Learning facts for the last post

Hello fellow interns,

This is my last post for the Public Relations Internship (393).

For my last days at Logos Publicity, there were not less than three press conferences to ensure (two for the Festival Passe-Portes and one for the rebranding of the AAA as mentioned in the previous post). This was pretty stressed.

So, for this post I will mainly focus on my learning and thoughts being PR intern.

As Logos Publicity has prior to advertising, there was only one employee who is in charge of all the PR stuff. She taught and guided me towards the methods of writing media releases (according to the company), contacting media, preparing brochure and poster’s text, and product research. This was really interesting but demanding at times. The fact that my colleague had not done any course for PR techniques is, by the way, more remarkable. She gains experience through years and still she is very effective/productive :)

Through the opportunity of assisting a press conference, I have learned the importance of engaging the media in an event and networking.

I have also learned about the importance of good relationships with colleagues. This is important to manage conflicts and work together for better quality work.

To conclude, I am very grateful for this wonderful 20 days. However, I discovered that public relations sector was not really my domain and that I am interested mostly in event management :) I got the chance to experience PR tactics and techniques from theory to practice.

Regards,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167

Calling Media – Not so easy…

Hello everyone,

Already third post (after 1 month). I must say that I had difficulty to handle assignments and work and hats off for those who deal efficiently with those two.

This post will mainly focus on press conference. Logos was completely occupied with Festival Passe-Portes and the rebranding of AAA (Association of Advertising Agencies) during the past week. Press conference was needed to welcome the 60 French artists’ arrival and to announce the changing brand name of AAA to ACA (Association of Communication Agencies) respectively. Therefore, contacting the media was requested:

1 -  Sending email to editor-in-chief and journalists to inform for the conference (purpose, time, date, place) several days before (4/3days). Additionally, the news must be distribute to appropriate media as said in the second post (for example; AAA - Business Magazine, L’Express or Festival Passe-Portes – Scope). This will raise interest from journalists and ensure coverage.

2 - Calling for confirmation. That’s a different kettle of fish. This phase requests perseverance and patience :)

3 - Make a follow-up with the journalists presented. This consists of emailing additional information and photos to media that assisted the conference. It is mainly to ensure that proper coverage is done with correct materials. Furthermore, for the example of the festival, the invitation for the closure was sent to those same journalists.

Learning lesson: Good communication skills are required to maintain proper relationship with media outlet and to guarantee coverage of event.

Thanks you for following,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167

An Honorable Job (Contrary to popular belief)

Dear All,

This post will focus on the way information is communicated to media (as I experience), experience with demanding clients and importance of details.

I got the chance to assist at the whole process concerning media planning and advertising in print and online media channels which requires a lot of time and efforts :)

- All the press releases are written firstly by my colleague and I, according to new information given by the organizer Catherine such as recently it was confirmed that the president of the jury for Passe-Portes will be Claudia Cardinale, a popular French actor. I will essentially point out on the importance of proof-reading. My colleague mainly focuses on that more than you can imagine :) . This is just great as I learn its significance NOW!

    - We then forward it to Catherine for approval or amendments.
    - Then, following it, press release is sent to each editor –in-chief and journalists of print and online media, and radio in Mauritius. We should mainly focus on journalists who cover the Culture and Art section in newspaper and radio which guarantees publication or diffusion.
    - In order to measure the impact, media monitoring is essential during the following days.

In case of lack of coverage (It happened at the beginning after the press conference), it is important to renew the process by concentrating on main or additional news.

I also learnt the importance of effective communication between the company and organizers in order to avoid confusions/conflicts and diffusing incorrect information. In the case of Festival, it is essential to confirm each and every detail with Catherine before sending to the media - artworks for advertising and press releases (It happened that there was confusion/misleading information and this was revealed to be stressful). So, imagine, we contact her at least 4 times per day. This could be really annoying. In addition, at times, she can be too demanding (she wants this in that way/ this should be sent at that time/ everything should be firstly approved by her – but she does not respond to mail on time). Inevitably, frustration, stress, disagreement and/or incomprehension can arise but these must not prevent PROFESSIONALISM and doing things ETHICALLY.

I should almost confess in my second post that I have a lot of respect for PR practitioners as this job is truly demanding and stressing. Works should be transparent and always correctly done. Every detail should be respected and take into consideration.  Errors are not always forgiven in this sector as clients could turn their backs and engage with competitors. My hat off for those who succeed in this field and love their jobs :)

Elodie Lamarque

Charles Telfair Institute

15844167

Discovering of a new world

Hi fellow interns,

Here I am finally for my first blog post which is just AMAZING. I am actually a BCOM student at Charles Telfair Institute in Mauritius (Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and Public Relations). After 2 months of sending emails and calling companies in vain, Mr Cyril Palan from Logos Publicity Ltd was the do-gooder to accept me for my 20 days of internship.

MY FIRST DAY

Officially trainee in Logos Publicity (25^th March 2014). I stayed the whole day and was introduced to the employees with a site visit. The director also shared with me his career path and the history of the company.  During the day, I was asked to make research about a new product for its launching advert and I also helped to prepare invitation to journalists for a press conference (Figure 1). This was to announce the first Festival of Theater and Music “Passe Portes” in Mauritius which will occur at the end of May.The festival will not only constitute of icon theater and music personalities but will also act like a platform for young talented artists from different countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Reunion Island, France and Mauritius. They will get the opportunity to present their own play(written and act by themselves). Awards will also be given for the best concept. 

SECOND DAY

My second day was really special, full with unexpected events. I was invited to the press conference held in the evening. This was a great pleasure as it was the first time I assisted such event and it was exactly what I wanted to discover.  This was really impressive to be surrounded with important personalities (such as General Director of Total Anne-Solange Renouard; Director of Le Caudan Waterfront, and Director of Blue Fish, Laurent Garnier, French Ambassador). Logos Publicity's roles, during the conference, were to distribute the press kit to journalists, to take photographs of the event and also for networking. 

The importance and objectives of project were clearly explained by the organizers of Passe Portes, Catherine Swagemakers and Francois Moravic.

Figure 2 pictured the organizers, French Ambassador, and the participants from Mauritius. Figure 3 shows Mme Swagemakers during the presentation. 

 Figure 1

 Figure 2

 Figure 3

 Stay connected. More to come. I will keep you update about the festival preparation.

Elodie Lamarque

CTI Student

15844167

Tick! Tack! Tick! Tack! ....

Hello everyone,

As you can easily guess from the title, the main topic for today’s blog is ‘Time’. When entering the real world of PR, I quickly realised that Time is a very valuable yet always scarce resource.

During the course of our studies we were often given the opportunity to work on “real-life” clients and provide “real” solutions. However, a very important aspect was missing: Time constraints (It’s true that we did have deadlines for our assessments but these are trivial compared to real-life deadlines).

As an intern, my main issue was to adapt and take in these new skills and understanding of the PR world while at the same time try to keep up with this rapid and demanding world.

Our daily workload has its specific, often short, deadlines which require a quick and almost instinctive decision process. And that is why I believe that work experience plays a crucial role in the PR field - and any other field - ; experienced PR practitioners will have an intuitive feel when working and will automatically know what the task/situation requires.

Interns first have to go through a series of internal mental processes to understand the context and its requirements so as to be able to provide their own inputs. On the other hand, experienced PR practitioners will, through practice/repetition, skip some of these processes and are thus able to put more emphasis on their inputs.

Unfortunately for organisations, it means that most interns are at the learning stage and that the real inputs that they could bring to an organisation only come with time and experience - which alas often comes by the time their internship is over.

So that’s the main thought that I wanted to share today.

Until next time, best of luck for those still doing their internships!!!

Happy Birthday, Mauritius! – “Celebrating our diversity the Blast Way”

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                  Courtesy of Blast

Hello aspiring PR Professionals,


I know, it’s been a while since the last time I’ve posted something on the PR 393 Reflective Blog and I'm truly sorry about the delay but I was hoping I could make up for the it with this vibrant post. So today, I’m going to share an incredible experience with you: the celebrations of Independence Day at Blast Communications. For those who don’t know, we were celebrating the 45^th anniversary of Mauritius this year and because the 12^th March, which marks that occasion is a public holiday, the Blast team has chosen to observe this event on the 8^th March instead.

Luckily, I have been able to participate in this glorious event that created a very spirited and fun atmosphere at Blast Communications and I was truly mesmerized when I saw all of my colleagues play a part in this event. To put it in PR terms, it was basically an internal campaign which took place for a few days. It first started with the design team proposing a few visuals for an advert of Blast Communications to show its patriotic pride to the public. Brainstorming sessions were carried out so that everyone could agree on a visual and the tagline that would accompany it. After that, my colleague Emilie, PR Executive, negotiated with specific media outlets to have the advert placed in their newspapers at an affordable price. Of course, we had a very limited budget allocated for the placement of these adverts.  

Moreover, a list of activities on the 8^th March has been devised by the PR Think Tank to mark this event by involving everyone at Blast Communications. They are:

- Lunch served with typical dishes of the different communities in Mauritius (entrée: Chinese and main course: creole etc...)

- Handkerchiefs for lunch decorated with Mauritian flag ribbon and all desks adorned with a miniature Mauritian flag.

- All Blast employees wearing personalized t-shirts (black as the background color with the logo and the chosen tagline “Celebrating our diversity”) and a badge of the Mauritian flag.

- A photograph of the Blast team forming the number 45, taken from the roof – photograph which will be used on the website, Facebook page, E-newsletter and also on an e-card which will be sent to all Blast’s clients and partners.

- Launch quizzes/guessing games also known as “Sirandanes” (which forms part of our Mauritian culture and tradition) throughout the day and a winner will be announced in the afternoon.

- Have all Blast employees plaster their handprints on a canvas board to make a four-colour chef-d’oeuvre (using acrylic paint of the four different colours of the Mauritian flag: Red, Blue, Yellow and Green)

All of the above mentioned activities have been successfully put into place, with the help of every Blast employee. On that eventful day, everyone wore the same personalized t-shirt at work, thanks to the designers, Kim and Ritesh who came up with the t-shirt’s artwork and to the event coordinator, Diane who ordered the t-shirts and had them ready for that day. Lunch which was taken care of by the administration was really delicious and it was an opportunity for everyone to joke around and get to know each other more. 


Moreover, it was nice to see everyone get their hands dirty with paint and sing the national anthem, just like school children. Eventually, the winner of the “sirandanes” turned out to be Valérie who works in the media monitoring department; she practically guessed most of the answers before everyone else and earned a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates as prize, which she generously shared with everyone. Lastly, the Managing director, Mrs Aisha Allee-Mosaheb was really pleased with the outcome of this internal campaign and she congratulated everyone for their part in it and for planning everything in so little time.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this post because I’ve actually enjoyed recounting that experience with you. If you have any questions concerning my internship, please feel free to leave a comment on any of my posts and I shall get back to you shortly :)

Best Regards,

Houmaira Ramjaun

15102108

CTI, Mauritius

Unlearn what you learn?!

Hello everyone!

Hope your internships are going-on fine and you are all having a wonderful experience or at least learning the most from it.

Well, as a start off, I’m Benoit de Lapeyre. I am in my last semester at the Charles Telfair Institute in Mauritius and I am currently in an internship at Imagine Communication. The company is a Media and Public Relations Communication Consultancy firm found in Port-Louis, the capital of the island. The company not only operates in Mauritius but also has clients in Madagascar, Reunion and other countries of the Indian Ocean. The firm deals primarily in media relations, intelligence and documentation, and event coordination, amongst other Public Relations services.

For more detailed information, you can consult the company’s website; 

http://www.imagine.mu/.

It has been almost a month since I started my internship and this whole month could be summed up by a phrase my director, Jean-Marie Richard, said on my first days as an intern;

“You are here to unlearn all that you were taught in school, only to learn again how things are really done”.

When I started my internship, having already experienced previous work environment (though not in the PR field), I did expect things to be different than what I was taught during my university years. However during my first weeks as an intern, I realised that the basic PR knowledge you receive during the course of your studies are simply guidelines, basic stepping stones. They only provide you with a global understand of the PR field. However when applied in the real life, PR becomes much more complex and extensive.

Since our first PR modules we were taught that PR should be a Two-way symmetrical model, but when applied in real life it means that we should understand and interact with the society in which we operate. It requires an understanding of society as a whole; its history, its traditions and its customs. Here in Mauritius, it is even more important taking into consideration our multi-cultural background. The insight I gained after this first month is that PR may be taught in theory but however its application in real life requires experience and on-the-job training to have concrete results.

I believe that we, as future PR practitioners, should have an open yet critical mind when dealing with our studies in the communication fields, even more for international students. As a Mauritian studying for an Australian university, I realised that my studies may provide me with an internationally recognised degree but ultimately as a PR practitioner I will only have the basic knowledge and understanding of PR. I will always require an adaptation and learning period in every context I intend to work in, even more taking into consideration our rapidly changing society.

I also wished to share a remarkable quote which portrays my thoughts;

“The curious thing is that with these exponential changes, so much of what we currently know is just getting to be wrong. So many of our assumptions are getting to be wrong. And so, as we move forward, not only is it going to be a question of learning it is also going to be a question of unlearning.” -- John Seely Brown.

The full article, which also provides a very interesting debate on Tacit and Explicit dimension of knowledge, can be read on the following link;

http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/JSB3-learning-to-unlearn.html.

I hope I gave you some interesting food for thought.

So until next time,

Good Luck to you all for your internships.

My reflections on Week 2: 4 days before the major event at Casela

Hello everyone, 

In this blog post I will be sharing with you how my second week at Medine Limited went by. As usual I made daily media clippings, but alongside this was the coming up of the Laying of the foundation stone of the state-of-the-art recreational facility at Casela, along with the resumption of preparations for the forthcoming Fun Day. 

As far as the Fun Day was concerned, I was in charge of calling up the various types of logistics and confirm quotations with them. These included logistics such as tables and chairs, specific colors and size of t-shirts, water dispensers and their bottles, tents and/or marquees, mobile toilets along with its manpower. 

One might think that this task is very easy, however it does happen that even when you call them up and they ask you to send them a request for a quotation via e-mail, they either do not revert back immediately or simply ignore and/or forget about what you need from them. 

Eventually the follow ups felt like absolute 'nagging'. But this is how it goes and this is how the work is done - by constantly reminding them that you need a quotation from them and if they could kindly revert back as soon as possible.

Also very important in these situations is staying calm and polite while communicating. Even if someone would be rude or cold on the phone, I would still be very patient and courteous. This is something I learnt on my own and which is basically a natural reflex, if I may say. 

When this was done, I was then in charge of the chase up calls of Medine Limited's media list for the event at Casela on the 15th of February 2013. 

Once again, I had to call up several times to get in contact with the distinct chief editors. Even if messages were left with secretaries, I had to make sure whether the chief editors actually received the message or not. This felt like contacting the logistics all over again. Even so I did what had to be done even if it meant calling more than 3 times, over and over again, as my supervisor needed a final list of the media houses that would officially be present for the event. Knowing that I was able to help as much as possible with a major event definitely boosts one's will to work even harder.

Beside this, I had to follow-up the presence of particular ambassadors and ministers so that we could produce a final list of guests against the original list made prior to the event. Essentially, when it comes to a guest list, I personally think that one should always remain realistic. Why, do you ask?

Well simply because, even if invitations have been dispatched or sent either by e-mail or fax, it in no way means that all the guests will show up on that particular day. This is where follow up calls are of utmost importance, to check whether someone on the list is in fact going to be present at the event. In this case, what I noticed was that most of the distinguished guests may or may not call to confirm whether they will: Attend or Regret. 

Eventually, the event took place on the 15th of February 2013 and tomorrow I will mostly be doing media clippings in relation to the event. 

Additionally, what I would also like to say about my second week as an intern, is that it showed me how professional practice is as important as theoretical practice. 

Maybe some of you might have thought of getting an internship only for the sake of completing this unit, but am sure by now if you have started your internship and love what you are doing, you have to admit that this is a journey full of surprises, experience, tact, a neat way to make new contacts, a very good way to know where you stand and what you would want to do after you are done with your Bcom or Mass com and build your own professional personality - in other words, how you would like to be perceived and chosen by a future employer. 

For the time being, this is all I had to say,  stay posted for upcoming photos of the ceremony which took place at Casela and also maybe for other imminent challenges in my next blog post.

Wish you all a nice week ahead,
Take care, 
Geetika Boyjoo 
Curtin ID: 15172402
Charles Telfair Institute, Mauritius

The first week of my PR 393 Internship

Greetings everyone, 

I am Geetika Boyjoo and am currently undergoing my final semester at the Charles Telfair Institute (CTI), Mauritius,  majoring in a Bachelor of Commerce in Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and Public Relations.

I started my internship at the Medine Limited last week on Monday 4th of February 2013. The first day I have to admit I was rather stressed but as I got to know my colleagues and more importantly my supervisor, I was able to adapt and understand what the internship entails.

However, before giving you an insight of my first week at Medine Limited, allow me to give you a brief introduction of the company. 

Medine started off as a sugar estate, which means that it formed part of the sugar industry which was once Mauritius's main economic pillar back in 1911, when Medine was first established. Later on Medine diversified its activities into other promising ventures as the sugar industry's economic importance declined with time. As such, in 2009 Medine divided its activities through a rebranding exercise, into 3 definite clusters which are as follow:

1. Medine Property: this involves the development of the property portfolio of the company.
2. Medine Agriculture: this cluster's role is to generate and try to implement innovations related to the agricultural activities of the group while at the same time considering diversification programs.
3. Medine Leisure: is all about managing, operating and developing the leisure activities of the Group, including the Casela - the Group's leisure hub.

For more information, you may visit their website on the following link: 

http://www.medine.com/  

and/or if you prefer their facebook page on: 

https://www.facebook.com/MedineLimited?fref=ts

As you will be able to see on their website, the Group also does news, publications and CSR-related works. The Corporate Sustainability and Communication Department at the Head Office, is where I am following my internship. 

The first few days were already scheduled as being my period of Familiarisation with Medine Limited through their printed materials namely their newsletter - 'The Medine Post', their website and facebook page and their Medine Master Plan - a document downloadable from their website which is a high-quality document written and published in 2005 by a team of architects, town-planners and sociologists under the guidance of Mr. Maurice Giraud, one of the architect planners.

This specific document contains all the details of the vision and plans of the organisation over the western part of Mauritius for the coming years. 

Up until now many of the projects have been undertaken and are still ongoing. Also every year the Medine Master Plan is reviewed, updated and adapted to current economic situation and according to present demands. Below are the covers of the latest 'The Medine Post' and the Medine Master Plan:

Moving on, on the first day, apart from going through the familiarisation process, I was able to experience what real media clipping is all about.

 What I was asked to do, was to convert the JPEG articles into PDF documents to be uploaded on their intranet so that everyone connected would be able to get access to it on one main location, in order of - published date and  - separated into 5 sections, namely:

1. Agro Industry 

2. Tourism & Leisure

3.Property Development

4.Regarding Medine, and 

5. Education 

Additionally, I was asked to make a comparative study which involved research work to identify in what ways Medine was different or similar to its competitors.

Moreover, I was asked for the address details of particular ministers and ambassadors for which took place yesterday night - 15.02.13 - concerning the laying of the foundation stone at Casela by the Prime Minister. 

Even if I was not asked to search for their phone numbers, fax number and e-mail addresses, I produced a contact list where these were included in case these were urgently needed. I used the same procedure when making the ambassadors' contact list and as a matter of fact, these two documents came in handy when we had to make follow up calls afterwards. 

Also, during the first week I learnt how to officially communicate on behalf of Medine Limited, whether this was done by calls or e-mails when asking for quotations of certain logistics and how crucial proof-reading is before sending out e-mails. 

Furthermore, what I essentially grasped was that representing such an organisation called for professional behaviour and attitude. 

Afterwards I got to help with the company's fun day scheduled for their employees, which involved:

1. Cross checking of a Power point presentation

2. Re-organising and adding details to a budget document

3. Making integral calls, and 

4. Chase up calls of logistics

As a whole, this is how my first week went by in a jiffy. Having been working on these two events is the reason why I was not able to post my first blog earlier.

Nonetheless, remain posted to check my second blog post coming up soon.

In the meantime, I wish you all good luck with your internships,

Take care everyone,

Warmest regards,

Geetika Boyjoo

Curtin ID: 15172402

PR393: Bridge between classroom & workplace

Hey Folks,

This is my final Blog post summing up my experiences and thoughts about PR in Mauritius.

Livecomm is a new company and i started there about a month into the start of the Company. As such, it was an enriching experience: i got to witness the beginnings of a company, its challenges and joys.

The people were great and my participation was valued way beyond what i expected.
A lot of what we have learnt in class especially press clippings, press releases and the different communication tools available was pretty valuable even when having to translate texts in French.
The most interesting experience was client meetings: we did do a simulation in PR300 but when it comes to the real deal, it is a very different ballpark. The two fairs i attended as networking opportunities were interesting in giving me more confidence in that respect.

There is still a lot of PR i have not done because let's face it, PR/Communication is so diverse, i cannot possibly have covered a lot in 20 working days.
I have learned a lot in those 2 months and am very grateful for the support and trust from the team at Livecomm solutions.

Kevin Tin.