Good day everyone and welcome to my first long overdue post. My name is Dhivashini but you can call me Dhiva. Having done my internship for a while now, calling my ordeal up's and down's would be an undeserved understatement. My journey albeit not being so unique in most eyes, was definitely a life-changing one in mine. My journey takes place in Perth, Australia.
As a fashion enthusiast, I have steered clear from desires of being a fashion designer long since and decided to be more realistic with my dreams. I construct action plans not garments. So I come to Perth - a place I have now come to call home. I was inspired by the change of scene and it pushed me to pursue my once latent dreams. The humble beginnings of my pursuit towards the fashion world begins at Perth Fashion Festival (PFF). Originally from Malaysia, working in a fast-paced, non-profit environment in a different country was definitely an experience I needed.
My hunt for a Public Relations post in Fashion proved to be quite challenging as it is still a growing field in Perth. I was excited such a prospect was being discussed more in this part of town. I was assigned to be an intern under the Sponsorship and Business Development department of Perth Fashion Festival. My first thought was this does not sound like the Public Relations that I know but I was about to learn how a non-profit organisation involves bits and bobs of basically everything we have learnt in class and beyond.
A large scope of my work involves assisting the Sponsorship and Business Development Manager in the writing and basic designing of sponsorship proposals. It also involves a lot of editing with sponsorship contracts and researching for prospective contracts.
This department also strives on one of the key Public Relations tasks we learn - RESEARCH, RESEARCH and more RESEARCH. This was heavily applied on one of my first tasks which was researching for the Windows of the City competition hosted by PFF every year where retailers in Perth City put their best foot forward and decorate their display windows. This project, heavily influenced by British retail giants like Harrods and Selfridges aim to get shoppers in Perth excited about the prospect of direct and face-to-face shopping Perth. I was told to research window displays all over the world to see what had been done before and what can be done to get retailers around Perth on board for the competition this year. This immediately took me back to one of my PR tutorials where we were told to look at best practice principles or examples when conducting our research.
That was the beginning of my PFF journey. I spent two full days researching some of the most artistic and creative window displays but then I remembered something that we were told in class countless number of times. It can take you a few weeks or even months doing research but it only takes us a a few hours to actually write the research down. It was a PR epiphany in the middle of the afternoon and it taught me that research was important to provide you with foundation. Essentially, Public Relations has everything to do with solid foundation. Good quality apart from being presented on time also involves succinct and strong research. This is a key factor that PFF strives to uphold in every piece of work.
Until the next post, this is Dhiva.
Keep your chins up and skin tough.
Dhivashini. T (Dhiva)
16106648
Curtin, Bentley
3 comments:
Research is really a key to doing well in public relations. I also had a lot of research to do before I was allowed to work with clients and do pitches. Really a pain when doing it, however after it has been done and over, it feels really good having the source of knowledge at your fingertips and knowing how it has empowered you. Doing research also boosts your own confidence to a certain extent, especially when there is a need to showcase.
Congratulations in accquiring an internship at PFF I'm sure you're over the moon! There are so many people applying to get an intern there. And yes I absolutely agree with you! Research is absolutely VITAL in every PR company. I could not further emphasise that. I am currenly in the midst of my internship and before we start any new projects we were ask to do a general research about it, and then do a further research after getting the details. You do not want to write or organise an event on something you barely understand. You would want to know everything at the tip of your fingers before starting anything. Another key point that I also learnt in my internship that it is so important to always RE-CHECK at least 4 times before publishing and posting something online or anywhere that the public is expose to it. Because once it goes to the public you can't do anything! Especially if you had spelling mistakes and the quotes pulled were not re-checked with the interviewee. Any spelling mistakes or any misinterpretations in any publish materials will give a bad name in the PR department in the company and also company reputation. PR is more than just what most people think the 'glamourous job' behind the scenes I think that PR team is the one who works on all publication that is published internally and externally and also all the organising of the events and chasing up clients for information. The PR team gets send hundreds of stories in a week and before starting on writing a story the team needs to do all the research before going ahead with it. Research is a norm and a daily routine that most PR consultants do before a kick start to their busy day!
Hi Dhiva, Kat here. An interesting placement you have going for your internship. I agree with you when our lecturers really did emphasize that research is crucial. Same goes with my placement as well, it is very important to research to have a deeper understanding of how the ideas all goes together when either writing a media release or a newsletter.By conducting research would also help to avoid any misleading information and data. Any errors would result in a public relations disaster and it is safe to say that none of us as public relations interns would want that to happen. Congratulations on interning for your working placement, good job and all the best for your future tasks ahead.
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