'This isn't an internship you can start the night before!'- How Planning Pays Off

We all know how teachers used to always used to say things like: ‘this isn’t an assignment you can start the night before!’ and your mum used to say, ‘you have to get organised, Natasha, this is getting ridiculous!’...or ... or was that just me? The point is I’ve always been quite good at organising other people, but myself? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never handed in anything late or unfinished but I just seem to perpetually be stuck in a rush before deadlines. I’m sure you know it’s never fun.  However the way things are going I think I those times might be coming to an end.

My internship is at a national spray tan company called TechnoTan. I felt that this would be a good opportunity to learn internal PR and to prove to myself that PR theory can be practiced in any business and in any industry. TechnoTan is not at a PR firm, a charity or even a company with an extensive PR department. Before I arrived, when PR work was done it was often completed by the marketing girl or the consultant that comes in one day a week.  This means that there is no one telling me what to do and no one sharing their contacts or passing on projects to me.

It turns out that this has been just the push I needed to get my working priorities in order. Just because no one is assigning me projects or babying me does not mean that there is nothing for me to do and learn. There was very little PR work being done when I arrived which means that there are fundamental gaps that I can get to work on immediately. It means that I will gain real-life experience on company analysis (swot analysis’ are my best friend!) and what it is really like to implement public relations initiatives from scratch. There will be no coasting through on anyone else’s ground work here. 

Falling back on the fundamental PR theories learnt in class, I begun with a situation analysis. I researched using information from the office manager, company manuals, online and promotional materials, casual interviews with customers and even through studying competitor’s materials. I also interviewed the managing director when completing a gap analysis to really get an idea of where the company wanted to go. I also made a special point to note the writing style and tone adopted by the company, as it is very important to maintain and cultivate the correct 'image' of the company when writing for it.

Then, with still no work incoming from my boss, I drafted, and then got to work on a series of projects that I could complete to help bridge the gap between the head office and its various publics.

It just so happened that yesterday the office manager approached me, after having worked by myself  for days, and let me know that they were thinking about interviewing customers to see how to better serve them and would I like to write up a survey?

‘I have one right here!’ I said, having written one up to aid my swot analysis.

He also mentioned that after hearing about my idea for a seminar series, it would be good if I could provide a mock-up of a presentation.

‘I can send it to you right now’, I said, having drafted them as a part of the campaign.

He then mentioned that the Managing Director wanted to improve the vision and mission statements.

‘I’ve already sent him some options to look over’, I said.

It turns out that being prepared and conducting extensive planning really pays off and can look quite impressive to your supervisors (not to mention it feels pretty good too). This is definitely a lesson I will take with me, in both my career and life: planning pays off.

Natasha Smith

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Open day is looming..

In the few weeks leading up to Open Day, everything we'd been researching and preparing for, was being locked in. A lot of time has been spent on the phone with different companies, to make bookings for Open Day. We've been locking in entertainment including bands, roving entertainers, carnival rides and a petting zoo! 

Practical items on the day such as portable toilets, and furniture has all been booked. Asha and I have also met with a gentleman from the company who we've hired the marquees from, and we've made a mud map of where everything needs to go. The marquees are enormous, and because of their size, need to be set up a week out from the event. 

Asha and I also made lists of any signs we would need for the day, and sent them off to the company who would make them for us. Signage for the event needed to be made for Open Day, in order to let people know where certain activities were being held around the campus. It was also my job this week to proof, and proof again, the program, before it was being sent to the printer. 

Other practical jobs, such as making up rosters for the volunteers on the day of the event, as well as meeting with student ambassadors, to discuss their roles on the day of the event, also had to be done in the weeks leading up to the event.

Finally, an important task Asha and I completed, was meeting with the Operational, Health and Safety Officer at Curtin University. She discussed with us any risks that may occur, through the activities, and plans we had for the Open Day. In the meeting we noted everything she said, and we made a document filled with information on how we would go about avoiding these risks, and what we would do in the case that they were to occur. Another aspect of the meeting was to make an emergency response document, that included phone numbers of who to call, if something was to go wrong on the day. 

Doing all these tasks, helped me realise just how much effort, time, and money, goes into preparing for an event the size of Open Day. Our to-do lists never seem to get any smaller, no matter how much we get done, however, lists and recordings of what we have done, and on what days, has helped me to keep track of our progress over the past month. 

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.

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance - Vi-gra doesn’t work for everything.

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

This great military adage has proven itself time and time again in one of the more enjoyable aspects of my job, event planning. So far during my ‘internship’ I have planned and hosted three events ranging from small briefings to large 100-person cocktail functions and the key, I believe, is having a solid planning document that ensures you always know what needs to be done, what has been done, and when everything needs to be done by. 

Stephen Fry once said “An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.” Well ideas like speeches, letters, books and even jokes, can be broken down into a methodical structures and once you’ve got the structure down everything else is just stuffing, events are no different.

Event planning was touched on briefly in the first year unit PR Techniques, but there are some cool tools out there to make the process easier. For example, the websites Trybooking and Eventbrite allow users to maintain a centralized booking system where people can either freely register for an event or pay for a ticket, the websites then generate an automated self-managing guest list. Additionally, Eventbrite gives users the option of using the Eventbrite 'App' so you can tick people off as they arrive. This is really useful for post event follow-ups because you know exactly who and who didn’t attend (don’t rely on RSVP lists).

One of the most important aspects of event planning, in my view, is something that is often overlooked and that is: Why are you actually holding the event? 

Lots of people seem to think that holding as event is a strategy in itself, but events should simply be a tactic in achieving your strategy and not a strategy of its own. Thoughts to ponder include: What you want people to take away from the event; what you want people to commit to at the event (money, time etc.); and how is an event the best use of your resources given your strategy? 

In so many cases, if you just want to tell someone something, you’re better off organising one-on-one meetings with people, it’s cheaper, a little more time consuming, but considerably more personal and interactive and more likely to generate a personal relationships, which is more powerful than any event.

Finally, I want to touch briefly on the importance of post event follow-up. In my previous blog post I highlighted how all good speeches have a skeletal structure that can be used repeatedly: Tell people what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you’ve told them, the same should be applied to events. Your invitation will tell people what you’re going to tell them, your event is where you tell them, and you should follow-up post event to thank people and importantly tell them what you’ve told them.

So that’s events - until next week.

Ron

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Some Background Info

Hi all,

Krish here, from the Bentley campus.

Hope you're all enjoying your pracs! Mine doesn't start for a couple of weeks, but thought I'd do some research so I'm a bit better prepared.

I scored a placement with Professional Public Relations (PPR). They are perhaps the biggest/well regarded PR firm in Australia, so I count myself extremely lucky to get a place there. I didn't go through the uni placement system, just sent out loads of emails to what felt like all the PR firms in Perth (there are a surprisingly large amount of them). According to the Holmes Report, which monitors PR agencies around the world, PPR "now ranks among the market leaders in most of the major Antipodean markets including Sydney, Perth, Auckland Brisbane and Melbourne."

It was founded in 1970, and has expanded to have offices all over the world, including in every major Australian city, Auckland, Wellington, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. So who knows, hopefully after I graduate I might get a job in some far flung exotic city...More than 30 students have joined the PPR team as graduates since the intern program commenced in 2000, so I can only dream!

PPR's clients include big names such as MacDonald’s, Emirates, MasterCard, Dell, and my Dad’s personal favourite; Bunnings.

Peter Harris is the managing director for the Perth office, and has been with PPR for 8 years (with 22 years experience in media, government and corporate affairs). Seems a little intimidating, but my supervisor Kate Sugars seems very helpful and friendly, so I'm not too worried.

So all in all, I’m pretty excited to be getting experience with such an impressive company. I’m fairly confident, as I have worked in PR already, but not in a PR consultancy, only in-house. I think I’ll be able to learn a lot, and get a taste of each different speciality.

Now all that’s left to do s go shopping for some sharp office attire...

Krish How
Bentley, Perth