First Day at PPR

Today I began the first day of my internship at Professional Public Relations in Subiaco. I am in my final semester of Mass Communications majoring in PR and journalism.
It wen't really smoothly, the office is bigger than I expected employing about 50 staff with very close ties to their national and overseas offices. I noticed a really positive working environment around the office. On arrival I was given a PPR Work Placement Handbook for students which was great to get an insight into the company as well as the different education and career experience of the consultants I'll be working with. It's also comforting to know that they run a somewhat structured work placement program, and therefore hopefully have an understanding of the optimal type of experience I'm looking for.

I joined the team for their weekly staff meeting and was warmly intoduced by the GM and he asked the consultants to always think of me when needing help, doing practical work and going out for meetings as the main reason I was there was to gain hands-on realistic experience. The meeting started with what they described as 'bouquets' which is basically kudos or a pat on the back for any staff that has done great work such as signing a new client or gaining media exposure for a client.

I was amazed how much of what I witnessed today was focussed on media coverage and media placement, which, while great experience for me as I'm particularly interested in the media relations side of PR was just a little surprising as at uni it's continually reiterated to us that PR is not just about media coverage and promotion.

From what I gather at the end of each staff meeting a consultant will give a presentation or a brief summary on a new topic. This weeks topic, coincidentaly enough... "New Media" which included social media and blogging. The presenter brought up some really interesting points and there was a great discussion on the pros and cons of new media with the general consensus it is the way of the future. It was just really interesting to see the very same topics which I covered very recently during my PR units such as PR 240 International being brought up and discussed in a similar fashion in a 'real-life' professional environment. Very relieving to know that what I've learned during my degree is relevant and can be applied.

The presenter gave a handy link for aspiring bloggers which I thought I'd share
www.chrisbrogan.com/if-you-intend-to-blog-seriously/