A proper ending to this small chapter of life.

Dear All,

Last post on the last day of the semester. In a few more hours here at Curtin Sarawak, it will be the deadline for the Final Placement Report to be submitted in. What have we learn from our placements? I've learnt that working in real time which is after graduating and into the working world would be a harder task. That having a degree will not promise us a job directly after graduating. But with this placement, at least I am prepare what to expect and is mentally prepare to receive the work-load and potential conflict that may occur in the office.

If it weren't for this placement, I think I would be still thinking that being a public relation practitioner is an easy task. Yes, it is easy for someone who has all the right connection networks built up over the years but it will be a very difficult task for someone to start from scratch. Whether it is public relations or marketing, contacts and networking is very important. You are either somebody or nobody. During the internship, I was able to create good relations with some of the media because of my family background and at the end of the day, I figured that if I was someone they knew nothing at all, I may need to work very hard to even have them remember my name. It would have been even harder to ask for their help in promoting the cruise ship (on radio).

Through many experiences with many different characters of people, I think I've become more open in accepting the fact that nobody is ever perfect. Conflicts are bound to happen somewhere, it's how you deal with it that matters. I survived this internship and being able to think back and laugh about it. I hope that all of you are able to do the same thing too. To end my last post, let me say "Good Luck!"

Adrienne Marcus Raja

Curtin University Sarawak

A wedding that almost failed.

There are times during my internship that I got to accompany my supervisor to escort travel agents, the local media, or tour operators to view the ship and answering any questions they might have, giving tours of the ship, arranging interviews between the crew members and at the same time try to build the ship's image. Building the ship's image have been a challenging task as the ship is still slowly undergoing renovation. There are times when my responsibilities are divided into different categories such as administrative, correspondence, promo and editorial. Sometimes I would spent answering to incoming inquiries, either from potential customers, travel agents, or the media.

Researching, gathering and distributing information, and creating press releases for the media and also for the sales department is sometimes required as I make sure that the newcomers are familiar and well-informed with the ship. It is of full advantage that I could speak and listen to several language which is Malay and Chinese apart from English which makes it easier for me to communicate with the crew as they are more willing to talk and get along with me.

Finally, I use the rest of my day for working on promotions and new programs. This internship have give me an opportunity to build a network with others in the business, brainstorm for new ways to promote the river cruise, and how to implement those ideas. This is probably the most exciting aspects of my internship which is meeting people. When people think about a "cruise ship", most would think about ocean liners but because this ship will never leave the river, it has been a task to repetitively try to explain especially to potential customers that this boat is not able to charter for sea-cruising. "What types of programs and activities does the ship offer?" is what is being frequently asked.

Decisions are made based on revenue. There are times when I would come up with an idea that I think would be really fun and interesting, but when I send it to the sales department they say, "no way, too much work, too little profit" Money seems to be the bottom line in the industry and it usually takes time for acceptance of any ideas, no matter how brilliant I think they would be.

I have been assigned a task to coordinate the ship's first ever wedding reception for a couple from Singapore. The event was a buffet dinner course for a total of 100 people on ship chartered for 3 hours cruising on the 10th October 2009. For this, I looked forward the most is to do the decor and theme for the wedding within limited budget. For situation such as these, regular correspondence with the couple and also their elders for decision making is outmost important. At first, the couple are flexible with the ideas that I had suggested but at the end of the day, Chinese tradition and culture issues from the elders such as 'no white, as it symbolizes death', 'no butterflies', no dead branches' has been limiting my choices so it would be best to consult and re-confirm before coming up with ideas and realize at the end that it will have to be thrown into the trash.

This lesson I learnt the hard way which was a day before the actual event. With major brainstorming and discussion with the rest of the crew on board, I managed to camouflage the white lantern with branches of green leaves so that it wouldn't look too white. I had to do new placement cards for the bottom deck which was mostly the older folks (who believe that butterflies symbolizes the departure of the soul), and managed to persuade that the butterfly placements be kept upstairs to blend in which the garden theme which I had for the top deck. The bottom deck which was originally white theme was added in with gold-colored items (borrowed from anyone I knew) so that it won't look too white like a 'funeral dinner'. I had to replace the dead branches in the main table's centerpiece with flowers I managed to obtain from home before the dinner.

On the same day, the traffic at Kuching City Central suffered from traffic jams as several roads were closed for the venue of launching the "Malaysia Day Parade" (http://www.malaysiamerdeka.gov.my) Guests had to be informed of different road options on how to make it to the waterfront and avoid the jam thus the dinner started a little late. It was lucky for that because of the event, most of Kuching's landmarks were lit up with lights thus makes the cruise more vibrant along the river at night. At the end of the day, with good weather for cruising and also enough time to do major adjustment, the dinner reception went very well and still maintain within budget. Phew~

PS: A picture in before the dinner reception. Sadly, I was too busy running around after that to be taking pictures.

Changing mindsets and improving image.

Layar Warisan Sdn. Bhd. where I am interning at is a young company because it has only been operating for less than 2 years in the river cruise industry. The company is currently still going through a slow rebranding process for better service and also improve it's position in the tourism arena in Kuching. There are times when tension could be felt when dealing with other companies that was close with the previous management because of different ways of dealing and different type of agreements. Sometimes there are headache when dealing with clients and companies that had bad experience with the previous management. Some of the staff especially the crew were from the previous management and are still struggling with the changes going through in the current management especially for contracts and duties. But the company is going along the right track especially with a new office and renovation to be done on the cruise has been approved which I hope would boost up or rekindle the publics interest towards the cruise.

When I join the company, I realize that a lot of work have to be done especially in the public relations side because in most parts of Kuching, it is not taken seriously into account of what kind of job should be covering and how public relation is definitely different from sales and marketing. Yes, we do not seal the sales and confirmation from clients or customers but we make sure they are informed of the services and make sure that events held in relation with the company or on the cruise run smoothly without any major problems.

I was not amused when one of the comments I got was "At least you don't have to meet clients and push for sales, you just design posters flyers, take photos and write." Something needs to be done to change this mindset. Any ideas?

1st Post: Internship at Sarawak River Cruise.

Hello everyone,

My name is Adrienne from Curtin Sarawak. Currently I am currently doing my PR internship at Layar Warisan Sdn Bhd which runs the Sarawak River Cruise in Kuching. Sarawak River Cruise is currently the only cruising ship along the Sarawak River. I had actually started this internship since the 22nd of August and is till attached with this company until I have 20 days at least under my name. 

Due to the fact that my placement is located at another city, I try to go back to Kuching for each time there is a break/holiday to continue my time as an intern until I could fulfill the minimum 20 days required by the unit . At first, I was a bit weary to whether I would be able to get a placement as the management is still very new and small. The current management started operation last year in December and is currently going through a re-branding phase in order to improve the relationship among the players within the tourism industry of Sarawak. 

The management have been very considerate in my appeal in flexible working time though I am still in active contact with my supervisor through emails and phone calls if there is any need of my assistance. In this company, Public Relations and Event Management is tied together especially when there is public function organized by the company itself such as Father's Day, Valentine Candle Light Dinner Cruise or when the cruise is being chartered for a private events or private group cruising. 

My first week of internship was during a week break from Uni and I took the plane back to Kuching. When I got the office, I was introduced by the manager to all administrative staff and the crew on the ship. It's the normal 9 - 5 pm at the office and Sunset Cruise will be from 5 - 7 pm. To date, Layar Warisan has only one ship, MV Equatorial, which is 120 feet in length and 20 feet in width and it accommodates 70 passengers in its lower deck and 60 persons in its upper deck.

On the first day, Ms Rosita and I discussed and we agreed that the main purpose of my internship was to enable me to gain valuable work experience and insight in the PR profession. To achieve this, it was agreed that throughout the duration of my internship, I would have to work as though I were a member of the staff and my position in the company was as PR assistant (a vacant post at the time when I did my internship) to the PR Manager. I also have to abide to the rules and regulations of the company,  attend staff meetings as scheduled, meet clients with Miss Rosita and to adhere to the working hours assigned to me. I am not required to be on the cruise but if there is function on the boat especially with private chartering, then extra help would be needed to control the crowd and in making sure that the operations goes well during the cruising time.

The following are my responsibilities as an assistant to the PR Manager:

assist in writing press releases on as-needed basis

assist in events on as-needed basis

read and clip media coverage relevant to the tourism industry

assist in coordinating visits with tour operators and corporate clients

prepare promotional posters

provide research and administrative support on assigned projects

submit weekly reports to PR Manager  

The first function which  I had experienced on my 1st day and 1st time on the cruise which was both exciting and yet a horrible experience. The ship was chartered by the Kuching Buddhist Association. Prayers was performed by monks and members of the association along the Sarawak River in conjunction with the Hungry Ghost Festival where the Chinese believes that in the 7th month of the lunar calender, the 'Gates of Hell' are open and that the dead return to visit the their living relatives. Prayers are offered to the dead and offering such as white rice, fruits and vegetables are then thrown into the river to appease the spirits and prevent the potentially dangerous wandering spirits with no descendants to worship them from causing disturbances. After talking to some of the crew on board, I found out that this is a yearly event and respects could be felt between each other even though of different culture, race and religion. I think respect for the one the major key to making an event a success as both sides understands that even though we believe in different things but everyone has the right to have their own belief. 

Anyways, everything went smoothly until it started to rain heavily with strong wind hitting the ship as it is still cruising along the river slowly whilst the monks are chanting. The boat became unstable and half of the people on the top deck is required to move to the lower deck to balance the boat from over-turning. Communication became a big problem as the gap in Chinese speaking skills was apparent especially with the older generation (50 years old and above) but after a few failed attempts (even though I am able to converse in Hokkien and Mandarin) and with the help from English-speaking members, the situation was in control and so water lily lanterns are then released to float along the river on the way back to the dock. The whole function took 3 hours. 

Long story cut short, at the end of day 1 of internship, I was exhausted because it was a long day and drenched wet. Exciting yet horrible.