It's all in the detail

I am now four weeks into my internship and what an experience I am having! I have been lucky enough to be selected to complete my internship with Detail Marketing Communications. Detail is a boutique PR and marketing agency based in Fremantle. I work with a team of two who are extremely passionate about the work they produce and their clients. Detail’s focus is on luxury, lifestyle, culture and community with such clients as Allure, Rottnest Island, Kitchen Warehouse and the Institute of Architects.

Considering I have had 3 years’ experience as an Executive Assistant in the mining and resources industry, I knew that corporate PR was not for me. Hence why I have been fortunate enough to gain my internship at Detail. The past four weeks have absolutely flown by, and I have enjoyed every minute. Thus far I have attended conferences, photo shoots, live media crosses, worked on email pitches and CSA requests as well as sit in on client meetings. The internship at Detail is a hand’s on experience and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It has been great for me to witness the relationship that Detail builds with their clients and to see the gratitude from clients. I personally believe there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your client happy while also being able to give back or contribute to the community. I was yet to decide whether I would prefer working for a consultancy and I still am unsure, however I do love the ‘boutique’ aspect of Detail and the fact that they have such a close relationship with all clients.

Every day is a new experience and I am so looking forward to the next two months ahead!

Finished at the Fellowship...for now

And so, my placement at the Fellowship of Australian Writers has been completed. I won't however be leaving, Trisha (the president) as high hopes that all three interns that completed placements at the Fellowship will stay on and help out when we can. We all plan to do exactly that.

Many past writer’s that have had the pleasure of staying at the Fellowship have commented on a certain feeling you get when you visit the Fellowship. It's an inexplicable desire to be a part of the Fellowships long standing heritage and to provide them with a helping hand where you can. So I plan to stay on and help throughout the holidays.

I can’t stress enough the level of experience I have gained during my time, I have learnt invaluable lessons about initiative and for the first time saw the usefulness in many of the things I’ve learnt during my degree. I also believe that FAWWA has benefitted from having me there during this semester.
Whilst writing my report I began to see the extent of my help at FAWWA and my recommendations come from true firsthand experience, of the organisation’s needs.

FAWWA was my first experience working in a not for profit organisation. I can see the significant difference between my experiences working for a consultancy and for a cause. A career in a not for profit organisation is now something I would truly consider and enjoy, there’s a sense of motivation that comes from knowing everything you do that day in some way is helping others.

I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Fellowship for giving me this opportunity and allowing me to be a part of this wonderful organisation

Lessons in initiative and responsibility

I'm now into week five of my placement and so far i have learnt so much about how not-for-profit organisations work. More than anything I've learnt how to work independently on my own ideas and carry them through to a conclusion, the other interns and I have the opportunity to propose ideas and then put them into action ourselves. So far none of our ideas have been knocked back, Trisha (the president) is more than happy for us to go ahead and do what we think is needed.

This week i took it upon myself to begin the re-organizing of the member information. Many of the members of the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA (FAWWA) currently don't have membership numbers or cards, i proposed the idea that we re-issue cards and numbers and begin to collect data of which members are attending workshops. I think this information will be valuable to FAWWA as they can then begin to target those people specifically for promotions about similar workshops.

Another idea i proposed and put into action this week was the creation of a form that non-members who attend workshops fill out with their email address. These email addresses will then be collected and put into an excel sheet , the email addresses will be used to contact the non-members about other workshops and possible membership. This will be helpful i believe because currently once these people attend the workshop and leave they cannot be contacted again, they therefore are not given information about other workshops and events that they might be interested in. This week i received some completed forms and began contacting the non-members about membership benefits.

On top of this, using the updated member databases i was able to contact members that have not yet renewed their membership for this year. From this a couple of members renewed their membership immediately.

Last week the other interns and I were given an email address we can use to promote FAWWA information , this has allowed me to contact members and non-members without using my personal email address which has been very helpful.

Overall learning to observe areas of the organisation that can be tweaked in order to run more smoothly , proposing a plan and finally carrying out the plan has really been priceless experience for me.

I am sure there is much to learn yet.

It was also my 21st birthday this week , so in order to celebrate me and one of the other interns Ailie made cupcakes for everyone.

Me and the cupcakes