Organisation 101

Today my internship officially ended (queue loud chorus of cheers) and for my final blog I’d like to share some tips on one of the most important lessons I learnt over the past three months.

Here goes!

'BE ORGANISED. BE, BE ORGANISED'

Moment of truth, I’m terribly unorganised. Give me a filing cabinet and I’ll destroy it in about five minutes. Give me an assignment and I can guarantee I’ll be doing the final edit just minutes before it’s due. In saying all that, I learnt very, very quickly that organisation is absolutely imperative in a PR department. At first it was daunting, but by the end of the internship the word deadline didn’t terrify me quite so much – in fact I even completed some tasks early! I can definitely say I came a long way in developing time management and organisational skills under the guidance of my Activ supervisor, and I know those are skills that are crucial in future employment.

So, what organisational tips do I have for future students doing their PR internship?

1.       Have a diary - and use it! Keeping a consistent track of meetings, deadlines, and projects means that you will never be caught by surprise and stuck doing something last minute. Trust me, one week of using a diary and you’ll be ready to buy it a BFF necklace.

2.        Don’t sleep in – ever! It may seem tempting to press snooze for that extra ten minutes (or hour) but rushing around because you’re running late is just a recipe for disaster.  Beginning your day stressed has this terrible knock on effect to the rest of the day where it sets you up for failure before you’ve even left the house.

3.       As soon as you complete a project, file it properly. At the end of the semester you’re going to have to compile a portfolio of all the fantastic, wonderful work you’ve done and it would totally suck if you forgot about something or – even worse – couldn’t find it.

4.       Pack everything you need for your internship the night before. I know, I know; I sound like your Mum. But trust me, going back to your Primary School days and packing your ‘backpack’ the night before will save you the embarrassment of forgetting an important document or project (or, worse still, your lunch).

5.       Make a list at the beginning of your workday about everything you need to achieve and tick them off one-by-one. Seriously, nothing is more satisfying than finishing up and looking at a list of crossed-off tasks. Plus, it means you haven’t missed doing something important. Double score!

Well, that's everything from me. I had a blast during my internship and I hope everyone else did too! To anyone reading this, best of luck for the future. We're all in this exciting adventure together. 

On Organisation and Communication

After such a hectic time the last few weeks things have stalled a little bit over the last few days.

Work on the website is much more extensive than we thought (and will turn out to be quite expensive) so I've been drafting up things to put on there when it finally get's up and running again.

One of the things I've noticed in my time at AVHI is that there is a distinct lack of organisation. Now this isn't as much of a problem as it could be in a large organisation; with only a few employees and only a few communication channels open with potential clients, the information flow is manageable. However I can't help but think how much easier it COULD be, and how much it COULD become a problem as the business grows (because it is growing, and hopefully will grow even more with some of the ideas I'm putting in place). 

It's not that everything is a shambles, because it isn't, it's just...very all over the place. I am by no means the most organised person in the world; but I am a little bit of a control freak. Even if my things are disorganised, I know where they are. At AVHI 'things' are just everywhere. A receipt here and a planning there and equipment and pricing lists and just everything all over the place.

It has made it a bit difficult to come in as an outsider to the business and try and sift my way through everything. As I said, it doesn't adversely affect the business at all, but good organisation can make everything run so much smoother, and I've found that having good organisation generally leads to good channels of communication. 

What could go wrong, will go wrong!

Busy busy busy! Next week my internship placement United Way WA are launching a new campaign caleld Paint the Swan REaD. We have collaborated with Dyslexia - Speld Foundation and Midland Clan to launch a early literacy program! And as what the tutors have taught us "What could possibly go wrong will go wrong".

So let me start with about the campaign. The idea is to create an awareness for the need of early literacy in children because recent studies have shown that young kids are coming to school without basic literacy skills. Children are needing from birth to be exposed to reading, singing and rhyming. To launch the campaign we have also created a 'learning trial' which is a trial that kids follow and use basic literacy skills. At the moment the campaign is focused in Middle Swan district and the launch which is September 6th is at Middle Swan Primary School.

 Part of the learning trial

Now the organisers of this campaign last minute have decided that they would like to have an 'egg' that travels to different locations in the weeks leading up to the campaign. The purpose of this is that the mascot 'Red the Super Reading Roo' has lost his egg. The kids will go and visit the egg over the weeks at its different locations and the egg will grow as the kids sing, read and rhyme to it and at the launch it will reach its full growth and Red the Roo will find it. This is to get people aware of the campaign and the ideas behind it. But this egg has caused a few problems.. The problems being that the egg has to be made, media erleases have to written, locations for it have to be found and advertising is needed. We only had a space of a couple of weeks to write releases and to get the local media to print weekly updates on the campaign (and beleive me it is difficult and journalists only want to be contacted via email). I had to then make flyers for shopping centres, Make colouring in sheets, create social media oportunities to advertise where the egg is going and also design the mascto and logos for banners.

Of course this was all done in a tight time frame and nothing worked out the way any of us wanted it to. But with persistence and time management we are now successfully on track to the launch next week. I have certainly learnt that to have a smooth sailing campaign, organisation is key!!

The bits and pieces

I don't think I have ever walked into work or any of my classes, as excited as I was today to go into Communicare, it was like something had taken over and all I wanted to do was start my day.

Why you may ask! and the reason for this was today I had to make sure everything was going to be ready for the event being thrown on Thursday. I had the whole responsibility upon me, I knew the individuals I was working with were amazing and would have taken care of certain elements, but it was left to me to do the rest.

Walking in at my usual 8:30 time,  I once again checked my emails to see what was going on. One of my main tasks of planning the event was putting numbers together, once participants had paid to attend the event. This was the first thing I did in order to be aware of how many packs etc I needed to get ready for the day. As I compiled the list etc and got all the elements ready to make the little Communicare packs for the event, which consisted about information of the different services, a pen and notepad, I was once again surprised at the amounts of work that went into an event, it was no walk into the park. I also had to get name badges ready, which needed to be made, printed cut into size etc. At a non-for-profit organisation, most things are encouraged to be done in house rather than getting the printer to do it etc because of the costs attached.

Doing everything in house, it let me to think do big organisations also do everything in house, or rather because they are so large, they have the luxury of getting all their printing and cutting done by a printer whenever they desired. Prior to coming to do my work placement at Communicare, I had only even used a cutter maybe once, and my cutting had be quite disturbing, I never understood why I could never cut straight and now I use the cutter at every shift sometimes twice and I am so pedantic that I have to make sure everything I am cutting is straight and perfect, if not I start again.

I understand that at times big profit organisations make the huge amounts of  money and they can afford to pay for simple things like making of folders etc off site, but I dare to ask do individuals working in non-for-profit do more than them? Are individuals in a non - for- profit organisations have more technical skills, that is putting together folders, laminating etc more than those working in a profitable organisation?

These questions are not questions I would have previously thought about, but putting together this event, I wondered; may the work was getting to me, the cutting of 50 pages, of the compiling of so many folders but I had a good time doing it and everything seemed to be going fine. I secretly think I did a good job (if not I do not think they would ask me to help them out with the next event coming up!)

My first wedding!!!

Events can be exhausting!!!!

I can’t believe that time goes so by fast, I am almost done with my internship and also my degree at Curtin university! Although most of my time has been spent in the office and completing tasks that would be done within the organisation on a daily basis, I got the opportunity to help run a wedding recently and I jumped at the opportunity.

When I arrived at the venue I felt the anticipation in the air, staff were busy fixing last minute details and the events manager was ensuring everything looked perfect before the guests arrived. The venue looked amazing, there were flowers everywhere and candles that lit the room beautifully. The Breakwater is an award winning venue that is renowned for their weddings, the room over looks the harbour and you can see the sun setting which really sets the mood for the evening.

The event ran smoothly without any major problems, I really learnt the importance of keeping on top of what was going on through out the night especially being informed and aware of any problems in order to make sensible decisions before they escalate. Other important things to remember when organising and planning an event, especially in my organisation I completed my internship were:

• Agree the purpose- this will help inform everyone who is involved and give everyone clear objectives.
• Know your audience- be aware of who will be attending the event, any dietary requirements, underage guest and so on. This will help you target and meet your objectives.
• Plan- having a clear and concise plan of the event, everything leading up to the day will be well thought through and organised. On the specific night have a print out of the plan, which should include timings and the event lay out, this is essential to keep the event running smoothly.
• Consider timings- allow for time changes, sometimes certain aspects of the night such as speeches might run overtime. It is important to prepare for these and act accordingly such as informing the kitchen on any delays and change the plan if necessary.
• Co-ordinate- give staff specific roles, ensure everyone is briefed and ensure everyone who is involved is well informed and are given specific responsibilities and tasks. The event manager is the main member who is responsible for the overall event and therefore must remain professional and make any necessary arrangements and actions.

I really enjoyed participating in the wedding, I got to have a real hands on approach to organising an event and the type of requirements necessary for the PR professional who co-ordinates an event.

I think the main key I took away from this experience was not to expect the event to go perfectly and be open to changes to the plan, instead of worry about the problem it is better to act accordingly and work on fixing the issue being presented. Organisation is such an important element in being prepared as much as possible and hopefully create an event that is successful and beneficial to the organisation.

And welcome to the City to Surf press conference!

I have been doing many tasks at my internship which include media releases, answering emails, official invitations to the event, schedules, newsletters, offline registrations and write ups for the City to Surf website (which you can have a look at here)

About a month into my internship I was then given my official role for event day - I would be the media assistant. This role would include helping out the Media Coordinator on the day, been at the finish line in the media tent, helping out the media with any queries they may have, making sure the athletes that place get an interview with them and organising the official pre-event press conference. 

To say I was excited about my role was an understatement. To be the organiser of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ press conference, their main media opportunity was amazing! About four weeks prior to the conference I started organising it, making sure I had athletes from each ‘field’: elite, human interest and interstate, writing out the MC Notes for event commentators Jon Kappler and Ray Boyd, the floor plan, working with the PR team from Chevron, the running sheet and the official invite.

Another first for the City to Surf is the attendance of two Japanese elite athletes, an agreement that was made with Japan and the Department of Sport and Recreation where Japan will send two of its elite athletes to compete in Perth’s top running events and some of WA’s elite athletes will compete over in Japan, further placing the Chevron City to Surf for Activ on the international running calendar. 

For the conference I secured the following speakers:

Elite Athletes: Kenyan athletes Luka Chelimo and David Kemboi and two Japanese elite athletes Chihiro Tanaka and Takeshi Niki.

Interstate Athlete: Sam Maxwell and Lauren Shelley

Human Interest Speakers: Monika Volpi and her guide dog Jonnie, Activ ambassador Beth Ebert and her family and Richy Bear, a man who will be running the Half Marathon in a bear suit. 

Working on the press conference made me think back to PR Media 250 when we discussed if media conferences still have a place in today’s industry, looking at the pros and cons. The positives of a media conference are that it gives journalists the ability to ask questions, relays on one key message, involve your employees (i.e. them attending), information is more controlled, able to personalise the story, gives the opportunity for simultaneous announcements and adds credibility. 

For example, a press conference that worked extremely well was during the Queensland floods when then Premier Anna Bligh used many press conferences to update the media with information about the floods and ensure that the people of Queensland were kept informed and understood the government knew what they were going through and that they were trying to fix it.

The negatives of a press conference however can include the opportunity to make you vulnerable to negative questions.

In my opinion, having a press conference for the Chevron City to Surf for Activ worked successfully. This was their chance to showcase key participants to the media and release information such as ‘event organisers are expecting a record 45,000 participants to attend the event’. See here for the article published on PerthNow after the press conference with this information. After this experience I also agree with the fact that press conferences do have a place in the industry given that they are organised well and for the right reasons - there is no point holding a press conference to release information that is not valuable or would give your company the opportunity to be vulnerable to negative questions. 

So after getting minimal sleep the night before due to nerves, I couldn’t wait to show off what I had been working on for the past month. We went to the Chevron office to get ready to set up. We went to the conference room and started to put the media backdrop together. The thing is, no one knew how to put up the banner. That’s right no one knew how to do it. This was what I was fearing the most - something going terribly wrong. How could I hold a press conference without a media backdrop? You just can’t. At the same time, speakers started to turn out so it was fair to say the beginning of the conference was a bit of a nightmare. I had to go to a corner and calm down for a bit and work out what needed to be done. Thank goodness for my fellow intern Alanna and the Chevron girls who figured out how to set up the media backdrop whilst I briefed the speakers of how to the conference was to run. Once the conference started I could breathe and I must congratulate on the fantastic way Ray Boyd and JK did the event - the way they speak and engage with the media was amazing and so inspiring to hear, you can understand why they are the event commentators for the Race. 

The press conference didn’t run as smooth as I would have liked - but there was a lady with her guide dog, a man in a bear suit and a three year old toddler, so maybe next time I would think more about what kind of speakers will attend and the flow of movement a bit better. I also learnt a very valuable lesson that I should have thought about before - to test out the media banner.

Rob de Castella, Sam Maxwell and Lauren Shelley speak at the Chevron City to Surf for Activ press conference

Overall I loved having the trust of the event organisers to be the organiser of the press conference. Not many people get to take on such an important task as an intern! I felt very honoured that the people at Corporate Sports gave me this responsibility and it was a fantastic experience.  I learnt so much about planning all the little details and how important planning is to ensure that the event goes smoothly and nothing is left out. It is the little details that may not seem like a great deal but at the event you realise that without those little details it would all fall apart. I also grew confident in my ability to tackle tasks and work in the PR industry and with other people.

What are your thoughts on whether a press conference still has a place in today’s industry? And what amazing tasks have you taken on in your internship? Would love to hear them!

Thanks,

Steph Sbrocco 

The Count Down!

#2 The Count Down

I have been organising Perth Fashion Festival since June and all of a sudden the Opening Night event is tomorrow!

As one would assume, the office is exceptionally frantic today, as it has been for the past week or two.

We have a few people who are more tanned than usual from appointments last night and racks of clothes lined up, not to mention a crazy store room full of volunteer passes, giftbags, posters etc.

My tasks as of now are mostly finalising run sheets, emailing these to the necessary people, organising parking for government members who are attending our events, sorting out my schedule with my manager and lots more 'logistical' things.

The key to keeping sane and organised amongst the maddness is writing and ticking off lists I have discovered. My manager also often emails me with a task in the subject box so she doesn't forget to tell me. I can keep these in my inbox so I am always reminded and don't forget it. We also have a few drop box folders that we share to keep documents in one place we can both access/update/cross reference. Our system seems to work well. 

Needless to say, I am very excited and admittedly a little nervous. I can't wait to see all my hard work unfold and 'watch our industry come to life'. I just hope it unfolds successfully!

I will try to blog during the Festival if I can, otherwise I will recap once its over.

Erin

Fourth and Final Blog!

It has been a while since I last posted a blog. My placement has sadly come to an end, well at least my 20 days are up. I will however be staying on to further my experience and work on other up coming events at Lifeline WA. 

My last blog was about the hand over phase where my supervisor handed over work for me to complete and continue to work on while she was away on holiday. I am happy to say that Melissa Howie, my supervisor, was very impressed by my work and happy that the fundraising department was all "Smooth Sailing" while she was away. Little does she know myself and Natalie bird (My other supervisor) had a few hiccups but nothing that we couldn't solve. 

Lifeline's Stress Down Day has been and gone, Stress Down Day was my responsibility and the success of this event fell back on my shoulders and those of Nat's as well. I can happily say that we raised over $6,000!!!! Our budget that we were supposed to meet was only $500, we blew it out of the park! I could not have been happier. For Stress Down Day, the Lifeline WA offices had their on Stress Down Day activities. I organised a massage therapists to come in and treat the staff to a back and shoulder massage before we went out and became tin shakers for the afternoon. I had never tin shaked before and I actually didn't hate it, I wouldn't volunteer to do it again and thankfully Lifeline WA only tin shake once a year. I did hear many heartfelt stories that makes you proud to be working in the Not For Profit sector. Leading up to Stress Down Day I actually got to use my knowledge of PR and apply it to putting together a booklet to send to all Corporate partners and participating businesses to help them come up with ideas for fundraising and de-stressing activities for staff. Below are some photo's from Lifeline WA's Stress Down Day!

After Stress Down Day was over, so began the preparations for Black Diamond Supper Club! 

The Black Diamond Supper Club is the annual ball that Lifeline WA holds every year, this year would be its third year. Despite being organised and gaining fantastic PR from the West Weekend and SHEILA Magazine, ticket sales were still really low. In the end we had to arrange a meeting with the Perth convention and exhibition centre to get them to lower our minimum limit of guests so we could meet their demand and not lose money, thank fully they lowered the guest number to 450 people. We managed to fill this and the prospect of raising money was still looking good. I was in charge of gaining volunteers to help with set up and during the evening. It was a fun task, one of my tutors, Jennifer Cornwell allowed me the opportunity to speak to her second year PR students and try to get them to volunteer and gain some inside knowledge about events. It was the first time I had ever needed to speak in front of a class besides for an assignment, boy was I nervous! Luckily though, I spoke well, I even spoke slowly enough so people could understand me! I managed to get 12 students to volunteer for both the evening and the set up during the day.

With the lead up to the ball getting closer and closer Melissa put me in charge of all social media. This meant that I was responsible for Lifeline WA's Facebook and Twitter pages, it was really exciting and a great opportunity to do some actual PR!. Besides doing the Social Media I was also in charge of getting cases of wine for our wine wall, which was another fundraising idea for the ball. I never knew how hard it was to get people to donate just one case of wine, Thankfully I managed to get over 50 cases of wine, it really does come down to who you knew not what you know though! 

I was so nervous on the Friday night before the ball, I couldn't sleep. I was reading over the run sheet, volunteers info, basically every fine detail to better prepare me for the night. This was the first huge event I had ever worked on, I was so excited but also very nervous. I had actual jobs and responsibility's, I was in charge of all volunteers and making sure they all stayed on task, I was in charge of setting up the wine wall and silent auction area. Of course I had help but I was in charge, it was very exciting and rewarding. The night was a huge a success, everyone had fun, photos were taken and people danced the night away. The only truly upsetting fact about the night is that we broke even, unfortunately the generosity we had hoped for was not present and made know were near what we made last year. I did learn that this is what happens with these sorts of events, it all comes down to how people are feeling on the night.    

Below are some shots from the Ball and the PR Lifeline WA gained from the Weekend West 

The opposite image is of the Fundraising Department - Melissa Howie, Me, Natalie Bird and Exec Assistitant Gemma Scheibling - We're all dressed up in 1920's Glamour at the Black Diamond Supper Club enjoying the photo booth at the end of the night! 

The cover of the West Weekend - showcasing a four page spread about Lifeline WA's Black Diamond Supper Club! 

As the ball was my last official day for my placement, I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed my self and have also been quietly suprised by the Not for Profit industry, I never thought I would say I enjoyed working for charity but you know what I can. I will even be looking for work in Not for Profit over the next few months. I would just like to add how thankful I am to all the staff and especially the fundraising staff at Lifeline WA for allowing me to gain experience within their organisation.

Goodbye everyone! 

Karla Cavalli

Corporate events.. not so bad

Hi Everyone,


I hope everyone is enjoying their placements and learning lots. I know i am :)

I started my internship beginning of July but I couldn't find the time to make blog entries so here goes for my first one.

I found my placement luckily on Blackboard where Alison posted up the details, I contacted them immediately and just like that I was starting couple days later. CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia) is a not for profit member based organisation that runs economic or corporate themed events. They provide a platform that brings together influential peoples from all sectors of society such as business, academics, government and communities to form debate and discussion about social and economic issues affecting Australia.

As this marked my first ever work experience with a professional organisation I was a nervous wreck my first day. As I stepped into the offices I was overwhelmed with everything I have researched prior to commencing my internship, this was a company that are noted for their honorable reputation and professionalism. However all my anxiety was for nought, from the get go I was warmly welcomed and literally put to work immediately.

Under new management since late last year CEDA has revamped itself, holding more events (up to 50 a year) and gaining more members with organisations both domestic and national. The team of four work so well together like a well efficient machine. It was quite impressive to see them at work. I'm thrilled I could work and learn from them, despite their busy schedules and heavy work load they provide me the time to question them about how their experiences with the events industry has bought to to their current situations.

As I said earlier I was put to work immediately, I was so excited when my supervisor gave me my own project, to plan for a huge series event that will be held in early 2013. The task is enormous but I couldn't be happier. I must develop a regional development series that will be showcased in the nine regions of WA. Researching has taken up most the time but its important to highlight all the relevant industries and the issues affecting the region. Finding the right speakers for the topics held, basically putting together an event program, preparing sponsorships and partnerships proposals, are all apart of the work. Along with this project I help around the office working on entering registrations on a database, media monitoring and other tasks that include event logistics. Couple times I accompanied my colleagues to business meetings and simply soaked up how they dealt with clients and negotiated and planned for events to come.

Some lessons I have learned so far basically centres around being organised, it is imperative, one must be organised and efficient if working in events industry. I always thought I was organised but working these girls has opened my eyes.
I have had the best time interning with the CEDA girls, and I cant wait for the rest of my time with them, CEDA has 2 or more events each week with an impressive number of attendees. I've met people you read about in newspapers and see on TV, policy movers and shakers. It was intimidating but I've been having the best time. One thing i know for sure is that I will most assuredly will be pursuing this career path in the events industry. Corporate events was something that was not in my cards but now its not so bad.

I enjoyed reading about exciting and fantastic experiences on your placements, I hope to read more and I will definitely share with you more of my journey with CEDA. Yay for my first blog entry (It didn't seem so hard as I thought it would be).

Hope to hear from you all.


x
Suleeka

#1 The Deep End. The reality of the Events Industry

#1 The Deep End

The reality of the Events industry  

“Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.”- Confucius.

I am into the fourth week of my Events/PR internship at Perth Fashion Festival where I have been working one day a week, moving to two days this week. 


To gain some experience and figure out what I want to do when I graduate, I took up some events work experience a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve continued to work in the field and feel I have found my ‘niche’. For a lot of people, working in Events seems glamorous and lots of fun, but in reality it is very hard work, fast-paced, demanding and often poorly paid. I am learning this now, more than ever, at my internship with PFF, which is why I feel that the above quote is so relevant. The events industry is one of many that if you wish to work and succeed in, you really need to love what you are doing. Even though I haven’t been working with PFF very long, there are a few things that I am learning about ‘the real world’ that really emphasise this quote.


1. The first point is the hours people in the organisation work. This industry isn’t about your standard 9-5 job and defiantly doesn’t offer much separation between your work and private life. PFF employees just about live and breathe the event. In all the days I have worked so far, I have stayed back past my agreed 5.30pm finishing time, with the end of my day getting progressively later and the start time of my day getting progressively earlier. Most people don’t take a break for lunch; they eat at their desk. Possibly popping out for coffee or to pick up some food for 5 minutes when they can. 


2. My second point is the importance of organisation and time management. I am beginning to be given work by employees other than my direct manager, which can often get confusing and make me feel a bit all over the place.  The events industry is very fast-paced, information is often handed to you verbally and deadlines can be short and adjusted constantly. I have realised it will be imperative I write absolutely everything down, make lists, use sticky-notes, anything that will ensure I remain organised amongst the chaos. 


I am looking forward to seeing the result and rewards of an internship that will require great dedication and hard work. “Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.”- Confucius. 

Organisation: my death and savior

Hi All!

This is my first blog as I have been flat out busy - given ample opportunities to take charge and initiative within my placement. Interestingly enough my placement is actually at Curtin, within the Campus and Community Life department. Of course this means I get the amazing experience of working on Curtins charity and volunteer projects that help a range of organisations within the wider community!

Firstly I was charged with organising and running 'Daffodil Day' at Curtin which ran over a three day period. I mainly want to focus on the organisational aspects of this in my first blog.

To be honest organisation of work and time is often not my strong suit - I know i can deal with people very well but I am aware that my prep can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. This is especially true as I am juggling near full time work, full time study and the placement this semester. I have found that running schedules for my personal life as well as for the daffodil day event have been incredibly useful. In meetings we've had in the office I've noticed that the running schedule and time action plan really helps me understand the long term picture and prioritise what needs to be done and when.

Daffodil Day - is mostly done in the organisational stages - calling the cancer council to arrange merchandise, speaking to the florists about delivery, creating a list of staff pre orders, creating a list of volunteers to sell, bunching and cutting the daffodils then wrapping them. Thus having a strategic running schedule helped me smoothly transition all of these various aspects.
As Kim Harrison (Strategic Public relations 3rd edition, 2003) says "the strengths of working to goals and objectives are that it lets individuals know what is expected of them."

Have any of you found yourself organising a lot more than usual??

I think in my experience so far this has been a key factor in really controlling the work that is assigned to me! It is daunting and full on, but I really am enjoying it!!

I'll post again soon

Bec Curtin
13946236

Our Big Event!

Hey everybody,

I have now completed my internship and wanted to comment on the amazing event I helped organise along with some photos I took before the event. I've thoroughly enjoyed my internship and I am very sad to say goodbye to everyone in the office, especially those who I have been working alongside with for the last few months!

I had been working very hard on Peep Toe's Spring/Summer Miami launch party for the last few months and it was icing on the cake to see everything come together. The event was on a Wednesday so the company owner, the PR girls and myself went in on the Tuesday to start setting up props and creating a floor and action plan. On arrival at the club "Kit and Kaboodle" in Kings Cross, we were greeted with club's event manager, Kate who went through some of the protocols of the club (what we can and can't do) and we saw all the props that had arrived in time for the Miami themed event (mini palm trees, boat, lifeguard chairs, sponsor products). There was to be a number of things that were going to be hanging throughout the venue so we had to stick on all the wall mounts to give them 24 hours to set.

On the day of the event everybody arrived at the venue at 10am (the event started at 7pm) along with a change of clothes for the night. We started what turned out to be a 13 hour day! To make sure my post doesnt run to long, I will sum up some of the highlights or important tasks I had to do during the day and night;

- allocating where all the props were to be placed (the venue is over two floors so props and other products had to be distributed accordingly).

- Sponsorship: our sponsors were Wow Cow ice cream, Cointreau, Polaroid and the Cupcake Factory. Something we should all keep in mind is that there are certain rules every club has. So for example, we couldn't have a liquor sponsor that wasn't sold at the club (due to the clubs own liquor contracts) and although we wanted to use our Peep Toe water bottles at the event, we weren't able to as the club has a contract with Mt Franklin water. Those are some interesting tid-bits I had never thought of before.

- there were a number of celebrities who attended the event. Peep Toe often giveaway free shoes to entice celebrities to attend. I also found out that the famous DJ Havana Brown (who DJ'd on the night) was paid in money AND shoes!

- There were models for the event who walked around/sat on props throughout the night displaying our new collection of shoes and accessories. One of my tasks included helping look after the models.

- We had a popcorn machine, fairy floss machine and snow cone machine for guests to enjoy some sweet treats (as well as the savoury catering that was passed around through the night).

- There were over 200 goody bags to give out to guests at the end of night.

- Drinks flowed all night for guests.

- Photos from the campaign were displayed around the venue as well as on the stairwell leading into the venue.

- One of the sponsors was Polaroid so I had to go around and take instant photos of guests and give them the photo. We also kept some of the photos to send back to Polaroid.

- We took a number of photos of the models and guests with sponsors products so we can send them photos from the night.

- I also helped downstairs at the door to ensure everything was running smoothly. Luckily there wasn't much chaos and as the event was taking place at a club, we had a lot of help at the front of house from the club staff.

The event ran smoothly and the venue was packed with happy guests. However, we had to ensure in the days following that the event itself would get coverage in the newspapers social sections. We all rejoiced when the Peep Toe event was covered in both the Saturday and Sunday Sydney newspapers!

As this is my last blog post I just wanted to say how thankful I am to the company I have interned at for the past few months. Everyone at the office has been so helpful and patient and have shown me the kind of hard work that goes into creating a successful company and it was great to go to work everyday in a happy and fun work environment. I have learnt so many new things as well as developing on the skills I've already learnt at uni and I have been inspired to do another internship sometime next year, possibly at a PR firm in Malaysia (plans are already in the works).

I will have to leave this post with some photos of the venue and from before the event.
Good luck to everyone else still doing their internship!

Siobhan Finley