Media Release: Not a Small Piece of Cake

In the last week of my internship, apart from searching, collecting, reading and collating all the media releases in the newspapers and websites, I did some analysis. I have discovered that from February to April, our Corporate Communications Department had posted 18 media releases in Curtin’s official website. There were seven in the February, six in March, and five in April.

The topics covered the full range of the most of important events and activities in Curtin Sarawak. In terms of external media coverage, all these events and activities had been published in nine local newspapers over 120 times and in three different languages.

As an in-house PR, one of the most important assignments for us is media release. When it comes to media releases, one word which always comes to mind and should stand out is “News Angle”. Overall, my assignment in Curtin’s Corporate Communications Department to gather, read through and compile the many media release clippings and involvement in writing three media releases during the internship has given me the confidence to come up with media releases on my own.

The media releases that I was involved in writing were:

1. Find out about Curtin Sarawak at upcoming fairs in Kuching and West Malaysia http://www.curtin.edu.my/campusnews/mediarelease/2014/PR_14-021.htm
2. Curtin Young Associates organises fourth annual camp http://www.curtin.edu.my/campusnews/mediarelease/2014/PR_14-027.htm
3. Curtin Sarawak organising Inter-school English Debate and Oratory Competition http://www.curtin.edu.my/campusnews/mediarelease/2014/PR_14-028.htm

Photo:  Different news angles of the same event above in the newspapers

Although, I have already been taught PR techniques 220 for media release writing I have found that my first attempt at a media release fraught with many mistakes. But my supervisor was very kindly and guided me with much patience. Some of the important details I have acquired during my media release writing are as follow:

• The acronyms must always be in capital letters;
• The headlines need to be in single spacing;
• Symbol such as “&” must be fully written out as “and”; “/” written as “or”;
• Numbers under 10 must be spelt out;
• Never use “we” but the organization’s name.

My supervisor pointed out to me that the media release writing style and format is not only to follow the general journalism style but that we need to strictly adhere to the “Curtin University Journalism Style Guide”. The style guide contains all the necessary details on excellent creative writing such as using the active voice and the use of acronyms. In the Curtin style on the latter, one should first write out the subject matter in full before using acronyms for it later. Brackets are not necessary; and instructions are given on the format in the use of dates and time, numbers, quotation marks and a variety of styles are described.   

Aside from writing the media releases, the PR specialist would need to prepare the background material, write the feature article as well as enclose photographs (Include group photos and close up shots captured from different angles) in a press kit package to be sent to the target media. In Curtin Sarawak, we would usually send the press kit to the local newspapers by fax and then email them to confirm their receiving the information.

It is gratifying to note that the English and Malay newspapers would usually use the information we have provided with little or no modification. As for the Chinese newspapers, their translation would normally result in their coming up with their own news angles so that the focus and the writing may be quite different from Curtin’s work. They tend to elaborate on the feature stories for their readers to enhance their understanding.

The above experience in preparing media releases as part of my very rewarding internship assignment has given me a deeper appreciation of the fact that each organization have its own writing format and style and that it is very important to read and understand them before one can start writing. There are very well thought out rules and formats that will make the difference between a uniform and professional work and a casual and careless one. 

Zou Dan Ting

14963841

Miri 

How to handle a Corporate Event?

As an internationally renowned educational institute, Curtin is frequently visited by local and foreign dignitaries, administrators, professors, scholars and students. So, it is very important to know the process and the required standards of managing a corporate event.  

Before this semester commenced, the China General Consul based in Kuching paid a visit to Curtin Sarawak. As a China Student, I was involved in the meeting with some China students and the affected Curtin staff pertaining to this event. Since I was involved in the whole process, I would like to share some of my experiences with you.

Preparation for the Event

There were several things that needed to be done at this stage such as the preparation of the “Guests list” (the names and titles of the visiting persons), the “Invitation List” (of those to be invited to the event), “the program of the day” and the “Letter of invitation”.

Firstly, you need to confirm who is coming to visit our university and how many of them to arrive at a guests list. Also, you will need to know when they will come and the purpose of the visit. Is it an official visit or an informal one? Only after this, can you make a decision as to how to manage this event and come up with the program of the day, the invitation list and the content of the invitation letter. 

 

The program normally includes time, activities, venues and the persons in charge. Constant communication with the Curtin staff involved, either those meeting with the visitors or organizing certain portions of the program, is essential for things to run smoothly. 

Here is a sample of a program:

Chinese Consul General Liu Quan visits Curtin Sarawak Agenda
22 February 2014
Time	Activities	Venues	Person in charge
2:30 pm	Give VIP-Pass to Consul and Datuk’s vehicle	Security Check point	On duty security
2:35 pm	Welcome Consul and Datuk.	Entrance of HERON 1 (John Curtin Building)	Vice-Chancellor
2:40 pm- 2:45 pm	Welcome speech	Conference Room in HERON 1	Emcee
2:45 pm- 3:00 pm	Introduction of Curtin Sarawak	Conference Room in HERON 1	Vice-Chancellor
3:00 pm- 3:10 pm	Introduction of Consul Liu	Conference Room in HERON 1	Datuk Lee Kim Shin
3:10 pm- 3:30 pm	Speech by Consul	Conference Room in HERON 1	Consul Liu
3:30 pm- 4:00 pm	Interaction with China students	Conference Room in HERON 1	Consul Liu
4:00 pm- 4:05 pm	Group photo taking	Conference Room in HERON 1	Camera Person
4:05 pm- 4:20 pm	Tea break with refreshment	Hall in HERON 1	Cafeteria staff
4:20 pm- 4:50 pm	Campus tour	Campus area	Vice-Chancellor
4:50 pm	Consul and Datuk leaving	Security Check point	On duty security

                                                                                                                          update: 22 Feb 2014

The above is the program during the visiting, there are other things that need to be considered, such as the conference room booking and decoration, equipment booking and checking (of the Screen, projector, desktop computer, microphone, camera and video camera ), as well as the refreshment required and cleanliness. Normally, a budget list will be attached to the program. 

      

An invitation list is necessary after you have finalized the program. There are two kinds of people who should be including in this list: intern (staff and students who are involved) and extern (Journalists and some VIPs).

After that, send the program to the people who are on the invitation list. Usually, this is double confirmed through email or phone calls. It is also very important to inform all the students and staff in campus about the event, irrespective of their involvement in the event.

During the Event

Style of honorific

Pay attention to the titles used in Malaysia, it might be much different from other countries. In Malaysia as elsewhere, people in high position always carry honorific titles. It is usual to refer to the position and organization’s name first, followed by person’s peerage, and last being the person’s name.

Quotes in a report in Curtin Sarawak’s official website:

• “Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Kuching, His Excellency Liu Quan and his wife”
• “Sarawak Assistant Minister of Communications, Datuk Dr. Lee Kim Shin, who is the chairman of Curtin Sarawak’s management board”
• “Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Ir. Yudi Samyudia”

Furthermore, in the introduction before a speech is made, the guest is first mentioned, followed by Malaysian government officials and then introducer’s own staff.

The following Link is useful reference on the manner of address when encountered with honorific titles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_(manner_of_address)

Meaningful photo taking and speech recording are very important for the coming media release. Last but not least, always be prepared to deal with emergency cases such as having umbrellas readied for bad weather.

After the Event

Media release and feature story will be sent to all the local print media. It will also be posted on our university’ own official website as well as our Facebook page.

Media release on Curtin website:

http://www.curtin.edu.my/campusnews/mediarelease/2014/PR_14-016.htm

Media release on Curtin Facebook:

This visit has been reported by the local media which includes:

• English Newspapers: The Borneo Post, Sarawak Tribune.
• Malay Newspapers: Utusan Borneo.
• Chinese Newspapers: Sin Chew Daily News, See Hua Daily, United Daily News.

Photo: media release about this event reported by different newspapers in three languages

Photo: feature stories about Curtin Sarawak in three Chinese newspapers.

Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People’s Republic of China and the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Kuching have also reported this visit on their official websites.

http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_chn/zwbd_602255/nbhd_602268/t1131905.shtml

http://kuching.chineseconsulate.org/chn/xwdt/t1131902.htm

By my participating in this event, I have learnt a lot on how to manage an official visit or meeting especially on what are considered small details but are items that could make an event a success or a preventable disaster. These details and the finer points in the process are unavailable in most textbooks. 

As a Chinese, I appreciated the show of sincere respect to the VIP visitors from China. This is not only obvious from the time and effort spent in preparing and arranging for the visit but in the content of the speeches. One suggestion from my observation is that the Speeches could have been delivered in both Chinese and English to avoid any misunderstanding in the communications and to show further respect to the language and culture of the guests.

Zou Dan Ting

14963841

Miri 

How to make a meaningful corporate gift?

This week, I have been tasked with a rather special assignment, which is to collaborate with my colleagues in preparing some corporate gifts for a visiting guest.

Typically, there are 5 steps in the making of a standard corporate gift.

Step 1: Choose the gift

We need to consider the kind of gift appropriate to the recipient within the allowable budget. According to our manager’s recommendation, the gift should reflect the traditional culture of Malaysia or Sarawak as our guest was a foreign one. So after some research, we chose three souvenir shops to go to, which include the Miri Handicraft Center where ethnic arts and crafts were readily available.

Step 2: Find the gift

At the shops, the gifts that suited our needs were photographed for further discussion. Prices were compared and enquiries as to discounts for bulk purchases were made.

Step 3: Purchase the gift

Our manager finally helped us to choose a carved hornbill and a wooden Iban shield. The Hornbill was chosen as it truly represented Sarawak, which has been notably known as “the Land of the Hornbills”. Furthermore, its people have been called “Kenyalangs”, the native name for the Hornbill.

The Iban shield reflected the Ibans as the largest native group and majority population in Sarawak. They make up about 29% of the population. Thus, the Iban shield represents both the Iban as well as Sarawak.

The Orang Ulu population may not be large, but they have the most graceful of dance movements and their decorative and colorful traditional costumes make them stand out as one of the most unique and interesting native groups in Sarawak. So we used to give Orang Ulu ear rings as a corporate gift before.

That week, we purchased 10 to 20 of each item and they were delivered on consignment.

  

Step 4: decorate the gift and design the packaging

Once we received the gift items, we began to design the background with the inclusion of the Curtin Logo and formulated the necessary wording to describe the gifts.

Here is the quote for the gift of a pair of “Orang Ulu ear rings”.  

Quote:

WITH OUR COMPLIMENTS

Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia

Personal adornment is very much evident among the Orang Ulu of Northern Sarawak. One of the most fascinating ornaments used is a heavy brass earring, worn by the women and men to elongate their earlobes. Elongated earlobes symbolize great beauty among the community, hence enhancing their looks. Traditionally, parents would perforate and stretch the earlobes of babies just a few months old by hanging circular brass rings or other ornaments. As their earlobes stretched, more rings would be added to stretch them further. When they reached adulthood the rings would often be replaced by pendulous earrings like these. This tradition is now rarely practiced by the younger generation and brass earrings are now used more as decorative ornaments.

Photo: Corporate gift giving (a pair of Orang Ulu ear rings)

Step 5: Framing the gift

With all the back ground information gathered, appropriately worded and attractively displayed in some form of design, we sent the gifts together with wording and design to the framing shop. It will normally take a few days to finish the framing depending on the quantity required. Once this is finished, the gift is ready for presentation.

In performing the above task, I have not only learnt the significance of giving meaningful corporate gifts, on what constitutes an appropriate gift to the recipient but also the step by step process in creating them, which I could never have learnt from the books.

The corporate gift is part of PR etiquette deemed essential to show respect to visiting guests. They are not necessarily expensive but are often very meaningful to the recipients.

Besides that, our corporate communications department also makes other small souvenirs such like T-shirts, mugs, cup coasters and an assortment of stationery for various categories of visitors.

Here are some more ideas on how to make different corporate gifts (gift cards, booklets, toys, fridge magnets, etc.) from a Hong Kong company.

http://thinqhongkong.com/Hong_Kong_Memory.html

Zou Dan Ting

14963841

Miri 

Starting my adventure in Sarawak, Heart of Borneo.

In order to handle both my studies and the required PR internship, I applied for a PR internship in the Corporate Communications Department at Curtin University, Sarawak. I was most fortunate to be offered this exclusive opportunity.

As some of you may undergo a similar PR experience at an international institution such as Curtin Sarawak in the future, I would like to do a brief about this place, its people and my recent life enriching internship experience.

Location and ethnicity

Curtin Sarawak is located in the city of Miri in the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Please see the above map on the location of the state in relation to Australia and the rest of South East Asia. The state itself is on the island of Borneo. As some of you may be aware, Malaysia as a whole is largely made up of three major ethnic groups, namely, the Malays, Chinese and Indians. While this holds true for Malaysia as a nation, Sarawak itself is quite different. Here, in Sarawak, the majority groups are the Ibans, Chinese and Malays. The Ibans are part of the native population (eg. The orang Ulu, Bidayuhs, etc.,) of Sarawak, which together are known as the Dayaks. The Ibans comprise about 30% of the population of Sarawak.

Languages

The Official language in Malaysia as a whole is the Malay language while English (the ex-official language) is widely used in Business and Education. But the English generally spoken here has been mixed with other languages, so that the English in Sarawak, as is in the rest of Malaysia, has been styled as “Manglish”.

Except for the Malays, the other two majority groups here, namely, the Ibans & Chinese, would normally use their own languages in their communities.  Aside of these, Mandarin is widely spoken by the Chinese community as a link among the various Chinese dialect groups.

So the languages used in Sarawak are also different from the rest of Malaysia for although Malay and English are still the official and ex-official languages here, Iban and Mandarin are widely used in Sarawak.

Religions

Malaysia is a Muslim majority country and Islam is the official national religion but in Sarawak, the State constitution provides that there is no one official state religion. Another major difference, from the rest of Malaysia, is that Christianity is practiced by about 44% of the population, which makes it the majority, followed by Islam at 30%, Buddhism at 13.5% and Chinese Ethnic Religion at 6%. 

Customs

The various ethnic groups have their own customs and lifestyles. As there are some 29 ethnic groups in the State, there is much tolerance and respect for each others’ customs and practices in Sarawak. The pace of life here is much more relaxed compared to the more developed urban centers in West Malaysia, such as Kuala Lumpur. Afternoon tea (Drinking tea or coffee with friends) appears to be a norm for the people here.

People love to discuss about political issue with friends in Sarawak.

Media

The Main stream media is still very much utilized and effective in Sarawak. Sarawak does not as yet have its own TV station.  National TV programs are popular although citizens may subscribe to International channels through the main non-governmental TV media provider, “Astro”. Radio broadcasts are usually in English & Chinese as well. You can receive Miri FM & Red FM in the Curtin Sarawak campus area. There are 3 different kinds of newspapers available, according to the languages of the people. They are:

• English Newspapers: The Star, The Borneo Post, Sarawak Tribune, The Sunday post.
• Malay Newspapers: Utusan Borneo, Utusan Sarawak.
• Chinese Newspapers: Sin Chew Daily News, See Hua Daily, United Daily News.

Since most of the cities and towns in Sarawak have access to the internet, social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, is very popular especially among the younger generation. Some smart phone apps such as “WeChat” and “WhatsApp” are very popular among the youths as well. 

In conclusion, although Sarawak is a part and parcel of Malaysia, its background and environment greatly differs from the rest of Malaysia so much so that a person undergoing an international PR experience would need to do a more detailed background research on the place as well as understand the institution to which you will be attached.   

Internship experience

From my first day of this internship, after being introduced to my colleagues, my supervisor started to guide me in doing the simplest things in the office, such as how to use the office phone and fax machine, which printer is for colored printing and normal printing, how to log in the photo copy machine with our given staff ID, how to access my staff email, and also where the other departments and facilities are located.

Besides that, was thoroughly briefed so that I was able to remember all my colleagues’ names as well as their positions and job functions. The importance of working as a team and work delegation and management was emphasized and I was given an overall perspective on how the PR industry works in reality.

Media Clippings assignment during internship

During the first week of my internship, except for helping my colleagues to do some paper work such as typing, filling in information into the excel tables and photocopying, I was put in charge of compiling  Media Clippings which includes press clippings, featured articles and advertisement clippings. In order to that, I needed to read through all the newspapers daily, categorize them and use my advantage in being able to translate all the Chinese media releases into English. In doing this work, I have become more aware of how media releases can differ from among the feature articles in the newspapers - the different news angle of the same event- and the different angles presented between English and Chinese language papers.

Besides the above task, I helped to research and collate Malaysian Universities’ lecturers’ personal and academic information (their departments, titles, contact numbers, emails) online, for us to invite them to join our upcoming events and conferences.  This has taught me the important lesson that working as a PR, it is vital to keep a record of your clients and update them regularly and the importance of personal contact and relationships in PR industry.

Throughout my internship, I have been made to understand that as a PR personnel, I need to have a very good relationship with my colleagues for an on-going dynamic team working rapport. The personal example set by the staff has impressed upon me of the significance of being really nice people, always smiling and easy going, as fitting for a PR professional.   

In Curtin Sarawak, the PR division is named the Corporate Communications department. There are seven persons in the team besides me, each of them in charge of a portion of the required tasks in the team. Generally, the overall functions of the department can be combined and divided into two separate teams under a single manager, with each team having three persons to handle the PR section and the design segment.

Basically, the task of the PR section includes media relations, events management, corporate relations, social media management, advertising, CSR, internal relationship with students and staff, and some other special projects. The design part is including the branding, advertising design, web design, and publication design.

 

I have found that all these tasks intended for the corporate communications department corresponding to the structure of my Mass Communications and PR course at Curtin University.  One major lesson I have learnt from this international internship experience is that being a PR specialist means that you have to be thoroughly versed with the whole spectrum of PR and communications , be trained and therefore skilled in the smallest detail and one is not only a professional writer but also an accomplished  photographer and designer.

Tips for the new comers

1. It is better to do your internship during the semester break, full time, so that you will get enough time and energy to concentrate on it. 
2. It will be most appropriate to also started with some simple office work during your first week and to be patient to learn. Rome was not built in one day.
3. PR is not always about a single big project or a series of major projects. Much small efforts and communications to maintain good relationships with other corporations or individuals make for a successful PR department.
4. Be positive thinking during your work; don’t be upset if you are making mistakes for unless you are really a genius, you cannot be compared with your colleagues who have already been in this industry for years.
5. Keep a personal daily log for you to remember the lessons learnt and what you did during the internship. These materials can in turn be arranged and used for your final project paper.
6. For international students, especially those whose first language is not English, working in an English speaking environment is a great opportunity to practice your English. See your competency in another language as an advantage; you can help you colleagues translate those articles in your own language into English. 
7. It is always a challenge to do your internship in a foreign country but you can acquire considerably more than doing it in your own country.  

Zou Dan Ting 

14963841

Miri 

Can Someone Tell Me Why Organisations Outsource PR Again?

Hi Everyone!

It's me again and instead of boring you all with tasks I've been given at PPR, I thought I would use this blog post to discuss why organisations would outsource PR rather than do it themselves. This is a question that I had pondered since the start of my internship having worked on clients including McDonald's, Emirates, LandCorp and Dymocks. These are all large, established companies where image and how they look in the public eye is incredibly important to their reputation. At uni, James Grunig's Excellence Theory taught us that public relations was fundamental to an organisation and that it was a value-adding activity in terms of both financial and internal communication benefit. Public relations as a function belongs at the top of any organisation. Why would they not want to control their public relations activities themselves then?

It really was quite bazaar to me that they would do this; if PR was as important as I thought it was, why wasn't it an engrained department in these organisations much like how no-one questions the presence of finance, marketing and HR departments in companies of this size?

So that got me thinking, after reading Seven reasons why it makes sense to outsource PR & media relations, it made me believe that in some circumstances, it was beneficial for a company to outsource their PR function.

Cost


Accumulation of Expertise


Focus on Central Business Operations


Ability to Reach PR Objectives Better


All in all though, I believe the main reason why companies outsource the PR function is because it is a cost-effective way to manage the perception of your brand by using an accumulation of PR knowledge and expertise that in-house just can't compete with. A smart decision if you are in a management position within that organisation, however, as an aspiring PR professional, I would think it almost necessary to try and have at least one employee who understands the role of PR within the organisation to handle day-to-day PR needs and liaise with a consultancy to ensure a relationship exists where you can call on them when a larger issue arises such as crisis management or promotion of a large-scale event.

When you’re not looking, you will find something.

I’ll start by introducing myself  - I’m Katie and have just commenced my final semester of a Bachelor of Commerce (Public Relations) degree.  When considering places to intern I wasn’t quite sure where to start, but knew I wanted to gain experience in corporate communications. 

I had completed work experience in a boutique consultancy during my first year and felt consultancy just wasn’t for me. Whilst most of my PR peers are interested in consultancy I have to say I would definitely prefer to work in-house!

So, knowing that I wanted to gain experience in corporate comms provided me with some sort of direction.  I was starting to stress as I wanted to secure a placement over the semester break so I did not have to worry about fitting a placement around studies and work during Semester Two. 

About three quarters of the way through Semester One this year I noticed on Blackboard that University Marketing at Curtin was looking for an intern to assist with Open Day. I had not even started looking for an internship but the perfect opportunity had just surfaced so I applied straight away. Within a few days I was contacted by the Open Day Project & Brand Consultant and was asked to meet for an informal interview. 

I met with Asha, the Open Day Project & Brand Consultant, she explained the main role of the Open Day intern would be coordinating family/ children’s activities for the ‘Fun Zone,’ and helping with signage and the central volunteer briefings. 

I also work in a paid position at the Curtin Careers Centre which has taught me a few things about how to interview (alongside what I learned in PR classes!). I made sure that I dressed professionally and went over-prepared with copies of my resume and samples of my work, even though this was not requested by Asha. In the end, Asha did look at a communications strategy I had completed in my role at the Careers Centre and was impressed ideas that I had come up with. It's definitely better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. 

After the meeting Asha told me that I would hear back in a few days as to whether I had been successful or not, and right on time she emailed me to let me know she would like to have me on board as Open Day intern! This was extremely exciting as I had heard so many stories about students’ difficulty in finding a placement and I had successfully landed an internship in my preferred field on my very first try.

I am extremely excited to update you on my experience working in corporate communications and project management, I hope to learn a lot about during my time at University Marketing and I look forward to hearing about other placements that people are undertaking this semester. 

(Written on May 18, 2013)