The key to success

As we prepare ourselves for our final week/s of our placements, we shouldn’t consider this as the end, but as the beginning of a very challenging and rewarding career. The conclusion of our internships, and for many of us our degrees, is not the closing of one door and the opening of another. Rather, it is the key that enables us to unlock the door to our future career.

I truly believe that the knowledge and skills I have developed over the past 15 or so weeks have provided me with a solid foundation as a PR professional. I now have a taste of what the real world is like, and I can’t wait to get the full experience. I now have a strong ability to work independently and take initiative, I have developed my interpersonal skills as well as got a tremendous amount of writing practice. 

One of the most rewarding outcomes of my internship is establishing a connection between theory and practice. I’m sure I am not the only one who has found that some things are exactly like what we learn at university, but often best practice isn’t always used. A prime example that I encountered at Alcoa is the use of social media. I don’t think there is one of us who would agree that social media isn’t important in this day and age, right? And that’s why I was shocked when I learned that Alcoa of Australia don’t have any social media accounts or actively manage its online reputation. I was even more surprised when I discovered that introducing social media into Alcoa’s communication mix is currently being pitched to top executives, who are largely against the idea. This made me realise how difficult it is to convince top level management about the importance of public relations activities, and that you should never assume that basic best practice concepts are easily adopted. 

So as we begin to unlock the door to new opportunities, we must remember that this is only the beginning. We must continue to develop our skills and abilities, learning from our mistakes as we go. This is the only way that we can continue to open more doors for ourselves and continue to grow as PR professionals. I wish you all the best of luck in your future careers and hope your experience has been as rewarding as mine.

Source: http://www.rtrmarketing101.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/key2success.jpg

 

Why stress - 'it's fantastic!'

So much work goes into just one single event... especially when it's one of the biggest car shows in Australia. I'm learning that very quickly while helping to prep for Motorvation 30.

I've spent the last few days creating all different kinds of things in preparation for the event, including; Emergency response plans, media contact lists, rules and specifications flyers, booking forms for traders, guide and conditions forms, media releases.

One of the most challenging things I've had to do out of all this, was create a complete Public Relations Plan for Traders at Motorvation 30. It took me a few days to complete and a lot of research. Only having to ever do PR plans within a group for university, it was a bit daunting having to do the entire thing by yourself... especially when you aren't 100% familiar with car shows at all.
After a lot of stressing that I won't do it right and I'll forget to include some important information, i finally finished it!

I emailed it through to my supervisor, still worrying and still thinking if there is anything else I can do to it - worrying it was completely messed up. But my stress was put to ease when Jade came up to me a couple minutes later saying it looks fantastic. This obviously made me a million more times relaxed and happier, and definitely proud (thanks uni for making me do a million PR plans to get me ready for this!)

Hopefully some of my ideas will be used for the event!