WORKPLACE, FIRE and the ROAD AHEAD

Completing my internship at the Confederation of Meningitis Organisation (CoMO) was a great opportunity where I had many new experiences and learnt a lot about social media and what it feels like to have a job in a non for profit organisation.

Reflecting on my time at my internship it was great to learn what it feels like to work in an office and with a close-knit team of workers. Through university we undertake group assignments where we have to work with different people and the experience from that was definitely influential in meeting knew people at my internship and working with new styles of working.

I learnt that it is very important to edit your work, and that communication is the key to success. I am happy with the work I produced and the overall experience. It was a positive time of learning and I look forward to being in a full time position.

On my last day there was a fire! Understanding the workplace is such an important part of working. Throughout my degree I was taught about working with different cultures and in different environments however I never realised how important it is to understand this. I completed my internship at the CoMO which is located in the Telethon House for Child Research. Often they have fire drills to ensure everyone knows what to do when there is a fire. Unexpectedly the fire alarm went off one afternoon and we assumed it was a drill, however there was actually a real fire in the car park. It didn’t take long for the fire department to contain the fire so we could all resume work. This was quite an exciting though scary part of my internship because had the car that was on fire blown up or spread to the building there could have been quite some damage as the building is a high risk area.  I learnt that even if you think it’s a drill you should get out because you never know what could happen if there is a real fire.

After learning many new things throughout my internship it has now come to an end. The question now is where to go from here? University prepares you for the workplace providing you with the knowledge but now it’s up to me to find a job. It’s now time to get on the road and find a path I want to go down for my future career.

-Alyce

alas, the end.

After completing my placement at Corporate Sports Australia i'm so glad i was given the opportunity to gain some practical experience in the real world of public relations - and to be able to this as part of my degree.

While hours spent stuffing envelopes and sifting through survey results wasn't exactly my idea of fun, you've got to start somewhere!

During my internship i was given some great opportunities to put my skills and knowledge of the Public Relations industry into practice through media release writing, producing business reports, media guides and stage managing on event day. I was able to build on this knowledge through attending a press conference, communicating with key stakeholders and working alongside industry professionals.

I've gained invaluable PR experience from interning at CSA, as well as some great insights into the world of Marketing and Event Management. Receiving great feedback from my supervisors has given me a great confidence boost and reinforced just how relevant everything i've learnt at Curtin really is.

And i think, just maybe, i am ready to enter the challenging and fast paced world of Public Relations. Look out.

STM SHOOT – IT’S TIME TO GET YOUR SEWELLERY ON

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

Welcome to my fourth reflection on my placement at the one40william division and 140-retail sector.

STM SHOOT

I was given the opportunity to work alongside Teagan Sewell (stylist and designer) for an STM photo shoot incorporating her own jewellery label from her line ‘Sewellery’. Sewellery has a retail space at one40william, thus incorporating a campaign to promote one40william in this exclusive STM photo shoot.

From the get go I felt that my role at the shoot was as important as anyone else’s. The shoot took place at the architecturally stunning Heath Ledger Theatre in the CBD. After a tour of the Theatre and deciding on where the shots should be taken it was time to start preparing the clothing and jewellery that would be included in each shot. All jewellery used was ‘Sewellery’ and the clothing ranged from Ellery to Givenchy.

From the first click of the camera, the shoot was finally underway. It was such a great to have a ‘behind the scenes’ first hand experience to see how much work goes into getting one amazing shot.

From previously sitting there on a Sunday I would flick through the fashion photography in the STM choosing the photo’s I like the best, to now appreciating the hard work and long hours that are required to put these looks and shots together. I learnt especially the amount of hard working people required to form the team to create such photography shoots come together.

I was honored to be part of such a team that worked so well together, especially when my ideas and advice was asked when styling the outfits and going through the final shots.

The team included the following:

·       Teagan Sewell (and 2 interns);

·       Photographer (and 1 intern)

·       2 Film Crew;

·       Makeup Stylist;

·       Hair Stylist and

·       Myself

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY

Throughout the STM shoot I found the most essential element was verbal communication. Of course in public relations written communication is significant in all areas of work, however, verbal communication is just as important.

Utilizing excellent verbal communication has been cemented as a result of my internship from the roles that I have required to adopt. Through out units at Curtin, we are repeatedly reminded of the significance of high standards of verbal communication, however, having to demonstrate this in a real corporate sense confirms such importance.

I feel as though I am growing through my experiences whilst completing my placement at one40william.

The shoot is being published on the 26th of September so look out for the exclusive shoot in this Sunday's STM!

Until more 140 experiences,

Alexandra Wheeler

(14866393)

A first look at exciting opportunities in events management and promotion.

Initially struggling to find a placement opportunity that excited me, I came across an opportunity with one of Perth’s most successful and popular promotions and events organisations. Metric Promotions is one of Perth’s leading events promoters, who aside from their highly successful weekly club nights, also run monthly music concerts and events, and have recently begun their own festival in Perth. As well as this, they manage two local Perth bands, Stillwater Giants and Shy Panther.

Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to begin my placement at a highly exciting time for the promotions company. Aside from their music and entertainment events within Metric Promotions, they have developed a highly exciting business opportunity known as Pilerats. Pilerats was partly developed from the opportunities presented through Metric Promotions; constantly being in contact with various Australian and international musicians and artists has provided fantastic business contacts and exciting original content. This collaboration of content, and creative ideas is currently being adapted into a highly interactive iPad and iPhone magazine.

The launch of this iPad magazine provides a great platform for me to contribute ideas for the promotion and launch of the upcoming first, and following issues. To be honest, the idea in itself is highly overwhelming as I have little real-life public relations experience, but at the same time it gives me a great platform to express my ideas, and potentially be successful in my promotional endeavours. 

If you would like to check out the blog for Pilerats head here, there is some great content:

http://pilerats.com/

One of the most interesting things I have found whilst participating in my placement, is that everyone I am working with is self-taught. After initial success in running their events, they were thrown into promotions and events management. Being self-taught, everyone around my is a massive advocate of on-the-job learning, and preaches the benefits of work experience. 

All in all, my first couple of weeks at Metric Promotions and Pilerats has been really exciting.  I have had the benefit of being able to swap between doing completely different tasks for both Metric Promotions and Pilerats. I believe this is giving me the chance to have a vast portfolio of skills and given some more time I will really be able to settle in and find my place. I look forward to keeping you updated on my progress and some of the exciting, (and currently confidential) plans that are in place.

The Fellowship

Through the sheer luck and coincidence of bumping into an old acquaintance I came across a cry for help. I was presented with a brief for an organisation called the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA).FAWWA is a not for profit organisation that provides support, advocacy, training and most of all friendship to Western Australia's writing community.

The once popular not for profit was founded in 1938 and at its highest point boasted over 1000 members. The organisation was thriving, constantly holding glamorous events attended by many prestigious writers and creative people. They also were putting out a well written and entertaining monthly magazine.

However for many reasons, over time the Fellowship lost its touch. Currently standing at 150 members, the president Trisha Kotai-Ewers and other members decided the fellowship was in need of young Public Relations students to volunteer and give the organisation a new youthful lease on life. I accepted this challenge and have been volunteering for over a month already, the organisation itself is on the verge of great change and it’s an exciting time to be involved with FAWWA.

The organisation can be found in Tom Collin’s house in Swanbourne. Tom Collins was a man called Joseph Furphy’s pen name. Joseph Furphy was a writer, well known for his novel ‘Such is Life’. He built the house by himself and later on the house was donated to FAWWA for use as their office.

The house is an incredible (and freezing) place to work. At lunch time all the volunteers, current writer’s in residence and anyone else who is hanging around is invited to sit in the dining room and have soup together. At this point everyone comes together and talks, jokes and shares stories which is an awesome way to exchange ideas and thoughts.

I don’t think I could have asked for a better placement, I am given tremendous responsibility and I am treated like a professional Public Relations practitioner not just a student. I am not given tasks or jobs instead I have to look for ways I can help the organisation myself and put those plans into action alone , it already has given me invaluable experience and I am sure there is plenty more to learn and my placement continues.

The Art of the Media Release - Tricks and Tips I've Discovered on my Journey

Writing a media release is a refined skill. I know the theory for sure - we all got taught the basics in PR Techniques and Principles back in first and second year. Say it with me if you know the words: important information in first paragraph (who, what, when, why, where), expand information in second and third paragraphs, quote in the fourth paragraph, contact details in the final paragraph. The format is simple enough. And anyone who can write well can produce a decent media release - which is most PR professionals as the entire industry is about effective communication.

But all the theory in the world leaves something to be desired - experience (which is the whole point of this unit I suppose). In my time at Linc I have been able to try my hand at writing several media releases and then sell them in to publications. Thanks to the guidance of my teachers I've picked up quite a few tips and tricks on how to gain coverage..

Spam Filters

Most places have spam filters in place to stop unwanted mail. They pick up on specific words - any subject lines or content that contains them get sent straight to the junk mail folder. This includes words like 'free' and 'prize'. So if your media release is about a FREE competition with a PRIZE to be won - as PR activities sometimes are - you have to be very careful about how you word it, as it might end up in a journalists junk folder!

Blogs

It may seem obvious to some but to me it was something of a surprise. Whenever I thought of online media I would always think of Facebook, Twitter, The West and Perthnow. In fact there are a huge range of other sites that you can sell-in to and the majority of these are blogs - fashion blogs, tourism blogs, mums and bubs blogs - and the list goes one! All of these sites get strong regular flows of traffic making them the perfect tool for promotion. The trick here is targeting your release to the right blog and audience. The links above are to examples of coverage I received I from media releases I wrote!

Slots

Slots are the names for the specific sections in each paper that you can target media releases to. This is a great tactic for securing coverage that I previously had not heard about. If you know what lift outs and sections appear on which days and what themes they feature you can sell your release to a journalist with much more credibility. Instead of just a grab for coverage you can present your release as a relevant addition to the slot they produce. For example, a kid’s event could be aimed at the ED! (education) lift out that appears in The West Australian every Tuesday.

Puns

Though it may sound strange, in a direct departure from what I remember being taught (descriptive, to the point, no fluff titles), my mentors at Linc always attempt to make the title of a media release a fun joke or pun. Journalists and bloggers reportedly love a good pun to spice up their content and apparently it's true!

Although the media landscape is changing there is still room for the good old fashioned media release – you just have to know how to use it!

Beth Caniglia

It's time to say Goodbye!!

Hello bloggers,

Today was my last day at Imagine communication. Even if it was the last day, I've had lots of things to do as to complete and end satisfied of my placement there.

This internship has given me the opportunity to accomplish several PR tasks in the real life and to put into practice what I've learnt during my 3 years of study at Charles Telfair Institute.

The main thing with which I will conclude my blog posts will be that there is definitely a big difference between PR in theory and PR in practice. We have been taught as to have a basic idea of the meaning and the role of PR in a company, but after completing my placement I can say that there were aspects we have'nt focused on and which were important.

But this is why the last module is an internship, so as to show students the difference between what can be taught in class and what can be completed in a company. In my opinion, this was the greatest part of my internship at Imagine, the combination of both theory and practice which gives an unique mix.

I'm sad it's already finished, but excited to submit my final report with all my tasks and activities.

I hope you all have had a great experience. I wish you luck in your future carrier.

Elodie Charoux

14103265

Charles Telfair Institute

A GREAT experience !

Hi bloggers,

I am Elodie Charoux, from Charles Telfair Institute, Mauritius. This is my first post as I have started my placement since 13 days and I have been so busy with my internship activities. From now I'll be posting on this blog and on the other one as to share my experience of the past days and the coming ones.

I am doing my placement at Imagine Communication which provide the following services:

• Business Facilitation


• Corporate Communication


• Crisis and issue Management


• Intelligence and Documentation


• Media Relations and Support


• Public Relations


• Event Coordination and Management


• Public Affairs

http://www.imagine.mu

My first impression at Imagine was the good atmosphere that I felt during my internship and the coordination and distribution of tasks between colleagues. I have been motivated since the first day as I feel that I belong in the company and I have had a lot of Public Relations activities to accomplish.

This PR 393 module has been obviously my favorite one since I've started my degree even though it has been really hard to get a placement in the moment I was looking for it. I've had a fantastic experience and I'm happy it's not over yet.

Moreover, the past PR modules I have undertaken have helped me a lot to be able to understand the role of Public Relations in a company. My internship has given me the opportunity to apply everything I've learnt since now and to put each task, once done for assignments, into practice in the real life. Furthermore, I've learnt new things and I've done new activities that couldn't be undertaken at university, and this is my most satisfying experience since I'm doing my PR placement.

I've read some of bloggers posts, as there are a LOT, and i can feel how many, maybe I can say most of them are happy and excited about their internship and how great was this experience. This gives me a motivation to continue this placement and to give my best contribution for this company.

Enjoy the rest of your internship for those who are not yet done and good luck for those who are completing their report.

Elodie Charoux
14103265
Charles Telfair Institute

more to share....

Hi all,

I’m Kyanne Tan from Limkokwing University. Over the past entries, I have shared some of my responsibilities during the first month of my internship. In this post, I would like share more on what I’ve learned.

It’s being festive months (Dec-Feb) and so, Hotel Nikko Kuala Lumpur prepared some outstanding food promotions and also activities to be celebrated for the upcoming fest. Well, what basically I’ve been doing during the festive month is compiling the new sets of diaries (for the year 2009); preparing greeting cards (for Christmas and CNY) and eblast (sending out the latest promotions to via email). These are mostly my daily task.

Apart from that, the Hotel’s General Manager organized a Thanksgiving event that was held in Singapore. About two weeks before the event, what I basically did was assisted my department to send out invitation via e-mail to the invitees. I was given a list of invitees that contain their contact numbers and e-mail addresses. However, some of the invitees do not have the correct e-mail address and some do not have e-mail address in the list, so, I personally called up the invitees to inform them about the invitation on behalf of the Hotel’s GM.

Thereafter, I make a list of RSVP in order to mark down the confirmation invitees and also those who could not attend the event. Two days before the event, colleague and I prepared some gifts that to be given to all whom attending the event. However, both the PR assistants and I were not invited to the event because we have some other task to be followed in the office.

I am happy to be part of the PR departmet and can't wait to learn more and more.

good luck all!

cheers,
Kyanne Tan
Limkokwing University

My Internship Had Finished :(

Hi everyone,

I'm Puspita from LUCT.. this is my 4th blog.. well, i completed my 2 months internship on friday (30th of January '09). Before that, they asked me to do the speech for AsiaPR on the last day i'm doing my internship. So, on friday i did it in front of all of AsiaPR members. I'm really2 thankful for the wonderful chance that they gave to me. I learnt alot of stuffs about Public Relations and i had so much fun.

They also prepared some meals for lunch after i did the speech then we had lunch together for my farewell. I was so touched because i dont feel like i am just a trainee there but i feel like i'm part of them. They really2 treat their trainees nicely. And then after that i sit with the director in person and he told me to visit AsiaPR anytime i want and if anything just contact them. I feel so glad because i wasnt only learning about the work but also i learnt about the value of team mate and friendship.

Have a good day everyone and Cheers,
Puspita Wardani

New experience

Hi all,

I'm Kyanne Tan from Limkokwing University, Cyberjaya campus. It's been some time i didn't get to update myself here. Hope everyone out there doing good! and yes, this blog is getting interesting. Everyone approaching their new experiences and some got to publish their work, run on events, deal with clients, this and that. As i mentioned, i am interning in a Hotel (Hotel Nikko Kuala Lumpur) and unfortunately i don't have the chance to write press releases because all that will be done by my boss and her assistants. Eventually, i am there to assist them with some other tasks such as preparing media kits, greeting cards for clients, database (key-in particular members' details into a list), eblast (sending invitation or promotions of the Hotel through e-mail) and so on.

PR in hotel, however, do not have much opportunity to organise events but doing events for their clients instead. So far, i only got to attend one event as i mentioned in my very first blog entry where to announce the closure of a Cafe for makeover exercise and also the new appointed British nationality Executive Chef. What i've learned being in PR department in hotels is to create awareness. Building the publicity is very much important as well as cultivating relationship with media people. I believe this is what basically PR need to do.

Besides, we also have media review very often and almost every 2 weeks once as the hotel has great food promotions every month and room promotions every year. After the reviews, magazines or newspapers publication will be writing up about it. So, i am also assisting my department to read through the newspapers (Malaysia publication) in Malay, English and Chinese version to search for newspaper clippings that are related to Hotel Nikko Kuala Lumpur.

On the other hand, for eblast, i've been mailing out food promotions of different festive including Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day to different group of members (from Hotel memberships to Media members), mostly from Malaysia and Singapore.

Well, that's all for now. Will share more on the next entry.

Good luck and take care guys!

Cheers,
Kyanne
Limkokwing University

my experience

Dear all,

Happy new year in advance.

The last 2 weeks have been really busy for me. I've been involved in a whole week of different events in a row, involving 3 different clients. Although these are not my first event, it is my first time of having so many in the same week, which is quite exhausting.

I would not mention about my clients' names here because i think these are some confidential things of my company, so i would just talk about my experiences. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience.

Here, i will basically share my experience on the first event first. It was about my client celebrating its 50th anniversary. Prior to that, a week ago i need to accomapny my client to have media drops to distribute media gifts to many selected media outlets and give them a brief introduction about my client. Media drop means dropping by media outlets to pay them a visit. And so, i will have to call and arrange time with all the editors from selected media and section for the media drop. Getting to meet the editors and grabbing the chance to have a short conversation is important for my job as a PR person because it simply fosters the relationship between me and them, even if it is just a little bit. Then, after the media drop, i need to keep in touch with them by sending emails and giving them calls to invite them to the 50th anniversary press conference.

Besides, my client also wishes to have exclusive media interview, whereby, we will only invite one media of each language (English, Chinese and Malay) to interview my client. Basically, the interview is to share the 50 years of success and the company's direction in year 2009). In this case, i would have to email and call the first 3 selected media to see if they are interested to do the exclusive interview, if not, i would have to seek for second choice.

From here, i realise arranging time with the media(for media drop, 50th anniversary press conference and exclusive interview) is quite a tough job. I have to arrange the time based on their availabilties and slot into timetable accordingly. Most of the editors are busy, especially when it is in December, therefore, i will have to either persuade them to just spare out 15 minutes for me, or to let them send their representatives to meet up with my client and i.

Besides, arranging the media interview is also a difficult job. Editors will not be interested with any simply interviews that we offer. There must be certain level of news worthiness to get them agreed. Therefore, i tried really hard to persuade them to actually nod their heads and send their journalists for the exclusive interview.

The experience is new for me, especially the media drops because i get to see the editors that i have to call everyday, to follow up with all kinds of events that my company organizes. I feel weird at times because through the phone, we almost feel very close as we have spoken to each other for countless time, yet, we have not actually meet up with each other. The media drops actually bring me a little bit closer to the editors or media representatives because when i get to meet them personally, it makes things easier when i call them for future events.

The event itself is quite successful from my opinion as i get the number of journalists that i want to attend the press conference, and the media coverage is quite satisfying.

Post event work is not so difficult for me afterall because i will only have to follow up with those who have attended the function.

That's all about my experience for the first event of "that" week. There are more to come.

To be continue..

First day and First entry, 17 dec 2008

well i finally started my internship at LUCT after such a long wait, was really eager to start and the delays and procedures were killing me. Well i can now say that i work in the marketing department of the university. on my first day i had to read about what the department has done so far this year. since my interest was mostly on writing it was good to see how the university had its own way of presentation and it really adhered to the standard and reputation of the school being 'innovative' and 'creative'.

i was to spend the whole day at my desk reviewing these because my supervisor, Alex, said that i should catch up quick so that work will be much easier. he was very friendly from the start and i had a feeling that we would have a good working relationship, so long as i did whatever tasks that he assigned me, and did them well. well, it was only the first day, so who knows what the rest of the 8 weeks will hold for me.

what i hope to achieve from this internship is to gain an insight in areas of PR as well as marketing and to utilise my love for writing, especialy feature writing and to also get involved i any upcoming events that the university would hold. it is renowned for occasionally having events such as exhibitions, and visits from various delegations.

oh remember when i said my first day was just going to be based on reading up, well i guess i was wrong. i got my first assignment and as much as it is going to require alot of time and effort, i was glad to have something to do instead of sitting at a desk all day. my first task was to write a 14 page spread informational piece about why a student should come to Limkokwing to study in the 7 faculties that the university offers. it might seem like alot of work but in actual fact i thought it was a test on my research abilities and communication skills because i need to talk to various faculty members to get first hand information. it would also show my writing abilities and i believe that it would enhance them as well.

imagine all this work on the first day, i wonder what the other weeks will have to offer. but i am looking forward to the whole experience and even though this is a Pr Internship and i am stationed in the marketing department i am looking forward to enjoying the best of both worlds.it will be interesting to see how two sectors which i feel complement each other but seem to be rivals will be like. Marketing does not hide the fact that it is all about the numbers and getting money in. PR on the other hand aims to help or gain funds for a good cause. i think that i am going to find my internship here at LUCT a very interesting yet challenging one. working from 8.30 till 6pm and also working of SATURDAYS..:( will definately drain me but i guess i will survive.

well thats all for now, cheers, till next time

Going into the second week..

Hi all,

I'm Imaan from Limkokwing campus. It's good to read all of our experiences. Sorry for being a bit late with the first post, but let me tell you what I have experienced so far.

The first week itself was a mixture of boredom and interesting moments.. Having worked quite a lot before in a high-profiled NGO in Maldives, as well as having had worked in projects for UNDP back in Maldives, I was not at all new to the work field. I had handled many events, seminars and fund-raising Maybe, this was the reason why I expected a lot of work (not just scanning, making calls and such, but work really related to PR) and i got bored and frustrated when things did not happen how I thought it would.

However, what I did not realise was that I was brand new and fresh into the CORPORATE world of Public Relations AND having worked before SHOULD have made me realise that I, like everyone else must start from scratch. Well, atleast that was what I tried to convince myself, specially since I had to drag myself up and get going from 5.30am in the morning to make it on time for 8.30am before work started.

Even with this, I was praying for something which would make me look forward to go to work when I was presented the opportunity to take part in a media launch for on my fourth day at work. I called the media and asked them if they were attending, gave them information about the event and helped prepared the press kit. The final event was grand itself and because of my involvement I was asked to write a debrief report on the event and the launch. After that the jobs I was asked to do have been both boring, tedious as well as important and fun.

So as I go into my second week, this is what I have learnt so far: no job starts at the top, specially if you are new to the industry and the way to get ahead is accept all the jobs (even if they are boring) and then when you do a good job at it, you get recognised. Also, take iniative and offer your help anywhere and everywhere you can (I often do this and have told everyone that I do not shy from work).

I am hoping that the boring part subsides altogether and this job becomes as interesting and as ful-filling as I hoped it will be.

Well, I'm signing out for now.. take care and catch you all laters.. Good luck in your internships..

Xoxo
Imaan

brand new life

hello people! i'm Jacinta Lee, from Limkokwing campus in Cyberjaya.

This should be a long overdue post because i guess i'm one of the earliest to start my internship. In fact i started my job on the 12th of November, which means i've been working for more than half a month now.

I'm working for a small PR agency company called Pixarus Communications. With only a few colleagues and heavy workloads, internship isn't that fun for me. My main responsibilities are to do media screening, write press releases, backgrounders, fact sheets, do proposals for pitching, handling media, etc.

On the first day of work itself i've already been asked to write press release for one of the major client, followed by a lot of big and small things to do, as per arranged by my manager.

Besides, i would also have to attend any events related to dances as a media person and write cover stories for each of the event. At many times, i have to work for more than 16 hours.

My manager is definitely not easy to be dealt with, and as a beginner there is a lot for me to learn. Perhaps working with a picky boss would make me a tougher and quicker person in times to come. I just hope that i can learn to be faster and better.

A lot of times i've been complaining about my heavy workload and responsibilities to my family and friends, however, deep inside i know i need to be thankful to be able to work with my current company because i definitely gain a lot from there.

I like the fact that internship is required in Curtin PR subject because it exposes me to a lot of real life experiences which in the end will turn me into a more mature person. I see things from a bigger perspective and experience new things. I grow up from within.

I like the fact that i am able to deal with so many people, learn to talk to the media, learn to brainstorm outstanding ideas, learn to deal with different types of clients, etc. I am definitely grateful that internship gives me such opportunities.

For all those who are having internship out there, all the best to you all. May the all of us work and grow, together.

Cheers.