Jaime Lee -- Shows, Shoots and Sparkles (and the Power of Social Media)

[Due to unforeseen circumstances, the following blog post has been published in hindsight and was originally written for publication on Monday 16th September 2013]

Hello again!

Phew, what a whirlwind last few days. Where do I even begin?

This past week has marked the busiest time for the label Jaime Lee (for which Marcia Ball, who I intern for, is Brand Manager). While Jaime has had a heap of highs in the few years since its inception (Kimbra's Grammys dress, anyone?) it was these last few days that has really set the ball rolling for the label, and it was in these last few days I have learnt a great deal about the many functions of public relations - in particular, event management.

Thursday marked the second day of Perth Fashion Festival and Jaime's show, which ended up being a stellar success. So much planning went into this one hour-long event (hour-long on paper, though I swear it lasted only 30 minutes) and much of it I wasn't even present for (it has been months and months and months of hard work on the label's part). Luckily my internship commenced in time for me to be involved with other integral parts of planning, and I was given the opportunity to be a project manager and put in charge of transferring 6 large floral arches, the main prop in both the fashion show and the live campaign shoot the next day (more below), as well as liaising with the volunteers. It involved lots of emailing and calling and running around but was worth it in the end, as the arches were transferred successfully with minimal loss of flowers.

During the show itself I was able to do a number of smaller roles. I took over Marcia's role as photographer for Style Voyeur while she was busy dealing with other elements of the show, and was also able to help the show run smoothly by transferring the garments to and from the fitting room and dressing models.

Backstage at Jaime Lee: How many people does it take to dress model Tallulah Morton? It looks like 7!

The show garnered a great deal of success and extensive media coverage, both on traditional media and social media. Search the hashtag #jaimelee and you're bombarded with thousands of results on Jaime's show, the campaign shoot, and the Q&A. We had a 2 page spread in the West Australian the next day, and senior arts and fashion journalist Pip Christmass called it 'Paris-worthy', 'jaw-dropping' in a review, and in another called it the best show of the festival -- on the second day!

"As a fashion journalist of some years' standing, I've been to more fashion parades than I can count, and it's easy to get jaded and blasé about the clothes you see coming down the catwalk. Tonight, however, Jaime Lee Major knocked the ball out of the park, producing one of the best fashion shows I've ever seen - and I've definitely seen a few." - Pip Christmass

It was really great to see the show be so well received, and with the power of social media we saw that success almost instantly. The next day we were back at Claremont Quarter after staying there 'till late the night before to get the store front set up. There we hosted a live campaign shoot, which was open to the public. We had many people come in and congratulate us on such a great show, which felt amazing after all the hard work that was put in. Throughout the shoot I was everyone's general assistant, which involved a lot of smaller tasks like fetching water and dressing model Tallulah and making sure all the look changes went as smoothly as possible. I was also put up to the task of live-blogging the event on social media, and publishing a number of images on a number of different platforms and hashtagging to no end to ensure maximum coverage.

Jaime Lee Live Campaign Shoot

Yesterday (just two days after the live campaign shoot), we hosted a live designer Q&A, also at Claremont Quarter and also open to the public. On the panel was Marcia, Jaime and Matt Jordan, who is Jaime's publicist from Sydney-based PR company Mother & Father PR. It was great to see Matt at work, doing what we've been learning to do for the last three years at university in a fun and interesting industry. The event went well and was over before I knew it, and while I wasn't given as many tasks as I was for, say, the fashion show on Thursday, it was a great experience to see how the entire event was managed.

Jaime Lee Live Q&A

The power of social media still astounds me -- over the course of these last few days, the label's 'followers' and 'likers' on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook absolutely skyrocketed. In this day and age information is shared in an instant, and it felt like within just a moment Jaime's brand awareness exploded. It made me think about how much of an influence social media and the internet has on a brand's image. If it can make a brand in just moments, it can surely break one too.

Overall, this experience has been fantastic so far, and it seems my internship is off to a great start. Here is to better things ahead!

ITS A WRAP!

#4 ITS A WRAP

Perth Fashion Festival 2012 is over! The week went by so fast; it was a blur of excitement and exhaustion. Its been a week since Day 1 and I am still recovering!
Whilst I have worked in events for a couple of years now, I have not experienced a week long event. It is so much different to an event that goes for one night, or one day. You really cannot prepare yourself for something like PFF if you haven't worked it before.

Some of my highlights from the week were:

1. Social Media

I was one of a few girls on the PFF Instagram during the week! It was an amazing experience approaching 'celebrities' to take photos of them, or capturing a run way show and then uploading it to see so many people 'liking' and commenting. Whilst it was fun, it did come with great responsibility. There were PFF rules about how and what we upload, concerning boarders, filters and tags. This task really helped me understand the power of social media and how important it is in the public relations industry. 
On a personal level, taking part in the PFF Instagram was also very effective from a networking point of view. I had underestimated the impact social media can have on your work life until this experience. Through Instagraming people I met lots of designers, bloggers, stylists, industry people and journalists, who after meeting, I followed their Instagram from my person Instagram account, with them following me in turn.  
With my online presence now existing in a work environment as well as personal, I have taken on the responsibility of 'cleaning' up my own social media. Yes it is a bit of fun, but it is important to give off a professional, 'ideal' online image. 

2. Watching 'my' event

There were two PFF events I solely focused on during the Festival, as my boss was the Project Manager for them. The great thing about this industry, is that you have something tangible to show for all your hard work. It was an incredible experience to see it unfold first hand, as well as to read all about it in the media the next day. Such as on The West:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/full-coverage/perth-fashion-festival-2012/a/-/article/14923523/local-collections-hit-the-mark/

3. Networking

The amount of people I met and the relationships I have gained as a result of working throughout the PFF week and my internship there for the past 3 months are invaluable. On a personal level, I have made some great friends and on a work level, I could not be more grateful for the experience and the doors it has opened up. 
In the PR world, you never know who is watching, who you will meet, or who a person is, so my greatest lesson learnt is to always be professional, always be presentable and always be on your A game, no matter what your feeling on the inside. Events is very hard work and long hours, which often goes unnoticed and unappreciated, so you really need to develop a thick skin. Go out of your way to introduce yourself, don't be shy and make an effort with everyone, because you don't know who they know. Perth is a small city, use every opportunity you can to network. 

ITS A WRAP

The Festival was so well received and it's amazing feeling knowing I contributed to it. I have decided the PR industry, in particular, Events, is definitely the area I want to work in once I graduate soon. Hopefully I made a good impression at PFF and they will consider me for next year!

2012 Chic Model Search Final

2012 CHIC MODEL SEARCH SEMI-FINAL AND FINAL

This week was the most anticipated week of my internship, the 2012 Chic Model Search semi-final and final on the same weekend.

The week started strong and busy with confirming the production for both the semi-final and the final. There was a lot to be done so I decided to be proactive on Monday. I had to organise the semi-final t-shirts and final t-shirts, liaising with Network Ten to confirm a Channel Ten journalist as an MC for the final, liaise with Nobody Denim to organise jeans for all entrants for both the semi-final and final and finally email all entrants regarding the semi-final and the final.

SEMI-FINAL AT WESLEY QUARTER
The semi-final went extremely well, the production organised by the Wesley Quarter PR team Magenta was amazing, our MC Rebecca from GWN sounded and looked fantastic and the overall event ran smoothly. I learnt from this event that communication is key especially when you are working with three different organisations how I did for this event. I had to liaise with Wesley Quarter, Magenta and Perth Fashion Festival to create the production for this event.

FINAL AT STM FASHION CENTRAL IN FORREST PLACE
The 2012 Chic Model Search final started off as quiet a stressful day as we were in the STM Fashion Central sharing it with four other parades, which were running late. The back of house was quiet a stressful place to be but once we were assigned our spot out the back we got to work with re-registering the contestants, fitting them and doing a rehearsal so everyone including out new MC Amelia Broun from Channel Ten were familiar with what do to on stage. Johnny Ruffo joined us at the event where he had a meet and greet with our “Johnny Ruffo winners” and later joined Amelia on stage for a quick interview and to present the runners up and winner with flowers.

(2012 Chic Model Search Winner Kimberley Wyhnhorst featured in the middle alongside her runner ups)

Overall, the final went extremely well.

The last week of my internship included tying up all the loose ends such as the delivery of the winners prizes, thank you emails to everyone involved in the chic Model Search etc.

I could not believe how quickly my time at Perth Fashion Festival has passed; I have learnt more than I could possibly imagine I have met many wonderful people, created some strong contacts and strengthen my communication skills. Freda Phillips was an amazing mentor and allowed me to share my opinion and thoughts in every aspect of the planning of the model search.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Laura
14755174

Events = Exhausting Stuff!

Hi again,

I was super busy at the Association for the Blind of WA as I completed my 7th week of my internship. This week was filled with the final preparations for our participation in the Perth Fashion Festival (PFF). As community partners of the festival, Guide Dogs WA are the beneficiary of some of the events, which presented us with a number of tasks and free gifts (tickets!). I learned that the coordination of events is exhausting and stressful - because as my supervisor assured me - you cannot control what other people do, you just have to do the best you can and hope for the best!

Ticket allocation and distribution was one very important task that I was responsible for. Last minute drop outs from confirmed attendees was something I had become familiar with, and replacements were sought to fill the spot. We received tickets on Tuesday, and they needed to go out straight away to our attending clients, as the first event was Thursday night - giving us only 2 days to hope the mail system worked efficiently in! Before posting out all tickets, I photocopied all tickets just in case there was a drama with the post or someone forgot their ticket on the night - this is something i would definitely recommend for event managers, especially if tickets are sold through a third party, as it gives you that extra bit of assurance that your guests can attend.


On Thursday, the first event that Guide Dogs were involved in was held. The Restyle on the Runway event this year featured two of the Associations clients, Erin and Claire McGlew walking down the runway with their respective Guide Dogs. The event was a great success, and the girls and their dogs really did steal the show!! Alot of work was involved in the preparation for such a great outcome, both before, during and after the event. I worked alongside the girls and the organisers of the Restyle event to ensure everyone was aware of running schedules and start up times etc. I also worked alongside PPR, a consultancy public relations firm in WA who is managing the public relations for PFF to handle media enquiries about the girls. In the lead up to the event and after the event, I had to work closely with the girls to organise interview and filming times with media - Before the event, the girls featured in the nightly news on channel ten, and were interviewed by channel nine and Fashion One after the event. I was also responsible for taking photos during the event, and the photos had to be sent back to office so they could upload them onto social media - This task was much more difficult than expected!! However, as I said, the event was fantastic and everyone left smiling, including myself even though I was exhausted from running around taking photos and navigating the girls all day! Below is a link to some news coverage of the event - the last photo is one of the girls on the runway!!

http://www.novafm.com.au/article/perth-fashion-festival-2012-restyle-runway

Next on Thursday, we attended the Morrison rehearsal as we had to prepare our PR Guide Dog Gidgee for the runway! Whilst I personally didn't have much to do, it was good to see the backstage happenings of a fashion show- and I even ran into a fellow Curtin PR Intern whilst  I was there! I also took photos of Gidgee rehearsing for  the event so we could put them up on social media! All guests who attended the event had a great time and reports about the audio description were glowing!

The last event i attended this week was the Myer Fashion Luncheon - and boy was this a FANTASTIC event. With only a slight hitch in prior to the event starting, where rain was POURING down outside the venue and everyone who had gotten all dolled up was getting SOAKED the event went off greatly! After navigating our blind clients from the rain through the crowds into the venue, we organised the audio description - which was reported to be wonderful by all clients. All our clients had a fantastic time, being blessed by having exclusive photos with Mel B and Kris Smith! Boy was that exciting.

So after a very eventful week, all feedback has been glowing, and all my efforts paid off! I have learnt that organising events is an exhausting business, but provides a buzz like no other!

Thanks! Prue

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

Officially Correct!

Hi everyone!

This is my second blog post and at this point I have completed my 4th week at the Association for the Blind of WA- Guide Dogs WA (I will refer to as the ABWA). Work has really started to pick up and the importance of ensuring that correct procedures are being followed so that every aspect of work meets official protocol is becoming more and more evident. As I mentioned in my first blog, due to the not-for-profit nature of our organisation there are so many tasks that our team is involved in. This has allowed me as an intern to be involved with a range of different projects from writing media releases for one department within the organisation, to planning events such as the ABWA Open Day.

One of my main tasks at the moment however is working with the organisers of Perth Fashion Festival (PFF), as the ABWA has been chosen as a community sponsor of the festival for this year. This is a fantastic opportunity for the Association in regards to raising awareness, getting our key messages out to the public and raising funds for the Association. Throughout our work with the festival, the importance of ongoing communication and ensuring every aspect follows official protocol has become blaringly obvious to me. This year, clients and Guide Dogs from ABWA are performing and attending events at PFF, and ongoing communication both within the Assoication and with PFF is vital to ensure the safety of not only our clients and dogs, but also to audience members and other attendees to the events. Two of the Associations clients are performing at a PFF event, and due to their vision impairment, my team and I have had to work very closely with the organsier of this particular event to ensure measures are in place to ensure the safety of everyone involved. For example, tactile markers on the fashion runway need to be in place to ensure our clients know where to go on the catwalk and to ensure they don't fall off the platform. When Guide Dogs are performing or attending events, our team must coordinate with the Guide Dog Department and PFF to ensure the safety of the dogs. An example of this is was coordinating with PFF to ensure that a Guide Dog Trainer/Instructor could be present at certain events where Guide Dogs are performing, which was requested by the Guide Dog Department to ensure the safety of the dogs at the event. As you can imagine, there is a lot of back and forth, ongoing communication between our team and various people involved, but this is necessary to ensure that policies and procedures are followed so the event can run smoothly.

The importance of following procedures to ensure work is 'officially correct' has also become obvious when writing press releases and articles. I wrote my very first press release this week, and as you can imagine I was so excited when I got the tick of approval to send away to newspapers and media outlets! The media release was about encouraging members from the community to apply to become Puppy Raisers for the Association - here is the link if you want to have a look http://www.guidedogswa.com.au/resources/puppy_raisers_media_release.pdf. Once I had written my draft, I had to send it through to our communications person for approval of the content, and then to the Guide Dog department to ensure that all the relevant information had been included. This procedure had to be followed to ensure that everything written in the media release was officially correct, and luckily the departments within ABWA are very well connected so this process didn't take long at all! Finally, I had to check with our communications person on the usual procedure for sending out media releases to outlets before going ahead to ensure consistency when dealing with external parties.

One final example of following official procedures was the announcement and presentation of ABWA receiving a grant from the State Government. In what was a very short and small scale event, MLC Donna Faragher, on behalf of the Premier of WA, visited ABWA to announce that ABWA has been selected to recieve funding under the State Government's Social Enterprise Fund. Whilst this was a small scale event, this official announcement needed to be paired with official protocol in regards to Public Relations. This meant that myself, along with our communications representative attended the event to take photos, and to gain relevant information to allow us to write up a news article to publicise the event on the ABWA website. Here is the link to the article if you want to read http://www.guidedogswa.com.au/articles/latest-news/funding-strengthens-social-enterprise.

So, over these past 2 weeks I have learnt that even the smallest of events, announcements or communications need to be met with official protocol to ensure that information is correct. This is important to allow ABWA to continue to engage with its stakeholders on an ongoing basis.

#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. 

It's all about Perth Fashion Festival and MoMA this month!

Hello fellow Professional Practice students,

I have just completed my first week of Professional Practice at Professional Public Relations (PPR) in Subiaco. The thought of working with a large consultancy was quite daunting, but everyone was there were very nice and welcoming.

During this month of June, Perth Fashion Festival and the Art Gallery of WA are two of the important clients, as they have a lot going on. This week, I have been helping the PPR consultants organise materials for the upcoming client events.

Preparation for Perth Fashion Festival (PFF) 2012, which takes place in September, is underway. June is the month where all the organising for the event takes place. The main task I have been doing for PFF this week is media clippings. Similar to what we did in PR Media 250, but this time, I had to calculate the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE). It was a little confusing at first, as I also had to take into consideration colour loading and page loading, but after a few days practice, I got the hang of it. Another task I had to do for PFF, was to update the media contact list. Because this is the time where invites for the the event start to go out, I had to double check that all registered peoples' numbers, emails and addresses were still current. Media contacts are regularly checked every three months at PPR.

Another client that I have been assisting the consultants with is the Art Gallery of WA. This month, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is coming to Perth from New York. Again, I have been doing the media clippings for this event and also searching for mention of it in the media. Next week is the media launch for MoMA and I will be working off-site at the Art Gallery of WA to assist with this event, which I am very excited about.

Lastly, I have also been doing a bit of research work for the Investor Relations sector of PPR. An Iron Ore client, asked to have an events calendar made and requested certain events to be included. I had a consultant ask me to do research on a couple of conferences he had never heard of before and get back to him about it.

This week, there was also a staff meeting. These take place every week to keep all employees up-to-date with what's been happening within the consultancy. The meeting was very casual and light-hearted. We even had birthday cake to celebrate someone's birthday! After the meeting had ended, I thought that was such a good way to communicate ideas and problems with each other and to maintain a good employee/employer relationship.

From my first week at PPR, I have learnt that in a consultancy, media clippings are very important as clients like to know how much the coverage they are receiving is worth. This was such a vital skill to learn. Keeping media contacts up-to-date is essential. PPR received some invite bounce backs and no replies. This can be a time waster, especially since they were already running on a tight schedule. Completing research in a consultancy means you are well-informed and have less chance of making mistakes. Lastly, an informed and happy consultancy means a successful one.

I can't wait to start my second week, especially with all the MoMA action happening!

Fashion Festival Week

Last week was extremely busy as the Fashion Icon High Tea finally arrived on Friday 23rd September, so there has been a lot to do in the Networking WA office over the past two weeks. The event was a great success, in preparation, the week prior to the event was a little stressful with a few small dilemmas though nothing that jeopardised the event in the end thankfully.

Receiving all the products and vouchers from companies around Perth for the gift bags and then preparing over 250 bags was very time consuming, then transporting all the bags and decorations to the venue became an eventful few hours!
When it came to decorating the venue we used decorations from Empire furniture which consisted of large black vintage looking bird cages filled with flowers, and tall crystal vases with sand and candles in them. The room was the grand ballroom at Pan Pacific looking out over the swan river set a magnificent atmosphere; the tables in which the guests were seated didn’t have much decoration as it was a high tea so there was beautiful food stands covering the tables with a range of gourmet sweet and savoury foods.

The event ran very smoothly guests arriving at 3-3.30 with a glass of champagne on arrival and then being seated at 3.30 with a performance of Sara MacLiver to commence the afternoon, the five Icons; Liz Davenport, Maurice Meade, Liz Carberry, Nannette Carnachan and Lisa Scaffidi were all very intriguing to listen to and hear about their success stories as well as the times where it become hard for their business.

The food was delicious, a selections of cakes, slices, sandwiches, quiches and many other treats as well as tea, coffee and champagne throughout the afternoon. There was a photographer set up on one side of the room taking photos of all the guests wearing Atlas South Pearls for a bit of fun, as Atlas South Pearls were a major sponsor of the event.

We were luckier enough to be able to receive so many vouchers and prizes for the raffle which was great as so many of the guests were able to win prizes, there was also a $10,000 pearl necklace up for a prize which one very lucky lady got to walk away with. Overall Networking WA were very happy with how the afternoon went.

The other two Perth Fashion Festival events that I got to attend with the other staff at Networking WA was the Myer Luncheon that was at the convention Centre on the 21st September and the Wheels and Dollbaby 25th anniversary on the 27th of September at His Majesty’s Theatre which was fantastic to watch.
I’ve been very lucky to have the opportunity to go to these events and have made so many connections that I will be able to use once I have finished my degree, its great being able to get this hands on experience especially in a great company like Networking WA.

Tess Edwards
14262807

Fashion Icon High Tea

Hi again PR students!

I have been at my placement for almost three months now, I get along with the other women well and have lots of fun when I’m working there, so it was very exciting to hear that the company wants me to work for them when my placement finishes!

At the moment we are still working on the Fashion Icon High Tea that Networking WA and Perth Fashion Festival are partnering together for, which is happening this September, I have been given the job to find companies that are interested in placing products in the gift bags that will be given to all attendees of the event and also finding prizes for the raffles and door prizes, in which all proceeds go the the Starlight Children's Foundation. So far I have contacted a number of companies that were more than happy to offer some sort of product, voucher or gift.

For our gift bags we have products from companies such as Nudie drinks, Muzz Buzz, Lorna Jane, Elmstock tea, Simply Fabulous to name a few and more to be confirmed soon! And for raffle prizes we have vouchers for Seashells Resort and Marie Claire Shoes and a huge gift basket from Jurlique.

We have also been working on sponsor opportunities for the High Tea, which gives only five organisations some great sponsorship benefits, in regards to promotional activities on the day and prior the event.

Networking WA is very happy how the event is going so far, though still so much to do it’s lucky we still have a month till the event so we have plenty of time to get organised. I am really looking forward to the event, as fashion Icons such as Liz Davenport, Maurice Meade, Liz Carberry will be attending the event, and Lisa Fernandez will be hosting the afternoon.

The event is being held at Pan Pacific on Friday the 23^rd September from 3.30-5.30 its sure to be lots of fun, with entertainment from Sara MacLiver, take a look at www.networkingwa.com.au and if any one is interested in coming to the event get a group of friends together and get your tickets before they go!

Take care

Tess Edwards

14262807