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

All Done and Dusted

I am FINALLY posting my final blog for my PR internship, even though I finished over 2 months ago, I wanted to post it at this time so you guys could benefit as you are about to finish up your internships.

Well, well, well, this brings me to the end of my internship blogs, and I would just like to say a huge thank you to the team at CBH for taking me in with such welcoming arms. My overall experience has been well worth the hour long commutes into the city centre and the constant walking in high heel boots. 

I would just like to give a tip to those of you who are finishing up their internships, make sure you let the workplace know how much you appreciate them dedicating extra time and effort to give you work to do, and thank them for the both work and personal level you got to know them on. Below is my final email I sent on my last day, as a general thank you to everyone who I worked with in my corporate affairs and marketing team. 

“ Hi Team!

This is my last day and I would just like to thank you all for the dedication you have given to me in my time here at CBH.

My time here has been great and I have experienced what it is like to be involved with a team that works so closely together. Thank you for letting me tag along to your meetings and giving me real jobs to do while I was here. 

I wish you all the best, especially Sarah, Nikki and Jody with your soon adventures. Have a great time!!

Thank you for a great internship! And I will be sure to write some positive notes about you all in my Final Report. Also cheers Roz, Kate and Matt for being boss pod buddies, and Sarah, Susan and Christine on my days in pod one! 

Will miss being part of the CBH team and I will see some of you at the Dowerin Field Day, and other farming things I am sure. 

Keep representing us farmers well!!

Regards, Rachel Clarke (The Intern) “

Throughout my time I created a very personal relationship with a lot of the women in my office. Therefore making an email such as this one very appropriate to show my gratitude to everything they had done for me over my time.  I cannot emphasise enough how important it is, good experiences or bad, to say thank you. It is something we are losing in today’s world and I believe people who dedicate so much free time to you appreciate this at least.

As a final parting gift to my group I left chocolates and some slice, this is something I do regularly and was a slight bribe as they are now on my resume as a reference. Remember to be smart as this is one of our first experiences into the PR world which we wish to enter.

ANY WHO, over my past four blogs you have read my rants, my confusion and most importantly my interest in what we do. So now I say good bye and GOOD LUCK! Make every last day worth it!

Happy Interning

-        Rachel

Look out world here I come

Well now that I have finished my last day of my internship it’s time to head out into the big bad world and see what is in stall for me. I guess now is the chance to reflect of what I have learnt from my time here at the Department of Transport (DoT). More than anything it’s taught me that communications is a very diverse and interesting profession. PR professionals get the choice between corporate communications or consultancy style communications. We can decide to deal with internal staff or external stakeholders. You can coach people in how to deal with the media or you can deal with the media directly and this is just a few of the different areas a PR professional has to choose from. The biggest lesson I learned here at DoT was not to dismiss any of the areas in PR as all of them can offer valuable experience and great lessons.

I came to university three year ago with my heart set on becoming a journalist. Now three years on I have finished my internship in PR and have no interest in becoming a journalist. Before I started my internship I believed I wanted to deal with the media fielding enquiries and making comment. Now I’m not so sure. The process involved in dealing with the media especially in government seems like something I wouldn’t enjoy doing. But like I stated earlier I’m learning that it’s best not to discredit the notion of working with the media as it will no doubt offer me some valuable professional and life lessons. I enjoyed a lot of the internal communications activities I completed during my time here which was again something I didn’t think I would enjoy anywhere near as much as I did.

While it’s great to have an idea of exactly what you want to do in life its best to be flexible in your mind set and willing to accept new challenges and experiences. I am now and never really have been 100 per cent certain exactly what I want to do in life I simply figured I can string a sentence together better than most and have never been shy of putting my point across so communications was a logical step. What university, this internship and my time in the real world has taught me is if you work hard you’ll get rewards and a plan is great to have but an open mind is much better. So look out world there is one more hard working open minded PR professional heading your way.