The last week of tasks - completely different!

For my last assignment at SWE, Shani put my public relations skills to the test and had me write up a feasibility report for the Visual Arts Festival in Perth.  That meant a whole lot of research to make the right recommendations for the event - what we've learnt in a nutshell.

The three documents I drew up were for the audit process of the report.  They were needed to be done for;

• Government funded art programs - this was to find out what kind of event funding we could apply for, how much could be applied for and when these applications had to be in buy.
• Art Gallery Audits - list all the art galleries in Perth, and find out their room/gallery number and capacity.  This was so we could know how many exhibitions we could hold, and how many patrons we could get into each.
• Visual Arts Courses at Higher Education Facilities - this was to list all the possible programs for visual arts in Perth and around Western Australia.  This did not include private adult classes.

The point of all of this is so SWE could go back to Visual Arts Festival and tell them whether or not the event could actually be done, what changes would need to be made, and how much money there was to work with.

Looking back over my internship I have gained so much knowledge and experience in event management... but I've also learned that I really love the public relations side of it much more.  During the time of my internship, i was able to pick out what the clients could have done better in terms of event publicity, which I think I would eventually like to get more experience in.

During my last meeting with Shani, she agreed that public relations will be a very suitable field for me to get into, and was confident that if i chose to get into public relations (events) i would go on to succeed - a confidence boost by any means!

So all in all i do feel ready and confident for the big wide world outside uni, and look forward to seeing what the future holds for me.

Bye Guys! It's been fun :)

Grace :)

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WA Signature Dish... should've been more

The WA Signature Dish is a statewide event aimed at promoting local produce and local cooking talent by Buy West Eat Best.  Essentially it is a cooking competition.  Once I found out I’d be working on this event, I had to do a lot of research because I’d never heard of it before.  For such a great little concept, feel as though this event had big potential.  Sadly it did not get the media coverage it deserved and so the interest number wasn't anywhere near what it should have been.  

The WA Signature Dish is broken up into the different regions of the state, Perth metro, the great south, the Gascoyne, and the southern forests.  Each with a number of contestants, none of whom have any professional cooking experience, competing to win the title of the WA Signature Dish.  As I said, it's really a big publicity boost for local produce, as the aim is to cook using only local WA produce and cook your typical local meal. SWEvents were taking care of the Perth and surrounding finals.

From a public relations perspective, this event was a fantastic way of giving local producers a solid form of media and public attention.  The Buy West Eat Best website provided links for all kinds of local growers and producers for people with an interest in the event to browse through and turn to.  It even made me more aware of where the goods I buy come from.

What was lacking was the interest.  

Again, from a public relations perspective, this event, which had so, much potential seriously lacked in media publicity.  My SWE colleague and I agreed that there could have been much more done to promote the competition, which was proved when we discovered that there were only 14 contestants entered in the metropolitan region.... considerably low seeing as how there is a growing number of people who are into these kinds of cooking competition shows.  Although the event turned to be somewhat of a success, it's hard to measure it as that considering the low level of interest.  

However, working on the event was the easiest couple of days I've had interning yet! My main responsibilities were to the four contestants.  I received their recipes, drew up a spreadsheet document to put their ingredients lists into, budgeted our spending on the food and shopped.

That was it! Done and dusted.

The day of the event was to show up, help set up, brief, and then let the MC take over for the rest of the day.

Very relaxed and enjoyable.

For any info on the WA Signature Dish visit;

http://www.buywesteatbest.org.au

Thanks for reading :)

Grace Carpenter

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SWEvents

Event Rush

Being on an event site exposes you to many different working environments and opens up your learning experience.  It also takes a toll on your diet.  Never have I seen such a consumption of sugar! But after my second day on site I completely understood why.  Everyone operates on 12 hour or more days on site with more work to get through once they’ve arrived back at the hotel.

The Wesfarmers centenary concert was a completely free concert from Wesfarmers to the community of Northam as a way of giving something back to the people who helped them establish their successful business.  Being a completely free event, it was going to be difficult to estimate numbers of patrons to determine whether the event was going to be a success. 

The first two days in Northam were all about the final touches, from setting up the site to handing out appropriate accreditation, to staff and artist briefings.  All the paperwork I had been putting together over the psat month or so were finally finding their place in the event.

There was already a great feeling of accomplishment for me to know that I had actually had a contribution to this event.

Then it was event day!

From a 7am start on site I was told my day would be starting a little differently and I’d be helping the site crew out with the final touches of putting the venue together, yes this meant my hands were getting dirty (so to speak).  I helped out with fencing, skrimming and my hands toughened up as the day went on.  I never really thought about all the little bits and pieces that go into an event that PEOPLE do, from signage to cable ties the team does it all… a real eye opener and a well deserved appreciation for the industry developed. 

Wesfarmers had a keen eye for branding, and so therefore we had to make sure that signage above all else was immaculate and eye catching.

After lunch it was business as normal, with staff and event teams arriving on site from 3pm for their final team briefings and set up.  Never have a seen a group of senior people so excited to be at a concert.

Due to open the gates at 4pm, there was already a crowd of people waiting to get their chairs and rugs in first more then 15 minutes prior to opening, that alone gave the SWEvent and Wesfarmers teams some confidents that the event would in fact be a success.

I think that over all one of the major things I will take away from working at this event will be just how much a town like Northam will get involved.  The enthusiasm, particularly from event volunteers was over whelming, and hard to find in most places.  The town was just so excited to be able to have something like this in Northam they were more than happy to be involved and the fact that we gave them t-shirts, hats and water bottles made it all the more enjoyable.

All in all a great example of company public relations, between Wesfarmers and community.

We ended up having around 3,500 people attend!! In the margin of things this made it a success.

 Grace Carpenter.