And The End: Dodge For a Cause!

Event day, stress, fun and a whole lot of event. For those of you who may not have organised an event yet/before, warning! It's not for those who get grumpy with little sleep. It is a L.O.N.G. day and usually a L.A.T.E. night the night before too! Thankfully our event was based during the day which meant we didn't have a late night following the event. However, if you can't dodge a wrench, you can't dodge a ball and that was the exact approach we took to this event. We had our volunteers, the BBQ and tournament schedule, we even had the GOLDEN WRENCH - the trophy of all trophies (on our limited budget it was actually a plastic wrench spray painted, but everyone loved the idea of claiming it and being dubbed the winning team!

The day went off without a hitch, well there are always minor hiccups, but if there is one thing I have learnt about events, there is always a solution to the problem and getting stressed about the situation does not help find it. #Advice keep calm, remember what the goal of the event is and focus on the bigger picture rather then little 'flaws'.

The response and feedback from the event was outstanding, with people asking where they would be able to volunteer to assist with things like this and that the day was entertaining and well organised. People knew exactly what the profits were going towards and winners were happy with their prizes. I suppose you might all be wondering if the event achieved its goal and I am proud to say it did! We raised enough money and interest, we will be looking to put the event on next year and make it an annual event for ODATWA! This was such a high note to end my official 'intern' period on, I have now taken the role of volunteer at the organisation as it has been such a rewarding experience for me.
Remember the 5 D's of dodge ball dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge!

Public Notice: How to Lose Trust and Alienate People

If you ever want to legally tell someone about something without them ever knowing you told them, use a public notice.

Have a multi-million dollar planning development you want to quickly get approved. Public notice.

Ever wondered about a government decision, ‘how did I not know about this?’ Public notice.

Whether intentional or not, the use of public notices to notify the public is grossly inadequate. 

A staple of local, state and federal governments, the public notice is a beast best understood through a simple Google search:

Used widely as a tool to notify and seek feedback from stakeholders (quite often due to legal requirements), this dull and uninspiring approach is in desperate need of a makeover. No other form of communication has persevered with as much nerve as this mono monstrosity.

And it’s not limited to the visuals either; the written form is just as poorly executed.

Let’s take a look at two options for making an announcement to a group of people you’d like to engage with. This first one is based on the thinking ‘what am I required to do to meet my obligations?’

Pursuant to the aforementioned inadequacies of public notification, it is hereby given that readers of this literature will be provided with opportunity to provide uninhibited feedback and contributions to a consultation phase as per the regulations imposed by the University and course coordinator. Submit your contribution at the conclusion of this notice.

Even if you can make sense of that paragraph, chances are you’re not filled with a desire to respond.

Now imagine I asked you to go the very back of the West Australian to read this. What’s that? You didn’t read that edition? Sorry it’s not available anywhere else - this is a limited time offer, pal. 

But suppose my approach was instead based on 'how can I write this so people will immediately understand.' Taking the first example and re-writing it as simply:

What’s your view on the role of tone and language in corporate writing? Post your thoughts in the comments section. 

And instead of the back of the paper, I post this on social media and as a news item on my website home-page. 

An extreme example, but one not too far from reality.

The more pessimistic among you may accuse these public notice architects of underhandedness. I take a more generous view. It’s not intentional, it’s institutional. It’s a habit-driven, culture based issue that’s as systematic as a 12pm lunch break.

So who will rescue the public notice from the depths of mediocrity?

PR folk of course!

At its core, this argument boils down to fundamental communication principles and it’s the role of PR practitioners such as us to fight for the rights of communication. 

There are great examples of this happening right here in Australia.

Project Robin Hood by the City of Melville is a brave approach to engaging residents in the council’s budgeting process.

Dumb Ways to Die by Metro Trains in Melbourne raised awareness of staying safe around trains.

This is broadening the issue to more than a simple public notice, but the principle is the same – take something that on the surface is dry and uninteresting and develop a communicative approach that successfully combines design, tone and distribution to legitimately engage with the public.

The three messages I want to drive home here are:

1. We must not settle for inadequate communications. 
2. We must not blame those who do not know better. 
3. We must work with our colleagues to develop a culture of broad engagement and accessibility.

So the next time your legal team asks you to place a public notice in the back of the paper, make it clear that the public won’t notice it.

Sometimes the best thing to say, is nothing at all

In the words of Ari Gold (and English poet Thomas Carlyle), Silence is Golden.

Well, sometimes anyway.

I'll start this post with an important caveat. When you're publicly expected to comment, you comment. When there's unquestionable benefit or untenable risk if you don't - you comment.

Now that's out of the way...

I spent many hours over the past week counselling my organisation in regards to corporate reputation and advising on a media issue - a debate being played out across the country with a clear link to grab hold of.

My advice? Say nothing.

My last blog touched on the importance of leveraging within the media cycle - taking advantage of trends, and smartly aligning your brand in order to reap some of the benefits. So it makes sense that we’d balance the ledger by now discussing the importance of silence.

We should always be scanning our environment for opportunities and threats. How we deal with each of these however, requires careful consideration. Not every opportunity should be explored, nor every threat abruptly extinguished.

Sometimes the smart choice, the strategic choice, is to remain silent.

I can see some eyebrows raising already. “But our job is to get positive coverage for our organisation!”.

On the contrary, our role is to enhance and protect reputation – media coverage is just one tool in our arsenal.  Strategic advice is another.

So when I find myself mid-discussion with key executives — as was the case last week — I know my role is not to simply nod my head, but to listen, analyse and provide quality recommendations.

When a director suggests we come out strong on an issue, they may have only considered certain pieces of the puzzle. My job is to bring all the pieces onto the table and show how, sometimes, they don’t fit.

I’d say for every opportunity we explore, we follow-through with maybe a third (the other 2/3 get placed in the ‘monitor’ bucket).  Of course your mileage may vary. If you find yourself in a job which is heavily consumer/sales based and your targets all revolve around awareness and sentiment, these bridges may be crossed far less often.

So what are some reasons you may use silence?

• Short-term exposure is outweighed by long-term impact.
• You please one stakeholder but alienate another.
• Your angle is weak, unlikely to be run and damages your reputation with the media.
• The issue is in its infancy and information is missing from the debate – you’d be making assumptions.

Considering stakeholders in decision-making - The Utopia way.

Of course, like anything in PR, there is no scientific method. Choices will depend on a range of factors, including your appetite for risk.

At this point it’s important to note the difference between silence and unresponsiveness. Silence assumes you haven’t been asked. Things change when the media specifically seek you out.

When a journalist knocks, the one phrase you can never say is ‘no comment’. For obvious reasons… it sounds evasive, it’s too blunt and it annoys a journalist who wants a balanced story – not good media relations!

However, sometimes you’ll find yourself saying ‘no comment’ without actually saying it. And that’s OK if the circumstances call for it.

It’s perfectly OK to say “we take this very seriously and will investigate and get back to you again by X date”. That’s better than guessing.

Or for example “As this is an ongoing legal matter, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time” (side note: ‘legal matter’ and ‘commercially confidential’ are bugbears of journos so don’t use them as a scapegoat!).

It’s important not to let the media pressure you into making rash decisions or providing inaccurate or unnecessary information. Much like the strategic pause used by reporters to elicit extra commentary - an empty space shouldn't always be filled*. 

In my example, I spent close to three hours in meetings, drafted up a press release, and prepared a media plan. All of this despite recommending not to pursue it. Why? Because in the event we were green-lit, we’d be ready to go without delay.

On this matter, my advice was taken on board and three days after the idea was floated, it was parked. Here I had lost several hours preparing for something that would not eventuate. And I had done my job.

Demonstrating you understand not just how the media operates, but also how decisions: 1. Influence your broader stakeholders, and 2. Impact your organisation in the short AND long-term, make you a sought-after resource for key decision-makers.

Don’t be afraid to question decisions from higher-ups in a respectful and constructive manner. Give reasons and alternatives, don’t just point out problems. Over time, as your relationships develop and confidence grows, it will become second nature.

And as if to contradict this entire post, I’ll finish by saying silence is always your last resort. Your goal is to test every option to see if commenting can provide a positive outcome. And of course this does not apply during times of crisis or when stakeholders are otherwise expecting a response.

When deciding on whether to enter a debate at all, you may run through all the scenarios and find silence is your only option – and that’s perfectly fine.

Rhys

*Unless you're Tony Abbott and likely to stare awkwardly for 24 seconds on live TV.

Oops…Did I do that? …HELP!

It’s vitally important to double-check and ensure your work is perfect before publishing and sending it out. It sounds like common sense right? Well sometimes we all make mistakes especially in todays busy and stressful world.  However, small mistakes can lead to much bigger problems. I know for sure a client I worked alongside would agree. 

After working with a long term client they decided to host an event for an up-coming development project that would consist of an industry meet and greet, along with speeches from some rather well known mining industry leaders. As we continued to work on some bigger projects for them they decided to plan the event themselves. After carefully crafting the invitations and sending it out to over 500 potential guests, did they only weeks later realised, they had forgotten to attach an ‘accept’ and ‘decline’ button to the email. Naturally, a week before the event they had 0 idea as to who was attending!

In their moment of panic they rushed to call us for some much needed help to sort out the issue and save the event. As it was too late to recreate the invitations it meant that each person on the invitation list had to be personally called (by myself and two other colleagues) and ticked off if they were attending or not. It was an extremely long and tedious job that could easily have been avoided, saving us time and the client money. Luckily for us, we were well prepared with an up-to-date  healthy database of all their clients so we could start making calls straight away, without wasting time looking for contact details.

The event went ahead and was a success, thankfully. So all ended well, although I believe a lesson should be taken from this.  It’s really easy to forget minor details, especially when you have a million other things to do. Preparation is key. Know what you have to do and make sure you've done it all and done it right. Writing a checklist is an easy way to make sure that you’ve haven't missed anything and always make sure you double check that your work it perfect before sending it out no matter how pressed for time you are, or it can leader to a bigger problem. It’s always better to safe then sorry.

Intern Excitement - The Joys of Getting Published

Three days into my internship and I’m actually loving it.

My main roles so far have been social media posts, including the brainstorming of potential blog topics, editing and drafting several posts for a medi spa and health clinic, along with writing some Facebook posts for several different clients.  I was extremely excited when Melissa called me into her office to show me my posts queued to be published!  It was a great feeling over the following days to see my work posted on behalf of the clients (and consequently I have been stalking their pages to see each update).  I also got to see a marketing strategy in the final stages and contribute to some parts, with the Magnetize girls presenting it to the client the next day with some of my work included.  It was interesting to note that the format for the strategy was indeed very similar to those we have prepared at uni - a relief to find that I already know the basics! 

As I really enjoy writing and playing with words to fit into themes and messages, these tasks have given me a huge sense of accomplishment knowing that my strengths are of assistance to the company.  I’m very grateful to Mel and the team for giving me jobs that are actually necessary for them, rather than slave labour jobs like photocopying that some of my friends have unfortunately had to do.  The praise for doing a great job is a mega confidence boost, and I can feel myself improving on things already.  I am also learning lots about time management in the industry, with efficiency and attention to detail being very important in the marketing and PR world. 

Now the initial nerves have worn off, I am confident that this industry is something I can look forward to being a part of in my future career.  Each day has led me to doing something different, and it is so great to be told you’re good at something by people you admire.  I am really excited for my next day (a whole week away L) and cannot wait until I can get a proper job in the industry.  I can definitely see myself as a corporate businesswoman either in the city or areas like Subiaco – having a coffee in the morning in a trendy café suits me very well!

Until next time.  I’m going to try and remember to ask at least one good question each day I’m there so that I can learn even more and make the most of the Magnetize team’s knowledge.  I hope everyone is enjoying their roles as much as I am and are learning lots!  

Laura x

A Night out at the Ballpark

Hey Everyone

I only have a few more days left at my internship with the Perth Heat. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities presented and am excited about seeing what impact my actions have on the brand visibility of the Perth Heat.

The season is only 10 days away now, and so a lot of my recent work has gone into game day initiatives and the various communication elements involved in preparing for a game night with the Perth Heat. For this post, I want to just give you guys a quick insight into the planning and implementation of game nights, and what exactly goes on. The following is a list (in order) of the tasks undertaken by communication staff prior to the Perth Heats first pre season game last Thursday night.

(The Calm Before the Storm.......Which turned into an actual storm on Saturday Night)

 

1. Confirm and allocate sponsor attendance
The Perth Heat have over 50 corporate partners, many of whom will regularly attend games at the "diamond lounge" (equivalent to a corporate box at the footy). It is the job of the commercial manager to organise which sponsors will be in attendance (mainly via phone communication), and begin allocating space in the diamond lounge, as well as prior transport for corporate partners.

2. Create social media and PA announcment schedule
One of the unique experiences of a baseball game is the degree to which PA announcements are used. As well as updating the play and score, PA announcements and video boards are able to be used by sponsors to promote their product to fans in attendance. Each sponsor has a policy regarding PA announcements written into their agreement with Perth Heat. A lot of the food trucks at the game for example, expect at least 1 social media mention during the game(https://twitter.com/PerthHeat/status/522724507622973440).
A few of the sponsors also sponsor game events such as Home Run's and Foul Ball's so it has to be ensured that these are conveyed over the PA announcment

3. Confirm first pitch, and 7th inning stretch entertainment
This was not included in pre-season matches, but is still an important part of the game night event operations. The right to throw out the first pitch is usually given to corporate sponsors to raffle off, whilst little league junior players are given an opportunity to run out onto the field during the middle of the 7th inning (much like what is done at AFL and Cricket matches). It is important there is a clear understanding of who is doing what, and having a strict schedule of when it will occur.

4. Finalizing Media Attendance
There is a press section allocated at the Barbagallo Ballpark. All games are streamed online, and broadcast through Sport FM radio station, so it is important to ensure that all equipment and facilities are set up and ready prior to the gates opening. Any journalists attending the game should have access to Wifi, and broadcast staff with the necessary equipment.

5. Finalise other arrangements with ground staff and team operations
The final step involved is to check that ground staff have completed their tasks, and the ballpark is in perfect condition to host game night. This step is really a means of checking off that all elements of the organization are ready for game night, not just communications


Then finally the lights are on, and the game begins. Luckily most of the hard work is done, so most staff can sit back and enjoy the game. However from a communications point of view, there are still a few things involved in game night opperations.


1. Ensuring all stakeholders are satisfied
This is really a job for all members of the Perth Heat organisation. Generally speaking the commercial manager will spend the game night in the Diamond Lounge with the corporate partners with the General Manager. Other non-event staff will hang out at the members bar, talking to Perth Heat members to ensure everyone is enjoying themselves. Communication staff are encouraged to do this also, but with more of a focus towards the press section of the stadium, ensuring that the media have everything they need to cover the game.

2. Live Social Media updating
One of the main aspects of game day for communications staff is to live tweet matches. The rule of thumb is usually to update the score at the end of each inning, or when a run is scored by either team. https://twitter.com/PerthHeat/status/523106417289338881
An effort should also be made to see if anyone else is using social media at the ground, and to retweet and engage with them using the official account.

(Guess the question correctly, and win a photo with a man in a dog suit!!!!)

3. Run Game-Day competitions and initatives
Usually there will be a few competitions run for fans attending the game. Prize packs are often given to fans who catch foul balls. One new competition that was trialled during the pre season game was a "find the mascot" competition. It was posted on twitter that the first fan to get a photo with the Perth Heat mascot (who was hidden somewhere in the ballpark) would win a prize. A lot of the time sponsors (such as monster ball or Hog's breath) will bring their own mascot to games to run similar competitions, and these are all outlined in the individual sponsor agreements.



So that is just a bit of insight into what goes into game nights at the Perth Heat. I found there was a lot of stuff that I had learnt in units such as PR Techniques and PR Media that I was able to apply to this situation. I hope that some of you found this post interesting, and may even check out a Perth Heat game sometime this summer.


Till next time
Simon

Oh, and for your information the Perth Heat won the game 9-2

Office Dilemmas at Variety WA!

At Variety they use children who have been helped by the Charity as ambassadors. These children go to events and show the community how Variety has helped them. This morning I had the task of calling one of the child ambassadors parents to ask if they would allow us to photograph their child for our upcoming newsletter. I called them and had no answer. Two hours later the father called back and left a message saying his wife has had a very bad stroke a few weeks ago and is still in hospital. I felt terrible!

Today I also got to witness how important communications are in a office environment. Their is third party fundraising event being held for Variety called ''Lama Las Vegas", at Lama Bar in Subiaco. The event is in two days and the main office contact staff for the event is off sick, and hasn't left much information for the other event staff to pick it up from where she left it. Another employee had to attend a meeting for the staff member that was sick but had no event plan/information to take! This dilemma shows how important it is to share communications because this can happen in an office any time and stresses out people who aren't involved in the event.

Today Variety accepted a check from McDonald's community cinemas for just over $90,000!
Next week is my last week, its going to be sad to leave such an amazing charity that helps thousands of children!

Learning to Adapt: New Experiences

So, my first week as a (full time) Public Relations intern at The Wilderness Society (TWS) WA has come to an end, and I must say that it was one of the most overwhelming and insightful experiences I've ever had. First of all, I was very quickly confronted with the casual nature of the organisation and the way in which it operates. My initial expectations were thrown out the window as I realised that the organisational culture at TWS allows its employees and volunteers to work in an extremely friendly and down-to-earth manner. This was a very nice surprise and it helped me to get to know everyone i'm working with and has helped me feel very welcome in the office. I've learnt that TWS is comprised mainly of volunteers, and only a few paid staff, which means that there is a lot of pressure on community/volunteer organising within the company.

In terms of the work that I've been doing throughout the week: I've done a little bit of data-entry; I was given the task of drafting up an email that would be sent out to a list of approximately 5000 volunteers across WA, and I also re-designed an informational flyer about the Helena Aurora Range. To do this I had to learnt how to use Adobe In-Design which I quicked up relatively quickly and I'm very happy that I'll now be able to put this skill into my CV.         Also, I have already been involved in the planning for a few major events that TWS will be holding in September and I've been told that I will be instrumental in organising an event to be held next month on World Environment Day. Planning and organising for this event will officially begin next week. I'm very excited about all of this and i'm incredibly grateful to have been included in such huge plans so early-on in my internship.

On Wednesday I was included in the team's staff meeting which allowed me to get to know each person's role a little better and listen to what they've been working on. It was also good to see how the team communicates with one-another and it was interesting to learn about how things are done in the office.

Overall, I'm incredibly happy with my placement at The Wilderness Society WA. Everyone in the office is incredibly nice and their passion about the environment is so inspiring. I've learnt that the doubts I had about my ability to practice PR are relatively unfounded because, after this week, I now know that I have the necessary skills to do well in this profession and I have a basis of knowledge that I can build upon through experience. I'm very excited about the work i'll be doing over the next 3 weeks and the experience i'll be able to gain from it all.