What a ride!

Hi everyone

This will be my last blog post for PR 393 - I must say, I have enjoyed writing the blogs and reading the comments that have followed - people have actually been reading! haha. I must say for the record I've thoroughly enjoyed the entire 393 experience. As you may have read, I did my prac in an organisation that does not have a dedicated PR role, so I went in with very much a PR-educated perspective to an environment which hasn't really been exposed to it before. It put me in a very good, independent position to sit back and analyse what communication activities were happening in the company and then see where some PR issues may have been, and what could be done to remedy them. I was lucky though to be within an organisation that has extremely high ethics and professionalism - so the foundation was there, and it made it so much easier to base recommendations purely on improving the current situation, rather than changing it altogether. Having this strong foundation certainly made me realise how much further ahead a company is with such values. They call their internal code of practice "The Backbone" and it describes it perfectly. My recommendations have thus been based around increased stakeholder engagement, some more defined PR activities, and I've gone so far as to suggest that there is enough work to warrant a dedicated PR role and that, furthermore, such a position could actually assist the company in achieving its mission AND help to create more profits! How liberating! Thanks PR 393 - what a worthwhile exercise to consolidate my PR values, beliefs and passion.

Over and out!

Sarah Harrison
Curtin Bentley