Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pasar Malam-A foodie's paradise


So Friday was the big day, Pasar Malam. It's the Guild's second biggest event of the year (the first being O-Day) and we expected crowds of over 6,000 people.

As I have outlined previously as it was meant to be organised mainly by a group of volunteer students sometimes important things can be overlooked. One such thing was the VIPs.

Reece, the manager of the Member Benefits department gave me a budget and told me to organise a VIP event for Pasar Malam to invite sponsors and people from the university.

As it was only a couple of days out from the event I had to get straight on it. Fortunately I found an old invitation saved on my computer which I modified and emailed out to all relevant VIPs.

I then went to the tavern and organised with them to have a section of the beer garden reserved for the VIPs and ordered some platters from the head chef.

The morning of Pasar Malam I made badges for each of the VIPs that outlined their name, their position and whichever company they were from.

After that the rest of my day was spent with Mia our marketing and events coordinator running around doing all the usual events bits and pieced that can easily get overlooked.

These included; hi visibility vests as food vans were getting moved around campus, water bottles for volunteers, fire blankets as food would be cooking and water containers with buckets for hand washing facilities.

Throughout this year working in PR and events I've come to learn that it is the little things like this that are so easy to forget, yet so necessary. Remembering these things comes down to practical experience in the industry, which is why this internship is so necessary. However, if you are new to events my advice would always be write a comprehensive list so you can't forget anything!

The VIP part of the event, as well as the events as a whole went really smoothly. It had a real night market feel to it and attracted a lot of people and families from the suburbs surrounding Curtin which was really good to see.

The entertainment was popular as well and feedback from all of the VIPs was fantastic. A lot of work went into this event but when you see what we suspect was around 7,000 people enjoying an event and the good PR that generates for your organisation it is worth it.

Shauna Upton
14278422
Curtin Bentley


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