Network Ahead!

One of my earliest memories as a young Curtin PR student back in 2010 was my tutors fervor in ensuring we learnt how to 'network, network, network!'

I remember thinking back at how tedious this "networking" business sounded and my head swam with visions of suited men and women discussing topics beyond my realm of first year knowledge. 

This may have attributed to my severe lack of networking experience until I started my work at my current job/internship placement at the not-for-profit organisation MWLP in Campbelltown, NSW.

I was to learn (and quite quickly at that) the power and significance of networking for the not-for-profit. For many NFP organisations the budget left over for marketing and communications can be small and it is the role of the person in charge to try to stretch this as much as they can.
Networking is a budget saving and personal way a NFP can work to circulate their brand within the community at a fraction of the cost! Business owners and professionals will often take a keen interest in hearing what you do and if dome right, remember your name (and hopefully your organisation) in the future.
Moreover, networking is that perfect opportunity to make industry contacts and meet with people who represent organisations you may want (or need) further contact with in the future.
When offering forward a proposal, having that personal contact with a person can be invaluable, particularly in the case of a NFP seeking something in return.

I am proud to say that to this date I have hosted over 40 networking events and have attended just a many, if not more. The contacts and relationships I have made and maintained during these events has been invaluable to me personally and professionally and my trepidation for these types of events is a thing of the past. 

A Bitter-Sweet End?

My lost blog contribution. My last assignment. My last stressful week until the next one.

I want to say that I am overjoyed, but I am actually emotionally and mentally exhausted. Never-the-less, we made it - just. So to anyone reading this, best of luck. Don't forget your struggles, because without them, overcoming the challenge would not last as sweet. What did I learn from all of this? Well believe it or not, I actually only just learned the basics of PR. Again. 

What is Public Relations? Communication + Engagement + Trust. The best part, was that I got to see what PR looks like in real life - executed by people that come from non-PR backgrounds. I'm telling you, I was mind blown. My only regret from this experience is not having taken more risks. Until we cross paths again, take care and good luck. 

May your hours of sleep be long.

-Michelle

Always Leave them Wanting More

Back to where it all began

It's that time of the year again when exams approach and everyone's stressed. And it's also the time when semester is ending; along with my internship. Oh, what an experience that was at Momentum Forum Events. Cannot believe it has been over 20 weeks already! Since the internship experience is coming to an end, I thought I'd reflect on what was and what there is to look forward to in the future (I'll also pepper some useful articles here and there for you to read).

Lanyards Galore 
In preparation for the Perth Pet Expo there have been a lot of arts and crafts going on in the office, the floor turning into a litter bug for double-sided sticky tape scraps and cardboard signs. The table was hidden under a blanket of lanyards, loose pieces of paper and smelly plastic sleeves. It was great to be more hands-on involved. I didn’t use my laptop once! It will be a great experience I'm sure to be a volunteer at the Expo, and to be surrounded by all sorts of animals. 

And this was only one out of three piles!

The (Intern)ship has Sailed
As the Expo nears (it’s this weekend!) so, too, does the end of the internship. It has been an interesting experience doing the placement at Momentum; an events management company that is so different from the standard event planners you all might be familiar with. Instead of running events for clients, they continue to organise their own signature events for charitable causes and always look to raise awareness. Thinking about the report that I’m writing now on Momentum and how the role of PR is defined within it, I also start to retrospectively wonder about the things I learned. Let me know what you did too, and what you did differently.

There are many ways to be a good intern, as there are also many ways to stand out as an intern. Before undertaking mine I read some articles about what others out there say is the key to doing well at your internship, and whether I had similar ideas. This article makes many credible points, but one of them stood out to me; ‘keeping tabs on your accomplishments’. Analysing your own performance is important as much as analysing the corporate environment you’re in. That’s why through writing these blogs, we are all able to reflect on our own performance and gain insights into how we see ourselves as interns, as well as how our colleagues see us. 

This is something important to remember when it's time to give presentations! Many people don't like them, and then there are those that go on TED talks and let us in on the art of great communications. We are told many tips to relax and remember to stick to the points. But for me, it all comes back to good preparation to calm the nerves. Take the time to organise your thoughts, what you want to say, why it is relevant, and determine the best flow. If you have other tips, share them below! 

I remember a lot of late days and tired but happy eyes. At the end of a productive day I would think about what I've learned that day, and what I could improve on next time. Yet after a while of this routine, along with more assignments and the usual stress of a uni student, I began to feel the burn. Burnout is something you think you don't have time for, yet this can be a real eye-opener: it forces you to prioritise. This exhausting insight can help challenge the way we think about our habits and what we consider to be a 'busy' versus 'productive' use of our time.  

Connecting the Dots

The world of PR was elusive at first; so general and broad - oh, the roads you could travel. The internship gave me valuable experience to navigate these paths and provided insight into which road I'd like to travel some day. It enabled me to be mentored by a seasoned professional and get to be part of a great team. But most of all it exposed me to 'the real world' and connect the dots between what I've learnt at uni, and the difference between applying that theory and at many times realising that theories can only get you so far before you have to get creative. 

As the time draws to a close of being an intern at Momentum, there is one key thing I want to bring up. There have been so many cases in which interns don’t treat their placement like a ‘real’ job. It’s disappointing to find this reality, because internships give you the opportunity to gain a foothold to start your career. First impressions count, but your ongoing attitude is what employers remember. And if your attitude is to look at a placement as a short-term activity without viewing the long-term possibilities holistically, then it’s time to start connecting those dots.

 

That's the interesting part about going out there and finding internships that allow you the opportunity to grow your skill set and take on new challenges. I hope you all had a wonderful time at your internships, for those who are finishing up at the end of semester too, and are looking forward to the next chapter in your PR careers! 

Wishing you all the best, 

Ewelina 

I Made It!!!

This week is the last week of my internship, it is so crazy to think how quickly the time has flown! My 20 days at Professional Public Relations has come to an end and it has been an amazing opportunity. In this final blog post I’m going to reflect on my time here at PPR and the things that I have learnt.

My first few days at PPR were a little scary. I’d never worked in an office/corporate environment before and wasn’t sure of my place in the firm. I tried not to get in the way of what people were doing too much and I wasn’t sure of how to approach people to ask for work. Fast forward 20 days and I’m super comfortable here now and have settled into the organisation well.

This internship has definitely been a big change for me. I haven’t done a lot of full time work over the course of my time in employment, so having to be up and in the office by 9am everyday was a change in itself. Combine that with my lack of experience in a corporate setting and the fact that I haven’t had to use the knowledge I’ve learnt at uni thus far for anything other than exams, it shows how much progress I needed to make at the start of the internship. But I’m here! And I made it! J

I somewhat expected all of the work I had learnt over the course of my degree to be in the back of my head ready for me to just pull out at any moment when I needed to, but it wasn’t like that at all! I definitely had to relearn a few things, and for some of the things I could remember I needed to increase the level of standards from what I had learnt. There were a few occasions where I needed to redo some of the work to increase the standard, but the best way to learn is by learning from your mistakes!

I would definitely recommend doing an internship to other people who haven’t done one yet, as it provides an insight into the kind of work you’re going to be doing if you pursue a career in that field and gives you some experience being in that setting. It’s crazy how much difference it can make by doing a few weeks of interning, both to your knowledge of the industry and also to your confidence.

Holly Armstrong

18022908

Assumptions: How They Ruin Everything

And increase your chances of being wrong by about 100%

If you think you have asked enough questions, ask some more. Here is the story of my PR plan: After a heavy brainstorming session, I established that we could achieve the business objective by targeting five key demographic groups. It didn't take long for me to realise that this was far too ambitious. 

I had experienced a serious information overload, which admittedly over-complicated my thoughts and slowed me down a lot. I then decided to slim it down to three target stakeholder groups by asking my supervisor to clarify which three of the five groups, should take priority. Once I had my answer, I had to establish which ONE sub-group to target within each main demographic group. I started visiting the Australian Bureau of Statistics and a handful of Government websites to determine which group demanded the most social assistance. After spending several days researching, I presented my plan to my Supervisor. To my disappointment, I had made the mistake of assuming that strong research automatically means "I am right about whatever I decide."

Although I had based my decisions on credible sources - my research was made redundant by the fact that we already had existing relationships with two of the three key demographic groups and organisations which I had researched and selected to be targeted. #DANGIT. The hard lesson for me, was that despite how much it has been drilled into me, research is not always everything. In the end, I could only blame myself for not asking more questions, before endeavouring to immerse myself in time-consuming research. As a consequence, I have to redo the best part of a 2500 hard-earnt word count.

The Moral of the Story, is ask questions even when you think you are on the right track. Ask questions especially when you are certain that you know what you are doing, because if you don't - there is a solid chance that you are already doing something wrong.


Hope you don't make the same mistake.

- Mivalaa

My Last Words - 10 lessons learnt

So, the day has come to write my final blog.

Here are 10 lessons I learnt during my time at AIME. (Some of these are not related to PR, but is the wisdom shared to me from my colleagues).

1. Events can be very stressful and do not always go to plan. However, a good team will use what is available and pull it all together. So, make sure you have a good team, a team you can rely on and a team that is hard working.
 
2. Supervisors want you to ask questions. That is what they are there for. Therefore, use this opportunity to gain as much knowledge and experience as you can. 
 
3. If a program changes, make sure you redesign the posters and program flyers. No one likes to be misled when they think Shannon Noel is coming and he doesn’t show. 

 
4. Wisdom granted from a colleague: You cannot classify people simply as introvert or extrovert, sometimes you meet people who are both.
 
5. Always be culturally sensitive and broaden your knowledge on culture. Whether this means travelling, talking to people or taking classes. It is so vital to have an understanding about culture and cultural communities. 
 
6. Public Relations is not black and white. Just from reading the blogs by my classmates, it is evident that PR comes in many forms. This has been a great learning point, and makes this career path just a little more exciting.
 
7. When creating an event, you almost need a headliner act or a well-known personality to attract the numbers. Especially with a new event such as KiNDLiNG, I think it would have been beneficial to have had a headliner to entice a larger audience. I believe that was the initial idea, however to book a headliner, planning must be done well in advance.

8. Which leads me to advice number 8. When holding an event, it is especially important to start planning months and months before the date. This can be easier said than done with regular office and PR duties still in the mix. Prioritising your time to ensure planning is started well ahead is one issue. The other issue is having the organisation understand fully the role of PR. Especially in a non-for-profit, colleagues must be on board to realise how important an event can be in achieving objectives and raising necessary funds. 
 
9. Even though we learn to be professional in our email etiquette and media releases, sometimes an organisation will not want you to be so formal. On my first few takes of an email I was told not to be strict with my formal or professional language. Be polite yes, and write proper English yes, but take on the personality of AIME. I found this quite hard to adjust to, as email etiquette and professionalism when communicating with stakeholders has been a focal point of the PR degree. It was very unorthodox to be asked to use slang and write with a ‘chilled’ and ‘fun’ tone when liaising with potential sponsors. I suppose it gives the recipient a real picture of the organisation and the exciting and upbeat one that AIME is. 
 
10. The final lesson… What you study at university is not necessarily what you will end up doing. It is best to broaden your experiences and take on opportunities when they arise. You never know where they will lead or what doors they will open. 

I am so grateful for my time at AIME and have enjoyed almost every part (maybe not the stress). It has been a learning experience and has given me a taste of the ‘real’ world. 6.30am wake ups, long days, and busy schedules… maybe we should all do a postgrad degree ;)

All the best with the reports,

Libby

The key to success

As we prepare ourselves for our final week/s of our placements, we shouldn’t consider this as the end, but as the beginning of a very challenging and rewarding career. The conclusion of our internships, and for many of us our degrees, is not the closing of one door and the opening of another. Rather, it is the key that enables us to unlock the door to our future career.

I truly believe that the knowledge and skills I have developed over the past 15 or so weeks have provided me with a solid foundation as a PR professional. I now have a taste of what the real world is like, and I can’t wait to get the full experience. I now have a strong ability to work independently and take initiative, I have developed my interpersonal skills as well as got a tremendous amount of writing practice. 

One of the most rewarding outcomes of my internship is establishing a connection between theory and practice. I’m sure I am not the only one who has found that some things are exactly like what we learn at university, but often best practice isn’t always used. A prime example that I encountered at Alcoa is the use of social media. I don’t think there is one of us who would agree that social media isn’t important in this day and age, right? And that’s why I was shocked when I learned that Alcoa of Australia don’t have any social media accounts or actively manage its online reputation. I was even more surprised when I discovered that introducing social media into Alcoa’s communication mix is currently being pitched to top executives, who are largely against the idea. This made me realise how difficult it is to convince top level management about the importance of public relations activities, and that you should never assume that basic best practice concepts are easily adopted. 

So as we begin to unlock the door to new opportunities, we must remember that this is only the beginning. We must continue to develop our skills and abilities, learning from our mistakes as we go. This is the only way that we can continue to open more doors for ourselves and continue to grow as PR professionals. I wish you all the best of luck in your future careers and hope your experience has been as rewarding as mine.

Source: http://www.rtrmarketing101.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/key2success.jpg

 

The Royal Show

My day 15 was during The Royal Show week. I get the chance to be part of the WAEC team and help at a booth (stall) that the WAEC had organised. The booth was located at Silver Jubilee Pavilion, booth 324, where it was next to one of the exits.

The purpose of the stall was to get as many people to either enrol to vote or just check whether they are already enrolled and make sure their details are up to date. To check people's details, we had a laptop contained a snapshot of the roll and a 'simple to use' look up system.

The one shift at the Royal Show was to approach as many people as you can. We approached them when they were close to our stand or coming close. The most important thing of approaching people was 'DON'T BE SHY!'

At the beginning of the day, it was very quiet as there were not many people coming inside. We discussed that it might be because it was Tuesday and its after the public holiday and also the weather was not looking too good. But during the heavy rain, we managed to get more people and that actually was our highest peak for the morning shift. During the shift there were one or two people that came to us because they wanted some merchandise but we encouraged them to check their enrolment as well.

To try and get people interested, the WAEC had prizes. We gave out entry forms for a prize when they either confirmed their enrolment via the look up tool on our laptop or filled in an enrolment form. The prizes were a daily prize of a $50 IGA gift card and a grand prize of an iPad Air 2 32GB Wi-Fi.

Working at the Royal Show was a great experience because I got to see all different kinds of people. I was surprised that not everyone was interested to win prizes and they all thought that checking their enrolment was not important and assumed they had already voted, which meant they are enrolled to vote. Also some people didn't even know that there is a state election coming up in March 2017.

I enjoyed working with my intern colleague, Ed, and another WAEC staff, Katherine, who is the senior enrolment officer. I think we did a great job in approaching people.

Although, this kind of job doesn't really link too much with PR, it is still a very good experience in seeing all different kinds of people and using our own techniques to approach people.

I am glad that I found my internship at the WAEC, as it is fun working there and I can get a lot of experience in all different areas! 

Enrol Now!

The WAEC Booth

Merchandise

Getting out of the Office! Meeting Time!

Day 13 of my internship at the WAEC. After all the research and writing up a proposal, we finally got the chance to be involved in a meeting!

Today’s meeting was with Murdoch University, we met the Senior Executive Director, Steven Dickson and some head of departments. We were there to discuss about early voting on campus.

The meeting went on for 45 minutes, the topics we discussed include;

•          Are they interested in the project?
•          Day(s) (3 days, 1^st -3^rd March 2017)
•         Time
•    WAEC marquee is 8am – 6pm
•    Main peak hours on campus are 10am – 2pm
•          Location (Bush Court)
•          Key issues
•    Parking ( from 4.30pm onward parking is free for the general public)
•    Security (Campus has 24/7 security)
•    Promotional materials cannot be distributed outside the Marquee area (from candidates).
•   Communication Channels (Social Media)
•   How many students are there?
•    900 teachers, 3000 parking bays, 1000 others = 5000 students/staffs on campus during the 3 days

At the meeting, we first introduced ourselves as interns and the main spokesperson for the WAEC was Justin, supervisor of the early voting on campus project. As interns, we were just sitting the side listening, but during the middle of the meeting, when they talked about communication, Ed had a chance to speak out, and he talked about the communication channels and how this is promoted out.

This meeting was a great chance to see how a meeting works although it was quite informal and was just like a chat.

This meeting helped me gain experience on how to communicate with people in a meeting, and what things we should consider. The most important thing is to be prepared and know what you need to say.

By listening to Justin speak, I have gained knowledge on how to host a meeting with clients which will help me in the future.

I have found the presentations we have done in other units (Cross-Cultural Communications, Media Relations, etc.) to be very useful because it helps with speaking and passing on messages in front of people.

This is the first time I have been in a meeting and representing an organisation. I was nervous to speak and was a bit shy. The things I want to improve after the first meeting is to not to be shy and afraid to speak out. My goal for my next meeting is to speak out!

I can’t believe after all my research and calling people, we actually got to go and join the meeting. It was a great experience!

I love working at the WAEC, and am starting to worry about this internship coming to an end! 

The End (for now)

I've finished my 20 days at the WAEC and it's definitely been a journey. Our last week was still filled with some interesting experiences and conversations.. as well as very sad goodbye to our supervisor Sotear (who is also leaving the WAEC).

This week consisted mainly on filming for our social media content. On Tuesday we went to Curtin University for a few hours and attempted to record some vox pops with students about voting and our new mascot/character (currently named: Vincent the Voting Screen). While we were only able to interview 5 people (due to our shyness and some of the locations we attempted not being very busy), we got some great footage and content that we can definitely use in the final product!

Thursday's filming was less successful as there wasn't many young people in the city area (and TAFE wasn't the best location to film in because of the way the campus is set up). It wasnt the best feeling to come back empty handed but to make up for it we will be trying to film at a couple of universities next Tuesday instead. After viewing Tuesday's footage we worked out what we can improve on to help our success rate and will implement this on our next filming trip.

We were also asked to view the final version of the training videos that Ed and Winnie had been involved in earlier in our internship experience. It was great to see the finished product and we all had a laugh when Ed or Winnie appeared on the screen. Again, our feedback was wanted and appreciated.. an aspect of the internship I really enjoyed.

Our last day with Sotear was a somewhat emotional one. We had a debrief meeting over coffee where she thanked us for all the work we've done over the past 20 days and gave us praise for completing some major projects that would've taken much longer to complete without our help. We were also asked about our feedback of the internship in terms of what we enjoyed and didnt enjoy and there was definitely more pros than cons. It really was a great experience.

While the 20 days are done, we have all said we're willing to come back and help at any time with further involvement in our projects. The 20 days has also helped me to see a side of PR I could definitely be interested. Social media management and creation wasn't something I ever saw myself doing and yet here I am after 20 days wanting to do more!

This is goodbye, for now. For people who are still completing their internships, enjoy it and work hard as it'll be finished before you even realise.

Isabella Olivera (17742580)

Group photo with our supervisor Sotear (next to Ed) and Jodie who is currently in HR

Receptionist Pina says goodbye to her children! We will miss you too

A surprise thank you gift on our desk from Sotear. Yummy!!

Being published in the Australian Financial Review

I had a great opportunity the other day at my placement to see a different side of PR and to write some articles for a technology focused magazine that will be inserted inside the Australian Financial Review! Very exciting stuff for me. I haven’t done a lot of writing at my placement so far, mostly just in the sense of media releases but not actual journalistic articles so it was a great opportunity for me to try something new. It was also great because the National Head of Investor Relations was the one who offered me the opportunity, so it was great working with someone with a lot of influence and experience.

I wrote two articles, one about a local West Perth based company who won the National Innovation Award at the 2016 iAWARDS for technological innovation in their field and nationwide, and the second article was about a programme being run down at Sacred Heart College regarding the “Just Start IT” programme that immerses students in a hands on environment where they design their own programme/app and the winning team has the opportunity to work alongside a tech company who assists them in developing the software and bringing the programme to life.

The Australian Financial Review is distributed to over 65,000 organisations nationwide so it’s actually so crazy to think that my articles with my by-line will be published in there for people all over Australia to read. I mean, I’m just an intern after all! It was a really great experience and learning opportunity for me and definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve done at my placement thus far and I’m really excited to get to see my words in print!


Holly Armstrong
18022908
Curtin University, Bentley

Being published in the Australian Financial Review

I had a great opportunity the other day at my placement to see a different side of PR and to write some articles for a technology focused magazine that will be inserted inside the Australian Financial Review! Very exciting stuff for me. I haven’t done a lot of writing at my placement so far, mostly just in the sense of media releases but not actual journalistic articles so it was a great opportunity for me to try something new. It was also great because the National Head of Investor Relations was the one who offered me the opportunity, so it was great working with someone with a lot of influence and experience.

I wrote two articles, one about a local West Perth based company who won the National Innovation Award at the 2016 iAWARDS for technological innovation in their field and nationwide, and the second article was about a programme being run down at Sacred Heart College regarding the “Just Start IT” programme that immerses students in a hands on environment where they design their own programme/app and the winning team has the opportunity to work alongside a tech company who assists them in developing the software and bringing the programme to life.

The Australian Financial Review is distributed to over 65,000 organisations nationwide so it’s actually so crazy to think that my articles with my by-line will be published in there for people all over Australia to read. I mean, I’m just an intern after all! It was a really great experience and learning opportunity for me and definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve done at my placement thus far and I’m really excited to get to see my words in print!


Holly Armstrong
18022908
Curtin University, Bentley

All good things must come to an end

As I am writing this post I have just finished my second last week at the WAEC (it really went flying by didn't it?!). While it is sad that my internship is almost over, it definitely hasn't been all doom and gloom.

Some exciting things have happened and are happening at the WAEC! Firstly, I worked at my first proper event, helping out with the WAEC's enrolment drive at the Royal Show last week. I was given the task of helping to confirm enrolments of those who were interested in our booth, the freebies and our competition (involving an IGA gift card & and iPad Air 2!). All interns were given a WAEC polo top to wear on the day (and to keep) and it definitely helped me to feel even more a part of the team. A great experience I'll remember!

Secondly, the fellow interns and myself have been given the fun task of creating some social media content to link into the new advertising campaign and the other social media posts that have been created. We will be at Curtin University next Tuesday to do some Vox Pops with students, asking them to name the new election mascot/character and a few questions about elections and voting. We'll be in our WAEC polo tops so if you see us around, definitely say hi and get involved (we may have some freebies to give away too)..

After almost 20 days at the WAEC, I feel very proud of myself and what I've accomplished. I began the 20 days with the big task of improving our social media channels and have successfully created some images that will hopefully be used during the election timeline from enrolment to polling day. I definitely wouldn't have been able to do this alone and would like to thank my fellow interns for their great ideas and constructive criticism.

Now to make the final week count! See you in my final blog post!

Until next time,
Isabella Olivera (17742580)

WAEC @ the Perth Royal show 2016 - Photo Credit: WAElections Facebook

Just one of the social media posts I've made for our election timeline! This one is a reminder for early voting