Delving into the PR World - The most enriching journey as an intern - Hectic but Worth It!

Greetings everyone,

My last post was on the tasks that filled up my third week as an intern at Medine Limited, including the 'Laying of the Foundation Stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park' event which took place and was a rather successful one.

However after the event, many articles were printed in various newspapers and each one had its own version of relating the event mostly emphasizing on clarifications Prime Minister gave concerning other issues rather than the event itself. Only articles that I had cut out for document filing purposes focused mainly on the event. 

Also, I vividly remember that one of the articles had its headline/title wrongly quoted as per what the Prime Minister had said. More specifically there was a mix up in how the Prime Minister had delivered a particular saying in his own words. In short, he had rephrased if not paraphrased the saying from "La bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blanche colombe" which means "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", to "La bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blancheur du lys" implying that what is pure cannot be tainted. 

Below is the article which was published, followed by the preciseness part which had to be published to rectify the mistake:

Also, during my last week at Medine Limited, a rather serious incident took place at the Casela Nature & Leisure Park where an intern of the Safari Adventures was bitten by one of the tigers and the man of 42 had to be taken urgently to the clinic Darné. Graeme Bristow, the director of Safari Adventures stated that as he was not on the premises at this particular moment, he cannot give better clarifications as to how these events took place. Mr Bristow further said that never has such an incident happened ever before. However, when asked, Mr Mooteelall Sookram mentioned that his superior - a tamer - who asked him to help him. Mr Graeme Bristow firmly stated that for an intern who was employed only 4 days ago, he had no business being so close to the cages and most definitely did not possess required experience to approach tigers. 

However after the incident, the article published clarified that Mr Mooteelall Sookram will keep his job, receive his salary as he should, and received the best medical treatment. Additionally Safari Adventures noted that they would bear all the medical expenses and the superior given a severe warning, would be fired if not responsible in the future. 

This incident not only allowed me to witness a moment of crisis but also showed how communication through articles conveyed messages to re-assure the public and the family of the victim that this incident was taken care of in the fairest way possible. Besides, the way Safari Adventures, its director and Medine Limited reacted to the incident simply reminded me of how we as future PR professionals have been taught to manage issues and crisis management as follows:


1. Tell it all and tell it fast: 

which means using open, frank and speedy communication as it always proves to be the best strategy to minimize damage to corporate image and key relationships, hence enabling organisations to retain the initiative and maintain credibility. Also always remember never to say “No Comment”. 

2. Show you care and ensure clear, unblocked lines of communication:

this refers to the promptness with which the media should have access to information/spokespeople and the facilities to dossier their stories.

All of the above is easily summarized via Burton's crisis action plan whereby he lists out how one can manage such events in logical steps:

• Assemble your forces
• Establish the facts
• Prepare a statement
• Inform appropriate people
• Notify next of kin
• Take care of media queries
• Handle media on-site
• Organize employee interview(s)
• Do not place blame and most certainly do not speculate
• Manage other notifications

As a whole be as transparent as possible and your organisation will not be tainted.

Well this is it for my last post; how time flew by and came the time to say Good Bye to Medine Limited and to the most inspiring colleagues still feels unreal. But as the saying goes "All good things must come to an end". Yet, I strongly believe that the end's only just a short break from what's coming next - which would have to be even better, if not best !

On a different note, I just hope that you've all enjoyed your placements, acquired as much experience and knowledge as possible. Thereupon, I wish everyone good luck for their future endeavours in the PR field.

Warmest regards,
Geetika Boyjoo
Charles Telfair Institute (CTI) 
Curtin ID: 15172402

Week 3: A new week along with new responsibilities

Good Morning friends,

For my third week of internship, when I arrived at work on Monday, I was told that I would not only be doing the media clippings process, but that I would also be the one in charge of uploading all of them on the Medine Limited's Head Office's intranet.

At Medine Limited, media clippings are made daily but are uploaded on the intranet every Monday.

So far I was only doing the media clippings and was only showed once how articles are uploaded on the intranet, but was never the one to actually be in charge of the whole process. Obviously, I was thrilled at the idea of being given such an opportunity, which showed that I could be trusted and given work without any continuous monitoring and was quite a fast learner.

This task easily took up my entire Monday. When I was done with the uploading, next I had to check the PDF files one by one to make sure that it was uploaded correctly and whether they eventually corresponded to their headlines. At the end of the day it felt nice to know that I got to do this task all by me and that the day after everyone connected via the intranet would be viewing these files.

However, I observed that the particular process of scanning all the articles on the same day that they are meant to be uploaded in the Press Review section took most of my time. As such, I proposed that instead of only doing daily media clippings and filing them in their specific folders, I would also go through the scanning, cropping, auto correcting and/or re-sizing, cross checking and through the conversion into PDF files daily, so that on the next Monday, less time would be spent in going through this process and as such time would considerably be saved, as only the uploading and checking would have to be done.

During the internship, I also learnt that making suggestions and working hard never hurt anyone. Of course, when making suggestions, one should not sound as if he or she is trying to impose their decisions, but should be done politely and by giving valid justification as to why and how this might help in saving time or making certain tasks easier. Even as an intern, my suggestions were often taken into consideration and put into practice, which in a way makes one feel valued.

The following days I was in charge of document filing of the articles which were uploaded the previous day and was asked to re-organize the folders in the files in alphabetical order and make simple 'Table of Contents' documents for each file. This is where organisational skills come in handy. 

The third week was pretty much about re-organizing certain folders and files and about document filing. Another section on the intranet referred to 'Living Better Tips', for that week I was also in charge of uploading new articles/files to this section and remove old articles - in other words I was generally in charge of updating the intranet specially the press review and living better tips section.

Additionally I was asked to review and add more details to a document concerning the Fondation Medine Horizons that had to be sent to Business Magazine as soon as possible.

As usual as the days passed by, I could not get the fact that - theory learnt and applying the latter in the real world of work is two very distinct processes - out of my mind. Learning is good, but being able to apply it in certain contexts and/or situations is what we are required or expected to deliver. 

I still remember and I know my fellow friends also vividly remember that at the end of every PR lectures up until now; there have always been the slides where we were told how "To be an Aspirational PR Practitioner". I personally found that these aspirational notes/steps/tips proved to be very valuable and very much applicable not only as an intern but also as an ambassador of our campus, namely - Charles Telfair Institute. 

Well, that was it for my third week experience at Medine Limited and as promised, here are some pictures of the event that took place on Friday 15th February 2013, of the 'Laying of the Foundation Stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park' by the Prime Minister - Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP: 

The Prime Minister - Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam laying the foundation stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park.

 On the left: Mr. Thierry Sauzier, Managing Director / Deputy CEO of Medine Limited, in the middle: one of the experienced feline tamer and on the right: Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam.

Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam (R) and Mr.  Thierry Sauzier (L) petting the cheetah under the supervision of the feline tamer expert.

On this note, I take your leave until my next blog post.

Thanking you all for your time,
Warmest regards,
Geetika Boyjoo
Curtin ID: 15172402

My reflections on Week 2: 4 days before the major event at Casela

Hello everyone, 

In this blog post I will be sharing with you how my second week at Medine Limited went by. As usual I made daily media clippings, but alongside this was the coming up of the Laying of the foundation stone of the state-of-the-art recreational facility at Casela, along with the resumption of preparations for the forthcoming Fun Day. 

As far as the Fun Day was concerned, I was in charge of calling up the various types of logistics and confirm quotations with them. These included logistics such as tables and chairs, specific colors and size of t-shirts, water dispensers and their bottles, tents and/or marquees, mobile toilets along with its manpower. 

One might think that this task is very easy, however it does happen that even when you call them up and they ask you to send them a request for a quotation via e-mail, they either do not revert back immediately or simply ignore and/or forget about what you need from them. 

Eventually the follow ups felt like absolute 'nagging'. But this is how it goes and this is how the work is done - by constantly reminding them that you need a quotation from them and if they could kindly revert back as soon as possible.

Also very important in these situations is staying calm and polite while communicating. Even if someone would be rude or cold on the phone, I would still be very patient and courteous. This is something I learnt on my own and which is basically a natural reflex, if I may say. 

When this was done, I was then in charge of the chase up calls of Medine Limited's media list for the event at Casela on the 15th of February 2013. 

Once again, I had to call up several times to get in contact with the distinct chief editors. Even if messages were left with secretaries, I had to make sure whether the chief editors actually received the message or not. This felt like contacting the logistics all over again. Even so I did what had to be done even if it meant calling more than 3 times, over and over again, as my supervisor needed a final list of the media houses that would officially be present for the event. Knowing that I was able to help as much as possible with a major event definitely boosts one's will to work even harder.

Beside this, I had to follow-up the presence of particular ambassadors and ministers so that we could produce a final list of guests against the original list made prior to the event. Essentially, when it comes to a guest list, I personally think that one should always remain realistic. Why, do you ask?

Well simply because, even if invitations have been dispatched or sent either by e-mail or fax, it in no way means that all the guests will show up on that particular day. This is where follow up calls are of utmost importance, to check whether someone on the list is in fact going to be present at the event. In this case, what I noticed was that most of the distinguished guests may or may not call to confirm whether they will: Attend or Regret. 

Eventually, the event took place on the 15th of February 2013 and tomorrow I will mostly be doing media clippings in relation to the event. 

Additionally, what I would also like to say about my second week as an intern, is that it showed me how professional practice is as important as theoretical practice. 

Maybe some of you might have thought of getting an internship only for the sake of completing this unit, but am sure by now if you have started your internship and love what you are doing, you have to admit that this is a journey full of surprises, experience, tact, a neat way to make new contacts, a very good way to know where you stand and what you would want to do after you are done with your Bcom or Mass com and build your own professional personality - in other words, how you would like to be perceived and chosen by a future employer. 

For the time being, this is all I had to say,  stay posted for upcoming photos of the ceremony which took place at Casela and also maybe for other imminent challenges in my next blog post.

Wish you all a nice week ahead,
Take care, 
Geetika Boyjoo 
Curtin ID: 15172402
Charles Telfair Institute, Mauritius