Hi Everyone!
So here we are! The last week of semester...it has flown by. I finished my placement at Kings Park last Sunday when i had one last day left of event management during the festival left. It was really great to do some event management throughout the festival and see what all our hard work in the lead up had gone towards.
I have learnt so much during my placement and my time at Kings Park has been nothing but a positive one. I have been involved in so many services such as promotion, advertising, community relations, government relations, stakeholder management and event management. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to experience a new working environment and make many new contacts along the way.
I now know that having good time management is a must in the PR industry. I know that it is crucial to make positive relationships with everyone you deal with. I know that what we learnt at uni did actually help when working in the "real world". I know that it is important to do better than what others and yourself expect of you. And i know that you should do all of this with a friendly, professional, honest, credible and approachable manner.
I think the PR 393 Placement unit is one of the best units because it gives all student to kick off their experience or to add to their professional experience. I still believe that hands on experience is where we learn our best lessons, and from the experiences i have had this year i will keep believing this until proven otherwise.
Hope you all had as positive experiences as i did and good luck with those placement reports!
Kelly
Showing posts with label Kings Park Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kings Park Festival. Show all posts
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Gaining Exposure and Making Contacts!
Hi everyone!
I have finished my first placement at
Presbyterian Ladies College last week – it was a great two and a half months of
part time community relations experience. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
The team I worked with were really nice and I learnt a lot. However, I now know
that that type of environment and field of work is not what I would like to
work in. I think it is a little slow-paced for me and I believe I am suited to
a place with a more intense nature that is more challenging to me. It was
worthwhile being there though and I am glad for the experience. I am on the
Public Relations Student Chapter as the Design Coordinator and last night we
hosted an event – PR in Mining & Resources. Many of the PR professionals
that came to talk to us said that any experience is very worthwhile and that
sometimes you have to do some jobs that you may not like or suit you to get to
where you want to be. I think this is wise advice and applies to me in this
situation.
I am still doing my placement at Kings Park
for the Kings Park Festival. I am really enjoying it there. We had a lot of
work to do in the last few weeks leading up to September (the start of the
festival) and we had a lot of our content be released onto the website,
articles published in newspapers and photo shoots for the newspapers as well.
Something that was not mentioned in my job description, but I got the
opportunity to be in the promotional photo shoot for the West Australian. It gained
a lot of exposure for the festival and there was a lot of positive feedback
from it. Here is the photo that was in the West Australian!
Now that the festival is underway it will be great to do some work out in the field and see where all my hard work has been going!
Till next time.
Kelly
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Promotion, Promotion, Promotion!
Hi all!
Now that we are half way through August the Kings Park Festival is approaching very fast! I have been very busy distributing all our promotional material packages to hotels, libraries, residential areas, and many organisations for elderly people and disabled people. We are also in the process of organising advertising in the West Australian and really pushing the promo in the last few weeks up until the festival which starts on September 1. We have been organising content and photos for social media updates throughout the festival. Once the festival starts I will be out in the park doing some event management and making sure everyone is organised and everything is running smoothly. I am really looking forward to it! Below are some examples of the promotional photos I have chosen to use for the website and face book.
My internship at PLC has been very busy lately as well. We have had one big event last week which was a 50 year reunion. Everything ran really smoothly and it was great to see where all my hard work had gone to and to see it was a success. Next week we have our biggest event which is the schools' Founders Day. I have been working on this a lot so it will be great to see how it all goes.
I hope everyone is still enjoying their placements!
Kelly
Now that we are half way through August the Kings Park Festival is approaching very fast! I have been very busy distributing all our promotional material packages to hotels, libraries, residential areas, and many organisations for elderly people and disabled people. We are also in the process of organising advertising in the West Australian and really pushing the promo in the last few weeks up until the festival which starts on September 1. We have been organising content and photos for social media updates throughout the festival. Once the festival starts I will be out in the park doing some event management and making sure everyone is organised and everything is running smoothly. I am really looking forward to it! Below are some examples of the promotional photos I have chosen to use for the website and face book.
I hope everyone is still enjoying their placements!
Kelly
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Juggling Act
Hi There!
Wow...What a hectic last couple of months! I
started a placement as Events Assistant at Kings Park in June – doing the PR in
the lead up to the Kings Park Festival in September – and then also started my
Internship at Presbyterian Ladies College Public Affairs Department. So on top
of two placements and uni and tying to have a social life – its been crazy!
Working at Kings Park has been really
interesting. I am part of a small communications team and we are doing
everything in preparation for the Kings Park Festival. The festival runs every
day in September with events and activities on every day. Also, every weekend
there are Live Music Sundays. So, there is a lot to organise! I have been doing
a whole range of things so far – from design work for promotional material to
organising distribution lists and booking musicians and artists and writing up
contracts for everyone involved in the festival. It has been really interesting
having meetings with external PR professionals that help work on the festival
and seeing what their lives are like.
My internship at PLC is a little less
hectic. It is community relations based and I have been working on a range of
events that the school hold to retain involvement of past students. It has been
really good working on events from the very beginning until the end. We are at
the point now where all the preparation is done and the events are about to
start happening. It should be a good end to my internship to attend and run the
events that all my hard work has gone into.
I guess this is all just a small taste of what working full time is going to be like!
I am looking forward to seeing what else I get
to experience over the next few months, and hearing about everyone else’s
placements!
Kelly
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Kings Park Festival comes to a close
The time has come for the Kings Park Festival to draw to a close, which sadly means the same for my prac with the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority. My time with the BGPA will conclude this Sunday with the ever-popular Wild Fairyland Festival - the biggest fairy party in Perth! Kids come dressed as fairies, elves, wizards and pixies and there is fairy floss, pony rides, magic shows and so so so much more! I won't lie, I'm definitely excited to get dressed up as a fairy! Hopefully the weather will be kind to us this weekend - we had to trek though the Lotterywest Family Area analysing the site plan and figuring out what is going to go where in the rain the other day!
Luck hasn't really been on our side with the weather lately! Since my last blog we had a bit of a disaster. Unfortunately, Tree-mendous Family Day on Sunday the 18th had to be completely cancelled due to extremely wild weather and storm damage to the park! Driving into Kings Park early that morning I had to dodge huge branches strewn across the roads that had snapped off during the storm. It wasn't until I arrived at the main Festival site I saw the worst of it... one of the large Tuart trees had completely ripped out of the ground at its roots. Not only that, it had taken out another large tree on its way down, landed on a marquee smashing to pieces the tables and chairs inside and also destroyed some promotional signage and tree-wrapping displays. It fell directly on the limestone pad where we conduct activities and also where the food vendours set up; only about 15 metres from the stage for the live music. We were definitely thankful it fell early in the morning when it did because any later and the outcome could have been extremely worse! But seriously, out of the hundrends and hundrends of trees around the park, why did it have to be one right in the main area! Not a good start to the day!
The area was roped off and the guys with the big machines that demolish the fallen trees into mulch (I'm not sure what they are called) were on the scene immediately. The combination of the storm damage and continual rain meant it was just too dangerous for the days festivities to go ahead. All we could do was retreat to the offices and start calling everybody and anybody to let them know Tree-mendous Family Day had been cancelled.
Situations like this make you realise that no amount of planning can prevent some things from going wrong; in the end, some things are beyond our control. We obviously couldn't control what the weather was going to do so we had no other choice but to cancel. Its so sad to see all that hard work go to waste but what can you do! You will come across unforeseen circumstances in your working career and you just have to deal with them the best you can. In this situation I learnt the best thing you can do is get on the phone straight away and let those involved know what the scenario is. I felt terrible calling people at 8 on a Sunday morning - the majority of them were half asleep when they answered! But ultimately they all said thanks for letting them know early because they were grateful they didn't come all the way to Kings Park and then find out the bad news!
Its sad to see my time with the BGPA coming to an end - being a part of the Kings Park Festival was an experience I'm really grateful of. Looking back, its rewarding to know the activities I've been a part of and to see the work I've produced. I know its corny but I love reading the website or a brochure and thinking "I wrote that!"
Fingers crossed the weather is nice for us this weekend,
Au revoir fellow bloggers!
Kate Brown
Bentley Campus
14290138
Luck hasn't really been on our side with the weather lately! Since my last blog we had a bit of a disaster. Unfortunately, Tree-mendous Family Day on Sunday the 18th had to be completely cancelled due to extremely wild weather and storm damage to the park! Driving into Kings Park early that morning I had to dodge huge branches strewn across the roads that had snapped off during the storm. It wasn't until I arrived at the main Festival site I saw the worst of it... one of the large Tuart trees had completely ripped out of the ground at its roots. Not only that, it had taken out another large tree on its way down, landed on a marquee smashing to pieces the tables and chairs inside and also destroyed some promotional signage and tree-wrapping displays. It fell directly on the limestone pad where we conduct activities and also where the food vendours set up; only about 15 metres from the stage for the live music. We were definitely thankful it fell early in the morning when it did because any later and the outcome could have been extremely worse! But seriously, out of the hundrends and hundrends of trees around the park, why did it have to be one right in the main area! Not a good start to the day!
The area was roped off and the guys with the big machines that demolish the fallen trees into mulch (I'm not sure what they are called) were on the scene immediately. The combination of the storm damage and continual rain meant it was just too dangerous for the days festivities to go ahead. All we could do was retreat to the offices and start calling everybody and anybody to let them know Tree-mendous Family Day had been cancelled.
Situations like this make you realise that no amount of planning can prevent some things from going wrong; in the end, some things are beyond our control. We obviously couldn't control what the weather was going to do so we had no other choice but to cancel. Its so sad to see all that hard work go to waste but what can you do! You will come across unforeseen circumstances in your working career and you just have to deal with them the best you can. In this situation I learnt the best thing you can do is get on the phone straight away and let those involved know what the scenario is. I felt terrible calling people at 8 on a Sunday morning - the majority of them were half asleep when they answered! But ultimately they all said thanks for letting them know early because they were grateful they didn't come all the way to Kings Park and then find out the bad news!
Its sad to see my time with the BGPA coming to an end - being a part of the Kings Park Festival was an experience I'm really grateful of. Looking back, its rewarding to know the activities I've been a part of and to see the work I've produced. I know its corny but I love reading the website or a brochure and thinking "I wrote that!"
Fingers crossed the weather is nice for us this weekend,
Au revoir fellow bloggers!
Kate Brown
Bentley Campus
14290138
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
And The Kings Park Festival begins...
The Kings Park Festival has officially begun!
The 1st of September meant an early start up at Kings Park to help get the opening event underway. Guests were scheduled to arrive for the launch of the Festival at 8.45am so as soon as I got there it was all hands on deck! The day started off with loading chairs onto the truck, transporting the chairs, unpacking the chairs, setting them out in neat rows and sticking VIP signs on the fist few rows - so as you can see, there was a lot of lifting involved! The first part of the day also involved placing decorative banners around walkways, driving back to the offices to pick up passes, cds and signage, standing at the edge of the roped area making sure late-comers new where they were going and making coffee and tea for VIP's (and carrying all those cups was the most difficult part of the day!). Once the launch concluded it was just time to dismantle all the signage/banners and re-stack and transport all the chairs again! Aside form the fact that one of the speakers called it the 2001 Kings Park Festival, the event went very smoothly.
Since then we've had the first Santos Live Sunday event which fell on Father's Day (apologies to my dad for missing Fathers Day!). I guess you could say that Sundays are the busiest days because we have a free live music program that is themed every week and the park is abuzz with family fun and entertainment. There is a lot to organise so it meant another very early start and luckily the rain held off! You've probably all seen those tear-drop shape banners around the place that promote all different things... well I can now officially say I appreciate them 10 times more after having to put them together! I literally lost count of how many got put together - there was too many poles involved! It was then my job to hold them down on the back of the 4wheeler we drive around the park in while they all tried to take flight in the wind - it was freezing! The day also invloved things like putting signage up around the park, opening up buildings for workshops and making sure they had tea, coffee and fruitcake, and lets not forget about the chairs - there was definitely more stacking and un-packing of chairs!
Looking back on all the work that went in leading up to the Festival, I can defintely pin down two things that I found most challenging. Firstly, most of the time it was my job to call various companies - whether it be gettting quotes for bus hire, quotes for catering, ringing someone to discuss the activities they could provide or persuading companies to donate prizes for competitions. I know it sounds lame, but when I would get asked to call someone, I would get really nrevous. Obviously this is something we all have to do several times a day so it was probably me just being pedantic! Nevertheless, it was something I struggled with and what I found it came down to was the fact that I wouldn't have a lot of background knowledge going into these phone calls. My superiors had most of the time dealt with these clients/companies/people previously so they know the situation, they know what they have done in the past, whereas I was still trying to wrap my head around the details. Therefore I didn't have the confidence when the people on the other end of the phone asked me questions. Sometimes they would ask me questions that I didn't know the answer to so I had to put down the phone and check the answer with someone, which I just found a little disheartening sometimes. So that was just one thing I found needed some work as I went along.
Secondly, on some days priorities became a challenge. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Events Coordinator and Events Assistant are who I go to for my daily duties. However on some days, I would also be asked to do something by the Visitor Services Manger and the Business Development Manager, therefore leaving me in a little predicament as to what task should be the priority; who's job should I do first? In the end I just had to look at what they all asked me to do and figure out what was more pressing - which seems like the logical answer now, but at the time you feel bad for putting someone's job as a priority over someone elses!
That's enough for today - as my final word though, I recommend everybody check out the Tree-mendous Family Day at Kings Park this Sunday! There is going to be a rock climbing wall and a flying fox - I can't wait!
Until next time...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
The 1st of September meant an early start up at Kings Park to help get the opening event underway. Guests were scheduled to arrive for the launch of the Festival at 8.45am so as soon as I got there it was all hands on deck! The day started off with loading chairs onto the truck, transporting the chairs, unpacking the chairs, setting them out in neat rows and sticking VIP signs on the fist few rows - so as you can see, there was a lot of lifting involved! The first part of the day also involved placing decorative banners around walkways, driving back to the offices to pick up passes, cds and signage, standing at the edge of the roped area making sure late-comers new where they were going and making coffee and tea for VIP's (and carrying all those cups was the most difficult part of the day!). Once the launch concluded it was just time to dismantle all the signage/banners and re-stack and transport all the chairs again! Aside form the fact that one of the speakers called it the 2001 Kings Park Festival, the event went very smoothly.
Since then we've had the first Santos Live Sunday event which fell on Father's Day (apologies to my dad for missing Fathers Day!). I guess you could say that Sundays are the busiest days because we have a free live music program that is themed every week and the park is abuzz with family fun and entertainment. There is a lot to organise so it meant another very early start and luckily the rain held off! You've probably all seen those tear-drop shape banners around the place that promote all different things... well I can now officially say I appreciate them 10 times more after having to put them together! I literally lost count of how many got put together - there was too many poles involved! It was then my job to hold them down on the back of the 4wheeler we drive around the park in while they all tried to take flight in the wind - it was freezing! The day also invloved things like putting signage up around the park, opening up buildings for workshops and making sure they had tea, coffee and fruitcake, and lets not forget about the chairs - there was definitely more stacking and un-packing of chairs!
Looking back on all the work that went in leading up to the Festival, I can defintely pin down two things that I found most challenging. Firstly, most of the time it was my job to call various companies - whether it be gettting quotes for bus hire, quotes for catering, ringing someone to discuss the activities they could provide or persuading companies to donate prizes for competitions. I know it sounds lame, but when I would get asked to call someone, I would get really nrevous. Obviously this is something we all have to do several times a day so it was probably me just being pedantic! Nevertheless, it was something I struggled with and what I found it came down to was the fact that I wouldn't have a lot of background knowledge going into these phone calls. My superiors had most of the time dealt with these clients/companies/people previously so they know the situation, they know what they have done in the past, whereas I was still trying to wrap my head around the details. Therefore I didn't have the confidence when the people on the other end of the phone asked me questions. Sometimes they would ask me questions that I didn't know the answer to so I had to put down the phone and check the answer with someone, which I just found a little disheartening sometimes. So that was just one thing I found needed some work as I went along.
Secondly, on some days priorities became a challenge. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Events Coordinator and Events Assistant are who I go to for my daily duties. However on some days, I would also be asked to do something by the Visitor Services Manger and the Business Development Manager, therefore leaving me in a little predicament as to what task should be the priority; who's job should I do first? In the end I just had to look at what they all asked me to do and figure out what was more pressing - which seems like the logical answer now, but at the time you feel bad for putting someone's job as a priority over someone elses!
That's enough for today - as my final word though, I recommend everybody check out the Tree-mendous Family Day at Kings Park this Sunday! There is going to be a rock climbing wall and a flying fox - I can't wait!
Until next time...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Kings Park Festival
Hi all, I'm back for round 2!
So the night before I started at Kings Park, I won't lie, I panicked a little! I dragged out my workbook from PR Techniques and wrote down any notes I could find on media releases ... The good thing is I haven't had to look at those notes since! I have found though that PR Media and PR Techniques were two units that prepared me for my professional practice. These units covered aspects of event management like event plans, running sheets and brochures, and therefore these are things I have been able to revert back to when working with the Events team at Kings Park. I guess because we are all working in different areas of PR that everyone will pick out different things in their degree they have found most helpful when completing their professional practice.
So for the majority of the year, the Events team at Kings Park is planning for one major event - the Kings Park Festival. The Festival runs throughout the whole month of September celebrating Kings Park in its spectacular springtime glory. There is so much happenning, which means there is so much to organise! Just to name a few, the Festival offers exciting entertaniment like free live music performances, workshops, activities, exhibits and tours. As soon as the Festival is over, the Events team jumps right into organising the Summer Events Program which are all the concerts, cinema and theatre held at Kings Park, and when that finishes early in the year, it is straight back into organising for the Festival again - So you can see how much time and preparation goes into such an event!
The first major project I had a lot to do with was the promotional brochure and website because it was important to get them both up and running to promote the Festival. On my very first day I was in charge of going through hundrends (and I mean hundreds!) of photos and picking the best ones that could be used for various promotional material. If you need someone to find an image of a small child having the time of their life amongst beautiful wildflowers - I'm your girl! I know what images are in what folders like the back of my hand! And its come in handy when I've been asked to pick promotional photos for all kinds of things like website banners and also for a liftout that will be running in The West soon. My favourite task so far was when I was given the opportunity to gather information and write content for the brochure and website. I drafted up a lot of content from blurbs promoting the various workshops, tours and seminars, to musicians bios for the music in the park. For a little taste of what I wrote for the Feature Artist Program on at Aspects head to the Mylene van Heijster bio and Philippa Nikulinsky bio on the Kings Park Festival website.
Once the brochure was finalised and printed, then came the job of getting the brochures out to the public. I spent a whole day counting out brochures into piles of 10, 15, 25, 50, 100, 150, 250, 300 (and you get the picture), then putting them in envelopes/boxes, sealing the envelopes/boxes and addressing them. I had my own little production line going! I'm not going to lie, it was a long and tedious job, but I didn't mind doing it at all! If I didn't do it then someone else would have because it had to be done. Its all part of how the event comes together. Its all part of PR. And seeing the organisation and prepartation that goes into this Festival is one thing that I have really enjoyed. It has opened my eyes to the amount of work that really goes in.
Well thats enough for me this time! Until next time ...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
So the night before I started at Kings Park, I won't lie, I panicked a little! I dragged out my workbook from PR Techniques and wrote down any notes I could find on media releases ... The good thing is I haven't had to look at those notes since! I have found though that PR Media and PR Techniques were two units that prepared me for my professional practice. These units covered aspects of event management like event plans, running sheets and brochures, and therefore these are things I have been able to revert back to when working with the Events team at Kings Park. I guess because we are all working in different areas of PR that everyone will pick out different things in their degree they have found most helpful when completing their professional practice.
So for the majority of the year, the Events team at Kings Park is planning for one major event - the Kings Park Festival. The Festival runs throughout the whole month of September celebrating Kings Park in its spectacular springtime glory. There is so much happenning, which means there is so much to organise! Just to name a few, the Festival offers exciting entertaniment like free live music performances, workshops, activities, exhibits and tours. As soon as the Festival is over, the Events team jumps right into organising the Summer Events Program which are all the concerts, cinema and theatre held at Kings Park, and when that finishes early in the year, it is straight back into organising for the Festival again - So you can see how much time and preparation goes into such an event!
The first major project I had a lot to do with was the promotional brochure and website because it was important to get them both up and running to promote the Festival. On my very first day I was in charge of going through hundrends (and I mean hundreds!) of photos and picking the best ones that could be used for various promotional material. If you need someone to find an image of a small child having the time of their life amongst beautiful wildflowers - I'm your girl! I know what images are in what folders like the back of my hand! And its come in handy when I've been asked to pick promotional photos for all kinds of things like website banners and also for a liftout that will be running in The West soon. My favourite task so far was when I was given the opportunity to gather information and write content for the brochure and website. I drafted up a lot of content from blurbs promoting the various workshops, tours and seminars, to musicians bios for the music in the park. For a little taste of what I wrote for the Feature Artist Program on at Aspects head to the Mylene van Heijster bio and Philippa Nikulinsky bio on the Kings Park Festival website.
Once the brochure was finalised and printed, then came the job of getting the brochures out to the public. I spent a whole day counting out brochures into piles of 10, 15, 25, 50, 100, 150, 250, 300 (and you get the picture), then putting them in envelopes/boxes, sealing the envelopes/boxes and addressing them. I had my own little production line going! I'm not going to lie, it was a long and tedious job, but I didn't mind doing it at all! If I didn't do it then someone else would have because it had to be done. Its all part of how the event comes together. Its all part of PR. And seeing the organisation and prepartation that goes into this Festival is one thing that I have really enjoyed. It has opened my eyes to the amount of work that really goes in.
Well thats enough for me this time! Until next time ...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
And the blogging begins...
Hello all, this is my first venture into the world of blogging so please forgive me if my skills are a little rusty!
I guess things will become a lot easier if I begin with where I am undertaking my professional placement, and that wonderful place would be Kings Park. This is the point where everyone says "oh that must be such a beautiful place to work everyday" - and don't get me wrong, it certainly is! But I don't think people quite grasp the fact that I'm not out taking in the scenery and working amongst the gardens everyday... the hidden grey building on your right as you drive in on Frasers Avenue... thats me! I'm working with the Events team that comes under the Business and Visitor Services section of the Btanic Gardens and Parks Authority. For those of you who don't know, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority is a WA State Government Authority that manges Kings Park and also Bold Park in Floreat.
So actually beginning my placement has been the hardest thing so far! I had high hopes of getting onto things early and being organised during the mid-semester break... but oh how things did not go to plan. Apparently my body decided that was the prime time to get extremely sick and unfortunately I had to keep pushing my start time back, and further back, and back again! Luckily the Events team was extremely understanding and really kind about it so I knew I was heading into a great working environment. And I have indeed. In the area I am working in there is a Visitor Services Manager, an Events Coordinator (who I go to everyday for my daily duties), an Events Assistant (who is an ex-Curtin student in fact), and I also work with the Education Officer and the Business Development Manager. The whole office is massive though... but oddly quiet because the majority of staff are out within the park all day (like the Park Management Officers (PMOs) who do infringement work and deal with the public).
When beginning my placement, I won't lie, the best part was all the tours I got to go on! Kings Park is such a big place to wrap your head around because there is the State War Memorial, the Botanic Garden, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, Lotterywest Family Area, Synergy Parkland and several gallerys as well as numerous tracks and wildflower walks... and thats only the beginning! I needed to see where all these places were so I knew what everyone was talking about when they mentioned the DNA Tower or the Pioneer Womens Memorial; hence all the tours. But what I loved was visiting all the places I hadn't been too since I was a child. Remember the playground surrounded by water that you used to have to cross a log of wood to get onto the island? Well it looks more fancier than that now, but still, I enjoyed remembering all the school excursions and family picnics that I once had at Kings park.
So there you have it, my first blog! Now that we're all up-to-date with where I'm undertaking my prac, next time I can delve into talking about the Kings Park Festival!
Until then...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
I guess things will become a lot easier if I begin with where I am undertaking my professional placement, and that wonderful place would be Kings Park. This is the point where everyone says "oh that must be such a beautiful place to work everyday" - and don't get me wrong, it certainly is! But I don't think people quite grasp the fact that I'm not out taking in the scenery and working amongst the gardens everyday... the hidden grey building on your right as you drive in on Frasers Avenue... thats me! I'm working with the Events team that comes under the Business and Visitor Services section of the Btanic Gardens and Parks Authority. For those of you who don't know, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority is a WA State Government Authority that manges Kings Park and also Bold Park in Floreat.
So actually beginning my placement has been the hardest thing so far! I had high hopes of getting onto things early and being organised during the mid-semester break... but oh how things did not go to plan. Apparently my body decided that was the prime time to get extremely sick and unfortunately I had to keep pushing my start time back, and further back, and back again! Luckily the Events team was extremely understanding and really kind about it so I knew I was heading into a great working environment. And I have indeed. In the area I am working in there is a Visitor Services Manager, an Events Coordinator (who I go to everyday for my daily duties), an Events Assistant (who is an ex-Curtin student in fact), and I also work with the Education Officer and the Business Development Manager. The whole office is massive though... but oddly quiet because the majority of staff are out within the park all day (like the Park Management Officers (PMOs) who do infringement work and deal with the public).
When beginning my placement, I won't lie, the best part was all the tours I got to go on! Kings Park is such a big place to wrap your head around because there is the State War Memorial, the Botanic Garden, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, Lotterywest Family Area, Synergy Parkland and several gallerys as well as numerous tracks and wildflower walks... and thats only the beginning! I needed to see where all these places were so I knew what everyone was talking about when they mentioned the DNA Tower or the Pioneer Womens Memorial; hence all the tours. But what I loved was visiting all the places I hadn't been too since I was a child. Remember the playground surrounded by water that you used to have to cross a log of wood to get onto the island? Well it looks more fancier than that now, but still, I enjoyed remembering all the school excursions and family picnics that I once had at Kings park.
So there you have it, my first blog! Now that we're all up-to-date with where I'm undertaking my prac, next time I can delve into talking about the Kings Park Festival!
Until then...
Kate Brown
14290138
Bentley Campus
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