EMBRACING THE INDUSTRY
Good day everyone and welcome to my second post about my journey with Perth Fashion Festival (PFF). My first event with this organization was the Western Australian Fashion Awards (WAFA's). Dubbed as the Oscars of the WA Fashion industry, it was the second biggest event run by the Festival. The event saw fashion designers, stylists, models and bloggers acknowledged for their contribution to the growing fashion industry in Perth. However, it can get chaotic behind the curtains when office staff and volunteers work vigorously to pull various resources together and make 'last minute' phone calls. This is a critical time in the build up leading towards an event and as an intern, it was my role to be a team player. It is important to understand that it is not about standing out as an individual but your contribution towards making the event a success. "The key point is that the idea of 'team' implies collaboration between 'players' or members to undertake a task." (Knights, 2007). With this in mind, my task was primarily to help any staff at PFF with various tasks including but not limited to packing 'goodie' bags to setting up the event space.The glamorous side of the fashion industry takes place on the runway and ultimately ends there. This experience has taught me to embrace and merge elements of event management, public relations and marketing. As graduates who are about to embark on a journey within the working environment, we must realize that elements as mentioned previously have to learn how to co-exist. Being able to multitask is only part of the challenge. "Public relations and marketing are distinct yet overlapping fields" (Smith 2005, 4). Smith (2005, 4) goes on to explain that each discipline has its own focus and a particular role within an organization.
Most of the elements building up the WAFA's within these disciplines happened prior to my involvement with PFF. Doing your research and being quick on your feet are key factors to being a good team player. During my course of internship at PFF, I found myself researching various tips on how to be a good intern. Albeit ridiculous (on occasions), the things I typed out in search engines like 'how to be a good intern' led me to websites like 'Internweb.com.' I came across strategy #2 which explained the importance of going 'above and beyond' (Internweb 2013). It is essentially about pleasing your supervisor but more importantly, it is showing an initiative that you are willing to go the extra mile in anything that you do. Your sincerity and enthusiasm will be the driving factor of making you stand out in the sea of interns.
The things you read in the form of theory will eventually materialize in front of you in the form of practical experience. As I am sure the rest of you reading are also in the same shoes, I look forward to hearing from everyone!
Below is the link to the WAFA's and some personal snaps from my phone I managed to capture before and during the event.
At the end of the day, the event was a success and being a part of something so monumental was a thrilling and inspiring experience.
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| Brookfield Place being set up for the WAFA's |
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| Full house at the WAFA's |
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| Mariella Harvey-Hanrahan Founding Director of PFF |
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| Lisa Scaffidi The Lord Mayor of Perth giving the closing speech |
For more information on the extravagant Fashion Awards and coverage of the event, click on the following links: http://www.perthfashionfestival.com.au/_blog/PAGES/post/Western_Australian_Fashion_Awards
Until the next post, this is Dhiva.
Keep your chins up and skin tough.
Dhivashini. T (Dhiva)
16106648
Curtin, Bentley
Keep your chins up and skin tough.
Dhivashini. T (Dhiva)
16106648
Curtin, Bentley
References
1. Knights, David, and Willmott, Hugh. 2007. Introducing organizational behaviour and management. London: Thomson Learning.
2. Smith, Ronald. 2005. Strategic Planning for Public Relations. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
3. Top Five Strategies for Making the Most of Your Internship (Part 1), Internweb. 2013. Acessed May 20th http://www.internweb.com/make-the-most-of-your-internship/.
1 comment:
Hello Dhivashini,
Thanks for your comment upon my blog post and this blog post of yours is really great as it gives a clear picture of how this event is actually happening, like you said it is not about standing out as an individual but your contribution towards making the event a success.
As you mention so well, that this experience of yours has helped you to gain an insight about not only Public Relations but also events management and marketing. I would like to share my view point upon how Public Relations Practitioners make effective use of events managements as it falls under the PR activities to create and enhance brand image.
At MarCom Co Ltd where I was on my internship program, I have been able to observe that they do use this tool of events management to enhance brand image and add more credibility to the reputation of The British American Investment Group for which MarCom Co Ltd is the organisation responsible for the media and communication process.
What they did was to organise an event namely a unique show with famous humorist Jamel Debbouze with the aim to enhance the brand image of British American Investment Group as well as providing some kind of entertainment to one of its stakeholder which are consumers that is the general public.
This strategy demonstrated that they do value their stakeholders and it is also public interest that matters.
Till thanks again for describing your superb experience within the fashion industry at Perth.
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