"Welcome to Western Australia"....to up to 5000 from over 70 countries!

In my initial "induction" post, I mentioned the opportunity I would be getting as an intern at the Department of State Development to assist in the preparation for the upcoming LNG18 Conference and Exhibition....and in today's post, I would like to give you a greater understanding of what this task will entail.  There is no denying it will be an incredible learning curve - even for someone who has been in the Department for several years.  However, it also promises to be such a creative and exciting adventure!

Recently, I had a meeting with Dione, the Project Manager within the Department who heads up the coordination, design, materials, messaging and plan for the Department's booth at the Exhibition next year.  Listening to the work that Dione and her team have to do leading up to the Conference and Exhibition, I simply felt....overwhelmed! The Exhibition is a public relations dream! Combining creativity, logic, intelligence, savviness, media awareness - to be able to welcome up to 5000 participants, from approximately 70 different countries in the world to an exhibition on oil and gas - means that all staff members working on this significant project (including me!) will need to draw on all of their public relations skills.  This is interesting, given many staff members are Project Officers - some not 'trained' or 'schooled' in public relations.

Dione ran me through my main task that is designed to fit as a puzzle piece into the Exhibition.  I will be responsible for using my creativity, resourcefulness and budget to prepare the Department's videos for the booth.  Sound simple? Think again!

Try to imagine the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, filled with thousands of people at any given time over the course of the conference, surrounded by booths set up by private companies, and needing to stand out, hold attention, present interesting information, showcase Western Australia in the best possible way, and ensure that the videos tell the story of not only oil and gas in Western Australia, but other industry growth, recreation, facilities, lifestyle, opportunities, culture......! Dione has provided me with the challenge:

"We have a short time to get a person's attention, and we don't want that person to see the same footage numerous times."

There are constraints along with that - the budget that I need to manage wisely, use of the Premier's time for filming (also to be managed wisely!), available and usable footage from other agencies and companies (bearing in mind that all footage needs to be culturally sensitive).

Hearing Dione speak about LNG18 and my task in the big picture though, I can't help but feel excitement growing in me.  This is such a creative task!

Over the next few weeks, I need to develop a Project Plan that articulates my ideas - but also the logical steps of putting those ideas into action.  Where will footage be sourced? What new footage should be shot? How would I make best use of the budget? How would  make best use of everyone's time (including the Premier's)? What would I want to teach the international audience about Western Australia?

Stay tuned.....I have a feeling there will be experiences and learnings to share from this project!

A small, powerful engine of a well-oiled resources machine:

Inside Communications & Media at the Department of State Development

Having been a Project Manager at the Department of State Development for approximately five years now, my eyes were widened on Tuesday at my induction meeting with the officers responsible for communications and media at the Department!

The Communications and Media Unit is essentially made up of two staff members - who each directly report to the Director General. Having only two staff members does not mean that the responsibility of the Unit is in any way diminished however; it means those two team members must be very good at their job!

The Department of State Development is responsible for the facilitation of Western Australia's major resource projects, for the most part funded and developed by the private sector.  Wondering what might fit into that bucket? Perhaps you have heard of the Wheatstone LNG Project, being developed by Chevron? Or the Roy Hill Project, being developed in Port Hedland by Gina Rinehart? These major resource projects may be funded, constructed, managed and operated by private companies, but the State plays its role in 'keeping them honest.' Each project has stringent approvals to obtain, including: environmental approvals (State and Federal), financial guarantees, local content obligations, impact management to name a few.  The Department of State Development plays the primary role in guiding and facilitating these approvals for the private company.  The Department's website (created and published by the Communications and Media Unit) provides further context on the agency's core business.

So, where does Communications and Media fit into this mix? At my induction meeting with my supervisor, Natalie and her co-worker, Rick, I learned the role of the Unit is vital to internal communications - with the Department's Intranet and Internet to manage, the jointly-produced "Prospect" magazine to design and publish, media enquiries to handle - from newspapers, radio, the Minister's office, and investment opportunties for Western Australia to promote, for example, the 18th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas, being held in Perth from the 11th to 15th April, 2016. The LNG 18 event promises to be a significant showcasing opportunity for Western Australia as a 'LNG hub' of the world.

I am embarking on this internship experience very excited about the new insights I will gain from an organisation I have been proudly a part of for so long.  Meeting with Natalie and Rick has filled me with confidence that I will brush up on all of my public relations skills, use my natural creativity (that is not always readily usable in the Department), and receive useful feedback and supervision during the experience.  I am also sure I will learn far more about other teams across the Department - especially the area responsible for investment attraction.  In a time when the 'mining boom' has eased, iron prices are down, and there are much fewer major resource projects being actively developed in the State, the Government needs to work hard to ensure that the private sector recognises what is unique and optimal about doing business in Western Australia.


My impression so far of this small, but powerful engine room that is Communications and Media is that they play an integral role in that job!