Moriarty's concert- The work behind it!

Hello all,

In my third post I would like to talk about Immedia's first major event of 2013 which was Moriarty's concert in Mauritius. Immedia's team organised that concert mainly for 'melomanes' and also with the aim to enable Mauritian public discover and appreciate their music. I was happy to be part of the organisation of the event as I got the opportunity to learn a lot about the PR work behind it.

As I said in my first post, a press conference was held to inform the media and hence the public about the forthcoming event. Thereupon I was asked to write a media release which was to be sent t media outlets by mail as a form of follow-up. Moreover I collected news articles about the band's concert in Mauritius which we also used as a form to measure our communication strategy.

In less than two weeks almost all the tickets were sold out. My supervisor told me we also needed to distribute tickets to our sponsors as the agency promised to do so before all the tickets were announced 'sold out'. He added that as an agency we cannot beak our promise to them as it can damage the organisation's reputation and that of course, it is not ethical.

I also got the oppotunity to go to 'Conservatoire François Mitterand' of Quatres-Bornes, where the concert was to be held, two days before the 'jour-j' to see if the preparations were going on smoothly.

The tasks I undertook on the day of the event, just a few hours before the start of the concert were: assuring everything was okay with the technical preparations (lights,sound,effects...),getting to know the team working on the preparation of the concert (technicians, musicians,...), checking if all the seats were well numbered, installing Immedia's banderole with the team ( even if you're a PR person, you've got to have muscles! Since it is a small team, like my lecturer said in PR 220 class, no one else is going to do it for you!) and welcoming the guests.

All I have to say about the management of the event is that it was a wonderful experience. The concert ended up being a huge success and I was glad that the entire team's days and days of efforts were rewarded. Also, I attended one of the most beautiful concert in my entire life. That's how fantastic it is to be a PR person!

Divya G.

First Step Into the PR World

Hello all,

I am Divya, BA Mass Communication student at Charles Telfair Institute. Public Relations and Journalism are the major constituents of my course.

I have completed my internship at Immedia Co Ltd which is a communication and art-promoting agency. My stay at Immedia has been a very enriching experience as I have learned so much in such a little time. The reason why I chose to do my internship at this particular agency is because I am fascinated about everything which englobes the art world and I intend to do my career in this field as a PR person. Immedia Co Ltd indeed seeks to promote art and culture throughout Mauritius and the Indian Ocean through various events which it organises each and every year. These events include: concerts- by local and international artists, Immedia Theatre Festival, Le Spectacle Humour Mauricien, Painting contest, Sculpture contest, dancing events and the publication of Collection Maurice, an anthology of short stories by Mauritian authors.

In my first blog post I would like to talk about communication which takes place at different level within Immedia :

Internal communication- Employees briefing session

I assisted a briefing session among the employees where Mr Rama Poonoosamy, the director of Immedia discussed about concretised past projects, the organisation's actual concerns and future plans. The purpose of the briefing was to keep everyone at Immedia informed and engaged with the activities.

Communicating with the public through Media

In order to reach its public and make them aware of Immedia's activities, the agency held media conferences. I assisted three in all whereby I got the opportunity to observe and learn a lot about how Immedia promotes its art and cultural events through Media. All three press conferences differed from one another. Obviously  the messages being communicated were different; but also the way the press conferences were held differed. For the first one, when doing the announcement for Immedia's 2013 projects  the sole spokesperson was the director himself, Mr Rama Poonoosamy, and by the end of the press conference I was surprised by the passivity of the journalists. The second press conference, which was to make an announcement about Moriarty's concert in Mauritius, consisted of not only oral communication but emphasis was laid on the importance of audiovisual as a tool of communication. I concluded that to be able to make the public aware and discover the band, first the journalists' needed to learn about Moriarty which is not very famous in Mauritius so they could better frame their message before delivering it to the public. While the third press conference consisted of several spokesperson which I found very interesting. They all had their own way of delivering their messages but in the end, the key messages were all related and communicated effectively. The aim of the media conference was to promote the poem 'ti bato papyé' by Alain Fanchon.

Social media- Facebook

Facebook is an important communication tool which Immedia uses daily. I would like to elaborate more on it in my next blog post as I was given the opportunity to be the agency's Facebook analyst during my short stay at Immedia.

Till then, keep well everyone.

Divya G.

What a crazy week!

Steve 'Thumper' Bandy (centre right) interviews Josh Hill (centre
left) while Marshy (left) films. 

Well, that officially caps off one of the busiest weekends I have had in a long time.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all insane days at the West Coast Eagles, and I spent a lot of time around the same people, which, as you can imagine, left us not seeing eye to eye on a few occasions.


So, let's jump back to Thursday.
The West Coast Eagles decided to celebrate Indigenous round a week before its actual date, because they were drawn an away game, so they wanted to celebrate the contribution the Aboriginal community has made to the Eagles at home.  On Thursday, we held a press conference with Aboriginal players Sharrod Wellingham and Josh Hill and were also joined by North Melbourne players Lindsay Thomas and Daniel Wells.  I was given the camera and had to take a few snaps of the players during the press conference, before we moved outside to take a few photos of the boys plus Aboriginal greats David Wirrapanda and Phil Narkle.  After the whole thing was done, I headed home to write an article on the press conference.  We were told early on in the week that we would push the fact that the Eagles were having a celebration of Indigenous round, so I had to include this heavily in all my articles during the week.

Sam Butler remembered who I was and we had
a real good chat with him. 

Moving on to Friday.
Friday was game day against North Melbourne.  After a big day at uni, I was tired and wasn't really feeling like going to the game, but what a game it turned out to be! Nic Naitanui kicked a goal after the siren, and the Eagles won by two points.  It was insane and everyone in the office was jumping around and the players after the game were over the moon.  It was still business as usual as we delegated players to the media and attended John Worsfold's press conference. After getting home really late, I still had to write my report from the game.

The ballroom at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre was phenomenal and was an experience I will never forget.

Saturday night.
On Saturday night, the Eagles held the annual gala auction night which was a huge success.  I was not sure what to expect, and at the start was a bit of a loner in the corner because I didn't know anyone. That is when it hit me that I only work with the same three people every day!! Then heaps of Eagles people came and introduced themselves and new friendships were formed and it was really good.  I even had Ross Glendinning and Karl Langdon introduce themselves which was fantastic. We had to make sure people had bidding devices on their tables and that was when I entered the ball room for the first time.  It was like the Brownlow Medal! I genuinely could not believe how amazing it was.  The night was Egyptian themed, so there was an amazing sand castle pyramid with the Eagles logo carved into the side.  After ensuring everything was set to go, the people started arriving.  I got a real rush when Sam Butler actually remembered who I was and shook my hand.  I spoke to some of the players for a while and had an in depth chat with a high school mate who got drafted to the Eagles, Murray Newman.  We filmed a bit for Eagle Vision and that will be up on the website soon. As the night drew on, we ate and chatted about footy and then had to pack up all the silent auction items, all 300 of them. These included TVs, which were set up and plugged in, golf clubs, blenders and basically anything else you can think of.  It was great to see some of the live auctions, seeing some things like a trip to the Brownlow Medal including walking on the red carpet for $17,000!!!! I didn't get home until 1am and was well and truly spent especially after having work at 6am that morning.

Until next game,

Nathan Drudi :)

Am I the curse?

Traditionally, Paterson's Stadium has been a fortress for both Fremantle and West Coast, however the Eagles have lost all three matches they have played there this season. Am I the curse? Surely not, but we will have to wait until May 5 to see if they can beat the Western Bulldogs!

Yesterday (Saturday night), the West Coast Eagles took on Carlton, and lost once again.  It was my second match day at the Eagles and I was super excited to see what such a big game would hold.  Once again, I arrived an hour and a half prior to the match and we had to organise Nic Naitanui to be interviewed by channel seven.  When the time came for us to enter the hallows of Paterson's Stadium and find the big man, we couldn't locate him anywhere! We ran around looking for him for 15 minutes, luckily we had decided to look for him early. We eventually went to the place where he needed to be to find him standing there; he had decided to make his own way to the media, much to the relief of staff.  Once the team had run out onto the ground, we sat down to watch the game, however we noticed John Worsfold being interviewed by channel seven, something we didn't know about, however we later found out that the communications manager had taken John to the media.

After numerous tweets during the game, and directing players who were not actually playing to where they needed to be, the game finally ended and the rush started once again.  We made our way to the bottom of the race and watched as the players came off the ground disgusted with yet another home loss.  We organised Josh Hill, Scott Selwood, Shannon Hurn and Matt Priddis to be interviewed by different media including channel seven, 6PR, The West Australian and afl.com.au.  A really satisfying moment for me was when one of the players remembered me after we had been introduced a couple of weeks ago.  Once the players had completed their media commitments, we waited for Mick Malthouse's press conference to finish.  In this time, I was shown what happens post-game.  I watched as players were given Powerades, protein shakes, food, lollies and given a run down on the game.  I was able to see how they track how far a player has run and was introduced to some important people in the football operations side.

After all this, we were once again ushered to the press conference by security which was cool, considering it was only the two communications/public relations bosses, myself and John Worsfold.  I listened in on the press conference and saw another side of John Worsfold.  He shut down Braden Quartermaine when he asked silly questions and it was an insight into the world of a press conference.  It was also surreal sitting next to football journalists and experts including Justin Chadwick, Braden Quartermaine and Alex Malcolm.  After the press conference, it was home time and time to write my review of the game which is now online at www.westcoasteagles.com.au.

It was a really great experience, however hopefully the Eagles win the next match and I get to experience a win at Paterson's Stadium.  Tomorrow (Monday) we have our press conference with four players which will be great fun once again. I already know that two of them will be Ashton Hams and Scott Selwood.

Until next time,
Have fun!

Nathan

GAME DAY!

Yesterday (Sunday) was the first home game for the Eagles in 2013.  They were taking on Hawthorn in what was hyped up in the media as one of the best games of the week.  

Before I arrived, I was warned that match day was insanely busy after the match, and boy were they right.  I had to get there quite early which was a bit boring because there was not much to, but after I found my pass I met my boss and we sat and watched another game together.  Once all the other staff came in we picked the players to be interviewed after the game.  

The game finally started and I was given a ticket to go and watch the game which was great.  I was allowed to do what I liked while the match was on, the only instruction being that I had to be back in the office before the end of the match. So I managed to meet a few friends around the ground before I headed back into the office to watch the final quarter.

The Eagles lost the game. As soon as the siren went and the final tweet was sent, we ran down the stairs and through a number of passageways that reminded me of something from The Da Vinci Code! I was not sure where we were going to end up, but we ended up at the bottom of the West Coast race, and when I turned around there were fans lining the race to clap the boys in.  

As the players walked past, they looked very disappointed, and the coaches the same.  After waiting for the post-match address from John Worsfold to be done, the four players we selected walked out of the rooms.  In the time it took for John Worsfold to finish his speech, the media had make their way down to where we were waiting and we told them who was available for interview.  After they told us, we directed the players to their respective media outlets.  It was great to see the players so close up and so real after a game.  

We had to wait for Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson to finish his press conference before we could enter the room. This took a long time, about 20 minutes of standing and talking to people and looking at the honour boards.  After he was done, we were given a security escort to the press conference room with John Worsfold. It was pretty cool. There were only two other people, myself and John Worsfold walking and when we walked into the room all eyes were on us which was pretty daunting.

After the press conference, we walked back through the passageways before I ended my night in the office.  Everyone looked very tired and we knew we had to be back again early today (Monday).  I made my way home and wrote my article which is on the website (http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2013-04-08/were-not-depleted-worsfold).  

Today was player press conference day. The four players available to the media were Dean Cox, Josh Kennedy, Andrew Gaff and Jack Darling.  These days take a long time, about 30-40 minutes of questioning and taking notes.  It is great to hear the players talk about the game.  After we were done and packed up I headed home to write my story.  Monday's are pretty relaxed, and game day is full on, but I am certainly keen for the next one against Carlton in a couple of weeks.

Until then!

Nathan

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