done. In fact, I've been put in charge of organising the Christmas luncheon now as well!

Organising the lunch was definitely an interesting part of my internship because it opened my eyes to how much work goes into even small, super casual events. Every event is different, and casual events aren't necessarily easier to organise or worse options than formal sit down events, it entirely depends on what the event is trying to achieve and who your attendees are. That's definitely a lesson I'll be taking away from this experience.

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Am I industry ready now? A reflection of industry placement

My time at Event and Conference Co. has come to a close and I feel like I have learnt a lot.

But do I feel ready to enter the Public Relations Industry?

Working for Event and Conference Co. as an intern was an eye opener into the way a small events businesses work. The business had minimal paid staff and quite a few interns. This posed it's own challenges and benefits.

While I felt comfortable knowing I could talk to the other interns and bounce ideas around, the owner of the business, however, having so many interns producing work meant everything needed to be proofed and reworked in more detail than, I think, if the work was produced by professionals. It meant I had less room to fail and I needed to learn to produce industry quality work quickly so she didn't need to review my work so much.

I learnt a lot from my industry placement that I only knew in theory before starting my placement. I have more confidence in myself and the skills I have learnt while at Curtin University. I now know for certain I chose to study a profession I will enjoy and excel at. I do not think small business event work is where I see my career path heading but working in that environment taught me a lot and gave me to tools, knowledge and experience to know where I want to head and know I will succeed in the Public Relations field.

How was your industry placement experience? Do you think the area you interned in is where you want your career to focus? Or, like me, did it show you you want to pursue other areas of public relations?

Over and Out,
Bridgette

Practice makes perfect: Perfecting a Media Release

Throughout my time at Event and Conference Co. I have had few chances to write media releases. One of the main reasons I chose an event based internship for this placement was because I presumed there would be many opportunities to work on my media release writing. While I've been busy enjoying completing lots of other work, the lack of media release writing has meant I haven't had the opportunity to gain confidence in my writing and my ability.

This week, Event and Conference Co. has been working with the City of Armadale and Perth Kilt Run to host the 2015 Perth's Largest Kilt Run. I've been researching prices for prizes, announcers, completing risk management plans and, I wrote a media release!

The core of a media release and important information is quite easy to write, but the headline and lead paragraph? I struggled. As a journalist, I struggled not to write it in an unbiased and 'newsy' way. I would then over compensate and it would come across selling the event too hard. I worked hard and eventually submitted a copy my supervisor was very impressed with.

I found this article quite handy to look over while writing the media release.
5 tips to follow when writing press releases

It's was very satisfying feeling when my supervisor is happy with the work I produced. Did you find that too? I'd feel proud that it was up to industry standard.

Did you have more opportunities to write media releases? Do you think it helped your confidence in writing them?

Bridgette

8 TIPS ABOUT FILMING AT EVENTS

Since I am doing Public Relations and Film at Curtin University. My workplace have taken that into account and have decided to use my creative side. I have been filming their events from a charity walk, to a river cruise and even a soiree at Linneys surrounded by jewellery and champagne. It is so awesome to have extra skills such as the ability to film as they would make you do all these creative things and here are some tips I have learnt along the way. 

1.       Having the right gear

One of the most important aspects of filming an event is having the right cameras and lens to get the look that you want. I personally use the Nikon D5100 DSLR with a 35mm lens. Using a handheld camera or your phone camera will not only produce low quality video, but will seem unprofessional and make your event management look cheap.

2.       Understanding the venue

Before the event starts, make sure you have an understanding of the venue. Understanding the venue will allow you to know where and what shots to take. For example, I had a great knowledge of the Perth CBD when filming for the homeless walk event. I filmed interesting shots from the bridge, from inside the mall and could travel from one end to the other faster because I knew shortcuts.

3.       Plan your filming style

Filming style refers to the way your film will look. Will it have saturated colours? Will it have people acting? Will it be a series of candid shots? Will it look like a film or a documentary? Ask yourself these questions because when you are shooting, you would want a clear idea of what the final product will look like and to have a certain consistency between the shots.

4.       Find your subjects of interest

One of the things that made films interesting is the people or things that you show that catch people attention. When filming the homeless walk, I noticed that there were little kids attending the event. I decided to shoot them and when the video was put together, it enhanced the emotion of the video. It makes people think about ‘what if they were on the streets?’ or ‘These kids should not go ever go through something like homelessness in their life’. Find your subject of interest!

5.       Weather conscious

If you are shooting outside, you are bound to face some difficulties with the weather. Knowing the weather forecast for the event day will help you plan the gear and even the settings on the camera. Bring an umbrella! Bring a jacket! Look at the weather channel!

6.       Having enough battery and memory

The camera’s battery life and memory space must always be in mind throughout filming an event. Make sure you plan your shots and not film too much at the beginning of the event because you will most likely run out battery/memory towards the end.

7.       Can you hear it right?

Recording the sound will always be as important as filming the video. People will not like the video no matter how good the filming was if the sound is not very good. Make sure you test out the sound before filming. Understand its limitations and how far the subject should be from the microphone before filming them.

8.       Having enough footages

The worst thing that could possibly happen in putting together a film is not having enough footage. Your videos will be short and the clips wouldn’t be long enough. Always shoot 30 or 1 minute more than you are supposed to. Never hurts to have more than having nothing to edit with!

Event day goes by in a flash

On Sunday August 4 I arrived at Curtin bright and early, 7:30 am! Open Day was finally here and I was extremely excited to see everyone’s hard work come together but a little sad to end my time with Asha and University Marketing. The final week of my internship was a blur of meetings, final confirmation and what felt like hundreds of emails a day!

Many of the Fun Zone suppliers were arriving between 8 – 8:30 am and I had to be there to ensure they knew what to do and where to go, fortunately there were very few problems! A few days before Open Day I had compiled information packs for each supplier and sent them via email so they knew what was happening, how to access their area etc. Andi, our entertainment manager, was extremely helpful with handling the talent and activities on the day.

There were only a few small hiccups, such as St Johns Ambulance driving into the wrong area and having to drive all the way back around campus to the right area. I also had to direct Nova through heavy traffic and crowds up into John Curtin Forum, which was quite scary!

The Fun Zone was extremely popular, we ended up having a circus workshop alongside all our other activities which visitors of all ages absolutely loved! I also managed to book Vintage Photobooths at the last minute, their carnival themed booth was a huge hit. Coordinating and managing the Fun Zone definitely taught me the importance of through preparation and keeping a constant line of communication with external stakeholders – we had done so much preparation prior to Open Day that the Fun Zone basically ran itself.

Despite bad weather for the week leading up to Open Day, it was a very sunny and warm 23 degrees! It was a little annoying as we had invested so much time and effort into accounting for the possibility of rain, but we really could not have asked for better weather. The day came together very well and it was amazing to see the scale of the event and the huge number of people who attend.

Asha, my boss & the Open Day Project and Brand Consultant, was definitely the best boss I have ever had! She has taught the importance of time management as she definitely practices it on a daily basis. Asha is so organised, she is always on top of everything and aware of what’s going on which is an important part of why Open Day runs so smoothly. Despite the fact that the week prior to the event was busy, it was never stressful or difficult to deal with anything, which is something that Asha fostered within the work environment. I am definitely happy that I chose to complete my internship in corporate communications instead of consultancy, it was amazing to see how the marketing and public relations team behind such a big brand works and how smaller teams within Curtin came together to work on the Open Day project. 

(Written on August 10, 2013)

Money Can’t Buy Experience

Throughout my time at the Fremantle Football Club (FCC) I have been fortunate enough to sit in on a number of meetings with the Corporate staff. The majority have been Pre-Game day meetings however, in addition there have also been meetings involving stakeholder relations initiatives and how events can support the following. One such initiative is the Dockers Live the Dream school camp. The Live the Dream school camp is a concept designed to give twenty Year 11 and 12 students (a mix of male and female) to experience a week in the life of a professional AFL football player at the FFC. Participants will spend the week with a select group of FFC staff, gaining an insight in to all aspects of an AFL footballers life including strength and conditioning training, nutrition planning, psychological training and a whole other range of meaningful and insightful activities. A money can’t buy experience, I was flabbergasted at the luck of the key target stakeholders: West Australian high school students aged between 16 and 17 years and their respective high schools across urban and regional centers.

A state brimming full of talented young sportspeople, so many students (or budding athletes if you prefer) should be jumping at the chance for such a rare opportunity. Thinking of the broader picture the experiences of the lucky participants could make such an amazing impact not only on the skills and confidence on them but also those within the communities in which they live; amazing potential! As a Marketing and PR student it was fantastic to see the planning and interdepartmental organisation of such an initiative to really understand what it takes to make these things happen. Often as a student I find that coming up with creative and sometimes wacky ideas is the easy part, it’s the putting into action part of the strategy that takes the hard work. Now having been given the template (in a sense) to action thoughts and ideas in to the physical application I am feeling confident and excited to take on whatever future workplaces throw at me! It’s having that understanding and practical application of tasks that this internship has given me to really drive home the meaning of Public Relations within professional organisations; brilliant! 

To see the practical application of PR theory and techniques was in invaluable experience, and just like they always say the pin finally dropped! I always thought I understood the concepts on paper and when push came to shove would be able to come up with a text book PR plan off the top of my head just like ‘hey presto’. After witnessing the application of a communications and PR plan by seasoned professionals I now understand that it is not only the PR theory that I need to understand, but also have the practical application of so many other business principles combined- finally I understand why I had to do my most hated subject of all time, Accounting 100!

Having come to the end of my placement at the FFC I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a unique mix of organisation. Unlike any other professional organisation that I have spent time at interning, I have found the FFC to have a great balance of corporate business and elite sports, both industries I have discovered to be passionate about. Getting to understand the complex relationship between a professional sporting organisation and its varied publics and seeing the fantastic potential for diversity within an organisation has seriously made me consider a career within the industry. Before understanding behind the scenes of this high profile club I had absolutely no idea of the opportunities available within. Now having made some fantastic contacts and experienced the hands on application of the elusive PR theory, I feel more than ready to enter in to the workforce; an exciting prospect after so many years that’s for sure!

So for all those that have been kind enough to read my blog posts, sayonara, and bon voyage. I wish you all the very best for what you have in store after graduation!  

Moriarty's concert- The work behind it!

Hello all,

In my third post I would like to talk about Immedia's first major event of 2013 which was Moriarty's concert in Mauritius. Immedia's team organised that concert mainly for 'melomanes' and also with the aim to enable Mauritian public discover and appreciate their music. I was happy to be part of the organisation of the event as I got the opportunity to learn a lot about the PR work behind it.

As I said in my first post, a press conference was held to inform the media and hence the public about the forthcoming event. Thereupon I was asked to write a media release which was to be sent t media outlets by mail as a form of follow-up. Moreover I collected news articles about the band's concert in Mauritius which we also used as a form to measure our communication strategy.

In less than two weeks almost all the tickets were sold out. My supervisor told me we also needed to distribute tickets to our sponsors as the agency promised to do so before all the tickets were announced 'sold out'. He added that as an agency we cannot beak our promise to them as it can damage the organisation's reputation and that of course, it is not ethical.

I also got the oppotunity to go to 'Conservatoire François Mitterand' of Quatres-Bornes, where the concert was to be held, two days before the 'jour-j' to see if the preparations were going on smoothly.

The tasks I undertook on the day of the event, just a few hours before the start of the concert were: assuring everything was okay with the technical preparations (lights,sound,effects...),getting to know the team working on the preparation of the concert (technicians, musicians,...), checking if all the seats were well numbered, installing Immedia's banderole with the team ( even if you're a PR person, you've got to have muscles! Since it is a small team, like my lecturer said in PR 220 class, no one else is going to do it for you!) and welcoming the guests.

All I have to say about the management of the event is that it was a wonderful experience. The concert ended up being a huge success and I was glad that the entire team's days and days of efforts were rewarded. Also, I attended one of the most beautiful concert in my entire life. That's how fantastic it is to be a PR person!

Divya G.

The Fault, Dear Brutus, is Not in Our Stars: Event Planning and Our Role in Future Workplaces

Have you guys ever read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green? I haven’t personally, but I find one quote from it popping up on my Facebook and Tumblr feed more often then I’d probably like:

‘My thoughts are stars that I cannot fathom into constellations.’

I’d never thought of this quote as relating to Public Relations before, (it would often remind me more of my love of theatre and Shakespeare) however in the last few days of my placement I feel more and more like this relates to us, but more on that later...

TechnoTan is finally holding the seminar I proposed as strategy one in the customer relations campaign I wrote in my first few weeks. It’s all very exciting to finally be organising and actually running an event I have planned. My boss has conducted seminars before and was very keen to be the speaker however I got the feeling that he just plans to ‘wing it’. He’s not one for planning, as much as ‘feeling the moment’. However it’s hard to shake uni habits and I approached him with an extensive running sheet, a detailed to-do list and a schedule for everyone to follow until the event. Somewhat discouragingly his main comment was that I ‘plan too much’.  

I do get his reasoning; most of the running sheet I’d written probably would change before the day as the staff members attending hadn’t been confirmed yet. Also without his speech it was probably pointless to guess how long he would speak for. However this response hasn’t encouraged me to stop carefully planning events. That’s probably something you’re not supposed to say. Although one of the main goals of this placement is to help us understand that techniques and procedures in a ‘real-life’ workplace is not the same as at uni; I don’t plan to always just ignore techniques taught in university when I find they aren't already used in my workplace. 

I feel like in our placement we have an opportunity, not only to learn how to apply our degrees to the workplace, but also to learn what not to do, and to decide what kind of practitioners we want to become. For my part, as well as being effective and ethical, I want to be an organised, proactive PR practitioner, and if that means planning when no one else deems it necessary, then so be it. Adapting to the situation you are in is important, but that doesn’t mean settling for what has always been done. 

I know TechnoTan sometimes misses deadlines and runs overschedule, which unfortunately can say ‘unreliable’ to their publics. However, in this situation, I’m not going to relax my working style to match it; I’m going to attempt to improve the situation in the little ways I can. One way I am doing is asking the boss to give me a summary of what he will say, so I can put it on PowerPoint slides. This way I can ensure that branding in consistent, that the message presented to clients is clear and in-line with our key communication goals. It will also hopefully improve our company image by making the company appear organised and reliable. He can easily change it he wants but at least there’s something to start with.

So back to the anecdote in the introduction, in a way, it is my role to fathom my boss’s  (and the company’s) thoughts and actions in constellations for the clients. To ensure that our messages are clearly visible to all publics.

Was that metaphor too mixed? I’m sure you get the point!  

As PR practitioners it’s our job to mediate between the company and the publics and sometimes to do that effectively it might mean planning to much. In the end, finding resistance to proactive planning is not a heavy cross to bear, especially when it pays off in the end.

So now it’s time to say goodbye! (So Long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu). I’ve really enjoyed these blogs and the Office Manager promises me that I’ll be able to write for a company blog soon!

So good luck everyone! I’ll miss you guys :) 

Natasha Smith

14279030

I’ve never written a water polo match report! & The end of my internship

Time files and this is my final post for PR 393 on my work placement at WA Water Polo.

The highlight of my internship was definitely working at the 2012 FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships in the media team as a media coordinator. It was a highly exciting and challenging position at the very same time, as I had to write match reports, assist with news gathering and publishing and provide the social media content for the tournament. I had to work under large amounts of pressure, as I had to observe the water polo matches and complete a match report within 45 minutes of each game. I was definitely out of my element as I’ve never analysed water polo matches previously and I had to quickly learn how to do that effectively in order to do a write up on a match. This gave a taste of what it would be like to be sports journalist, working for large international sporting events. I was also tasked to update all the social media platforms that included Facebook and Twitter. It was certainly different from working in a office environment, being more fast paced and exciting as reports had to be written and published shortly after matches. I also had the opportunity to interview players for flash quotes that were to be included in the match reports. My match reports were immediately published on the official FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships website right after each match and it was exciting to know that my work was being read by many people following the tournament all around the world.

In my earlier post, I provided updates on planning the Final Night Function that was to be held at the end of the championships for the participants of the competition. It was a successful event that ran smoothly from the beginning to the end (except that it rained a few hours before the function started and the ground was wet and soggy, but that did not prove to be a major problem) and I was relieved that there were no major problems or issues that came up on the night of the function.

Overall, I definitely had a great internship at WA Water Polo. Despite being challenging at times, I feel that I had plenty of opportunities to put the skills that I have learnt in my public relations units at Curtin to practice during the course of my internship. It was a great experience and I am confident that it has prepared me for a public relations related position in the future.

Deva