Well I've almost completed my first week doing work experience at Professional Public Relations. I was really excited starting out here as I've had experience in fashion pr but not at all in corporate pr. I chose PPR as I really wanted to understand what it would be like to work for a large and credible corporate pr company in comparison to my previous experience at a boutique fashion pr and marketing company. So far, the working environment that I have observed is very pleasant, and the staff here have all been very welcoming and lovely. It is not as highly stressed as I had imagined, but I think this week has been very quite for them.
During my first week I was given the chance to get a good grasp on all their clients and the type of work that they do for them by going through client files and examples of their press releases and press kits. Most of my work so far has involved updating records and databases (which was exactly what I had expected). I've been asked to attend a few of their client meetings which have been very interesting and a great learning experience for me. Yesterday, I was invited to a PRIA Webinar conference which was so interesting. The webinar explored the future of public relations regarding the need for companies to communicate and engage with their publics through new media, and the fact that new social media is the best way to make contact with key influencers in the industry. There was a little debate between the PPR team that attended as they viewed this new pr outlook and direction as being too difficult to track and manage given time constraints that they all have. It came to my surprise that a few PPR staff have their own twitter and blogs which they dedicate solely to their work and public relations affairs.
Today I am helping assist in a PPR event called Lunch with Legends where invited guests, Doctor Susan Maushart (columnist for Australian Weekend Magazine and author of 3 books), Deborah Leavitt (Manager of ABC local radio) and Victoria Laurie (journalist and feature writer for the Australian) have been asked to be part of a panel where they will be involved in discussion with all other PPR staff asking numerous questions, sharing ideas and experiences, all followed by lunch.
So far, my experiences have been fun and informative and I look forward to what the next few weeks shall entail.
2 comments:
It is interesting to read about the use of Webinar conference in your blog. I understand it is a combination of Web+Seminar=Webinar?
Public relations practitioners are increasingly using tools like webinar to monitor web conversations and communicate and engage with their publics.
It appears that new communication technology is going to play a very important role in shaping current and future communication practices.
I believe that while blogs and social networking sites are becoming more popular, they are unregulated, and face the potential for reputational harm.
How fantastic, Deborah - you are probably one of the very few people who had a chance to further discuss and reflect on last week's webinar. Far too often we go to presentations, attend seminars or sit through workshops - but only very rarely do we have a chance to further draw on these new insights with peers and friends. Personally, I have sat through many amazing webinars...only to turn back to my work and realise at the end of the day that I had already forgotten a major part of the webinar itself. Reflection is a very important element of learning - and professional development. I hope the blog provides you with at least one option for reflection.
For PRIA and PR professionals new technologies have been fantastic - webinars (see http://www.pria.com.au/events/cid/11/parent/0/t/events/l/layout/l/layout) are a great, cost effective and timely way to bring professionals from around the country together (something that would have been largely impossible 10 years ago!)
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