At this point I have clocked in a
decent amount of days into my internship. My interactions with Dian have gotten
more real than before (real in the sense that she has now grown comfortable when
required to scold me due to my mistakes in the workplace), and I am getting
more and more used to the daily workload given to me. The daily responsibilities
that she has given to me consist of Media Monitoring/Watch, making Press
Releases (in English and Indonesian), Media interaction (e.g. inviting the
Media to Martha Tilaar events, discoursing press releases, etc), article
translations, and many more. So far the only problem I have been having is
making Press Releases in Indonesian. Even though Bahasa Indonesia is my mother tongue,
I was taught how to make Press Releases in LUCT in the English language. Dian
keeps on telling me to practice making Press Releases in Bahasa Indonesia as
this was crucial to the PR industry in Indonesia. In the meantime though, I’ll
just have to continue making my press releases in English first, and then translating
it to Indonesian. Other than my dailies, there were events outside the office,
but I have yet to experience what a PR outing is like.
That is, until Edward Hutarabat
stepped in.
Edward Hutabarat is an Indonesian
famous batik designer. With numerous fashion shows and collections to his name,
he is considered one of the forefronts of batik designers. His collective goal
as a fashion designer is to make batik an everyday type of clothing (whereas
today, it is somewhat considered as a formal outfit). To commemorate his
glowing achievements over the course of 30 years, his fashion show entitled ‘Reflection’
showcased 100 of his newest collection of batik wear. Where does Martha Tilaar
fit in all this? One of Martha Tilaar’s sub-companies, Sariayu, has provided
the make-up for all the models that are taking to the runway. This was to
become my first PR outing.
The event itself was great. Good
atmosphere, a lot of media were present (which should mean a lot of coverage),
free food, and beautiful women. But I myself did not perform like a real PR
Professional. I tried to blend and gather as much information as possible, but it
was definitely not my best performance. A couple of problems arose when I was
at the event. One of them happened before the show even started. In the
beginning, before the fashion show, I was caught off-guard by the event itself
that I didn’t do what PR Professionals do best: socialize. Dian was quite cross
with me saying that even though it was my first event, it was a huge loss not
to socialize and mingle with the media representatives.
Live and learn. Definitely one of
the biggest lessons from this event was my lack of socializing skills. Knowing
that this is my career path, it is the job description to be able to establish
communication wherever and whenever with whoever.
After the event, Dian asked me to
Media Monitor any coverage mentioning the event and Martha Tilaar Sariayu.
This is definitely one of the highlights
of my internship. And yes, those beautiful women on the runway really helped it
make a highlight.
Pramudia Freddy Gurning
LUCT Campus
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