Rethinking PR

Posting this right at the end so I'd collect my thoughts on this experience. It has been great stepping out of class and going into the real world. The concrete jungle is not as scary after all! It was a great before graduation.

I remember, before going into university, I said I wanted to do PR because I love events and I do not want to be confined to an office job. A PR practitioner then responded that I could not be any more surprised it is exactly that. I looked at him in confusion and disbelief then but it all connects now. BUT it's not all that bad either. Most of my tasks were generated looking at this view with my laptop and using the internet. It is not glamorous and PR is not a glamorous field BUT when it all comes together at the end, it sure is exciting. Seeing my designs go live on the project website was great.

Although we learnt different aspects of PR in class, I still personally had a very strong customer focused approach to PR. I had a very focused customer-appeal approach carrying out my tasks. Reflecting on my internship, a question always comes to mind - "do I want to pursue a career in PR?" To answer that, I then had to figure out where do I fit within the world of PR. And it suddenly hit me 

PR is all around us. 

In the midst of everything, I forgot how dynamic PR is. 

This photo above perfectly says what I now think about PR and my experience, while the photo below is a representation of how my experience looked like. Public Relations is more than client engagement. A conversation in the office between the directors and myself were PR too! Internal relations. Daphne, from the Miri campus (blog linked here) mentioned that good PR should be practiced by everyone and I could not agree more. Good PR can be practiced in all aspects even as simple as maintaining good conversational skills. (personal branding)

Overall, it's a reminder that the world is changing and so is PR. As a PR student, I am reminded how vital it is to keep an open mind and to absorb everything like a sponge. Creativity and adaptability is a key attribute in the industry. It's an exciting time for PR and for us, soon-to-be graduates! 

Writing my closing blog post next.

Till then, 

Quin 

The Beginning, middle...what's the end?

The beginning: Working for a NFP can be increasingly difficult when you do not accept government funding but rather rely on donations and sponsorship from the community. When myself and one of the other interns at ODATWA, Hope, were told we were about to lose our space if we were unable to raise money, we immediately jumped into action! It began with planning low cost fundraising ideas, brainstorming and researching what would be most effective and could be put together quickly...well we chose an event that although did not require too much effort, was a little difficult to organise over the course of a month! We knew if we were going to pull this off that we would need to put in a lot of hard work!

Although I have organised a few events before, Hope was a biomed student who was looking to get into medicine in the next few years, and works part time. Where as I myself have full time uni, work part time, run a small business and volunteer #timepoor. We knew the next month would be a push and that it would be done on a minimal budget.

So what event did we choose? Well  being Gen Y students that watch a lot of Netflix, of course we couldn't resist hosting our very own dodge ball tournament - Dodge For A Cause! We were excited, enthusiastic and it made the hectic month a whole lot more fun throwing doge ball movie puns at one another. For anyone who isn't aware; Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is what we were relating to. 

The middle: We managed to secure Curtin University Stadium for our event #winning, we set up a Facebook event and October 16th was out event date. We had so much interest in the event, however of course do to limited notice, were unable to secure as many teams as we would have liked but lets save that for the next blog post.

We thought about food to put on and decided putting on our own sausage sizzle would be the most effective way as we had a butcher kind enough to donate sausages for this. The event was all over Facebook and even the Curtin Library toilets thanks to Hope! I targeted Murdoch University and we had a lot of response! Our supervisors barely weighed in on the event as they were so impressed with the approaches we had taken to the event!

We had to submit license applications to the town of Vic Park, create a risk assessment for the event, running sheet and logistics along with tournament details and of course advertise and accept registrations for the event...how did we do it?

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

A Reflection on KiNDLiNG

It is true what they say, events can become ‘like’ your babies. Okay I am not sure if people say this but it is the only way I can describe the relationship between event manager and event. 

I am an aspiring events manager/coordinator/planner, any of those terms, this is the career path I would like to have. Well, the career path I have studied for. 

Interning at AIME has been a great experience in learning all things event planning and seeing an inaugural variety night come to life. I have become one with the stresses of an event, and understand that you cannot control everything. Although stressful, staging an event can be so fun and if it is successful then the rewards are plentiful. 

But let me explain this metaphor that events are like ‘children.’ 

For starters, you worry about the event day and night. You care about its legacy and want it to succeed. You put all your time and effort in giving it the best opportunity to make its mark. Secondly you cannot help but tell everyone about the event. It is a constant conversation starter.  You want everyone to know about it because you are proud of what it will become (and you need tickets to sell). And finally, once the event has been delivered or put to ‘bed’ you can finally relax.

See events are like children, well, sort of. 

 

  Taryn and myself had the responsibility of creating this colourful photo back drop. Pinterest was great inspiration. Our role during the night was to take photos and keep track of names, so that these photos can be used for social media purposes. 

AIME WA’s KiNDLiNG event was not shy of a couple of issues. Not even the most efficient planning can stop external factors impacting an event. A couple of weeks prior, we had several acts that could no longer perform at the event. This put strain on the Events Manager and myself to try find replacement acts within a very short time frame. In addition to this, our volunteer security member had a change of plans and the CEO decided not to fly over from Sydney to attend the event. 

However, none of these issues compared to the stress made from very low ticket sales. The week before the event, only 35 tickets had been sold. 35 Tickets! 35!! At the beginning of the planning process, 350 tickets were expected to sell. This was based on the reason that AIME WA has over 6000 mentors. 

This has been a very important learning curve for me. That a not-for-profit cannot solely rely on its volunteers and other stakeholders to fill seats at a fundraiser event. The promotions side of an event is so significant in attracting community support. The way you target your audiences through different platforms and the extent to which you push the event in media streams. As this was AIME WA’s first major event, and they did not have a headliner act or a major incentive to attract numbers, promotional efforts were so important. Posters and word of mouth would not be enough to carry this event. It needed radio ads, newspaper articles, social media, posters, personal emails, letters and direct communication with schools, mentors and universities to make the tickets sell. 

Thankfully, the week of the event saw a flood of online tickets sell. It is interesting to see how people tend to purchase tickets closer to the event date. We had 200 people walk through the doors. KiNDLiNG was a success and raised necessary funds for AIME’s mission in reaching 10,000 Indigenous students by the year 2018. It was a great night filled with amazing performances and great food.

It was a privilege to be a part of an event so rewarding. To close the gap between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous community, to inspire and bring unity. 

A photo from the night used for AIME WA's Instagram page. 

The fun starts outside of the office!

Hi Everyone!

My internship so far with the Tourism Council of Western Australia has been an absolute dream come true, a real opportunity for me to be able to combine public relations with my passion of tourism! I have spent quite a lot of my degree trying to figure out the right way for me to combine the two in a perfect fit or if it was even possible, and I really feel like I have found my calling finally!

Tourism Council WA is the peak body representing tourism businesses, industries and regions in Western Australia, and in the short time I have been with the organisation it has been so easy to see that each staff member of their (very) small team will always go above and beyond for each of their members.

One of my first days interning was at the state tourism conference, which the Tourism Council organises bi-annually for all tourism establishments in WA to come together and learn from not only each other but from industry professionals on everything from how best to utilise social media to sustainability practices and ecotourism.

My first job for that day was registering all of the attendees (400+) and handing out their conference packs. Now this may sound like the most boring job and the least amount of fun, but it was a great opportunity to meet some of the biggest names in tourism and network among people who all shared a similar passion!

Since the conference and those first few days interning I have had time to reflect and am grateful that my first few days were out of the office and in on the action as it allowed a lot less time to be nervous on my part and instead I was thrown into the team and thankfully easily accepted. Getting the start I did taught me early on that you always need to be adaptable and able to work and think on the spot pretty quick at times, this has become even more present since settling into “office life” too. No one-day is ever the same with this team, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

- Laura  

Nothing Pretty: The reality of the past 10 weeks

Today marks my final day at Event & Conference Co. Over the past ten weeks I have written press releases, multiple blog posts, conducted extensive amounts of market research and spreadsheets, completed data entry and ventured out into Perth’s foodie hot spots to handout fliers, all in all, a lot of work.

Bridget has always told her PR students that the public relations profession is not glamorous. I finally understood what she was talking about. Whilst I was working at an events company, the behind the scenes work was often tedious, bland and repetitive, far from fun and creative. I assume that if I was interning as a graphic designer, my tasks could have been more creative, however the PR work I undertook was predominately research based. Whilst I was prepared for this, the amount of research and areas of research did take me by surprise.

Most weeks at my internship consisted of the same types of tasks, however in the final week of my placement, I was able to help in the setting up of a conference my company was organising for one of their clients. Unfortunately as this was a corporate event, there were no pretty flowers, glamorous table displays or aesthetic decors that I could photograph and attach to this post. I was hoping there would be :( I'm sorry!

My duties for this event involved setting out the identification tags of the entire guest list in alphabetical order. In order to do this, I had to arrive at the venue, which was Frasers Restaurant in Kings Park at 6am. Once this task was finished, I helped with odd jobs around the venue until our 7am de-brief. My final task at this event was to greet the entering guests with a fellow intern and assist them with finding their nametags, then instructing them to the seat list. I was not able to help out for the entire day, nevertheless leaving the office and experiencing part of what goes on at an event behind the scenes was valuable.

In a previous week I was also given another chance to leave the office by distributing fliers around Perth’s most popular café strips. Along with two other interns, we visited cafes and asked if we were able to leave fliers for the upcoming gourmet food expo with them. To my surprise, everyone was accepting of the fliers and it was nice to think that we were actually helping contribute to this event being successful. The strips we visited included Subiaco, Leederville and Northbridge, so look out for the hot pink De-Lish fliers with Anna Polyviou on the front! You really can't miss them.

Whilst my placement has truthfully not been exciting, I am grateful for the opportunity at my placement and am definitely glad I chose the PR Internship unit. The last ten weeks have opened my eyes to what goes on in the real world and different workplace tasks. Being able to state that I have had this practical experience will no doubt be valuable when it comes to future job applications. I even think this process has helped build confidence within me, cementing the fact that I am capable of work life after university. I am proud of how far i have come and how i have managed to deal with the commitment of this internship.