Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Coffee with a Cause - A new spin on PR & Charity events

Throughout my studies of PR at university, I had a fair knowledge that a lot of work and preparation goes into event planning. However, when theory turns into real life practice, only then did I realize how much effort is really required to run a successful charity event. More specifically, one that reaches its donation goal and increases awareness for said organization (Cancer Support WA).
The PR/events/marketing team is extremely busy working on their “Meeting of The Minds – Coffee for a cause” event. For those of you who aren’t aware, it’s a cocktail party and celebrity auction occurring in June to raise funds and awareness for Cancer Support WA.

I was assigned the task of searching for potential alcohol sponsors for the event. We were lucky enough to gain sponsorship from Amelia Park Wines in Margaret River. In addition to this, I researched numerous FREE WA news and event sites, who we could potentially target with promotional material for Meeting of The Minds (ie: ticket giveaways, media releases).

I placed all potential contacts on a professional excel list and sent it to our Marketing Coordinator, Lisa. I look forward to potentially writing media releases or distributing PR material throughout Perth.

If you click the link below, you will find the official CSWA Facebook page. There will be a promotional video for the event starring Channel 10 news reporter Narelda Jacobs
This week I travelled through the suburbs of Cottesloe, Claremont, Subiaco, Leederville, Mt Lawley and Perth City, distributing flyers to companies for our upcoming event: “Meeting of the Minds- Coffee for a Cause.” I was accompanied by a fellow CSWA PR/marketing volunteer, Lauren.
The main companies that expressed the highest interest in this event were cafes (particularly with trade free coffee) and health food stores, as their companies are based primarily on health and wellbeing. We successfully handed out all of the flyers. This was good experience for me as I was given the opportunity to revert to “traditional” PR techniques, minus the use of modern technology.

It definitely reinforced in my mind the importance of communication skills, networking and maintaining strong professional relationships with clients/stakeholders.  

Natasha Scekic 15498315 

1 comment:

Brooke14856792 said...

This is a great post, Natasha. I am also currently helping my internship company (the Wilderness Society WA) to prepare for an event they are hosting in June. Coffee with a Cause sounds like a fantastic event and it was really interesting to hear about the work you've been doing to help for it. :)