Starting out with a Bang!

This blog post was done on September 28, 2012.

Hello fellow interns!

I hope you all have enjoyed a fulfilling and worthwhile internship. I certainly did!

I am Li Xian, but most people call me Lix. I am currently a final year student at Curtin University in Singapore, pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing and Public Relations.

I have been an intern at Havas Worldwide Siren, formerly known as Euro RSCG Siren, for the past two and a half months.

For those who are unfamiliar with Havas Worldwide Siren, it is an integrated public relations consultancy which operates under the Havas Creative Brand, Havas Worldwide.

Based in Singapore, Havas Worldwide Siren operates in collaboration with its associate public relations partners in South-East Asia. It focuses on brand reputation, earned media channels and influential communication.

Because Siren is a relatively small PR firm with no more than ten staff, I was fortunate to be able to get involved in almost everything they do – right from the start of my internship.

In fact, in my first week there, I was literally thrown into the deep end when I was brought along to a client meeting. (Most interns, as you know, probably spend their internship scanning newspapers for media monitoring and updating media contact lists.)

In my first month at Siren, I was mostly involved in the preparation for code::XtremeApps:: 2012 Junior Category Programming Competition which was held at Maris Stella High School. This was a competition catered to children under 11 years of age. The participating teams from different schools had to create their own fun and creative games, stories or applications using 'Scratch' software to help the elderly connect with the younger generation. 

This must have worked out quite well as I was appointed assistant project manager for the second part of the competition – code::XtremeApps:: 2012 Open Category Programming Competition, held at Singapore Management University. My input here included crafting information kits, planning the programme schedule and making sure everything was in place at the venue. For this project, my colleagues and I worked many late nights and burned two whole weekends.

Apart from this, my job scope at Siren included assisting project team leaders in programme executions, identifying and securing editorial opportunities and assisting in social content management. I even got to facilitate two media interviews!

It has been an exhilarating albeit tiring and often at times, stressful experience. I realise that working in a PR agency is hectic but also quite a lot of fun. It is very rewarding to see the events that you have hosted featured in the media and knowing that your pitches and relentless emails and calls to them have been fruitful. And I know that what I have learnt so far during my internship at Siren will stand me in good stead for a future in PR.

Stay tuned for more insights from this stressed out intern!

Li Xian Seow

15135214

Curtin Singapore