Beyond this internship – CTI

The semester is almost over and I’m finally going back home for the holidays. This module has motivated me to pursue another PR internship instead of laying around for the next four months. It would be another great opportunity if I would get the chance to work within the same industry that is aviation or tourism while the skills and knowledge from my current workplace is still ‘fresh’ in my mind. Unfortunately there is only one aviation headquarters in Seychelles; Air Seychelles-Etihad Airways, which means that the chance of working within this industry is very limited. My goal for this internship will hopefully to secure a job placement when I complete my studies in July 2017.

My internship is still ongoing after the 20 days and I am grateful that my Supervisor wants me to back after the holidays that is from March-July 2017. I said yes because I was proud of myself for getting the call back and felt appreciated for my work but now that I have time for myself, next semester will be my last and I don’t want added stress or having to juggle multiple assignments both for work and university. The past month and a half was really stressful and I found myself indulge in work and neglecting school work compared to the attention I use to give.

So what do you think I should do? Any advice on whether I should do both or stick to school?

My current pros;

·        • Work experience is of more value nowadays during job interviews

·        • Many students are part timers, I can do it too lol

·        • It is my dream industry and I love working for them

Overall I was pleasantly surprise with this module; PR Internship, from my placement to the tasks I completed and lessons learnt. I remember the first day like it was yesterday, I had butterflies in my stomach the whole morning of because I was thinking of the worst scenarios. This internship has also reassure me of my decision to be a PR practitioner and think beyond being merely an employee. The excitement of having to brag to my next interviewer about all the skills and tasks I am capable of doing, especially since some PR tasks were for international brand names such as Air Asia and Air France. This was really the chance of a lifetime to have my first ever work experience in a prestige company and I am thankful to Curtin for initiating such unit. My CV, LinkedIn profile and my professional reputation is finally starting to be of value within the PR industry.

Don’t forget to leave some advice in the comments below and all the best with the report. x 

Adulting during this internship - CTI

This post is about things I find myself doing differently ever since this internship initiated. I am an international student, living on my own hence I know the daily mundane routines of the stereotypical ''grown up''. This infographic presents an overview of the professional routines I've grown accustomed to during my internship hence shaping my adult self.

The end. (is it really though?)

Coming into my last few days with the Coogee Beach Surf Life Saving Club. I am currently compiling a final report for the board of directors and also a 'quick' guide on how to social media / newsletter, for the employees there to continue the work that I've been doing. To be completely frank, I initially thought that this internship will be pretty straightforward - since most of the tasks are eerily similar to my actual job. But oh boy - I am wrong. Thinking that since the field of work is also in the sporting industry, the same nature (read: not for profit) and my task was to manage the social media and newsletter aspect of it, I will not encounter many road blocks or detours.

I quickly learnt that even though the job description is very familiar, the working environment and the nature of the job are completely different. I had to 'adjust' to their norms and their organisation's values, which I have to admit is a little bit hard, as I do not agree 100% with how they roll. But then again, there is only so much I can do to change this. I am very grateful that my two supervisors are very open minded and encourage me to voice my opinion and thoughts on the organisation - after having heaps of meetings with them, they told me that I have pretty much observed and analysed their whole organisation within a week, where it took them two years to realise the hurdles. This has brought a massive spark within. My internship was meant to end two weeks ago, but I quickly realise that there are heaps of loopholes that needs to be filled - thus, I decided to extend my internship. It is not my intention at all to 'drag' the internship to this extent, however as mentioned in my previous blog posts: I do not want to leave the internship placement, just because the 20 days minimum requirement is over.

I have offered the surf life saving club my 'services' until whenever they think they internal employees won't need me. This could (and probably) drag on for the next few months. However, I personally do not mind this, as I know that the changes and alterations that I made within the club, needs to be sustainable and efficient; I don't want to be that 'other intern'. This great internship experience is not something that comes by knocking on your door every day, thus it is really important for me to leave positive footprints.

This may be my last blog post, but you will never know what might pop in to this brain of mine. But let me leave you with this quote:

 “Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.” –Sophia Loren

Re-learning the basics: Finding PR in an advertising company

My office Desk at FCB Cread & Co Ltd

The good news is I have finally manage to complete my first week of internship. The bad news there is no Public Relations department present and I have no experience in marketing as to speak. 

This was the tale of my first day of my internship which was apparently dull and uneventful in regards to Public Relations experience.

The next day I get to do a translation, trying to understand the language technicality use in the company and the various words use for commercial applications

Shortly after I am ask to do some media monitoring, ask to contribute in a media plan, ask to participate in the media advert booking and participate in the proof-reading and text correction before sending it to the company client.

How is that related to Public Relations one may wonder? 

In fact it does not but it helps to applied the discipline knowledge acquire during Public Relations Practice classes.  As Media planning, media monitoring, media booking at some point, proof-reading and validation are fundamental concept of Public Relations officer daily routine. 

So how is the internship related to Public relations?

"Excellence is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

Apart from discipline knowledge, it is hidden, like if it is playing hide and seek throughout the various department of the Advertising Company.

The luck that I have is the FCB Cread & Co Ltd is a communication and advertising company which is among the top 3 best agencies in Mauritius in its industry. They are very well equip and also have a small staff dedicated staff that are very generous as to speak in terms of providing help or provide knowledge.

One of the most obvious PR related works is copy-writing in this company from translation of brief of client to a comprehensible formatted document, to script writing for adverts, radio commercial, radio messages, Television spot, Thematic ideas, Facebook post, blog post and website update. The copywriter job in the company does not end there, there are newsletter, annual reports, Brochures and flyers all waiting the copywriter to write for them, from small story to formal writing, it requires a certain level of dexterity and knowledge of the client activity.

So what did you do then?

My first work was to convert a commercial email into a formatted document, a little research and put to use the knowledge of segmenting stakeholders or publics later, I have created a detail document that the company can use by other staff members like designers, copywriters from the creative and design department, strategic marketing development department and highlight the misunderstanding point that the email may have. 

From this small document, I was able to participate to the naming of the product to be design and have 3 potential names that the client may choose from and develop a potential theme for each, writing a small storytelling experience about them and learn to implement it into the integrated marketing mechanics.

Newspaper storage

Yes, my internship may not be like the other students and to be directly integrated in a Public relations department but I am grateful enough to realise that Public relations is not only what one may have imagine to be. 

One thing is that have strike me the most is how advertising clients completely disregard the work of the integrated marketing process and how public relations in Mauritius is not view as an avenue for promotion tool or as a means for publicity.


It is present in every communication department from Visual literacy, design, copy-writing, planning, negotiating with clients or the media and with the task of Key Account officer I have manage to re-learn the basics of Public relations.

Independence

As discussed in my previous blog posts, my internship schedule and arrangement is rather unconventional. I'm not technically working from the office and only need to check in with the regulated parties every now and then. It's very similar to working as a 'freelancer'. I have found that it actually works so much better for my current lifestyle. Am able to work the required job from different places and also at any time of the day. Independence is the main key here.

Probably by now, you'll recognise my blog posts by my overflowed work plate rants. But in this blog post, I want to make sure that all of these 'rants' were actually very useful for me to realise a very important aspect of my life and that is: I am actually a pretty independent person. Having to juggle a few adult responsibilities at once is not exactly easy - in my opinion anyways. But here I am, four weeks into my internship and juggling two 'full-time jobs'. I am alive and is relatively well. 

Having to work outside the normal working hours and from different places, it is easy to get distracted and the procrastination game is damn strong. However, I found that because I am busy, I stick to my daily plans and schedule a lot more. I am more on track with work. and life. As a 'new adult', I think this following meme is relevant:

Today is a Sunday of the public long weekend - but here I am, writing a blog post and finishing off my final work report for my internship placement, whilst listening to a webinar for work at my beloved rowing club. Long weekend? Holidays? Time off? Huh? What. Even. 

This is the new normal. 

Spring Carnival 2016 approaches

This past fortnight at Perth Racing has been very busy, I have been finalizing all the final little elements for the opening of Spring Carnival 2016 on the 15th of October. Events that are this big are a lot to manage I am so at awe with the team all the time and the fact that they are able to pull together these phenomenal. The different components that come together to create the events that happen on the Carnival days are eminence.

I have been working on booking the entertainment for the spring carnival, this includes bands, singers and individual vocalists that will be spread out at different locations on race day. At Perth Racing it is about off the track entertainment as much as it is on the track! It is important to always have something spectacular to keep the crowd always entertained. Along with the entertainment, The spring carnival will also feature a newly release movie to play at the race day also, No only do people get a race day they get to experience a full day of entertainment. It is really interesting to understand all of the different elements that are part of these race days, it is bigger and better than I ever thought possible. Bigger is better and the more the merrier. I think Perth racing need to incorporate these elements to engage a variety of people to come to the Spring carnival.

At the end of this week I was also lucky enough to be apart of a shoot for channel 7 called 'Our Town' which features Belmont race course the winter track for Perth. Belmont racetrack is known as one of the best race track in the southern hemisphere, Our town wanted to capture the good things Belmont racecourse has on offer for WA people. The day was filled with a lot of different interviews, shots of the races, and capturing the best assets of Belmont. During the day the crew interviewed a well known Jockey, Perth Racing CEO Julian, and testimonials from patrons in the Salinger Bar. It was an interesting day seeing the behind the scenes, As a PR person your job is to be their for the producers and what they need. You are getting free endorsements and coverage of your company. You want to just keep the producers happy and get them what they need for the best shots. Even with a filming schedule it cannot always be followed to the exact timing sometimes things do not always go to plan and these have to be assesses and looked at in order to still get the shots the producers need. Work out what you need to do as a PR person to get the shots and to keep them happy. Sometimes you might have to do a phantom call to get the sound you need. Not always everyone is going to be so consolidating and want to help out it is about compromising among everyone to get the results you need. Hard work, building relationships and dedication work to get what you need to make the shoot perfect.

Shooting at Belmont Racecourse

Logging in...Social-media revelations!

Being part of the generation Y, the use of social media was regarded as "easy" for me. Since the beginning of Public Relations studies, we have learned the theories and importance of using social media in PR and it was (for me personally) way simple as “keep it short, simple and precise”. Yet in the real world of work, behind the scene of keeping content “short, simple and precise” lots of hard work resides.

I thought that managing social media contents were not so complicated. After all, posting news, entertaining and grabbing the attention of audiences did not sound that difficult, I was wrong. My internship at Flymates revealed that I was actually completely off track about it.

Regular contents formation demands lots of time and daily researches. And while having audiences’ attention was quite easy sometimes, keeping their attention was way more difficult as Flymates uses social media to not only promote their image and keep in touch with stakeholders but also to drive traffic to their website. Therefore, I learned that applying PR in social media is paramount for any businesses as I observed that it acts subliminally. However the quality of the posts must be up to the level.

 I realized that strategic planning and timeline applies for everything, even for scheduling of content when it comes to social media. And having “likes” and “comments” on a post after much work is way satisfying.  

What I learned so far:

• ·          The world of social media is constantly upgrading itself and to be able to grab audiences’ interests, businesses should evolve together with the social media features.
• ·          Apart from researches, a post should hold consistent content and be as far as possible creatively presented.
• ·         Strategies and goals should be set up prior to posts and constant monitoring is important.
• ·         Published posts should not only be newsworthy but should also be introduced in a social media friendly way.

Finally, keeping contents “short, simple and precise” stays fundamental. I will never ever again qualify social media as "easy" again after the insights gained at Flymates. 

I hope my posts helps and till then thank you for reading.

Doralie.

Charles Telfair Institute.

Racing past the finish line!

This week at Perth Racing a lot has been going on we have the spring carnival happening in just over a month. There is a major buzz in the office, with so much going on!

This week I have been sourcing products to put into goodie bags for the Prive fashion event that is happening on the 16th of September the event is going to big we have around 300 people attending. It includes Western Australian designers Jontè, Jessica Bratich, Ela & Jackson, IIka and Kinn Apparel. The event is an annual non racing event Perth Racing hold. This week we have been doing the final adjustments of the event brief, I have worked on a basic plan that will be future developed. In the event brief I have included the designers, the event information, beverage and food packages and how the food and drinks will be established and served on the night of the event. The event brief also included the information from our contracted events company, the package they included, the invoice and all of the budgeting that came with the event. This brief also included information for the designers for the night of the event. An event brief is very important for an event as it brings together all of the elements including who, what, when, where, why, It is a summary of the event and puts all of the elements in one place that can be easily accessed.


This week we also pulled together all of the resources for a photo shoot we will be shooting on Tuesday 13th of September for the spring carnival racing season of 2016/17. On Friday I had to contact an event furniture company asking to work together on the shoot rather than pay them for their services we will promote the company on all our socials, print and video campaigns they are featured, this free publicity is a hard but necessary means of doing things sometimes when resources and budget is limited. You can only spend so much money on a shoot. It was really nerve racking in the beginning to call someone up and ask them strategically to work together but its PR sometimes you have to get things for free, it can be hard but putting some things in place which can incise companies to work for you like Perth Racing did with the free promotional activity, as well as using Stylist Teagan Sewell for the shoot made it more attractive for the company to work with us. For my first time asking for free work, it was a very successful contract and the company is very happy and excited to work with us.

I also had to contact florists for the shoot as well, sometimes you do not always get a lot of details from your managers about a shoot, just an idea, or a sketch of something they need and you have to interpret there vision and then you have to give the vision to a florist to interpret, take your ideas and inspiration and then develop and that into what you need, all for a small budget. Communication skills are so important to develop in PR as they are the first thing you need both vocally and textual you need to make sure you can communicate. Communication is the essential element for everything and you need to be able to develop and understand on how to know what to do with an element and communicate it further.
 

Here is a Picture of my Office desk 

Unconventional workspace(s)

I have been very fortunate and grateful to been offered an internship position in Coogee Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Not because I can *finally* find an internship placement, but because it is an area in which I know I am familiar with and also a field in which I am passionate in. I knew from day one of enrolling to this PR internship unit, that I want to have a placement in which I am passionate in; not just another placement to gain the marks and graduate in. Even though my current job as a state teams manager and project officer at Rowing WA can probably count as an internship placement, I want to open up my opportunities for the future.

Similarly to the current job, it is a sporting organisation in which dedicated volunteers and part-time staffs is the main key to the success of this entity. This means that mainstream work-spaces (read: cubicles) is not an option and you will have to do tasks in which are not in your job description. For some, this may be troublesome... but not for me. Am up for the challenge. I guess my current job and other past experiences have set me up for this mentality, in which I am extremely thankful for. Over the past couple of weeks, I find myself trying to juggle both of these jobs and also other club committee stuff that I am involved in. If I say it has been a smooth sailing week, then I will be lying. However, I have managed to find a way in which can satisfy all parties (and bosses) - with the permission of supervisors and due to the limited space in my internship placement venue, I have been working away and reporting back on a regular basis. A lot of people have recommended me to do my internship tasks whilst I'm at work, as this may seem as the most practical thing to do. However, I have committed that if I am at work, I'm going to focus on my job and nothing else. This leads to me digging deep into my creativity zone. Snapshots of some of my workspaces over the past couple of weeks (or follow me on twitter here):

University Abacus Lab - free high speed internet and arguably comfortable chairs. perfect. 

Balcony - away from the six months old puppy

Dining table - because who needs to eat anyways?

As you can tell by now, it's not exactly your mainstream office space cubicle. By working from different coffee shops, home office and Abacus labs, I have been able to do both jobs at the same time. If I ran out of energy or focus on one of the jobs, I bounce off to the other without feeling guilty nor inefficient. A few coffee shops have been transformed into my workspace and meeting spaces. A lot of long blacks have been and waiting to be consumed.

First week down. Two bosses to impress. Three more weeks to go. 10000000 more unconventional work spaces waiting to be set up. Any tips on how to multitask?

It's Not Just a Post

Content creation is something we over look. Especially when you get bombarded with pictures, videos, graphics and so forth scrolling down your social media news feed. How often do you see a picture of smashed avocado on toast in a day? Or a flat lay usually consisting of a few products to create a feeling in the image #perthisok.

No matter who you are or how many followers you have, you actually create content every time you upload something. Of course as part of an organisation, your content is important to communicate and support ideas and activities surrounding a cause.

What I’ve learnt so far in my internship is using appropriate images to support up coming stories in the magazine that is yet to be released.

There’s more thought and consideration in these images then one would imagine. Like mentioned before, we see so many on the daily through our own social media feeds. An image is just an image. But when you’re creating social media content, your image has to be engaging, appealing and translate the message across.

You think about the time to post, how many posts to posts, what kind of filters you use to reflect the brand. Not to mention the consistent hash tags for association. I’ve also downloaded a range of apps that help with creating graphics. Not to undermine the laborious degree of smart graphic designers, but these apps (yes to technology!) can give anyone a very very short crash course in the simplest graphic design. If you can call it that.

One day, I spent 3 hours, walking around taking pictures for up- coming and future social media posts. Apart from the many weird glares and confused looked; I enjoyed scouting for content and thinking of how images could be posted.

This internship has taught me that you definitely have to get out of your comfort zone, even if it is walking up and down a street taking pictures! 

What have you done so far in your internship that has brought you out of your comfort zone?

Oh Hello First Week Jitters

5^th of January 2016, I was officially was ringing in the New Year with an internship at Oh Hello Beaufort Magazine. Thankfully, I organised this internship before exams in 2015 and put my best foot forward in welcoming new experiences before I leave the last of my tertiary education, even if this was a requirement for university.

You’d have to agree with me that the first of any thing is always quite daunting. You don’t know what to expect, what your jobs will be like and what you will have to do. My position for this duration of the internship is mainly based around social media content and social media management for the Magazine.

Being the first week, I had to really get to know the brand and the brand identity. Establishing the voice and persona was also vital. I realised to be one with the brand, you really have to look at your audience, what you are trying to promote and what makes you different to everyone else. There is so much more to just typing words to caption a photo, or replying to comments. Like my mum always used to say, it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. 

This definitely puts all that theory in the seminars to practice. I mean, how many times do we talk about a company’s social media presence and their ability to write content and reply accordingly. You wouldn’t expect a legal firm to reply on their social media in the same way a local café would. I was getting the hang of this when I started drafting out captions for posts to strategically align with the identity of Oh Hello Beaufort Magazine.

In my first week, I was also introduced or made aware of key stakeholders that were important to the Magazine. Except the term ‘stakeholders’ was not exactly mentioned directly, but enlightened by the amount of attention and support they should receive online. Isn’t it funny when you’re writing reports, ‘stakeholders’ draw one of the first headings and are listed with great thought. When you are entering someone else’s work place, you see the parallels of the theory without the getting the direct explanation. Like the technical term for oxygen in science is O2 and the laymen’s term is air. You’re just supposed to know it.

Then it clicks of course. That’s what experience is for! You take the theory and apply it. I think I was just fascinated to see how much I understood and could link in my head the theory and reality without needing an explanation. It reinforced how much I actually had gained from those reports and theories learnt in classes.

Going into my first week, I was excited to see what we had been taught was really happening in the work place. Other than that, I was also nervous to do well and not mess anything up!!

Anyone else had the same first week jitters?

End is Near

If it's one thing I could tell future students when completing their final internship placement is to not stress. Stress does nothing postive for you and I would know from personal experience. At first when I heard we had to complete an Internship Placement, I was not too happy. But after my experience, I am glad that we did. It was one of the greatest experiences I got to partake in, meeting new people, gaining professional experience and learning on the job.

If I could go back in time, I think one thing I would change is to complete more internships but in a varierty of industry's, allowing for myself to gain the knowledge and understanding of that industry and how it varied to the education industry which I completed my time in. Upon the start of my internship and starting this unit, I wish someone could have told me a few tips or secret pieces of advice. So intead I'm going to give you some.

1. Don't Stress
2. There is no need to be nervous or anxious about partaking in the internship placement. It's one of the most rewarding and educational experiences you get to do.
3. Start looking for a placement early. The public relations sector is increasingly growing in competiveness for jobs. To avoid last minute worry, I suggest looking for a placement early on.
4. Start your report early, because let's be honest, no one loves pulling all nighters
5. Even if you don't get placed in an internship that's not your passion, it is still rewarding and can open up your eyes to so much more.
6. You will learn so much more than what you learn at university, and what you learnt at univeristy, you will get to put into everyday practice. On the job learning, has got to be one of the best things!
7. Have fun!

What would be your pieces of advice?

Back to School

Being in your final year of university, you would never ever imagine in your wildest dreams that you would be going back to high school. But for me, I somehow managed to be back there and even the high school I attended myself, Mercedes College.

Being back at school brings a sense of euphoria, remembering how young you were and you had your whole life ahead of you. I knew nothing about where I would be at 21, let alone what I would go onto study. I had my passions and keen interests of drama and media, and thinking about it now they tie perfectly in with a Public Relations degree and effectively communicating

As part of my internship placement, I was offered a role in the Community Relations office at Mercedes College alongside two other ladies, Julie and Tanya.  The Community Relations focuses on both Public Relations and Marketing and opened my eyes up to how effective and important Public Relations can be in a school. I’m sure half of you wouldn’t even think a school would need a PR team or what would they do, but surprisingly a lot goes on. From the organisation of major events, internal communication and communication with stakeholders, alumni events and relations, the production of a College magazine, data entry, managing phone calls and emails, my schedule was kept extremely busy.

Out of everything I got to do, my favourite thing would have to be liaising with Alumni and assisting in the organisation of reunions. As I am Alumni of Mercedes College myself, I felt a connection with every single Alumni I interacted with, no matter how old they were. I think that is something special Mercedes holds with its students, whether they are past or current, there always seems to be that ongoing connection and sense of belonging.

I am incredibly grateful for my experience at the College, all the work I got to participate in and the staff I got to call my colleagues. It was only today that I found out I have been offered a position in the Community Relations Office full time next year after I graduate, and I can’t wait to see what I can bring to the office and school. 

Back when I was 14 and had no idea what I would be doing after school

Looking within and beyond!

Internal communications is of upmost importance during a time of change within an organisation; effective communication at all levels ensures employees are familiar with organisational strategic imperatives and that they have the information required to perform effectively in their roles in support of these changes.

In the beginning of the year, the Australian arm that operated international denim brand G-Star Raw known as Denim Enterprises (DE) entered voluntary administration. Across Australia, DE operated 21 mono brand stores and had approximately 200 staff within their business. Although stores functioned as per usual, on an internal level there was apparent disruption in communication during the handover to the administrators, and subsequently to new partners.

However by providing constant communication to the employees during the administration through the use of formal tools such as 'RAW news', the company's weekly newsletter, and top down communication from state managers to part-time associates, a sense of community was formed and more than 80% of the employees stayed on. In the next couple of months, G-Star Raw acted upon the change and took it upon themselves to continue to operate the Australian stores; similarly G-Star approached Denim HQ (the company I work for) to run the WA stores. To sustain the change and continue building relationships with its employees by encouraging a sense of community, they recently conducted the first of a series of training nights around the country. During my last days as an intern with DHQ, I was fortunate enough to attend one of these trainings and witness how the company has managed the change through communication points.

These points were:

1. Background of G-Star Raw in Australia and changes during administration
2. New operational teams and points of contacts
3. Communication points to convey to customers
4. PR and media campaigns
5. New products
6. Q & A

Denim HQ training night with G-Star representatives

Therefore it is with great sadness that my time as an intern with DHQ has come to an end, however nonetheless I am grateful for all that I have learned with this start-up company and incredible brand. Until next time! 

Kim 

Keeping WA moving through communication!

Welcome to my blog. I am Caris Dinardo, and this is where I will be sharing my opinions and experiences as a Public Relations Intern at Main Roads.

When undertaking an internship you’re not quite sure what to expect. Whether you will be successful, whether you will learn from others or whether you will be misused as a coffee assistant.

Luckily for me my Public Relations internship at Main Roads Western Australia has allowed me to have a greater insight into the Public Relations world. My first day quickly made me realise that our tutors weren’t lying, communication really is everything.

When going for this Internship I was asked by my supervisor which areas I was interested in working in. Coming to the end of my degree, I’m still unfortunately not aware of what areas in PR I feel most passionate about, but I am a firm believer in the importance of experience and asked to be put in any area that would have me.

So for my first day I was put in the Customer Information Centre. My day started off normally, meeting all the employees, being welcomed to the team and going out for coffee. Automatically I knew I would fit in well because of the amazing work culture Main Roads have created.

I was given the chance to work alongside the manager to see what her daily tasks involved. Checking emails every 5 minutes, dealing with complaints about road closures, traffic complaints, fault reports and the list went on… The phone was constantly ringing and not one call went through to voicemail. The Customer Information Centre team plays an important role in communication with stakeholders, as they are the first on duty to contact for any emergencies or general queries.

Now for the interesting stuff:

As a team, they are hugely important in crisis management. Without their input or communication, stakeholders would struggle to find out important information as they are constantly being communicated through website updates and social media updates.

Unfortunately, on my first day there was a crash  that had 3 fatalities in Geraldton. I witnessed first hand the importance communication plays in crisis management, as the team were constantly ringing the media, the Main Roads team and sharing posts to make sure the effected publics were aware of any delays and the full story of what exactly had happened.

By the afternoon, the team had also had to deal with a possible fire outbreak in the Southern suburbs. Through constant updates on their Twitter sites (which has over 400,000 followers) and phoning media outlets the Main Roads Call Information Centre team were able to alert the community of the possible fire outbreak. Fortunately, I was able to contribute to several Twitter posts which made the public aware of nearby crashes. This was great to finally see how important the role of social media plays when organisations regularly communicate to stakeholders.

Main Roads have recently changed their corporate brand and logo to the focus of ‘Keep WA Moving.’ My experience within the first day made me realise that communication plays a huge role of ‘Keeping WA Moving’ as they are constantly communicating to stakeholders to make them aware of what is happening on Western Australia’s roads.

It was only my first day and it was an eye opening experience. Throughout University I have studied different Public Relations theories. But seeing those theories in the real world made me realise how important communication is to successfully develop strong relationships with stakeholders. Another outtake would be the importance of having a team that is aware of what to do in crises, as the steps you take in those situations are extremely important.

I am thankful to have this opportunity and to be undertaking this Internship at Main Roads. This is only day one and I can’t wait to gain more insight into what they do.

How were all my fellow interns first days?

Until next time,

Caris Dinardo.