When your boss is not around

I wanted to share with you what really happens when the boss has been away for three weeks, and what happens when you need to get back into the swing of things... 

Hello fellow readers! 

Since the last blog things have changed, as they usually do. For one, the boss is back. Since Barbara's treasure hunt in Poland for the mysterious Gold Train, she has brought back the sense of urgency, methodical chaos and rigor into the workday. The storm has hit (but in a good way)! Emails still linger, yet are no longer the only activity of the day, which I'm happy about. Yet what was happening here while she was away is a different story. 

In a day of an intern, we're under constant supervision. Colleagues, managers and the boss keep us busy and engaged throughout our times in the office or in the field. So what happens when the boss is not in the office to pull you in all sorts of directions? 

In a nutshell...  
...it gets quiet and the intern doesn't get that many responsibilities. Another thing that happens here is the process of writing, newsletter layouts, resizing photos and content creation all become less hectic. A writer's way of going about reaching a goal is to either logically outline what they're going to be writing about, how they want to structure it, or to prefer the tangled version of putting a newsletter together. Depending on how people around you influence your writing process, you might find it contagious and adopt this alternative pathway to successfully reaching your intern goals. 

Two ways of reaching your end goal

As the radio filled the silence, I had to do something during these doldrums. This being a work experience when things get quiet you have to take some initiative to ask for tasks you can do, how you can further help out, and keep asking plenty of questions. 

Never a Dull Moment? 
Speaking with other interns who are at different placements, I hear another story; they are always busy, loaded with work and completely overwhelmed - wondering when the day will end. Of course every place is different, and all our bosses and supervisors have different approaches to teaching and exposing us interns to the fast-paced world of PR, communications, events management, in-house work and consultancies. 

Coming in every week and not knowing what to expect is nervously exciting, so when you can accurately predict a bland day ahead, you'd want to make it better and turn it around. I don't know how you feel about this, but I'm sure we'd all rather be busy bees than wilting workers. 

Keep on Moving
Of course while Barbara was away she kept in touch, and her right-hand go-to assistant Siobhan was in the office, which gave us the chance to work together a lot more and enjoy the less-manic office vibe. So just because the boss isn't here doesn't mean you can slack off; if anything it gives you the chance to keep improving your skills, prove yourself to other co-workers and keep moving in a productive direction; even if responsibilities don't pile up on your desk. 

Booth sales sheets, Pink Ribbon Ball flyers and inspirational team posters

While Barbara was away, I had time to dedicate myself to an ongoing email frenzy and think about how to turn this into a useful blog post. I realised that any tasks that we do as interns serves a larger purpose, even if we can't see that at this very moment. Once it all comes together and we enjoy the hard work we'd put in, we realise that all those menial and repetitive things on our to-do list were not as terrible as we previously remembered them to be. 

Things Nobody Tells You

Hello fellow bloggers!

Since the last couple of blogs, I realised that it's been quiet here at Momentum Forum Events. Maybe because there are more admin tasks to complete before our next event, rather doing the type of work you’d expect to be doing in a consultancy, or because Barbara has gone to Europe on a treasure hunt, yet it got me thinking; is there more to it?

Doing another internship outside of uni at a boutique consultancy is giving me more depth of knowledge in terms of what PR encompasses; and there’s always a lot to learn. This seems like an open-ended question, and I don’t know about you all, but do you have some days which don’t seem very eventful and make you feel like you’re not really learning much?
Whichever way it’s going, here are some things I’ve picked up along the way; and things that nobody tells you... 

Who’s Calling?
Dealing with clients and potential exhibitors for events over the phone requires some self-assurance and a call strategy. No-one tells you how to get either. You either naturally have this gift or you fake it until you make it. Another thing you might notice is how easy it is being ‘blown off’ on the phone, so getting your message across in the most effective way is very important. One of the things I’ve learnt is not to say ‘just’ when you’re explaining from where you’re calling from. I know this one can seem like a tough habit to break; so many of us just like to use that word so much! 

Monkey See, Monkey Do
There are many programs which can create just the right content for distribution, such as newsletters for example. Mail Chimp is the one that we use here at Momentum, and although it is relatively easy and straightforward to operate, patience will be your friend when playing around with resizing the sponsors’ logos to make them all fit nicely together. It’s one of those fiddly tasks that you could spend ages on. 

One of my co-workers, who is great to learn from and work with, gave me a tutorial on how to wrangle the Mail Chimp, and then I had a go on my own for a little bit. You learn by observations, but you also learn by doing things yourself; and to be honest, I think you learn much better and effectively when you apply your knowledge and build on it through trial and error. That’s why I thought I would be creating this newsletter and take the time to do it on my own. Sure, having templates makes it easier to visualise where certain elements should be positioned, yet the creative side of doing such things, is what keeps this experience interesting.

The Iceberg Effect
You get days that are quiet and then you get days that productively busy; and at first I didn’t know what to make of those days that seemed to go by quickly yet, when I thought back on what I achieved during the day, I realised that there was no decisive goal to be reached or deadline to meet. Maybe it’s just the calm before the storm. At times things are not as exciting as they may seem, interning at an events management business, because the funny reality is that everything happens before the big day; all the preparation to make an event what it is on the day that others don't get to see from the outside. I like to call this the iceberg effect: 

You're Not a Robot

Working in an office environment there will always be lots of work to do. Sometime's you're lucky if you remember to take your lunch, even if you eat at the desk (you can say it's more efficient that way). Here in the office, however, the mind drifts and wanders, until you notice once again that there are no windows here. Since my first days at Momentum, I've been blessed with people who annoyingly remind me to go outside and take a break; "you're not a robot". In previous jobs I've been allowing myself to miss the fresh air and sunshine, but now decided to take the advice of seasoned pros; take a break. 

I think that maybe other interns would know this feeling too; not wanting to take too many breaks away from the desk as not to seem disinterested with the work that's to be done. We all really want to make the best out of these experiences and show that we are capable to handle all types of responsibilities. Let me know if you're also a self-admitted 'busy bee'!

 

Lunch-time landscapes

A Fresh Space for a Fresh Space of Mind

My second week with The Wilderness Society (TWS) WA happened to fall on the same week that the team decided to restructure the layout of the office. On Wednesday everyone worked extremely hard to move furniture, remove clutter and improve the functionality of the space. Compared to before, the new office is spacious, welcoming and has been transformed into a space that facilitates collaboration amongst the group. Everyone is very proud of their new space and a lot of people from other offices have come by to congratulate everyone on their efforts.

In terms of PR work, this week I've done a lot of work contacting potential venues for our World Environment Day event in June. This involved quite a few phone calls and emails back-and-forth. Although I never enjoyed making phone calls to people I don't know, I'm slowly getting used to it and the more I learn about TWS the more confident I am speaking to people over the phone about the organisation. On Thursday we were finally able to secure a venue for the event (after having to reduce our guest-list due to capacity limitations) and the team is incredibly excited. VIP Invitations (which I designed last week, with the help of my supervisor) were sent out once the venue was confirmed.

To finish off my week, I spent Friday creating a proposal document/poster so that TWS could pitch an event idea to a few groups of people to gauge the amount of interest it might gain. The thing I'm finding most difficult about designing/creating materials for TWS is that I'm not yet used to the language they like to use in their communications. I'm used to using quite formal language but TWS like to be more colloquial and informal. This means that most of what I write gets re-written. This sometimes leaves me a little deflated but I understand that the organisation needs to ensure its communications are consistent and match the organisational culture.

This week has taught me that it's important to work in an efficient space; a lot of work (and phone calls) goes in to organising an event; and sometimes it takes a while to join the flow of the organisation.