Attention to Detail

In life we all know there is an importance when it comes to detail, although in a public relations sense, detail is everything! It is the reputation which you are publicly representing; therefore anyone can see the mistakes. 

Recently it has been my responsibility to send emails back to people who have submitted photos into our competition and to thank them for their submission. This is where the little things of PR really make a difference, such as; not giving people the wrong idea about their submission, or making sure it is BCC not CC when replying to them all as we don’t want to give out peoples private emails. Also it makes you read every word carefully, as it would look horrible if the email (sent to over 400 people) had spelling mistakes or errors throughout. 

Also over my internship I have been conducting a booklet which is to be used for a Growers Tour to China and Vietnam. This booklet is being released to 50 people who are attending the tour and was proofread by 5 people in the department including myself. Although some things did not seem important or noticeable, it was the small things such as commas before and after numbers that I managed to pick up. For example it said Wednesday 7, September and the next one said Thursday, 8 September. These minor details were not important to the information, although they made the document look unified when it was all completed. This is something I have enjoyed about my internship, is finishing a project and seeing it completed, printed and binded. It is such an achievement and makes it worth putting the effort into your work.  

Throughout the time I am at CBH we have been using things such as campaign monitor and other software programs that allow us to evaluate how many internal employees open links and read what type of stories. This attention to detail meant that I had to write a newsletter piece with more of a personal twist as people opened links to stories that moved more away from business information and more into the environment of the people in the building. When analysing this information it shows the importance and effort you have to put in to communicating and the best way to do this.

Also at CBH the decision was made within the internal communications team to release more documents as videos rather than emails or documents published to the website, therefore a video planning meeting was set up between 4 people including myself to discuss how this would be done. Video planning meeting process was extensive and broken up into 4 sections; idea, processes, actions and objectives. Using this 4 section process means that each important point can be taken into consideration and the action which the team needs to take to tackle each obstacle. This is something we have been taught over our entire degree at Curtin, to double check everything, make sure you have the facts, and assess the situation accordingly. 

So remember my fellow PR brothers and sisters, pay attention to detail, it is a reputation on the line!

Happy PR Interning :)

-Rachel 

Insightful and Innovative Landgate Visit

After a few weeks at Main Roads WA I got the chance to shift to a different area of communication which was Innovation and Development. Innovation and development at Main Roads is about allowing all employees to be able to express their ideas, and are encouraged to share their ideas on an online forum. This forum creates 2-way communication during the initial idea stage.

On my first day with the innovation and development team I got to visit the Innovation team at Landgate and have a meeting with them about the initiatives they had in place. Landgate is a statutory authority known as Western Australian Land Information Authority that operates under the business name of Landgate. Their offices are located in Midland and getting to visit another office and meet with their innovation team was a privilege and a great opportunity. 

The three of us that went out to meet them were enthused by the spirit and creative ideas that their innovation team had. Their love for their workplace and colleagues was infectious and showed why they had so many great innovative initiatives.

From the meeting it was understood that the most crucial thing for innovation is employee engagement and how well delivered internal communication is in the business. From Main Roads point of view we learnt so much and took away a lot of great ideas. The Landgate team were extremely welcoming and showed a great relationship between the two public sector agencies.

Being a part of this visit and learning from another agency was very beneficial to my internship and gave me a different perspective on the role of communication in business. I look forward to expressing my ideas and helping to promote innovation at Main Roads.

All comments of similar experiences are welcome as well as any tips to help improve innovation.

Here is a link to Landgate’s innovation web page if anyone is interested.

http://innovation.landgate.wa.gov.au/

Preparation for Research!

Hello everyone!

It has been quite hectic week recently and working in Public Relations field requires the person to be updated with the latest news, issues and happenings around the globe.  In my last two weeks of internship, I was given the chance to do research in assisting the Regional Manager on finding the right book using their online website catalogue services called OPAC.

I was given the task to find the appropriate book for the upcoming report on “Hari Wanita” that was done by Pustaka Miri which I was required to use their online website services. Before I start my research, one of the staff, Mdm. Lilian had introduced, explained and taught me on how to use the online public access catalogue to research a specific book that is located in the library or can be found online. 

After I was brief thoroughly on the online catalogue services, I start using it to allocate the specific book that is related to “Hari Wanita” in both languages that is English and Bahasa Malaysia. I find the info that Mdm Lilian had taught me is very useful as it helps to narrow down the book search and it also notify where is the book allocated. Plus, the privilege of using this online catalogue services are provided as long as you are a member of Pustaka Miri, which makes it convenient for the students, teachers, researchers or even lecturers to use it.  I find that, this service is very beneficial for people who are doing researching. After finding few of the books that I’ve researched, I brought the books to the regional manager, as she requires more book reference for her report on “Hari Wanita”.   

Furthermore, on that day itself, I was lucky to be invited to join the official staff meeting.  It was indeed my first time sitting in the boardroom with so many staffs but I’d really enjoy attending the meeting as it helps me to widen my knowledge. While attending all the meetings by Pustaka Miri, I have learned a lot from listening and watching the staff managing work and discussion. Also, being in the boardroom allows me to know more on the internal and external work or activities organized by Pustaka Miri.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Best Regards,

Michelle Shak

Curtin University Sarawak.

14575042