A Black Tie Ball, A Pet Expo And A Lot Of Spreadsheets

Hi everyone!

I've just completed the first 10 days of my internship - the half way point has arrived!
Despite being 10 days in, this is my first blog post. As you can imagine there is plenty to catch up on. My internship is with Momentum Forum Events in Subiaco, a small but incredibly hardworking organization that has founded many charity and awareness based events.

I began my internship with excitement and an eagerness for what was to come. On my first day in our very small office I was welcomed with open arms and given a briefing of what was to come. My first task was to input the contact details of a previous expo into our newsletter bulk contact list. What seemed like a pretty quick task to complete ended up taking an extremely long time - there were so many more contacts than I originally thought! It was my first glimpse into the very mundane tasks of PR yet it gave me an appreciation of all of the behind the scenes work that often goes unnoticed despite being so crucial to an organised business.

In my first few weeks of interning I was able to experience my first event with Momentum. The Men In Black Ball is a black tie event in support of men's mental health. This year was the 9th anniversary of the event and was arguably the most successful yet! The entire team arrived at the venue 3 hours before the event was set to commence and we began with setup. The staff at the venue completed most of the setup of tables, however we were tasked with setting out the auction booklets, raffles tickets and corporate signage.

The Men In Black Ball.

During the event I was able to manage the door prize entries as well as contributing to the collection and promotion of raffle tickets to guests. In between all of the work I was also able to experience the event itself whether it be listening to the inspirational speakers or watching incredible performances such as Carmelo Pizzino's dancing.

Carmelo gave a heart-wrenching speech after a captivating dance performance

The Momentum Forum Events Team with CEO Barbara and Andrew Donnelly  

After the incredible night of the Men In Black Ball, it was back to regular intern days in the office. The preparation for the remaining events of the year quickly commenced and I immediately began emailing our contacts to source exhibitors for the upcoming Perth Pet Expo. The emailing process, especially when contacting such a large number of people, becomes very repetitive and dealing with people saying 'no' becomes second nature. Luckily there was already a huge list of contacts from previous years of the events, so setup of spreadsheets and sourcing people who may be interested in the event wasn't on my to do list. 

That being said, Microsoft Excel has become my best friend. Every time I spend a day in the office I'm bound to use at least one spreadsheet, so editing and formatting information to make it as clear as possible is something I can add to the resume. Organisation has always been key in public relations, but I never realised how easy it is to lose track of things if they aren't formatted properly! Particularly when there are so many people contributing to a single file, it's crucial to create a key that everyone is aware of as well as keeping information organised and easy to understand for people using it regularly and for the CEO whenever she needs to refer to it.

On of my days I was able to sit in on a presentation from a marketing consultant who was showcasing a new event management software. Not only was the consultant an incredibly engaging speaker, the software was incredible! It essentially is a hub for event managers to keep all of the information regarding an event including ticket sales, guest invites, seating arrangements, to do lists and plenty more. It was amazing to see a tool that could have a great impact the Perth events industry, despite being in its initial stages. It was also great to have an input into the conversation on how such a tool could be utilised in the business, or if it would be more of an extra than a core feature in event planning.

That should be it on updates for now! These 10 days have gone incredibly quick despite being spread out over many weeks, but I'm excited for the remainder of my internship. I've been so fortunate to intern with such a great group of people as well as receiving support from those who have much more experience than I do. I'm looking forward to learning as much as possible and participating in the construction of many more events!

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone is having a great time interning as well!

- Jess Cant