The Impending Internship

(Written on Saturday 27th July 2013)

Hello there fellow PR 393’ers!

Firstly, I think an introduction is in order. My name is Jamie Kho, I’m studying a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing & Public Relations) and this semester, I only have this unit to complete before I graduate. University has just flown by, which I am sure a lot of you would agree with. I hope you guys enjoy reading my blog and I hope to gain many insights into how your internship experiences went as well.

That's me on the left there - if you ever see me around campus, please come and say hi. I'm a very nice person once you get to know me!

As I have yet to start my internship, this blog post is going to be dedicated to the “journey” I took in securing a placement. When I first decided to search for internship options, I asked myself: “what do I want to do after I graduate?” Many things came to mind; media relations, event management, attending business meetings and crisis management were all things that I wanted to at least experience once.

There were so many options that I really didn’t know where to start. I ended up creating a list of about fifteen possible organisations. From there, I called them one by one. Some said they were not currently looking for interns, others told me to call back at a closer date. The one thing that infuriated me the most was there was one organisation which shall remain nameless as I don’t wish to tarnish anyone’s reputation in this blog, said they were interested and would call me back soon. After a week of waiting, I called back. “Oh yes, we are still interested. We’ll call you soon.” One more week past. “Yes, we will call you back as soon as we can confirm dates.” Another two weeks past and still no response. I called back and once again received the same reply. This made me question, as I had exhausted all other possible organisations on the list, I had hedged all my bets on this one company. Should I have continued looking elsewhere instead of hoping for acceptance here? Or was the organisation to blame for giving me “false hope?”

It soon dawned on me though that they were not going to call me back and after wasting weeks on waiting for this company, I knew I had to continue my search for a placement elsewhere. I know at university we’re taught to maintain a certain level of professionalism in the workplace, especially with external stakeholders and yet, I know that this doesn’t always stand true as I had just experienced. This experience only made me step back and re-evaluate how I wanted to behave in the workplace. Professionalism, honesty and dedication are my three cornerstones that I decided would be the backbone of my work ethic and this is all thanks to a failed internship request. Who knew?! There is always a silver lining!

So as you guys now know, I had to continue my internship search. Stressed for time now, as I really didn’t know what career path I wanted to pursue, much like an epiphany, it came to me. Consultancy! Of course, it was right in front of me the whole time. Rather than attempt to work at a specialised organisation, a consultancy would allow me to experience most, if not all aspects of public relations and put all the theoretical knowledge I had leant at uni into practice. First organisation on my list: PPR. Who could go past it? Being the largest PR firm in WA, I had to at least try to get a placement here. I knew it would be competitive but as they say: you have to be in it to win it! As luck would have it, I secured my internship here and could not be happier. I am going to be able to experience many
different aspects of public relations and hope to gain as much knowledge as I can from the accumulation of years and years of experience withheld by the consultants at PPR. I can’t wait and I will keep you guys posted on how it all goes!

Happy Blogging!

Jamie ;)

A Reflection on Personal Professional Development

I remember at the beginning of my degree when I sat in the introductory lecture for the course of public relations, the lecturer was going through and stating the attributes of an individual that would make a good practitioner in this area of Commerce.

I sat there listening intently, taking notes, and thought to myself that I checked off on most of the attributes, except for one; and unfortunately being one of the most important – time management. I have unfortunately struggled with time management all my life, but have made considerable efforts to improve upon this short-fall.

During my professional practice placement, this experience has also brought to my attention areas of my own professional development that needed improvement; such as time management.

I found that whilst I was completing tasks and projects I was assigned to during my work experience, I was failing to manage my time well and was spending many hours outside of my placement just trying to complete them.  I suddenly realised I was going to have to review the way I was approaching tasks, and the process I would take to complete them.

Whilst at Sinclair Consulting I was also asked to research and then create a stakeholder list of prospective industry employers for surveying company. In particular, of prospective clients in the mining and construction industries, that was involved with or contracted to, large scale projects. As I did not know much about the mining or construction industry it took me much longer than anticipated to deliver what was required of the task.

On review of my work with my supervisor, he drew to my attention that I had actually missed most important objective at hand – the HR details with the direct person of contact. Whilst compiling the list I realised I couldn’t remember the specific details of my task and had not written myself an outline of what was to be included upon delivery. I decided I didn’t want to ask any questions in embarrassment of looking silly (like I didn’t know what I was doing), especially for such a straight forward task.

Luckily my supervisor was understanding and gave me the opportunity to fix my error, however it taught me a few key lessons about time management and the process of my completing work.  From this I learnt that it’s better to ask questions than not to ask any at all, even if it’s for asking for clarity on information that may have already been given. It also taught me much about the processes involved in identifying an organisation’s target market, and where to start when doing research, such as beginning with analysing the client, and then proceeding from there.

It also In turn it has taught me to never assume the complexity of a task, and demonstrated the type of timeframes and workload, I could expect in similar roles of future employment.

We cordially invite you to your internship

Greetings, salutations, hello and welcome to this, my first reflective post for PR393. My name is Blair Limpitlaw and I am currently in my final semester of my Mass Communications degree at Curtin University Bently. Like so many students before me I decided to follow the tertiary path of Public Relations (PR). Recently I (like many of my fellow classmates) took on an internship with a not for profit organisation to help me gain real-world experience and an understanding of the industry. This blog will operate as a vessel for my thoughts, queries, and all manner of conundrums to be unpacked, evaluated and explored. I encourage you all to engage with me and my pilgrimage through the fast paced and exciting world of PR.

The first obstacle I had to overcome in my PR journey I encountered before I had even set foot in the door of my organisation! One of my biggest dilemmas was of course ‘what do I wear?’ This seemingly trivial decision which I manage every other day of the week was a topic that found me conflicted and anxious.

 First impressions are always important in the professional world. The way I was going to present myself on my first day could possibly set the tone for the entire duration of my placement.  Inappropriate work wear would make me appear sloppy and uninterested or, conversely, dressing excessively may position me as naïve or out of touch.  After much indecision and a personal fashion show held in my bathroom I settled on business pants a collared button-up shirt and tie. My reception was a pleasant one and my tidy appearance was appreciated. 

Throughout my first day I ran into other small hurdles of the professional world. Meeting new and important people like the president of the organisation, conducting professional phone calls, writing letters and emails to clients and producing press releases. All of these tasks required me to be vigilant in representing my organisation in a professional manner. For instance, I spent hours drafting, editing and re-writing press releases to ensure there were no spelling or grammar mistakes, they were addressed to the correct person at the relevant media institution, and the information I was alerting them of was 100 precent accurate.

There is no room for a lax approach to PR. Clients and fellow employees have a level of expectation which needs to be met in order to be successful. The transition from ‘uni student’ to a ‘PR professional’ is something I looked forward to and the reality of the professional world has made a huge impression on me. Fortunately I have been able to remain proficient and practiced in my communicating with clients and my fellow co-workers.  After years of sitting in a classroom wondering ‘is this really going to help me in the world outside of uni?’ it’s a great relief to see the things I have been taught in class – like formatting of press releases and letters etc. are helping me execute tasks within the real world of PR.

Putting My Game Face On!

Sunday the 31st of March was the first home game for the West Coast Fever!
After spending every Wednesday in the office for the past 5 weeks I was itching to see everyone’s hard work pay off and finally be a part of such an exciting large scale sporting event.

I arrived fresh and ready for action at 8.30am on Sunday morning. The game didn’t commence until 11.10am but there was so much to do prior to the game. The first thing we needed to organise and set up was the ‘Business club. The West Coast Fever Business Club is a new initiative for 2013 which has been designed as an exclusive corporate networking club allowing business members and sponsors the chance to network and enjoy exclusive parking and catering at the exclusive pre match function. In preparation for this I helped Denise (Marketing Coordinator) and Daniel (Marketing Manager) set up signage around the stadium and in our Business Club room. The majority if this included setting up tear drop banners and pull up banners as well as making sure the PowerPoint presentation and microphone were ready to go!

At 10.00am business club members started to turn up, I stood at the door and greeted the members as the came in and ushered them into the room. At around 10.15 speeches were made by the coach, Norma Plummer and also the business club ambassador and previous player, Susan Fuhrman. As members mingled and enjoyed food and drinks I went around and collected business cards for the business card raffle. I managed to speak to the chairman of Netball WA, the Chief Executive Officer of the Water Corporation and other representatives from our sponsors including Rosendorff, Nova, Telstra and the Sunday times. I also did a quick head count to see how many people attended the event for our reference and for future comparison.

After an hour of mingling and eating the business club members made their way down to their seats to watch the game. The business club had been a success! It ran very smoothly and we received some good feedback from people. What a relief! But the work for me and the marketing team had only just begun. I then helped pack up all the signage and clean up the business club room.

We then made our way down to the courtside and managed to watch the second half of the game. I felt very privileged to be sitting courtside, watching what unfolded to be a fantastic game of netball! The West coast Fever won 80-53 over the Northern Mystics. It was Fever's highest ever score in the ANZ Championship, beating their previous best of 67. Everyone was on high and so happy with such a big win, what a great start to the season!!

After the game the players came over to the stands to sign posters and other merchandise Denise and myself made sure that all the players had a permanent marker, and that they distributed themselves round the stadium evenly, we didn’t want any fans to miss out! Whilst this was going on, I also kept an eye out for Emily (Media and Communications Manager) who signaled me to send players over for interviews with FOX Sports and SBS. I then assisted in packing up the remaining signage and making sure everything was collected, tidy and in our storage container which is located out the back of challenge stadium.

 After the game the players and netball WA members as well as fans are all invited down to the boulevard in Floreat for post-game drinks and socialising. After everything was packed up and done at challenge stadium I made my way down to The Boulevard for some well-deserved down time. Daniel, The marketing Manager (and my boss) bought me a drink for all my hard work for the day, but I made sure I only had one and kept things professional. Finishing up, I left the boulevard around 3.00pm and went straight home for a nap, I was exhausted! What a day!

Today’s game day experience allowed me to realise the importance of networking and building relationships with an organisation’s members and its sponsors. Being a part of the business club has already given me a chance to make some valuable industry contacts and I am looking forward to developing my relationships with these individuals as the season goes on.

Today’s game also made me appreciate the amount of organisation, preparation and hard work it takes to pull off a sporting event like today’s game. It really requires a dedicated team of individuals pulling together to make everything run smoothly. Bring on the next home game for the fever! Let’s hope they can make it another home game win!

Rebecca

PS: If anyone is interested in coming to the games, you can find tickets and fixture information at

http://www.westcoastfever.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=Main

Events to make the Events

I am starting my blog a little late but at least that gives me more to talk about!

I started placement at the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, working alongside the events team four weeks ago and could not of chosen a better place to do my placement!

Most Western Australians have had some contact with PMH in their lives, whether it is associated with themselves, friends or family. This is one of the main reasons for me to ask the Foundation for a placement opportunity, as I myself was once a patient there. Many associate the Foundation with Telethon, but the foundation is completely separate from large-scale event and is also separate from the Princess Margaret Hospital itself. The foundation is set up alone as the sole fundraising body for the hospital to help acquire donations for future research, maintenance and equipment. Even though it is not apart of the hospital, the team at the foundation work alongside many of those inside the hospital to help reach future goals.

A lot of what the foundation does I found is highlighted in the weekly Monday morning meetings. These meetings help start off the week with what is currently happening at the foundation, what is coming up for the foundation and what the foundation is aiming to achieve as well as continually reinforcing the main goal of getting those donations and funds. Issues the foundation carry always emerge in these meetings, which I will discuss later on. These weekly meetings may seem like another sleep inducing discussion, but to me it is actually the thing that gets me buzzing in the morning, as it is informative and interesting to see what the foundation actually does and what I could potentially help and make a difference in (with a coffee in my hand of course).

Even though there is only four of us in the events team and only one being full-time, the team still appears to be a major part of the foundation as it appears to be the sources that gain large amounts of funding and donations. The events that the foundation creates appear to be extremely successful within Western Australia and manage to acquire well-known sponsors and guests. Events that are established by the foundation include the “Bear By Night Ball”, “Urban Descent” and “Wear a Bear Day”. The upcoming months appear to be busy months ahead for the team as all these major events are placed in the first half of the new year and as PR professionals, we all know there is a lot of planning when it comes to events.

To prepare, the events team (including myself) have been gathering information on past donors and sponsors in hoping to recruit further donations, sponsorships and guests to these upcoming events. The main event we are focusing on at the moment though is the Melbourne Cup Luncheon that is to take place on the first Tuesday of November of course. This included gaining a full page in the STM (Sunday Times Magazine) as shown to the right. It is not as large scale as some of the foundations other events, but it still manages to acquire large donations due some of its affluent clientele. Attracting sponsors and donors for the auction who match the clientele guest list has been at the top of the agenda for us. Gathering information on these past sponsors and donors had included using the foundations database (Readers Edge) as well Excel to dig out this information. This may appear tiring for the eyes, sitting on the computer hours on end searching, but it is all worthwhile and vital! Sending out chain email invitations to previous guests as also been achieved and appeared to be successful. So at the moment I have not been using many of the practical PR tools, but the basic teachings such as networking, professionalism and technical work that have been drilled into our minds is coming into good use.

That is all from me for now, but I shall be back soon for more updates!

The Importance of Facts and Their Accuracy

Stepping into the real world has quickly made me realize that gone are the days when my work ethic gave way to laziness and resolved to sourcing minor facts from Wikipedia that would go unnoticed. In the real world, when you send out a release, whether internally or externally, you are reaching not just the people the article is sent to but social circles and family networks that spread like wild fire via word of mouth and sharing. I have had to step back and reflect on the actual impact of an article that is sent out and I have realized that globalization and social media has intensified these networks exponentially in the past ten years to the point you have to be very careful of the accuracy of facts because in one way or another, people will discover if they are incorrect and therefore affecting the organization’s credibility.

Hames Sharley assigned me with my first big project of sending out the eNewsletter that is published every other month and sent only to internal staff. The newsletter covers project updates for the various departments, new submissions, events, sustainable initiatives in the office, industry news and new appointments. To gain the necessary content, I had to liaise with each branch across Australia and provide a deadline so that I would have enough time to put it together using InDesign. The task seems simple, until you realize that you have about 25 pages of content you have to cross check and verify with multiple people and still follow up on those who have not responded with any materials for their branch. The Marketing Coordinator (Siaw) made me realize the importance of getting it right by reviewing my work and challenging facts to ensure it was all up date because it would stick out like a sore thumb to any employee involved in the project.

She also emphasized the need to cross check with senior directors that the content could legally be disclosed because of confidentiality in pending or unfinished projects. There are also some instances that require sensitivity as it common for the firm to undergo joint ventures with multiple organizations for a single project and in this instance, they must share and agree on the right to publicize it whether internally or externally. If I had provided an update on a project under such an agreement, I would therefore be jeopardizing the project as a whole if it were to be leaked one way or another. For me, this really added value to the marketing and PR profession because there is a lot riding on it, and it must be taken seriously regardless of what others may think. It also points out the necessity for cooperation in an office environment and the facilitation of open communication so these issues don’t arise.

Good Food, Good Wine...Good Promo!

The Good Food and Wine Show was in Perth on July 13-15 and as a client of Devahasdin the lead up to the event was busy and also exciting!

In my first week a promotion was launched for Plaza Arcade in Perth City (another one of Devahasdin’s clients) with The Good Food and Wine Show. The promotion was to increase awareness of both clients and encourage more shoppers within Plaza Arcade.

In my second week I was given the task of overseeing the promotion down at Plaza. At first I was nervous about being given such a responsibility but the nerves quickly disappeared after starting and I was actually quite excited to be able to learn first hand all the different aspects that go in to coordinating such a promo. Within this role I was responsible to visit Plaza each day I was in the office and liaise with each retailer to gain their feedback on how they thought customers were responding to the promotion.

Some retailers were friendly and more than helpful, others weren’t very interested! As I currently work in retail I can understand both sides. Trying to promote your own in store deals plus informing customers of the wider centre promo can be tough and can definitely annoy those customers who just want to get in, buy their product and go!

Nevertheless I persevered visiting retailer after retailer, restocking their entry forms and flyers as I went. On my visits I was also responsible for collecting all the entry forms from the entry barrel and once back at the office counting the number of entries and storing them safely.

Overall the promotion was very successful and being able to oversee it was a great experience mainly because it allowed me to further my own confidence and professionalism. Liaising with clients face to face is different than through email or over the phone and clear communication is extremely important.

Throughout my internship I have noticed that my previous worries about making phone calls or sending emails have significantly reduced. I am now more confident and feel more comfortable to do these simple, everyday and essential tasks with ease.

Already the experience I have gained throughout my internship has been invaluable and I have been able to step outside of my comfort zone, which has definitely paid off. 

Caitlyn

Professionalism - Until the Very End

Hello everybody!

I can’t believe I’ve reached the end and I’m submitting my final blog post! What a journey it has been. The biggest conclusion I can draw from my internship is that PR students definitely need to gain hands on work experience prior to seeking employment in the industry! Although our university degrees have helped us understand PR considerably, entering PR reality is another world. I was introduced to new techniques, methods, policies and procedures. Ultimately, every organisation is different; therefore, I believe a degree is just the beginning of our learning in PR.

In my last few weeks of work experience with Devahasdin Communications, I was lucky enough to do some promotional writing for the organisation itself (very proud as essentially this is PR for the PR firm), be involved in sponsorship proposal writing, write media releases and award submissions to name a few. I feel very blessed to have done my internship at Devahasdin Communications as they willingly taught me so much about PR and were delightful to work with.

Above all, Devahasdin Communications taught me the importance of professionalism, especially in consultancy work. PR consultants have many responsibilities; to their organisation, to their client and even the media. Much of the success of PR consultants is attributable to relationship building with these stakeholders. When the consultant forms a relationship with the client, they must constantly give the client priority and seek to assist them in every possible way. A way that one of the consultants put it was “you must mould your personality to suit the client”. Furthermore, PR consultants are persistently pitching stories to the media for a number of different clients all at once. Hence, strong relationships need to be formulated to compel the journalist to look at the press kits they are receiving; otherwise, this can feel like spam. Nevertheless, it is essential for the PR consultant to maintain a level of professionalism. No matter what sort of relationship building activities are executed, professionalism is integral as the company’s reputation is at stake.

Devahasdin Communications consultants are all professionals. They use education, experience and training to complete their work, analyse problems and provide solutions. Although, the PR consultants are warm and friendly, they probe to gain a broader knowledge of the clients business. Furthermore, they are honest, trustworthy, dependable, and give clients the space to offer contributions and suggestions. Devahasdin Communications, 110% respect client confidentiality and execute all work with strong ethics. Lastly, the consultants continue to learn every day, through professional development initiatives, training programs and they keep abreast of all industry trends, challenges, opportunities and current affairs. This is very similar to what we have done in the report.

In conclusion, my placement was extremely enriching. I learnt a lot about PR activities and the consulting industry through first-hand experience. Moreover, I can also say I have become more confident in my PR skills. I hope you all have gained value from your internships! All the very best with your reports and your future learning endeavours and careers,

Kind regards,
Suzi Petkucevska