Mass communications in PR

Media relations is the core of public relations as it is about liaise with the media to inform about an organisation or company we’re representing. Building a good relationship with the media is very important as they are the one who can help us to convey the key messages to the publics. In fact, the media also need public relations as it is their job to get a story or news for the publication they are working with. Hence, public relations and media need each other.

Press conference is one of the way to communicate with the media in mass. So, what is press conference? It is basically an event where the journalists from different media are gather in one place with company’s spokespersons. The aim is to have Q&A session with the media and to make sure they filled in with information about the company’s profile, programme and etc.

I usually watch press conference on TV news but this time, I was invited by Volvo Trucks Malaysia account holders to help out with a press conference event as well to witness it live. The press conference is called ‘iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks’ that aims to inform the media about their plan with governmental bodies to create an innovative solution to reduce crashes between motorcycles and trucks. The press conference was held on January 15th, 2013 at Volvo Trucks Malaysia headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter receptionist counter 

The Managing Director of Volvo Trucks Malaysia, Mansoor Ahmed giving his speech.

Officiating the Signing Ceremony of iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks

Below were my tasks that I've done :

Before the event:

• To update the media list to ensure the invitation are send to the correct person.

On the day itself:

• Pack the goodie bag (media kit) for the media
• To call the RSVPs to confirm with their attendance as well to enquire whether they can find their way to the place.
• To ensure they register their attendance for us to contact them after the event.
• To take note of questions addressed by the media and answers from the spokespersons. Yes, I have to remember their name and which media they’re representing. I’m very bad in memorising people’s name but I can only remember those who are unique to me. Thankfully, I remembered most of them.

One of the items in the goodie bag.

Media Registration booth.

I was very surprised as press conference is very different from what I’ve watched on broadcast media. At first, I thought one question should be answered by one spokesperson but I was wrong. I asked my colleague, “Is press conference supposed to be this way where one question will be answered by 2-4 spokespersons?” and she said, “yes, in case one person missed one of the important point but it should not be more than 2 or 3 persons actually as things will be a mess”.

How press conference can be a mess? Having so many spokesperson to answer can be misleading to the press as one point might be clash to another. Plus, not everyone can think likewise. The journalist can be likely to include information that may change the publics’ view on the company. Thus, it is crucial for PR practitioner to make sure that the spokesperson are briefed and understood on what should they do for Q&A session with the press.

Remember the Q&A document that we need to prepare for our PR 250 (Media) assignment? That is one of the document that we need to prepare for our client including few other documents such as interview details and tips. The document basically to guide our clients so they know how to handle with the media.

After the event, we need to send out the news release to all of the press who attended and contact them to check if they have received it and will they be using it. When the media said they won’t be using the news release, it is our job to ask why and seek for advice in order for them to accept it. Sound pushy but that is the most gentle way to push in order to get more media coverage as well to improve the media release quality to match with the publication’s preference.

Best regards,

Fazar Ria Muneera Bt. Safree Zainudin
13761196/ 7D5B3504
Semester 1, 2013
Curtin University Sarawak campus

Struggling between work and studies.

Greeting!!

Hello everyone, my name is Joanne Ting. This is my 8th semester in Curtin University Sarawak Campus. 

I am taking Bachelor in Mass Communication, major in Film and Television and Public Relations.

Because of I am planning to extend a semester in Perth so I decided to take three units only in this semester, including PR 393, so that I can work and studies at the same time during this semester.

Im a 22 year old from Bintulu, Sarawak (about 2 and half hours drive from Miri), and yes Im not far from my home town, so I can always drive home anytime.

I completed my internship at Corporate Communications Department in Curtin Sarawak. 

I remembered the first day, I was super excited and panic. Exciting because this is my first time working while, panic about the strange environment and people that I am going to meet.

But everything turned up nice as my colleagues are so kind and friendly.

In this 20 days of internship, I've learned a lot from my supervisor, Ms. Marcella and all my colleagues in the office. I feel thankful to my manager, Nicholas Leong, who willing to take me as his intern.

As it was the beginning of the semester, there was not much events going on. 

The first few days, I was sitting in the office doing media monitoring and press clippings. Through the process, I've learnt about how to calculate the value of a piece of news (sizes and prices from each media outlets). 

After I have done all the media clippings, my colleagues would assign me some works like writing tender and key-in academic staffs' information as record. 

I was so worried because I have not really done anything related to Public Relations. But, luckily, there were some events coming up which I can involve and learn. Wish to know? Stay tune to my next entry.

Take Care.

Kind Regards,

Joanne Ting

15109536

It's hard to say goodbye!

When you have developed a relationship with these people, these working people, you can already call them your friends. Before i get to the sad part, let's recap shall we?

Advertising

Marketing team asked for my help to come up with a name for their new promotion. I started scribbling words that makes sense to me. I admit i might have cheated a little and used the thesaurus (EH! Hello! It's a book that provides you with knowledge! So it should be useful!) and found a few out of the ordinary words like "ballyhoo", "hullabaloo"and they chose "extravaganza" (ok, that's a little more simple and less crazy). So yes, my phrase was printed on to the promotional posters and was distributed around Miri and in facebook. 

Online Stuff

Amanda was on leave for a few days, so my assignment was to come up with short stories that fits a facebook status for her to post on MMRS's page once in 3 days. So i wrote quite a few, sufficient for 2 months. It covers just about everything - weather, fashion, entertainment industry, food, lifestyle, quotes from famous and influential people, like i said, everything i can think of. (Made me think for a second there that i could actually be a writer for a fashion magazine. pffttttt)

Marriott Matters

My assignment was to find suitable and impressive art that best fits the theme of Ramadhan, Eid Mubarak, Malaysian Independence, Sri Lankan food, and the London Olympics! My boss actually taught me how to use coraldraw and it was so user friendly and efficient. (Makes me think photoshop what? LOL) So basically i helped my boss in editing the Marriott Matters for July/August/September edition.

Birthday Card

Did i tell you that MMRS distributes birthday cards to their employees. YES! They do keep tabs on when your birthday is. Amazing right? Just when you think no one remembers your birthday, and suddenly you find a card in your locker. Brightens your day knowing that the management does care. So i helped Mr Jamal to insert the names of the birthday boys and birthday girls of the month and printed it on some cool paper they have in stored! 

Meet the GM!

Marketing team what shorthanded and they needed someone to go up and get the signature and pass something to the GM! I swear, my heart stopped beating for a bit. I don't know why i was so intimidated. Weird right? He's just another man working there. It was all in my mind about him being scary and all, when the truth is, he is so utterly friendly and smiles a lot. He actually made me smile just by looking at him smiling. So contagious. 

Making full use of the staff benefits!

Staff gets half price discount on F&B no matter lunch or dinner. So i went and have buffet dinner at Zest with my two friends. It was great! My attention was all at the dessert counter!!! Maybe it was because i have not had buffet meals in quite a while. 

And here's the sad part.

I told them that my internship period is up because i want to focus on my classes, halfway through the semester. And on my last day, they made me promise to go dinner with them, which i agree. They brought me to Dragons Seafood, Off Luak, Bakam road. I knew in my heart that i can never forget them. They are my friends that i cherish forever. 

Lobster that we had.

Appetizers! 

Sales and Marketing team, as well as PR Team. My Marriott Family

So you see folks, first it was work, then it became fun and relationships start t build up amongst friends that made them feel like family. And that was how my internship went in Miri Marriott Resort and Spa. 

This is Amira Saryati binti Misnu

Curtin University Sarawak Campus

I'm wide awake!

Katy Perry made a statement in her song saying that she's wide awake. That's how i felt when workload after workload is assigned to me. This is not pretending anymore, this is real. I felt the taste of how someone would be busy with work. With constant routine of daily media monitoring, reading newspaper after newspaper, the Food & Beverage requested for help from the PR department in assisting them to create a flag to decorate the dishes served. Picture taking with the chef, Shell and Petronas dinner coming up that need literally a thousand mini flags to be made, taking pictures of the dishes, arranging and preparing for the video shoot of the chef in Mulu - exotic food of Sarawak that will be filmed by RTM and footage will be shared with Asian Food Channel (AFC), there is so much to be done in so little time.

First Agenda
Proof reading for my boss's article for newsletter as well as the GM's letter.

Second Agenda
Fact sheet updates that needs me to research on the current property of Marriott chain. I spent a few hours in front of the laptop (thank god the internet speed is super fast, makes my life so much easier) opening websites, checking for validity of the information.

Third Agenda
Cutting and pasting of the mini flags. It's so tedious it was ridiculous! Printed mini flags, penknife, toothpick, the whole ensemble.

Fourth Agenda
Anticipating the call from RTM regarding the slot for chef cooking in Mulu cave filming

Fifth Agenda
Picture taking around the hotel.

I'm not complaining, i actually am very grateful that i received as much knowledge as they are throwing my way. I took on every task thinking that if i do great, it'll reflect so much on my impression with the hotel and my lecturer. And mostly, i just want to make a name for myself, make sure they will still remember me even after i have stop interning at the resort. Fingers crossed! Hopefully.

Updates will be up again soon!


A PR Practitioner to be,
Mea Misnu


Curtin University Sarawak Campus

Journey through High-Speed Internet to the Arabian Night!

Work has been fun! And I feel like I am meant for this industry. Besides reading, writing, reading again and writing again, i get to dip into the event management arena. Basically the marketing team promotes the facilities and offers that the hotel has to give to their customers, but to make the visions come true is the PR part in the workload. 

I had the opportunity to witness and be apart of two event this week. Awe-freakin'-some! Even though the first event did not have much work for us to do, but i had the chance to meet a few local reporters and make friends with some. MMRS became the first hotel in the northern region of Sarawak state to have high-speed internet, Metro-E service that provides 22Mbps broadband connection. That, ladies and gentleman, is one of the fastest running Internet speed in northern Sarawak. There are no delays in webpage load and everything just appears in a blink. There were corporate gifts prepared by Majupun Sdn Bhd (the company that owns MMRS) for the press and attendees - a cool black notebook. The next day i saw it in the newspaper as i was doing my daily routine. To read more about it, click here. 

So that was my first encounter of event management as a PR intern in MMRS, even though it was just a memorandum signing. Next day i was reserved by a colleague to help out in another event and this time i get to get my hands dirty, in a good way! We had to transform the ballroom into an Arabian dining place. I think we used around 20 stacks of textile material to create tents, decorate the walls, entrance, lobby and the trolly. They envisioned the whole Arabian experience and they wanted us to make it happen. We tried out best to fulfil their requests. It was tiring but at the same time fun! I snapped a few pictures of the place.

Some of the decorations for the event, to bring up the Arabian Night ambience

Entrance to the ballroom (Like i said, textile materials!)

And that's what the trolly was for. I became their test subject for the two men to practise. 

All in a day's hard work isn't it? Like i said, work equals fun! The secret to great performance in your work is when you enjoy what you are doing, and that's exactly what i am feeling. 

Updates will be up again soon!


A PR Practitioner to be,
Mea Misnu


Curtin University Sarawak Campus

My Internship at two organizations

Hi everyone,

I am Christy from Curtin University of Tecnology, Miri campus. This is my first entry for PR 393 blog. Now, I am going to share with you all about my experiences gained when doing my internship in two organisations which are Kim Teck Cheong and Miri Kaying Association.

I had my first internship at Kim Teck Cheong (KTC) during my one month semester break. It is located in Kota Kinabalu which is my hometown. KTC is a distributor for about 12 companies throughout Malaysia. To name a few including Proctor and Gamble, Dutch Lady, and Alliance Cosmetics. Miri Kaying Association is the placement that i recently working for. It is a not for profit organisation which serves the welfare to its members. Moreover, it is a Hakka dialect association.

However, I will be more focus on the placement that I recently working for which is Miri Kaying Association. During my first week of the training, there was an interactive session whereby all the committee of the association and members which is made up by community have an informal way of interacting with each other. Well, I must say that I love the session so much. Besides that, it is a great opportunity for me as a new member to know each other in the fastest way. The aims of the session are to gather all Hakka members and to maintain the traditional Hakka spirits of friendly or should i say hospitable?

During the session, committee pointed out some of the issue that the association is facing now which including lack of younger generation membership . Then the rest of the committees and members shared their opinion in an attempts to tackle the problems. Perhaps, it is a way for me to get a better understanding regarding the internal, and external environment of the association.

Before I joined Kaying Association, there is another ongoing preparation for the upcoming event which is "Primary School Mathematic Competition". The event will be organized in September 12, 2009. Besides, I was being assigned to work with Public Relations Director, Mr Hiu in organising the Mid-autumn festival at Boulevard Restaurant which is falls on 25th of September, 2009. I was excited upon heard that I can participate in the event. It is a way for me to show my creative and ability to run the event well.

Indeed, both of the members here are friendly and helpful, and I actually looking forward to create a sparkle in working as a team with them in the upcoming event. Alright, I think I have said enough for this time, I will include some flashback regarding my first internship in the next post.

Cheers,

Christy