Take me out to the...........ball game?

I figure I should probably start my first blog off by introducing myself. My name is Simon Kerrigan, I study Marketing and Public Relations at Curtin University, and like most here I am in my final semester of what has felt like much more than your standard 3 year degree. I think every PR student has their own field or industry in which they are passionate about, and for me that industry is sport. It is therefore no great surprise that I jumped at the opportunity offered to intern for Perth Heat Baseball Club.


Yes that's right Perth has a Baseball club, and a very successful one at that. There is a noticeable lack of awareness about Baseball in Australia, which explains why the Perth Heat were hiring communication interns, ideally to correct this fault. A lot of younger people (myself included) may not be aware that there was a period in time where Baseball was very popular in Australia, and during the 1990's, the Perth Heat would regularly sell out its 5,000 seat venue at the no longer existent Parry Fields. Perth Heat are currently in their 25th Year of operation, and a lot of the PR efforts are related to emphasizing this history.

Nowadays the Perth Heat compete in the Australian Baseball League (ABL) which runs during the Australian summer from November-February. The games are played out at Thornlies Barbagallo Ballpark, where the Perth Heat have won 3 of the past 4 championships. On top of this, the Perth Heat play host to a number of internationally renowned players who use the league as pre-season training for the American Major League Baseball Season (MLB) which starts up at the conclusion of the Australian Season in March.

(Not a bad place to eat your lunch on a nice day)

I strongly believe there is great potential for a re-ignited interest in Baseball in Perth, and Australia. The largest reason I have for this belief is the Perth population, and how this sports crazy city is willing to adopt any team or cause it believes represents Perth well. The recent resurgence of Basketball and the Perth Wildcats I believe provides a solid framework for new sporting brands to develop.

The business side of the club is run on-site at Barbagallo Ballpark, in an often crowded back-office behind the pitch. At times the Office can feel like a revolving door, with staff constantly going to and from meetings with various sponsors, players and coaches. The Perth Heat are also in control of "Baseball WA" which organises and manages the wide array of local competitions and little league Baseball in Perth. A majority of the staff working at the club are from American Colleges, so it has been interesting working with them, and figuring more out about their culture.

The first task that I was given in my role was to draft a Communications Plan for the Perth Heat, seeing as they did not currently have one. I will go into more specifics about the role of communication and PR at the Perth Heat in later posts. This post was more or less an introduction into who the Perth Heat are as an organisation, and what it is like working in the office initially. (Please note there is a slight delay between when this post was written, and when I have posted it).

Feel free to leave a comment asking me about my experience thus far, and I will endeavor to get back as soon as possible.

Till next time
Simon

PR in the Engineering Industr

This blog post was done on 10 August.

My internship at AECOM commenced on 1 August 2012. A short introduction on the company; AECOM is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to markets such as transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government, and has approximately 45,000 employees around the world. AECOM is also a Fortune 500 company, and serves clients in approximately 130 countries; was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2011 and 2012 by the Ethisphere Institute.

AECOM in Singapore does more of infrastructural and building engineering, alongside with master-planning commissions; mostly in transportation and governmental projects. Noteworthy projects include the Benjamin Sheares bridge, MRT lines, Suntec City, Resorts World Sentosa and Singapore Sports Hub. Seeing the interesting nature of the business, I decided to take up the internship offered to me. I was attached to the Marketing & Communications department, under supervision of the Assistant Manager of Marketing & Communications South East Asia.

Having worked in agencies before, I picked a company which provided a more corporate environment in order to help me make my career choice after graduation. Due to the fact that AECOM does not have a Corporate Communications department locally, the Marketing & Communications was the most similar department possible. After checking the job scope, the function of the Marketing & Communications department was more slighted towards the public relations end, with many public relations functions.

On the first day, I was provided materials with regards to the branding and communications elements guidelines. However, due to the extensive amount of materials, including differing guidelines for differing materials, the understanding of the company became rather taxing. Also the company has many business lines, which range from building engineering to water and urban development; this variety of services calls for varying levels of communications. Technical jargons used in engineering and related fields also make it difficult for communication materials to be written or spoken. This is one of the reasons why communication towards external stakeholders has not been efficiently done.

However, communications amongst internal stakeholders have been done regularly and effectively, with many internal publications and events done to facilitate it. Such publications include a bi-weekly Asia Overview, weekly World Weekly and frequent Project/Award Wins and New Appointment announcements. Events are also done at each office by the Employee Engagement committee, which I was tasked to help out with.

Apart from the reading materials provided, I was tasked to research on the competitors’ media coverage to have a brief understanding of PR in the local engineering firms. The competitors include Arup and Meinhardt; it was noted that both competitors lacked media exposure and coverage as well.

A run-down of the pending Marketing & Communications projects included an information sheet for clients, a new website branch for AECOM in Singapore and the D&D function happening in December 2012. I’m definitely looking forward to working on more projects for the coming three months.

On a side note, we had an enjoyable National Day Celebration in office by the sharing of cupcakes as well as a short quiz on the National Flag! J

Busy busy at GGF

Hey I’m Ciara and I started my internship at the Global Good Foundation just over 2 weeks ago. Ever since I’ve begun it’s been non-stop, hence this being my first blog entry! (& also a little trouble I had signing on). I’ve found that I’ve really settled down and am well and truly stuck into my role as Events/PR Assistant, along with the 5 other interns here at GGF, 4 of which also attend Curtin!

As it has already been mentioned through some of their blog posts, the Global Good Foundation (GGF) is a non-for profit organisation dedicated to assisting those affected by domestic violence through empowerment, opportunity and education. GGF is setting up education centres beyond crisis care and establishing a global standard for the rehabilitation methods used. This short blurb I’ve learnt off by heart by now as our ‘elevator pitch’ and actually wouldn’t be surprised if I said it in my sleep! I’ve constantly used it in emails, phone calls and other forms of communication, as it is really important for GGF to get the right message across to its publics and build awareness of its relatively new existence as an NGO (since 2007).

In terms of applying for the internship, I initially showed my interest by calling up the GGF office after I saw their post on blackboard. Just as a handy tip to everyone else they really liked the personal approach of calling rather than contacting them online! By talking to them over the phone I was also able to get more of an idea of what I would be doing and my chances of getting a placement.

I have found that both my supervisor Tiffany and the founder of the organisation Tenille have been really approachable and open to communication, which has made a huge difference to my whole experience here so far. I was able to liaise with them during the Winter break before I started the internship, in which they gave me background research to do. A few days before I started I also went in for a casual meeting, where they made a note of asking what I personally wanted to get out of the internship. I think that this contact I had with Tenille and Tiffany prior to starting made a big impact on the pace at which I settled in when I started. I was able to find out more information on the projects I would be working on and felt that my position would be valued and therefore wasn’t as nervous on my first day!

So far I have found that the Global Good Foundation is a positive example of excellent communication. It just goes to show how important it is and how everything we’ve learnt so far about correct communication really is true in the real world!