You never know what you'll be doing next working in PR!

I have been at my internship for a few weeks now and the first event - Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma - is finally here for Corporate Sports Australia.

A great thing about working in the PR and Events industry is that you are not sat at a desk day in day out, you get to go out on site and do exciting, unexpected things. And this is definitely what happened to me!

Two days until event

With two days to go until the event we ran a collection point at Langley Park where participants would come and collect their ride number and official ride shirt.

After being on the help desk all day helping participants who had lost their e-ticket or wanted to make a last minute registration, Sarah - our Marketing and PR manager - called me over, “Steph you’re going to be in our segment on The Project Metro WhipAround!" With nervousness and excitement I went along, pulled on a Jetts Fitness shirt (one of our sponsors), jumped on a exercise bike and pedaled behind our presenter 92.9fm’s ‘Hot Ross’ as the Channel Ten TV camera was set in place. 

After a few practice runs the 30-second live segment was filmed and over in a flash.

But I can now say I have had my fifteen minutes 30 seconds of fame on TV! I have been exposed to so much I would never have been able to without this internship.

Event day

The Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma ran on the 23^rd March and was an absolute success with almost 8000 people riding in the event. Csports pulled off a successful closure of all the roads and a very successful finishing festival in Langley Park.

Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma finishers.

On the day I helped run the Bakers Delight Breakfast Marquee where riders could come and have a delicious cooked breakfast after the ride.

Throughout the day It is so amazing to see every little individual thing we had been doing in the office come together to make such a massive event run with out a hitch.

It was a huge task for Corporate Sports to ensure all the operations ran smoothly with the closure of the Kwinana Freeway and making sure Perth people were well informed to avoid chaos on the roads!

So as the last few riders left Langley Park and the event team congregated in the breakfast marquee to pick at the food that what was left, we here a voice “So, where are we at with Perth Garden Festival?” from Csport's Event Director.

The team has to now refocus their attention to the next event with less than a week to go until the Perth Garden Festival!

Steph Price

Events Assistant 

Corporate Sports Australia

14855689

We definitely chose the right career

I was very nervous about heading into the ‘real’ world as an intern at Corporate Sports Australia. But I soon found that I couldn’t have scored a better placement.

Great people, great events and great experience!

The events I'm covering at my time at Corporate Sports are the Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma - WA’s largest cycling event (which involves shutting down the Kwinana Freeway for half the day), and the Perth Garden Festival, a four day festival previously known as Garden Week.

What has surprised me about my internship is that I actually get to do proper PR activities that we have been learning how to do at uni and not just the general office duties that I expected to be doing as an intern – like printing, enveloping letters, etc. 

I have been assigned with a lot of writing tasks – which, as well as design, I absolutely love because it's what I feel confident in doing, as well as enjoying to do it.

Some of the tasks I have done so far are:

• Write a press release/blog post on the transport arrangements for the Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma.
• Create content for the event websites.
• Write the content of the Perth Garden Festival email newsletter.
• Write a press release announcing the appearance of Peppa Pig at the Perth Garden Festival.
• Write four press releases announcing the Chevron City to Surf for Activ is back for 2014 in Busselton, Karratha, Albany and Geraldton.
• Create the content for the Perth Garden Festival program.
• Write human interest press releases for the Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma.

What I learnt

1. The biggest thing I have learned about the PR profession in the first days of the internship is that it is not just strictly PR that you’re doing, but a big marketing mix! It all intertwines. You are doing anything is takes to make your event a success.
2. One of the skills that you can’t prepare for is breezing between the different events you are working on with ease. I found it tricky to constantly switch between the two events but I have finally picked it up with practice!
3. A lot of people will say after their experiences in the PR work place is that PR is not glamorous and it's all a myth. With this frame of mind going into my internship I was still very blown away at the happenings around the office (e.g. filming a commercial at Channel 9 studios and amazing staff lunches at the 1907 Bar and Restaurant).

From what I have experienced so far I feel like I have ventured into the right career. It's fast paced, interesting, fun and no two days are the same.

If I can leave any advice for people yet to start their internship it would be not to worry about whether your PR skills are adequate enough, because everything you have learnt at Curtin prepares you for this – you’d be surprised how easily it comes to you.



Steph  

Stephanie Price
Events Assistant
Corporate Sports Australia