Busy Times

Hey everyone, I’m Mel. I started working at TriEvents as a part of my prac work a while ago (64 days to be exact), but life has been so full on that this is my first blog! TriEvents is an Events Management company in Osborne Park which I became involved with through a contact who is a major organiser of the Rottnest Channel Swim.

On the first day of my prac, I walked up some stairs in a hidden building on Hutton Street, took a seat in the waiting room and was brought into the office; a small room with five desks for the staff and another three rooms with an office for each of the Event Co-ordinaters.

I walked into the room, saying a friendly hello to those already at work (I hate being late to places so I was super early for this one!), and I was greeted with a very quiet 'hi' from one of the workers. After briefly meeting my supervisor, I was put to work: “Mel, can you ring every school in Perth on this list and ask if the Physical Education Department is keen to get any students involved in the HBF Bike Hike for Asthma?” From this moment, I understood what previous Public Relations prac students had meant when they said I’d be given the repetitive, far-from-exciting jobs that no on realllly wanted to do but someone had to do. I was given a desk, a phone and a script and off I went, calling over 100 schools in my bid to recruit participants for one of TriEvents’ most well known events! Although I was tired of repetition by the end of that task, I was sent off to bag race bibs, participant numbers and timers for participants in the following weekends’ Hillary’s Womens 2XU Triathlon Event.
I have included a link for you all in case you feel like perusing the site and checking out this event!
http://www.womenstriathlon.com.au/

Anyway, following my first day of prac I was given tasks for my next two days of work (My supervisor and I had planned for me to come in to the office twice a week). I really enjoy the fact that Events Management means everything is well-organised and planned as I am a planner from way back! I arrived at Nodes Park in Hillary’s at 12pm on Saturday 5th March, where participants in the triathlon (to take place the following day) would be coming to pick up their registration packs. This was the day I begun to get a feel of the enormity of preparation that goes into events that aren’t even particularly well-known. The following day I was at Nodes Park at 5.40am (early, as usual), ready for a full day of handing medals to race participants and registering last-minute participants. The event was great fun and the satisfaction on the faces of participants when they crossed that finish line was incredibly rewarding to watch – pity I could never be bothered to actually participate in one!!

The event was over and I was back in the office the following Tuesday, where I found myself focusing my attention back to my list of schools and the HBF Bike Hike for Asthma which was to be held on Sunday 20th March. I emailed every school and then rang them to check they received my email and by this time I had definitely had enough of repeating my script over and over!
From my first week at prac, I learnt that regardless of how small the work I was being given was, I was learning so much more than what I had been learning in class. I know my prac was more on the Events Management side of things rather than PR, but it was really interesting to get an idea of the work that is put in that goes relatively unnoticed on the day of an event. I enjoyed my first week of prac and actually looked forward to coming back the next week!
An update on how the following week went is to come…
Hope you have all enjoyed your prac experiences
Mel