Think On Your Feet!

As many of you have mentioned in your own blog posts, the field of Public Relations encompasses such a diverse range of tasks that sometimes you forget that what you're doing is actively contributing to the Public Relations of a firm. I experienced this last week when I was asked to come along to the filming of a new episode of Hello Darlink! with Rob Broadfield. Hello Darlink! is a sub project of Momentum Forum Events, using YouTube as its core platform to showcase extraordinary people through a series of interviews. The interviews are all unique in their own way, not only because they involve a new person each time but also because they aim to share a variety of experiences through each person.

In the latest episode of Hello Darlink! Rob Broadfield was interviewed to share his experiences in his plethora of careers as well as his battle with cancer. The filming of the episode was carried out by a very small team of only two video producers, Barbara, Rob and myself, with the background assistance of the sponsors of the episode, Ferguson Alfresco Lifestyle. My role on the day was to capture as many social media worthy pictures as well as going through the scripted questions with Barbara before filming began.

During the preparation for the filming on site, I sat with Barbara and read through the script out loud to ensure that everything made perfect sense as well as being entertaining and engaging for the future YouTube audience. As English is Barbara's second language, another task was to ensure that not only did everything flow smoothly for her, it would also make sense to an English speaking audience. We also decided to make slight changes to many of the questions to lighten the tone of them. In particular, questions surrounding Rob Broadfield's experience with cancer brought the tone of the interview down. To counteract this and to ensure the overall tone of the interview was positive and uplifting, we followed it directly by asking 'When are you happiest?'. It was many simple decisions like this that allowed for a smoother interview, as well as creating the right tone and impression through the interview.

As with all major projects, there were a few hiccups along the way. Despite not being in the traditional PR environment, there was definitely a crossover in skills that allowed the team to keep things on track even when things started to go wrong. Quick thinking was the first skill to take the forefront when a key part of the episode was undeliverable. Not only did we have limited time frame between arriving on site and beginning filming, using creative thinking to search for an alternative as opposed to scrapping the idea completely was also key.

The entire day was high intensity and time frames were strict. The pressure of these restrictions definitely pushed me to think faster and more creatively, something I'm incredibly grateful for. I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced so many different aspects of Public Relations and Events Management throughout my degree and I can't wait to further refine my skills as a PR Practitioner as my internship continues.

Happy interning everyone!
- Jess