I got the job!

The final days of my internship with Corporate Sports Australia

Reflecting back on my first day with Corporate Sports Australia (CSA) in mid March, I find it hard to believe yesterday was my twentieth and final day interning with them. To be honest with you, I can't believe that it's already June and I'm almost finished the final semester of my degree - where has all that time gone!

In the past three months I have seen my skills, confidence in my work and passion for this industry develop immensely and learnt a great deal about both myself and the workforce. I've worked in corporate environments before but it's interesting how the structure and culture of each workplace differs and how different aspects and departments work together to achieve the goals of the organisation. 

It was a great experience to be a part of the team that worked together to put on the Perth Garden Festival with great results and tremendous feedback. I have been exposed to different areas of the organisation and encountered many challenging situations where I've had to apply my personal ethics and values as well as the skills I have developed over the course of my degree to make decisions. 

In the PR and events industry I believe interning is vital to then securing a full time position. All the advertised jobs require 'a minimum of 2-3 years experience' which is difficult for a graduate new out of university. This is my third unpaid internship that I have completed, not including all of the hours I have volunteered at events to get to the position I am in at the moment. 

My advice to other students and graduates who are looking to work in this industry in the future would be:

1.  Volunteer – like I’ve said every position in the industry want candidates to have experience in the field. It also gives you a whole range of opportunities to develop your skills further and find out what aspects of the industry you really enjoy.

2.  Network – everyone keeps telling us the importance of networking and I absolutely believe that it’s helped me develop my career. Volunteering and interning is a great way to make connections with people who actually work in the industry. The majority of the positions and opportunities in this industry aren’t advertised but are filled based on who people know – so make yourself known! Linkedin is a great (and free) tool to meet other professionals. Also groups and organisations such as PRSC and PRIA have great social events to network and meet like minded individuals.

3.  Every experience is a good experience – I truly believe in this statement when applying it to your career and work experience. I’m not saying every experience will be an enjoyable experience because it won’t be. I’ve done plenty of volunteer roles that I haven’t enjoyed at all, but this has taught me that I don’t want to work in those positions in my career – better to find out now in a volunteer role than when a company is dependent on me.

4. Attitude is everything – how many PR and events graduates are there every semester? And how are they different from you? Attitude can be everything, use it to your advantage to differentiate yourself from your peers. Have a good attitude and work ethic and people will start to notice you and how hard you are working. PR isn’t a huge industry in WA and if you get a bad reputation from one employer it may affect the rest of your career in Perth.

All of my hard work over the past years paid off when the Marketing Manager of CSA and Event Manager of the City to Surf took me out for coffee and offered me a full time contract working on the City to Surf WA series! I couldn’t be more excited and although it’s only a three month contract, it’s my first paid experience for my degree! 

My job title is Event Services Manager and will involve liaising between sponsors, participants and teams to make sure all stakeholders of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ have a pleasant experience throughout the entire event experience.

I’ve had a great time reading about everyone’s experiences in their internships and I wish you all the best of luck for the future! Connect with me on Linkedin so we can stay in touch!

All the best,

Megan

You can't control Mother Nature!

Contingency planning in event management

Hi there,

I hope everyone is going well with their internships, I'm definitely feeling the stress of end of semester. How is everyone’s progress with your internship report?

In my last blog post I reflected on the role PR had in the promotion and communication of the 2015 Perth Garden Festival event. I also mentioned that I would be working on another event that Corporate Sports Australia (CSA) have been contracted to operate – The Big Campout. Unfortunately the event had to be postponed as it was scheduled to be held outdoors at the WACA during the previous weekend’s treacherous weather conditions.

After some debate about whether the event should go forward, the Event Director made the executive decision based on the information we had with weather forecasts to postpone the event. As the event is owned by a NFP foundation called The Fathering Project, the purpose of the event was for fathers to connect with their children by camping overnight on the prestigious WACA ground. The cricket ground provides little shelter for weather and as dangerous weather warnings were issued, the team at CSA absolutely saw the need to reschedule the event for a later date, benefiting all stakeholders.

The decision was made only three days before the event was set to take place which presented CSA with the issue of ensuring that all ticket holders were notified about the cancellation of the event on that weekend. As the event had to be rescheduled due to unforseen weather conditions, ticketholders have been given the option to request a full refund of the ticket purchase or use the ticket later at the rescheduled event for which the date has yet to be set.

We were able to utilise their electronic database to issue a newsletter/eDM (electronic/email Direct Marketing) communicating the changes of the event information. As we were also concerned with the timing of the cancellation, I was responsible for sending SMS messages to all ticket purchasers, further informing them of the changes.

The communication of the message was successful as no ticketholders went to the venue on the original scheduled day of the event. CSA now have the challenge of liaising with WACA representatives to organise another appropriate time to hold the event and then once again make contact with ticketholders to notify them of the updated event time.

Moving forward, I have only two days left of my internship - I can’t believe how fast time has gone! Working mainly on the communication in relation to events, I have been busy assisting with the creation of the post event report for the Perth Garden Festival which will be released shortly. The report analyses all aspects of the event to determine the success of the event measured against the key goals and outcomes determined in the early planning stages of the event. Sponsors are particularly interested in this information to determine their return on investment.

For the remainder of my internship my role will now be centralised around preparation for the upcoming Chevron City to Surf to Activ marathon series – CSA’s largest events. I have been working with the marketing and media coordinator to map out the public relations and marketing timeline, as well as reviewing the many sponsorship contracts to ensure all the agreed communication terms are met.

If anyone has any friends who are completing the PR Internship unit next semester, CSA are currently looking for six interns to work exclusively on the City to Surf. I can absolutely recommend this organisation for completing an internship – I have learnt so much from them and my experience has been invaluable. For more information comment below, or you can view the official advertisement here through Curtin CareerHub.

Wishing everyone luck with their reports and end of semester – we’re nearly there!

Until next time,

Megan