Sayonara Internship Program, see you in another time!

Today marks the last day of Internship program that I had for the Public Relations unit as part of my Bachelor Degree completion, focusing on final exams and hopefully I will be able to graduate on February 2017 *yeayme*.
Inul Vizta Family KTV has been an interesting place for a fast pace of working place. The company is eager to compete with another companies who is offering similar type of purpose which is Karaoke for customers such as working people, students in schools and Universities, families and corporate events. The company can be said as a leading franchisee based company that succeed to achieve a positive brand image and media coverage toward the company.

By completing the Internship program, I will of course miss the company and my small desk (more about it below) and I cannot wait to apply the skills that I have learned to the real world later on. I will mostly feel grateful to my supervisor, Herry and his assistant, Hendra to guide me when I was interning there and receiving important information about the company and to know more how to work in an office environment as personally I have never been working in an office before doing this Internship.

These below are some images of the office that I worked for:

 This above is the desk that I sat during the Internship days.

This image above is the situation of the 5th floor office at Inul Vizta Family Karaoke KTV Palembang, Indonesia.

This table above in the image is where me and the supervisors have a weekly meeting or daily follow up in the office.

Therefore, by creating this blog post marks the end journey of Public Relations Internship and my journey as a University Student.
Thank you my small team members and people in Inul Vizta for the precious memories and fun working situation that we had. See you in another time.

Thanks for reading my blog posts guys :)

Sayonara Internship Program, see you in another time!

Today marks the last day of Internship program that I had for the Public Relations unit as part of my Bachelor Degree completion, focusing on final exams and hopefully I will be able to graduate on February 2017 *yeayme*.
Inul Vizta Family KTV has been an interesting place for a fast pace of working place. The company is eager to compete with another companies who is offering similar type of purpose which is Karaoke for customers such as working people, students in schools and Universities, families and corporate events. The company can be said as a leading franchisee based company that succeed to achieve a positive brand image and media coverage toward the company.

By completing the Internship program, I will of course miss the company and my small desk (more about it below) and I cannot wait to apply the skills that I have learned to the real world later on. I will mostly feel grateful to my supervisor, Herry and his assistant, Hendra to guide me when I was interning there and receiving important information about the company and to know more how to work in an office environment as personally I have never been working in an office before doing this Internship.

These below are some images of the office that I worked for:

 This above is the desk that I sat during the Internship days.

This image above is the situation of the 5th floor office at Inul Vizta Family Karaoke KTV Palembang, Indonesia.

This table above in the image is where me and the supervisors have a weekly meeting or daily follow up in the office.

Therefore, by creating this blog post marks the end journey of Public Relations Internship and my journey as a University Student.
Thank you my small team members and people in Inul Vizta for the precious memories and fun working situation that we had. See you in another time.

Thanks for reading my blog posts guys :)

The start of an unforgettable journey at Imagine Communication

One of the most important day of my life, I wake up my stomach tied up in knots, so many questions running through my head: What to wear? What to say? What will they think of me? Meeting for the first time with your future employer can be one of the most stressful day of your life as the first impression you make is essential to whether you may or may not be selected from thousands of candidates applying for the same job as you. Sometimes when getting stressed people tend be tongue tied and tensed, and as this was my first interview I did not know how I would react when placed under such conditions. I followed some simple steps before and during my interview to ensure that I would give off the best impression to my possible future employers.

My preparations before the interview:

1.       It is better to be over-dressed that under-dressed, so I chose my most professional ensemble for this important day.

2.       Be prepared – Days before my interview I searched for and memorized every piece of information I could find on the internet or in articles concerning the company I was applying to. Employers always appreciate it when they feel that you are familiar with the background or success of the company and it also increases your chances of being employed.

3.       Follow the news – Showing your future employers that you keep in touch with the daily national and international news is vital as in the field of Public Relations a lot of media monitoring skills are required.

4.       Practice some French – pains me to say this but in Mauritius if you want to work in the PR field writing in French is an essential skill as most of the press here is in French. I was quite rusty in French after several years of only writing in English so some practice in grammar and vocabulary was badly needed. This really helped as I had to translate a full article from English to French for the interview.

On the day of the interview:

1.       I was ten minutes early to my interview which is essential to make a first good impression as punctuality is an appreciated quality amongst employers.  

2.       I confidently introduced myself to the employers, sat up straight in my chair, took a deep breath and mentally settled down to answer the questions to come calmly and properly.

3.       I tried my best to remain calm during the whole interview to give off the best impression possible.

4.       I forced myself to speak in a fluent manner, that is articulating and talking at a regular pace as when I am stressed I tend to blurt out answers without articulating my words.

5.       Tell the interviewer frankly when I did not know the answer to their question is also essential. It is better to admit that you do not know the answer than to answer and be completely out of context.

6.       Finally, after the tedious task of being interviewed, I confidently shook the hand of the person who’d interviewed me, thanked her for her time and attention.

So I guess all of you are wondering how my interview went after following all these tips and I would say that it went really well for me. I even got a few smiles out of my interviewers with my confident and amicable attitude. I also got the unofficial answer that I was accepted for the internship on the same day of my interview and the official one a few days after by email. All I can say is that my success was sweet and well deserved!

Cheers,

Sophie.

The Royal Show

My day 15 was during The Royal Show week. I get the chance to be part of the WAEC team and help at a booth (stall) that the WAEC had organised. The booth was located at Silver Jubilee Pavilion, booth 324, where it was next to one of the exits.

The purpose of the stall was to get as many people to either enrol to vote or just check whether they are already enrolled and make sure their details are up to date. To check people's details, we had a laptop contained a snapshot of the roll and a 'simple to use' look up system.

The one shift at the Royal Show was to approach as many people as you can. We approached them when they were close to our stand or coming close. The most important thing of approaching people was 'DON'T BE SHY!'

At the beginning of the day, it was very quiet as there were not many people coming inside. We discussed that it might be because it was Tuesday and its after the public holiday and also the weather was not looking too good. But during the heavy rain, we managed to get more people and that actually was our highest peak for the morning shift. During the shift there were one or two people that came to us because they wanted some merchandise but we encouraged them to check their enrolment as well.

To try and get people interested, the WAEC had prizes. We gave out entry forms for a prize when they either confirmed their enrolment via the look up tool on our laptop or filled in an enrolment form. The prizes were a daily prize of a $50 IGA gift card and a grand prize of an iPad Air 2 32GB Wi-Fi.

Working at the Royal Show was a great experience because I got to see all different kinds of people. I was surprised that not everyone was interested to win prizes and they all thought that checking their enrolment was not important and assumed they had already voted, which meant they are enrolled to vote. Also some people didn't even know that there is a state election coming up in March 2017.

I enjoyed working with my intern colleague, Ed, and another WAEC staff, Katherine, who is the senior enrolment officer. I think we did a great job in approaching people.

Although, this kind of job doesn't really link too much with PR, it is still a very good experience in seeing all different kinds of people and using our own techniques to approach people.

I am glad that I found my internship at the WAEC, as it is fun working there and I can get a lot of experience in all different areas! 

Enrol Now!

The WAEC Booth

Merchandise

Getting out of the Office! Meeting Time!

Day 13 of my internship at the WAEC. After all the research and writing up a proposal, we finally got the chance to be involved in a meeting!

Today’s meeting was with Murdoch University, we met the Senior Executive Director, Steven Dickson and some head of departments. We were there to discuss about early voting on campus.

The meeting went on for 45 minutes, the topics we discussed include;

•          Are they interested in the project?
•          Day(s) (3 days, 1^st -3^rd March 2017)
•         Time
•    WAEC marquee is 8am – 6pm
•    Main peak hours on campus are 10am – 2pm
•          Location (Bush Court)
•          Key issues
•    Parking ( from 4.30pm onward parking is free for the general public)
•    Security (Campus has 24/7 security)
•    Promotional materials cannot be distributed outside the Marquee area (from candidates).
•   Communication Channels (Social Media)
•   How many students are there?
•    900 teachers, 3000 parking bays, 1000 others = 5000 students/staffs on campus during the 3 days

At the meeting, we first introduced ourselves as interns and the main spokesperson for the WAEC was Justin, supervisor of the early voting on campus project. As interns, we were just sitting the side listening, but during the middle of the meeting, when they talked about communication, Ed had a chance to speak out, and he talked about the communication channels and how this is promoted out.

This meeting was a great chance to see how a meeting works although it was quite informal and was just like a chat.

This meeting helped me gain experience on how to communicate with people in a meeting, and what things we should consider. The most important thing is to be prepared and know what you need to say.

By listening to Justin speak, I have gained knowledge on how to host a meeting with clients which will help me in the future.

I have found the presentations we have done in other units (Cross-Cultural Communications, Media Relations, etc.) to be very useful because it helps with speaking and passing on messages in front of people.

This is the first time I have been in a meeting and representing an organisation. I was nervous to speak and was a bit shy. The things I want to improve after the first meeting is to not to be shy and afraid to speak out. My goal for my next meeting is to speak out!

I can’t believe after all my research and calling people, we actually got to go and join the meeting. It was a great experience!

I love working at the WAEC, and am starting to worry about this internship coming to an end! 

Introduction to the Internship Placement 101

Hello readers, it's been quite a time since my first post ever in the blog. Today, I'll tell you about my workplace for the PR Internship. Likewise, I said that the place specialise in entertainment industry.

The place was established on 2008 and have been very successful entertainment company in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra. This is where I was born and grew up at. Everyday the business generates a profit up to amount of $5,000 if converted in Australian Dollar.

The place was expanded to another building on year 2011, adding more 100 rooms for guests to come and enjoy karaoke-ing in our place.
We offer a 'happy hour service' where people can book the room for 2 hours and get a free 1 hour additional with certain total amount of food and beverages for the previous 2 hour that they have used beforehand.
Our business opens EVERYDAY from 11AM - 3AM in the morning. Our employees have three shifts changes throughout the days and given a few day-offs per month (notified for medical reason or other personal reasons).

There is a downside to our place where we as an entertainment industry have to close our business when it's on Ramadan month about 2 - 3 months (June to end of July or beginning of August). We have to do that because of the Indonesia's regulation where we have to respect our Muslim friends who are fasting and prohibited to have late night entertainment or clubbing services. But this only applies in small provinces such as Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi. Sadly, our place is applied.

This is the place that I have been working for:

This is the front logo of the building. it has 5 floors (floor 1 - 4 are the karaoke rooms), 5th floor is the office. We also use elevator service for easier access to our customers since year 2014.

The special colours for the industry are blue and yellow. It is applied in the employees' uniform, front desk table design and wallpapers around the building.

This below is our brand ambassador. She is called Inul Daratista or preferably called as Inul, a leading singer specialise in Dangdut music genre, it is quite famous music genre in Indonesia. She has been working as a singer from year 2000, her work is acknowledged nationally by 2003 and has been working with the karaoke franchiser since year 2005.

The rooms that we offer for our customers are divided to 6 types. There are small, deluxe, medium, large, VIP and VVIP, with different prices range. The last 2 types are usually booked for birthdays, seminar, gatherings and official meetings.

These below are some of the images for the rooms:

These below are the price offered by the business. It is presented in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) prices.

The karaoke place also have food services for the customers to enjoy their time when they are karaoke-ing. These below are some menu design for the business. The menu is also part of the special offers for birthdays up to 20+ pax and offered with various types of Indonesian food specially served by the kitchen staff. (All prices are in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)).

Based on my personal experiences and a few visits, I have been to the place before I was working as an intern and it is a really good place and recommended for people who loves to sing and spend their time with friends and families. We have a lot of songs in the system and you can request it if it's still haven't uploaded yet (I'll tell you more on my next post!).

This karaoke brand has a lot of branches across Indonesia such as Jakarta, Denpasar;Bali, Surabaya, Lampung, Bandung, Makassar, Jayapura, Tangerang, Medan and more. If you are interested in coming there and want to know more about the place, don't hesitate contact me later for more information.

I think that's all for this time, I have spilled quite a lot of information for our company. Thanks for reading!!

Introduction to the Internship Placement 101

Hello readers, it's been quite a time since my first post ever in the blog. Today, I'll tell you about my workplace for the PR Internship. Likewise, I said that the place specialise in entertainment industry.

The place was established on 2008 and have been very successful entertainment company in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra. This is where I was born and grew up at. Everyday the business generates a profit up to amount of $5,000 if converted in Australian Dollar.

The place was expanded to another building on year 2011, adding more 100 rooms for guests to come and enjoy karaoke-ing in our place.
We offer a 'happy hour service' where people can book the room for 2 hours and get a free 1 hour additional with certain total amount of food and beverages for the previous 2 hour that they have used beforehand.
Our business opens EVERYDAY from 11AM - 3AM in the morning. Our employees have three shifts changes throughout the days and given a few day-offs per month (notified for medical reason or other personal reasons).

There is a downside to our place where we as an entertainment industry have to close our business when it's on Ramadan month about 2 - 3 months (June to end of July or beginning of August). We have to do that because of the Indonesia's regulation where we have to respect our Muslim friends who are fasting and prohibited to have late night entertainment or clubbing services. But this only applies in small provinces such as Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi. Sadly, our place is applied.

This is the place that I have been working for:

This is the front logo of the building. it has 5 floors (floor 1 - 4 are the karaoke rooms), 5th floor is the office. We also use elevator service for easier access to our customers since year 2014.

The special colours for the industry are blue and yellow. It is applied in the employees' uniform, front desk table design and wallpapers around the building.

This below is our brand ambassador. She is called Inul Daratista or preferably called as Inul, a leading singer specialise in Dangdut music genre, it is quite famous music genre in Indonesia. She has been working as a singer from year 2000, her work is acknowledged nationally by 2003 and has been working with the karaoke franchiser since year 2005.

The rooms that we offer for our customers are divided to 6 types. There are small, deluxe, medium, large, VIP and VVIP, with different prices range. The last 2 types are usually booked for birthdays, seminar, gatherings and official meetings.

These below are some of the images for the rooms:

These below are the price offered by the business. It is presented in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) prices.

The karaoke place also have food services for the customers to enjoy their time when they are karaoke-ing. These below are some menu design for the business. The menu is also part of the special offers for birthdays up to 20+ pax and offered with various types of Indonesian food specially served by the kitchen staff. (All prices are in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)).

Based on my personal experiences and a few visits, I have been to the place before I was working as an intern and it is a really good place and recommended for people who loves to sing and spend their time with friends and families. We have a lot of songs in the system and you can request it if it's still haven't uploaded yet (I'll tell you more on my next post!).

This karaoke brand has a lot of branches across Indonesia such as Jakarta, Denpasar;Bali, Surabaya, Lampung, Bandung, Makassar, Jayapura, Tangerang, Medan and more. If you are interested in coming there and want to know more about the place, don't hesitate contact me later for more information.

I think that's all for this time, I have spilled quite a lot of information for our company. Thanks for reading!!

Looking through Rose-coloured Glasses

As I'm writing this, it is 1:38am on Sunday, and I just came home to hear the neighbours cranking up some loud music *lovely* Also, as I'm writing this, my feet ache once again from an exciting and crazy night spent at another signature Momentum Forum Events function: the Brian Gardner Pink Ribbon Ball. 

Behind the scenes

T'was a Pink Night
Held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, the massive ballroom was lit up in pink. Before the guests were to arrive at 6:30pm, setting up tables with name cards, raffle tickets and envelopes, auction catalogues, and corporate signage was the first task our group of interns. It was great to see you all there again (you know who you are!).

From the get-go I had an inkling that the night would have it's stressful moments; as is expected from helping to run an event. The corporate signage list wasn't set out according to a previous version, and the guest list pinned to boards by the entrance weren't printed well; raffle tickets had to be counted and re-counted, and laid out on all forty-six tables, and so, too, did the auction catalogues; all neatly rearranged to accommodate everything else crowding the table. There's a lot more paperwork at an event than you'd think.

Pink Ribbon Ball 2016

As the guests arrived in the foyer, enjoying their bubbly pre-drinks and came over to the table where raffle entries and door prize sign-ups were happening, the excitement started to build together with the decibels of conversations. The rainy weather withdrew into the night, and soon everyone was filling the ballroom, anticipating the night ahead.

The Pink Ribbon Ball is an annual signature event, since Barbara founded MFE in 2002, and its support for breast cancer awareness is amazing. It's sad to realise that this illness is something that everyone in that room had a connection to; either because they experienced it, they guided someone else going through the rigorous treatment, or because you want to support others discovering the painful journey. Behind the pink lights, the sequinned dresses and the grand ballroom, we are real people gathering to support a cause that we, sadly, hear about too often. This is something our guest testimonial speaker Debbie Clarke was sharing with us last night.

Going One, Going Twice, Sold!
Behind the scenes and away from the reality check felt across the room, the live auction was coming up soon. But before the real hustle began, Jess and I got the delicious task of showcasing a 10kg life-size Cadbury chocolate bar, tempting everyone, which was really fun!

Colour me pink

And so the serious bidding began. In addition to the team which was handling the auction, us interns were made to divide and conquer, and be 'spotters': signalling anytime someone in our section raised their hand to place a bid to benefit the auctioneer. My head was swirling from one side to the other, patrolling the area if you will, trying to keep up with the pace of the auctioneer's speedy monotone of which bidding price we were at. There was also a silent auction, but it was pretty quiet on that front; I wonder if any of those silent auction paintings got sold...

Wrapping it Up
In the end, everyone was dancing and having a good time. The live band got a crowd of their own up on the stage, singing away as the smoke machine fogged the disco laser lights. The atmosphere was infectious. When all the auction catalogues, corporate signage and other bits and pieces were collected, it was time for us interns to get together and have a glass of wine. What was a nice surprise was that the kitchen had some desserts left over for us to enjoy. Chocolate cups with raspberry coulis, macaroon meringue and flower petals was truly a treat!

The A-team

All good things must come to an end

As I am writing this post I have just finished my second last week at the WAEC (it really went flying by didn't it?!). While it is sad that my internship is almost over, it definitely hasn't been all doom and gloom.

Some exciting things have happened and are happening at the WAEC! Firstly, I worked at my first proper event, helping out with the WAEC's enrolment drive at the Royal Show last week. I was given the task of helping to confirm enrolments of those who were interested in our booth, the freebies and our competition (involving an IGA gift card & and iPad Air 2!). All interns were given a WAEC polo top to wear on the day (and to keep) and it definitely helped me to feel even more a part of the team. A great experience I'll remember!

Secondly, the fellow interns and myself have been given the fun task of creating some social media content to link into the new advertising campaign and the other social media posts that have been created. We will be at Curtin University next Tuesday to do some Vox Pops with students, asking them to name the new election mascot/character and a few questions about elections and voting. We'll be in our WAEC polo tops so if you see us around, definitely say hi and get involved (we may have some freebies to give away too)..

After almost 20 days at the WAEC, I feel very proud of myself and what I've accomplished. I began the 20 days with the big task of improving our social media channels and have successfully created some images that will hopefully be used during the election timeline from enrolment to polling day. I definitely wouldn't have been able to do this alone and would like to thank my fellow interns for their great ideas and constructive criticism.

Now to make the final week count! See you in my final blog post!

Until next time,
Isabella Olivera (17742580)

WAEC @ the Perth Royal show 2016 - Photo Credit: WAElections Facebook

Just one of the social media posts I've made for our election timeline! This one is a reminder for early voting

A Peak of the Annual Report!

Every September the WAEC finalise their Annual report. Along with Ed and Isabella we were given the draft of the 2015-2016 Annual report for the WAEC. The Commissioner, David wanted us to go through the report and give suggestions on what they can improve and any recommendations we had. As interns they wanted us to view it with critical eyes and have some input into it.

We looked through the report and compared it with the latest published report (2014-2015). Things we picked out/ suggested were;

·         The formatting could improve

·         Use of pictures

·         Use of empty spaces

·         Should make it more engaging (visual engaging)

·         Change some basic dot points to ticks

·         The idea of change the bullet points to the style of a ballot paper (numbers in boxes, 1-5)

·         Photoshop pictures (more nicely not too obvious

·         Use of graphs and tables

·         Colours (the draft version was in black and white)

David and Lena (Executive Assistant) loved the ballot paper format suggestion and thought it was a great idea.

Besides adding our comments to the Annual report for 2015-2016, we also finished calling all the universities that we needed to call, and gave them more information about our proposal. This was the first time I’d sent an email to an official person, as before all the emails I’d sent were only to tutors/lectures or ones applying for internships.

It was a great opportunity to look at the WAEC annual report. I enjoyed putting forward my thoughts and I hope they are used. Calling universities is a great chance to build up my PR skills and on how to communicate well with different people. This internship is helping me built up my PR experiences a lot!

Here is a link to the WAEC annual report 2015-16: https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/Annual_Report_2015.pdf 

Things Easier Said than Done

To gain the benefits of new experiences and the knowledge they bring,
get out of your comfort zone! 

Usually during the glorious 30 minutes designated for lunch at my internship here at Momentum Forum Events I like to go outside, sit on a bench and read some Harvard Business Review articles (*geek alert*). Usually I find them scrolling through Facebook or LinkedIn; but lately I've spent more time on the latter. 

In the Zone
The mind wanders and I wonder how what I'm reading relates to my internship experiences. There was one about how if you're not outside your comfort zone, you're won't learn anything. This is something that I'm sure we've all experienced, especially when it comes to finding work placements, jumping into new waters and doing things you weren't sure about. 

There's this theory that you shouldn't wait until you're ready to do something - do what gives you the butterflies before you think you're ready; otherwise there may be a missed opportunity you wish you would have taken. The article pointed this out also, reading, "As we grow and learn in our jobs and in our careers, we’re constantly faced with situations where we need to adapt. And without the skill and courage to take the leap, we can miss out on important opportunities for advancement."

Work the Net
One such experience which can bring us out of our comfort zone, is moving to a different city to start a new job. I've talked to many of you, and read your detailed blogs, who have done the PR internship overseas; which I find amazing! Part of getting to know a new city is getting to know its locals and industry professionals you'll be working with. 

Networking events are a great way to stock up your fresh business cards and make new contacts. Another HBR report in my 'article library' talks about this: "If you’ve just uprooted yourself to move to a new city, where do you begin?" It offers some tips and advice so check it out!

Today we think of networking events as a pretty standard thing to get involved in. But 23 years ago it wasn't all that common, with people being unsure of what this term meant. All of us doing our internships, I'm sure, have been to a variety of networking events (if not, then I'd worry!). 

Everyone has different experiences when it comes to meeting new people at either industry-specific functions or multi-sector gatherings, or in exclusive or larger crowds. Yet one thing we can agree on is something that this recent article talks about: "Diverse networks enable the opportunity to interact with people in different departments, organisations, industries, and countries. They're valuable because they provide access to new information, whereas your existing co-workers tend to have similar insights to yours." 

Theory in Practice 
Interning at an events management company networking becomes critically important. What the team I'm a part of are doing involves getting people to attend events in support of a worthy cause. Creating, running and managing such events brings people from all walks of life together in one room; creating the chance to meet them and get to know their stories and expertise. They're networking opportunities in disguise. 

I'm someone who was always predominantly shy, and found it hard to get out of my shell to let the wider and brighter world in. One of my first jobs was working as a waitress in a busy restaurant. At first I was nervous and over-thinking too many things, but as time went by and I focused on what I had to do and began to enjoy it more and more, the nerves went away and my people skills improved massively. Now I work in offices all over Perth, and although interactions with people are still constant, the nature of how I have to deal with people is different. 

Although I still get nervous about dealing with people I don't know, and hoping to manage their expectations, I remind myself that taking that step outside my comfort zone is what will bring new experiences and opportunities; the ability to learn and grow. 

Let me know what you think about your networking experiences and how you get out of your comfort zone!

Hello...I'm Winnie from WA Electoral Commission...

Day 7 at the WAEC, my task was to contact universities' Vice Chancellor, assistant.

The first thing before calling them was to write up a script. This is very important as I need to know what I am going to say. Also I have to prepare what kind of things I might get asked.

The first uni I called was Curtin. Making phone calls for the first time in the office where I'm representing a organisation was SUPER nerve-racking. I was so scared to press the numbers, so I got my intern friend, Isabella to help me dial the numbers! Sounds silly right?

Hopefully the call to Curtin's Vice Chancellor's assistant wasn't too bad! The lady, Allison picked up the call and she was super nice. I followed my script and asked her whether the university was interested in our project or not. Allison sounded interested in the project and told me to send a proposal to her so she can discuss it with the Vice Chancellor.

After making more phone calls to other universities, I worked on the proposal which helped me to answer questions from other universities.

When the proposal was put together. I went to the supervisor that was in charge of this project to check the proposal before sending and getting it finalise. We discussed what we needed to consider and what the universities would think, (i.e would they go for it?).

The outcome of this day is that calling people isn't that scary! Today I heard the best suggestion about how to overcome my nerves, think that the person on the other end of the phone is just as nervous that the phone is ringing and they are the one who has to answer it.   

Another outcome or experience I gained from Day 7 is that I now know how to write an official proposal, that needs to be sent to official people and what kind of things I should consider.

I love working in WAEC as it helps me gain more and more experience and knowledge in all different areas, not only PR! 

Script 

Ready to call!

Proposal for the project

Between the Lines: Putting Pen to Paper

As interns, we know the importance of taking notes to write tasks down, take meeting minutes, and keep track of what we did today... 

In this blog I thought I'd write about something we do every day; write. Yet how we write makes all the difference. 

Hidden Details

You always hear about people expected to be detail-oriented and be able to discern the fine print in most situations. It seems like common sense, yet sometimes you really miss what's right in front of you. I'm sure most of us would agree that doing the same thing continuously hinders our progress, and maybe even makes us susceptible to miss the finer details.

For example, when I noticed that the signature image at the end of our standard emails for potential exhibitors was from last year with the wrong dates, I just thought, how could anyone not have noticed? So I changed it and now it’s not misleading anymore. This really shows that it’s all in the details, and anyone can miss a minor hidden one; but if you're the one to pick up on these it's a good skill to have. 

Take Note 

Another iceberg, another lesson

Another good skill to have is the art of note taking. Recently I read this really interesting Harvard Business Review article, about the amount of information we miss when we take notes on our laptops instead of good old-fashioned pen and paper. Although we may take a larger quantity of notes whilst typing away on our keyboards, writing long-hand helps us remember the context of what we've noted down instead of a word-for-word transcript. This is something that I really resonate with; I've always been a 'pen and paper' kind of girl. Writing instead of typing always makes it feel like you're connecting with what you're writing, which makes you remember the context of your notes. 

Other articles I've come across about the art of note taking have been from Lifehack and Scientific American; all coming to the same conclusion that people who write out their notes long-hand have a longer-lasting understanding of the material, than people who type their notes digitally. I just find it fascinating, because in class most of us sit glued to the keyboard, transferring each word said by our lecturers onto the digital page, thinking we'll remember it all because we have such extensive notes. Yet in reality, how many of us go back over these notes, tucked away in some virtual folder, to revise them? When you've got something physically in front of you, I think you're more likely to tend to it.

I remember before I started uni, I was questioning whether I would have to bring a laptop with me to lectures to take notes; already imagining I'd be the only one who didn't know how to touch-type and scribbling away in a notebook instead. As usual, I worried about something that didn't need fretting about.  

Client Meetings
As interns we're bound to be in several meetings, trying to absorb as much as we can from team and client meetings. There have been so many things I felt like I needed to write down so I wouldn't forget them, such as tasks, deadlines, a brief to-do list (which ended up being added to all the time), key words, logins and passwords, phone numbers, random calculations... I find it's really handy, and quite frankly necessary, to have a notepad with you on the go. 

Meetings are a great opportunity for exposure to observe more. Such as how your managers interact with existing and/or potential clients, how they go about creative a solution when they can't see eye-to-eye, and how they maintain their client relations. Client relations in a Forbes article points out what we already know; that exceptional client service makes up the core value for organisations. 


I went a bit further and found a blog post which covered some tips for building long-lasting client relationships, and one of the first things it read was the obvious truth that there is a multitude of ways to keep in contact with clients; phone calls, emails, Skype, social media, face-to-face meetings... this brings about the question of how do you know which is the best to use at which time? 

In meetings I default to be the note taker, detailing discussion topics, general agenda minutes and key points to remember; either for the team in the future or just for myself. It's a really good way to remember important facts or helpful tips, and your custom hand-written notes are also great prompts to refresh your memory of what you did on any given day at your internship. 

And the best part is they don't have to be neat!