Hello
everyone! I am back after a busy week at Fortis Clinique Darné (FCD). Last week
I had the chance to be part of two different events. I also found out that events are fun to plan but
they are definitely hectic as well. However, as said by Dr Graeme Edwards “It's
not the plan that is important, it's the planning” and thanks to PR 393 I was
able to help in planning those two different events.
The first event was on the 4th August and it was organised on the occasion of the International Breastfeeding Week (1st -7th August). The event was sponsored by Milupa a famous company which sells baby foods. Actually,
it was a talk made by Dr Francois Leung (Paediatrician) alongside with a nutritionist and both worked at Fortis Clinique Darné itself. The talk was
entitled ‘Breastfeeding- Winning Goal For Life’ and its objective was to
educate mothers about breastfeeding and its importance.
For
this event I had the opportunity to show the PR skills I have learned in my PR
classes. My mentor asked me to draft a press release and to draft an invitation
letter to the media for media coverage which I managed to do accordingly. After
that I had to call the journalists to whom we have sent the media
coverage invitation so as to be sure of their presence for the event. However, I must say
this task was quite time consuming since the journalists were either busy or
simply have different contact numbers. But, once again I did complete my task on time
and few journalists did eventually attend the talk. While, doing this task I
have learned that patience is an important skill that a PR person must have because
sometime it is really difficult to deal with journalists since they are busy people as well.
Then
on the 9th August there was the 7th edition of Ferney
Trail and Fortis Clinique Darné was one of the partners along with many other
different organisations. Fortis Clinique Darné was responsible for the health status of the participants. There were two base camps where medical treatments were
being offered by the FCD’s staffs. In one of the camp there was medical treatments which were being provided by doctors and nurses to all those who had been injured during the race and there was
also a standby ambulance in case of emergencies. While in the second camp, massages were being provided to the participants by the kinesitherapy unit of FCD as shown below:
 |
| Kinesitherapy Camp |
So
basically what I have learned from the Ferney Trail event was that team spirit and team bonding is an important element no matter what task you were given to perform. However,
I did not have much responsibility for this one but I understood without a well-coordinated
team, planning an event is quite impossible. But, eventually both events turned out to be a success and I am grateful that I was a part of them both.
I hope in the coming days of my placement I will be able to share more and more interesting things with you all.
Chashanee
5 comments:
Hello Chashanee,
It's so fun that you got to work on an event. As you say, it can be hectic but once you're done you can look back with pride at what you accomplished.
Being organized ahead of time is definitely the key to a successful event. Do you remember the charts we made over and over again in class to assign tasks to different people, and the date it should be completed next to it? I hope you used this.
Where I am doing my internship they do not necessarily use this system and I really think it can make a difference and avoid confusion and last minute rushing.
Good luck with your journey!
Sasha-Lee
Hi Chashanee,
I found your post to be very insightful about the importance of a well-coordinated team, planning and patience in PR.
As PR practitioners, patience and planning often go hand in hand due to being dependent on outside stakeholders such as clients, the media and so on. So when we plan, we must take into consideration such things as how long will it take to speak to journalists due to their busy schedules and how many will actually attend. This is obviously something you have already experienced firsthand. I too, have quickly learnt this after trying to find members of the public who were willing to be interviewed for a press release. What I predicted to take an hour or so ended up taking up most of the day.
In addition, often communication is seen as the most important skill in PR, however without patience and planning, things can quickly fall apart. Team spirit and coordination is also just as important as a divided team can often be viewed as a weakness by clients and other stakeholders.
I have included a few links below that I found to be an interesting read about these PR topics. The first link is about patience and the second link is about the importance of planning in PR.
http://www.ereleases.com/prfuel/what-it-takes-to-be-a-pr-person/
http://www.slideshare.net/conradcommunications/public-relations-planning
I hope you enjoy the rest of your internship!
Sophie
Hi Sasha-Lee,
Thank you for reading my post!
Yes it was fun to work on the events and yes I did used the charts as a reference. Actually, FCD assigns different tasks to different people the same way we learned in class. So I was much at ease to understand how the events are being organised.
Well I hope I get to share more interesting post in the coming days.
Regards,
Chashanee
Hello Sophie,
Thank you very much for reading my post!
I totally agree with you that patience and planning often go hand in hand. But, as PR practitioners we need to manage both if we want to complete our task successfully. And yes a divided team is clearly seen by anyone so team spirit and coordination are important elements that a team should have.
Thank you for those interesting readings on patience and the importance of planning in PR. I am sure they will help me in being more patience when it comes to planning.
I hope to share more insightful post in the future.
Regards,
Chashanee
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