Public Notice: How to Lose Trust and Alienate People

If you ever want to legally tell someone about something without them ever knowing you told them, use a public notice.

Have a multi-million dollar planning development you want to quickly get approved. Public notice.

Ever wondered about a government decision, ‘how did I not know about this?’ Public notice.

Whether intentional or not, the use of public notices to notify the public is grossly inadequate. 

A staple of local, state and federal governments, the public notice is a beast best understood through a simple Google search:

Used widely as a tool to notify and seek feedback from stakeholders (quite often due to legal requirements), this dull and uninspiring approach is in desperate need of a makeover. No other form of communication has persevered with as much nerve as this mono monstrosity.

And it’s not limited to the visuals either; the written form is just as poorly executed.

Let’s take a look at two options for making an announcement to a group of people you’d like to engage with. This first one is based on the thinking ‘what am I required to do to meet my obligations?’

Pursuant to the aforementioned inadequacies of public notification, it is hereby given that readers of this literature will be provided with opportunity to provide uninhibited feedback and contributions to a consultation phase as per the regulations imposed by the University and course coordinator. Submit your contribution at the conclusion of this notice.

Even if you can make sense of that paragraph, chances are you’re not filled with a desire to respond.

Now imagine I asked you to go the very back of the West Australian to read this. What’s that? You didn’t read that edition? Sorry it’s not available anywhere else - this is a limited time offer, pal. 

But suppose my approach was instead based on 'how can I write this so people will immediately understand.' Taking the first example and re-writing it as simply:

What’s your view on the role of tone and language in corporate writing? Post your thoughts in the comments section. 

And instead of the back of the paper, I post this on social media and as a news item on my website home-page. 

An extreme example, but one not too far from reality.

The more pessimistic among you may accuse these public notice architects of underhandedness. I take a more generous view. It’s not intentional, it’s institutional. It’s a habit-driven, culture based issue that’s as systematic as a 12pm lunch break.

So who will rescue the public notice from the depths of mediocrity?

PR folk of course!

At its core, this argument boils down to fundamental communication principles and it’s the role of PR practitioners such as us to fight for the rights of communication. 

There are great examples of this happening right here in Australia.

Project Robin Hood by the City of Melville is a brave approach to engaging residents in the council’s budgeting process.

Dumb Ways to Die by Metro Trains in Melbourne raised awareness of staying safe around trains.

This is broadening the issue to more than a simple public notice, but the principle is the same – take something that on the surface is dry and uninteresting and develop a communicative approach that successfully combines design, tone and distribution to legitimately engage with the public.

The three messages I want to drive home here are:

1. We must not settle for inadequate communications. 
2. We must not blame those who do not know better. 
3. We must work with our colleagues to develop a culture of broad engagement and accessibility.

So the next time your legal team asks you to place a public notice in the back of the paper, make it clear that the public won’t notice it.

Contributing to the Annual Report!

Contributing to the Annual Report!

In September of each year, the WAEC finalise their Annual Report for the previous financial year. This year I was lucky enough to contribute to the decision making behind the 2015-16 edition.

Our staff Executive Assistant gave us a copy of the draft report, along with the 2014-15 edition, and told us to view it with a critical eye. I was a little surprised that they wanted our input on the report, but it felt like I was a valued member of staff, even as an intern.

Along with my two fellow interns, we analysed the draft report and compared it with the 2014-15 edition. Having three different sets of eyes looking at the same document was great because each person has a different way of looking at things.

Our feedback generally focussed around content layout and how it could be more engaging. We noticed that the 2014-15 report used a lot of graphs and tables, something that we felt the new draft report lacked. Content delivered solely via text is not engaging for any audience, especially when it is in a vast quantity. The use of graphic formatting to display statistics and figures would break up the report nicely, and allow the reader a chance to see the content in a different way.

We found the overall use of empty space could be improved. Although an Annual Report must be packed with content, you can’t underestimate the use of empty space. In this regards, the picture sized could be made a little smaller, and the Photoshop editing could be used a little more discretely!

As this was a draft report, it was still in black and white. I presume that when in full colour (yellow, blue and white), that the final product will be more engaging on the eye, as was the case with the 2014-15 report.

Part of our role was to contribute any creative suggestions to the report design. In this regard we came up with an idea to change one of the box designs to have a number in them, as opposed to ticks (I.e. number the boxes 1-5). This in a way emulates a ballot paper, and the staff members who we shared the idea with absolutely loved it.

The next day in the office, Winnie and I walked past the Commissioner in the corridor who stopped us to tell us that he really loved our suggestions for the report and that they would definitely be taking them on board. This made me feel appreciated and it was great to see that a person as busy as the Commissioner has time to express how he feels to an intern.

Overall, it was a great experience to be trusted to make some recommendations regarding the 2015-16 Annual report. I’m glad our ideas were taken well and I look forward to seeing examples of my inputs in the final copy which will be available online in December 2016.

Last year's annual report - used to base our recommendations on
2015-2016 edition won't be uploaded until Dec 2016

Benchmarking and Recommendations: A real world perspective

My project is all about improving the WAEC's website & social media and in order to do that, the topics of benchmarking and recommendations are heavily involved.

Firstly, the WAEC aims to make their website more user-friendly and easier to navigate. My task was to go through the website, the content and how it was all organised.

As a student who has had to visit the WAEC website to find information for assignments, I had an understanding of what information could be made more accessible and how information may be able to be presented differently. Regardless, I thoroughly analysed the website's presentation and content in order to provide recommendations for how this could be presented differently.

I have recently been told that my recommendations have been taken on board and that a couple will be featured on the new website. One of these recommendations is the creation of a legal page that will include all relevant legislative documents as well as information on election fines (that are issued for not voting). I was very surprised and ecstatic to hear this news.

Improving the social media channels however, has proved to be a more difficult task. It is important to mention that the WAEC has regulations on what can & can't be posted to social media to ensure political neutrality. In order to make recommendations for the WAEC's channels, I first had to look at what the other electoral commissions in Australia were posting to their channels.

Benchmarking has always been emphasised in our PR units and I've never really given it much thought until now. By having a look at the other electoral commissions, I found a great amount of similarities and differences.

Some of the similarities include but are not limited to:

• Social media guidelines regarding political neutrality
• Promotion of election information and content (as various states are in the process of conducting state & local government elections)
• The specific social media sites used (every commission has an official Facebook page and a majority also use Twitter and Youtube)

The major differences between commissions is how the information is presented. For example the Victorian Electoral Commission uses animated videos to provide electoral information while the NSW Electoral Commission uses power-point lecture styled videos to present similar information. 

There were also differences in the consistency of usage. For example, the Tasmanian Electoral Commission has not updated their Facebook since July, while the WAEC tends to update their Facebook weekly. 

I have found the benchmarking process very eye-opening and helpful for the creation of recommendations for social media content and presentation. My next project involves the creation of a content schedule as well as the creation of content for fixed events in the election timeline (role close, early voting, etc.) and thus the findings from my benchmarking & recommendations will very much come in handy.

Only 10 more days left of my internship and the pressure is on to make the most of it.

Until next time,

Isabella

The first 4 days: my experience at WAEC so far

Hi fellow PR interns.

My name is Isabella and I've just finished my second week working with the West Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC), and so far, have loved every minute. I first found out about the WAEC through the Public Relations Planning & Evaluation unit last semester as they were our client for our 2 major assignments. 

I work at the WAEC office (located on St Georges Terrace) twice a week on Tuesdays and Wednesday. On Tuesdays I am joined by two other Curtin PR interns - Ed and Winnie. I have had one class in the past with Ed and none with Winnie so it was nice to meet some somewhat 'fresh' faces.  All three of us our based in a little area in the middle of the second floor, called the ROLO area. This area is the most central part of the office which will be very helpful when we need to interact more with certain staff members on our projects

WEEK 1

Day 1 of the internship began with a guided tour by our supervisor Sotear, who introduced us to all of the staff members. It was interesting to see how diverse the team was and how some staff members have been working at the Commission for a really long time. [I can understand why after only being there for a few weeks! All the staff members are so friendly and definitely try their best to make us feel comfortable].

After the introductions, the other interns and myself along with Sotear and our secondary supervisor Katherine went to one of the meeting rooms upstairs and brainstormed in our  Engagement Strategy Workshop, where we discussed the various projects we will be working on for the duration of our internships. My project will be of a similar focus to what was covered in Public Relations Planning & Evaluation as it relates to how the WAEC can improve their social media channels while also engaging youth in enrolment and voting. 

During the session we collaborated together to brainstorm ideas for  all the projects which also include internet voting for disabilities and voting on campus. I definitely enjoyed hearing all different ideas we had and the input and feedback from our supervisors. 

Once the workshop was done, it was time for lunch and we made ourselves familiar with the kitchen facilities available and the tea room area. It was then back to another meeting but this time with IT who sat us all down to explain and emphasise the organisation's online security policies. After this we received our log in details and began typing up our workshop notes in to a document as asked for by Sotear. 

My second day at the office was spent alone (as I'm the only intern on Wednesdays) and while it was lonely, I enjoyed the ability to work a little more independently. I was given the task to create a ‘Project Briefing Document’ that would cover my project and focus on  the objectives, outcomes, resources and contacts that I would need to consider in all stages of research, implementation and evaluation. This process was one that I did not find too difficult thanks to the notes from the strategies workshop. As a result  the document was completed earlier in the day and emailed to the supervisor. As I had finished a little earlier than expected I started to work on the research component as outlined in the document. Our supervisor Sotear had a few meetings that day and I was unsure on how to tell her I needed more work so I was somewhat bored for a while until Lena (the Commissioner's assistant) came by to see how my day was going. I told her that it had been good so far but that I needed a little bit more work. She was very friendly and even gave me a phone list so that I could contact Sotear and other key staff members if needed. I later received an email from Sotear outlining some more tasks to do including some meeting points about new social media platforms the WAEC could possibly use and the ways we could use them, as well as possible issues and how to manage them. 

WEEK 2

Day 3 of the internship was somewhat similar to the first day in terms of the busy meeting and activities schedule. We began our day at a meeting with the Commissioner, David Kerslake, who had briefly spoken to us on our first day. The meeting focused on feedback from David regarding the documents we'd worked on during the previous week and it gave us some ideas on what to work on when we had time. Later in the morning we had another IT meeting that focused on the specific program used to save documents. I appreciate the effort the WAEC has made to ensure to make us feel welcome and part of the team.

After an early lunch, we joined our secondary supervisor Katherine (who is looking after us while Sotear is away in Darwin) for an excursion to the WAEC'S Electoral Education Centre. We took the local CAT bus to the EEC which is located across from Parliament. We were introduced to Nigel who explained what the EEC does and gave us a quick tour of the facilities before we were joined by a year 9 group from Butler College. The program for the afternoon focused on the levels of government and the preferential voting system used in both the state and federal lower houses. It was really interesting to visit the EEC as I had never done so during primary and secondary education.

After the visit was over it was back to the CBD where we decided to have a second lunch and a quick visit to Nespresso for a coffee sample.. then it was back to work where we began working on some of the dot points mentioned during the morning's meeting with David. We started to collaboratively research contact details for universities and disability radio services for final part of the work day.

Day 4 was a very productive day yet again I ran into an issue but this time it was more to do with not being able to work rather than not having any work. I began the day working through the meeting points that focused on the social media project and included how social media could be linked to the other projects as well as a seperate youth focused strategy and plan. After this I decided to create a document for important contacts that would be involved with all the projects. Both of these documents were sent to Ed and Winnie to review when they were in office the next day.

I had a quick look at the briefing document I had made on Day 2 to see what tasks could be done. I decided to work on one of my main research elements, which involves analysing the WAEC's current social media platforms as well as their website to see what types of content were being used and how this could be improved and if anything was being missed. I had no issue completing this task for the website as a link is easily found on the staff intranet and there is currently no external content on the page. My main issue with this task however was that I do not yet have access to social media sites from the office computers (although a request for access has been put forward by our supervisors). Instead, I had to improvise and use my own mobile device to access the WAEC's social media and analyse the content. I was able to complete the Facebook portion before my phone decided to go on low battery. Again, I improvised by focusing on social media platforms the WAEC currently doesn't use such as Instagram and Snapchat and how those platforms could be of use to communicating with the 18-29 year old demographic and how it can be used effectively and appropriately. Thankfully I already had notes on these platforms from the meeting notes I had made the previous week and from
my social media plan I had made earlier in the day.I emailed Katherine to discuss the issue of the social media access and to ask if I could finish work 30 minutes earlier because of not being able to finish this task and not having any further work to do.

Overall, my experience at the WAEC has been great and my only complaints are really about the lack of tasks to do, although I'm sure we will start to get very busy over the next few weeks ; and the lack of social media access which is key to my project but hopefully shouldn't be an issue for much longer. I've really been enjoying working in such a friendly and comfortable work environment and having two other PR interns has made the process of interning a little less daunting than I was originally thinking it would be.

Until next time...
Isabella

BONUS: Here's a photo of my work space along with  my  handmade name sign which is now pinned up to my wall so staff can remember my name! There is also a phone next to the computer and a few draws that contain essential stationary items 

Working in an New Environment!

Last Tuesday 9th August 2016, it was my first day of my internship at Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC). WAEC is a Government department where it deals with election enrollments. The office is located in St Georges Terrace.

On the first day there were three interns Ed, Isabella and me. The first thing we started with, was knowing all the staffs at WAEC, we got introduced to them and also we had a tour around the office, as we got introduced to the staffs, we also got explained how things work and also have the knowledge about the areas and where they are. There are 2 levels of WAEC and we were located on level 2 and we were settled down in an area called the 'ROLOs', where it is in the middle of all the areas/departments which includes State, Federal and Local. Those areas are very important as each different areas we might be working with during the internship. And also we have to work with our individual project and we will be helped by those areas.

As WAEC is a Government department, we were given mil keys so that we can access through the office because security is very important in the office as the department deals with personal details. First day of intern was pretty full on because we received a lot of information such as staffs' names and roles and what thing we have to do. I found it full on as I have to adapt to this new environment as it is my first time to work in a proper office for a 7.5 hours. But I found it very interesting and I really like it, especially the staffs are very nice which means me feel very comfortable working there. One thing I didn't know is that working in an office can also be so flexible.

Throughout the first day, all of the interns, worked together so that we can give ideas and help each other with our own projects. Our supervisor, Sotear organised us to work together as a group on some broader engagement strategies before we get started going off doing out individual projects. The engagement strategies workshop, we brainstorm a lot of ideas about the project that WAEC will focus on before the next State Election and we worked out what kind of strategies we can consider. The workshop was very useful and working as a group does help with the ideas. I love working as a team/group.

Thursday was my second day of the intern, when I arrived to the office my task was to work on my project and using the information that we all worked out on Tuesday as a guideline to start researching. Sotear wanted us to prepare a project brief, in the brief thing that we have to include was the objectives, outcomes, deliverables, how it should be done and what resources we need and also who we should contact. As Sotear said this brief will also be a guideline for us to use during the internship.

After the first two days of the intern, learnt about how to work in an office environment, and I found it is very interesting working in this environment. After the first week, I know that working in a PR industry, planning and research are very important. Also working as a team is very useful as more brains have more ideas.

From only the first 2 days I have already been gaining experiences and knowledge on how the PR industry works. I really enjoyed the first 2 days. Also me and Ed figured out how to use the printer which we thought it was a great improvement. 

Putting Plans Into Action

After over two months of planning, getting information and feedback from internal stakeholders, and deciding on the best ways to reach external stakeholders, things are finally (and slowly) starting to happen.

My placement was initially supposed to end once most of the planning had been put in place, but I've been fortunate enough to be able to stay on longer for the beginning of the implementation of the plan.

My last post was about how the main targeted stakeholders for the plan I've been developing, a education campaign to improve safety and registration compliance for owners of off-road bikes, had been changed. Late last week this changed again, and now the focus is on junior riders and males between 18 and 35. It's definitely not the easiest group to try and pitch safety to, but hopefully there will be some success.

Also late last week, content I had developed for the Department of Local Government & Communities website went live. It's such a good feeling to know that the work I've been doing hasn't all been for nothing, and now I have something to show for it other than just a written plan of things to happen.

Plans for social media are also coming into place, so hopefully posts will be up in the next couple of weeks. Whilst this sounds like a long time, it being a government department means that there are a number of procedures that have to be followed before content can be posted to a Facebook page.

If someone asked me at the beginning of my internship if I'd be willing to extend it, I don't think I would have said yes. Now I'm definitely glad to still be there, getting to see something come from the plan has made the experience all the more worthwhile.

That's all for now,
Zoe

Things Don't Always Go To Plan...

As most of you will know, things sometimes have to be changed so that they can become better.

I got to experience this when it was decided that the education campaign I'm currently helping to develop had to undergo major changes.

Luckily, it wasn't because I had been doing everything wrong (phew). The education campaign I'm working on is to try and increase the registration numbers of off-road vehicles, and it was originally decided that we would be targeting the people who ride and own them. After discussions with the communications team and careful consideration, we decided that this wasn't going to be very effective, and that it's outside the scope of responsibilities for the government department I'm interning with. Instead, the campaign's main focus will be encouraging local governments to enforce the regulations that are under their control and encourage members of their communities to engage in safe riding practices.

This meant that the campaign that I had spent about six weeks working on had to be almost completely changed. Changing the key stakeholders meant that the objectives, key messages, communication tactics and the implementation timeline all had to be changed - which is essentially the entire thing.

Surprisingly, I didn't find myself disheartened or annoyed about this. Instead I took it as an opportunity to learn that things won't always work straight away, and to not get to attached to an idea, because it may not work out. Looking back, I'm happy it happened, because I was able to get more experience out of it.

 Zoe

PR People Aren't the Only Ones Responsible for PR

One thing to consider when job hunting - don't just look for jobs in the PR departments.

My internship with the Department of Local Government and Communities (or DLGC for short because their title is really long to keep writing out) is about halfway through and even though I'm still unsure about a lot of the things I'm doing there, I also know that I have learnt a whole lot since I started there.

All government agencies have a communications branch in charge of the PR/marketing/advertising/other communications done by the department. So logically, this would be the branch that I would be working in to develop a communication strategy. Except that because the strategy that's being developed is directly related to educating people about a recent legislation change, it's the responsibility of the local government legislation branch and therefore the area that I'm completing the internship with.

Approval for story ideas & any communication materials that are to be sent outside of other government agencies/local governments still have to be approved and finalised by the communications branch to ensure that it is not similar to anything that has been previously released and that it is up to the standards required for government-produced materials. Other than this though, legislation has total control over what the overarching messages of the campaign are and what forms of communication will be used (assuming funding is approved - it's government and nothing is as simple as deciding to develop a brochure and sending it to a printing company).

Whilst working with the legislation team means that I'm not working with people who are employed in a full time communications or PR role, I think that it's benefited me in gaining an insight into how PR fits into the wider scope of an organisation. It's helped me to realise that every area within an organisation needs PR in some form - whether it's to communicate important information between departments or to inform external stakeholders of new/changing information that has come directly from one area.

I think that this information could be helpful when it comes time to find a job after uni, as it's no secret that PR jobs in Perth are pretty few and far between, and if you were happy to take on a broader role to start off with, looking at more general communications roles that are placed within areas outside or PR/marketing could be an option. And, it means that you'd get a range of experience that could be helpful in the future.

That's all for now!
Zoe

Talk to me. Talking to healthcare consumers.

As we have learnt through out our studies, Public Relations has been generally known by people as spin doctoring or a misuse of power.

Over the first few weeks interning at Cockburn Integrated Health (CIH) (a new state-of-the-art medical centre) it has been reaffirmed to me that within the organisation, the idea of marketing and public relations as a ‘predatory practice’, is slowly but surely disappearing.

At Cockburn Integrated Health there is a legitimate need by the organisations CEO and strategic officers to build and maintain its presence as a leading health care provider and to generally improve the lives and wellbeing of the Cockburn Community.

As a public relations intern at the organisation my role is to help assist the organisation to build its presence and awareness – this has been through newsletters, a service directory, establishing the organisations Facebook page, and redesigning the website. They really do trust me and have given me a large responsibility for an intern!

I have noticed that all employees at Cockburn Integrated Health whatever profession work tirelessly to improve the lives and help the community of Cockburn.

This is has had a flow on effect to how I approach the PR work for healthcare consumers.

I’ve realised that at CIH we really need to ensure people who really need the service find it.

I have also been doing quite a bit of work during my internship on what the ‘competitors’ are doing and how they are marketing and engaging with the wider community.

Little did I know the public community and health care sector has become increasingly competitive, engaging with the public ensures that CIH remains among the main provider options that the target market considers.

At CIH or in any community care context, public relations is not about exerting influence on its users. It is about assisting and facilitating opportunities to people to achieve their health and wellness goals.

Image: Cockburn Integrated Health

Hope everyone is enjoying their internships!

Thanks for reading, Haleh.

The Importance of Being Able to Write Well

The 1,000 times tutors said that you'll never get anywhere in PR if you can't write well? They were right.

Since I've started my internship with the Department of Local Governments and Communities, I've learnt that it's not even just about being able to write promotional materials such as media releases and social media content. In the last two weeks, two of the things I've had to draft were a letter to be sent to a number of stakeholders, and a memo to request funding.

These were two things that I haven't had a lot of experience with before - other than writing cover letters when applying for jobs and this internship I don't think I've ever written a letter to someone. I kind of just assumed that everyone used email now. As for the memo, I was lucky enough to be given a template to work off of, which made things a lot easier.

The other big thing I've learnt about needing to write well is how there is a very particular way that you have to word things when you're writing them on behalf of your organisation, especially in government. Obviously it has to be professional, but there is a style that it has to be written in, and this changes slightly when writing things that will only be seen internally within the department and things that are to be sent out externally. I can't even describe what the style is, but it's definitely there.

As for picking up on how things are expected to be worded in government? I'm starting to get my head around it, but it's definitely all very different to uni. Hopefully by the end of this internship I'll be able to write up anything that's asked of me without having to reread it 20 times to make sure I've done it correctly.

That's all for now!

Zoe

New Strategic Direction: A lot to Learn

Main Roads Western Australia where I’m completing my internship, are responsible for Western Australia’s highways and main roads which represent almost 30% of the State’s total assets (About Us, 2014). They’re a government agency within the transport portfolio, which includes the Public Transport Authority (PTA) and the Department of Transport (DoT).

On my first day at Main Roads working in the strategy and communications directorate, I have been asked to attend a collaborative workshop about the company’s new strategic direction. This workshop involved the whole directorate with the focus on understanding the effect of this new strategy.

For me the workshop was a great way to meet everyone in the directorate and understand the different roles of the people I will be working with over the next few weeks. I got to contribute my thoughts in some of the group discussion as well, by using my external views as a Curtin PR student. It definitely gave me a greater understanding of what Main Roads hopes to achieve as well as why things are changing for the better at Main Roads.

These workshops were to be carried out across the whole of Main Roads which involves all directorates and all the regions. It was a great example of internal communication and showed just how important it is for Main Roads to ensure all employees are engaged and aware of the new strategic direction.

It was a great experience but I definitely still have a lot to learn, as there are some exciting times ahead at Main Roads.

References:

About Us. 2014. https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/AboutMainRoads/AboutUs/Pages/AboutUsHome.aspx