Perth Pet Expo (Please come!)

Event Planning

During my internship, we have been planning two huge events: The Brian Gardner Pink Ribbon Ball (which I'll talk about in my next post) and the Silver Pet Prints Perth Pet Expo.

2015 Perth Pet Expo

When I commenced my internship, the planning for the expo was only in the early-mid stages of planning, so it was fantastic gaining experience seeing an event being planned from beginning and being able to see it through to the end. It’s on the 7^th and 8^th of November at the Claremont Showgrounds if anyone is interested!

One of the main responsibilities I have is sourcing potential exhibitors, contacting them and liaising with interested parties. This aspect of event planning has made me really hone my communication skills. Crafting an email to entice potential sponsors was surprisingly hard!

I am a person that tends to be quite verbose (which is a kinder way of saying I waffle). My internship mentor is adamant that attention has to be caught in five seconds or you’ve lost the audience.

Honing my writing skills to craft short but attention grabbing communications has been a great learning experience, and I believe it will serve me well in the future, especially in a world where Twitter is becoming increasingly important and influential. I have learned to not be afraid to get straight to the point- in some cases the less that is said, the higher the impact.

Another lesson I have learned in trying to find exhibitors is how to be persuasive, and to not be afraid to be assertive. I am a person that is afraid to appear “pushy” and often err on the side of leaving people alone. In sourcing exhibitors we have been consistent at keeping potential candidates updated on a regular basis, even if we haven’t heard back from them. I had to understand that people are busy, and people forget, so a polite, quick reminded every few weeks isn't too much of a big deal. Persistence pays off, we have twice the amount of exhibitors compared to last year!

We’re only 3 weeks out from the expo now, so a lot of work is focused on promoting the expo. My tasks recently have been writing small amounts of copy that appear in The West Australian, crafting newsletters (which has involved learning the ropes on Mail Chimp, which I’ll discuss in a later blog), and distributing promotional material like free passes and flyers to our contacts.

I’m excited to see how all the work pays off in a few weeks! If you’d like to learn more about the event, there’s more information here and here.

Also, here's a video from last year's event :)