Hi again,
I know I only posted a couple of days ago.. but I hit the post-first-month mark with my internship on Friday and I thought I'd share.
As the title might suggest, I'm beginning to settle into my position at Universal. Although I've been there for a little while, last Friday I felt as though I was finally getting into the groove of things (pardon the use of 80's vocabulary). For me it was a combination of 1) knowing my responsibilities 2) having a deadline for said tasks and 3) feeling comfortable enough to speak to my supervisors (or anyone in the office) about concerns or uncertainties that I might have. This is certainly made easier by the fact that a couple of the people in the office have been in my position before.. but I have also felt incredibly welcomed by everyone else who is curious about the far, far away land that is Perth.
One of the things that I have recently noticed about my placement is how much knowledge all of the Promotions team need to have about the product (the music) they are trying to place into radio's hands. These are the people that are giving you the 'new music' that you can't get out of your head. They have to have such a unique understanding of the stations' demographic, the band, the specific song they are promoting and why they station wants it for every single station in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and regional Australia nation wide. Not only are the values of each station distinct to the area they are based, but every station also has a different purpose that we are trying to say a new song conveys. A more obvious example of this would be a Christian station. Take Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' as an example. While it might be extremely popular in their area, it just doesn't convey the values that their station wants to uphold. It might not be that the particular song doesn't appeal to them / doesn't speak to their values, but the artist's history, particularly Lady Gaga's stance on gay marriage (most recently Prop-8) clouds their enthusiasm. I know this might seem VERY obvious, but it is also incredibly important in placing songs with stations.
Although this is quite a short post, I wanted to throw the incredibly broad "How are you doing in your placement?" question out there. Now that you've asked, I am feeling a little apprehensive about my report and was wondering if anyone wanted to share their experiences about how to approach the incredible task of The Final Report.
(Comments would be most appreciated!)
Speak to you all soon.
Katey
I know I only posted a couple of days ago.. but I hit the post-first-month mark with my internship on Friday and I thought I'd share.
As the title might suggest, I'm beginning to settle into my position at Universal. Although I've been there for a little while, last Friday I felt as though I was finally getting into the groove of things (pardon the use of 80's vocabulary). For me it was a combination of 1) knowing my responsibilities 2) having a deadline for said tasks and 3) feeling comfortable enough to speak to my supervisors (or anyone in the office) about concerns or uncertainties that I might have. This is certainly made easier by the fact that a couple of the people in the office have been in my position before.. but I have also felt incredibly welcomed by everyone else who is curious about the far, far away land that is Perth.
One of the things that I have recently noticed about my placement is how much knowledge all of the Promotions team need to have about the product (the music) they are trying to place into radio's hands. These are the people that are giving you the 'new music' that you can't get out of your head. They have to have such a unique understanding of the stations' demographic, the band, the specific song they are promoting and why they station wants it for every single station in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and regional Australia nation wide. Not only are the values of each station distinct to the area they are based, but every station also has a different purpose that we are trying to say a new song conveys. A more obvious example of this would be a Christian station. Take Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' as an example. While it might be extremely popular in their area, it just doesn't convey the values that their station wants to uphold. It might not be that the particular song doesn't appeal to them / doesn't speak to their values, but the artist's history, particularly Lady Gaga's stance on gay marriage (most recently Prop-8) clouds their enthusiasm. I know this might seem VERY obvious, but it is also incredibly important in placing songs with stations.
Although this is quite a short post, I wanted to throw the incredibly broad "How are you doing in your placement?" question out there. Now that you've asked, I am feeling a little apprehensive about my report and was wondering if anyone wanted to share their experiences about how to approach the incredible task of The Final Report.
(Comments would be most appreciated!)
Speak to you all soon.
Katey
3 comments:
This sounds like such a great placement. I was really interested in your previous post, sounds like you are learning a lot at Universal. And in answer to your question, I have no idea how I'm going to start the final report, except I would like to do it as I go, otherwise I will probably leave it too late. Maybe it is a good idea to start researching for journals and books and things now. Start preparing yourself etc...I will let you know if I have any progress.
Keep up the cool posts!
Katherine
Hi to you all doing PR 393! Just to reassure you, the task of writing your final report is not as daunting as you may think! Doing your blogs is a great exercise to put thoughts down in writing. Also, it's valuable to draw on ALL your PR knowledge from every PR unit as this will stimulate thoughts about what to put into your report. That includes text books, journal readings etc. For some strange reason, some students think you just forget about the key content of a unit when you move onto the next one! Believe it or not, much of your entire degree may be relevant when you are doing your placement.
Over the last ten years, I have been unit coordinator for this unit for more than 10 semesters and have marked hundreds of final reports for the unit. Many students struggle to edit it down to the required length! My advice to you all now is to jot down lots of notes as you go. Look at broad topics such as culture, structure, current issues and industry trends. Think broadly and strategically. Ask questions and have conversations with your work colleagues(afterall, you are an aspiring communication professional).
Assume your report will be read (and marked) by someone who knows very little about your organisation, what it does, how it is structured, where PR fits in, target publics and relevant issues. The reader won't know what you did there unless you write about it clearly.
Use the marking guide in the unit outline to help draft your report's layout.
You want your final report to be something you are proud of. It's most likely the final piece of work you will do in your undergraduate degree!
Finally, I was in your shoes doing my placement in 1991. I also left my report to the final weekend and realised that there were other things I could have included and ways to improve the final piece. PLEASE, don't leave it to the final weekend. If you spend an hour or so each week starting to draft up sections, it will flow beautifully when you sit for a solid length of time to pull it all together.
I hope this has calmed down any student who is concerned. Well done for being conscientious about wanting to produce a report masterpiece and raising your concerns with fellow students.
Regards to you all,
Karen (Unit Coordinator) Bentley campus
Your placement at Universal sounds amazing and I am really enjoying your posts!
The variety of industries everyone has been placed in is great and as I am in the not-for-profit industry working for an educational-based organisation, its really insightful reading about your time in a very different industry.
In regards to the final report, it sounds like your very much on track for the first part which I interpreted as describing the industry, the role of PR in the business, your role, and the challenges (SWOT) faced by not only the industry but your company and your role as well.
Before I start the 'meaty' part of the report I am going to go over all the journal articles from PR Corporate (as well as research others) and do a lot of brainstorming to work out which topics will relate best to my organisation's situation. Although, in saying this I haven't started my final report yet so my way of approaching it step by step may change!
All the best and I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Charlotte
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