Ready for the 'Real' World

I'm sure like many of you, when I first started looking for an internship, I found myself worried about whether I was ready to put my skills and knowledge into practice in the ‘real’ world. Was I ready? Did I know enough? Will I do well?

Now, nearing the end of my internship at Momentum Forum Events I have found that I really had nothing to worry about. The start is only scary because you don’t know what to expect. Interning at Momentum has allowed me to work one-to-one with the CEO and Founder Barbara McNaught, an opportunity that has let me see all aspects of the company. I have tried my hand at many different PR tactics from writing media releases, newsletters, running sheets and sponsorship proposals to maintaining websites and social media to sharing my opinion on strategic aspects of the company. 

Most importantly, what I have learnt at university has been reinforced. It was reassuring to find that all of the techniques used in class and when completing assignments are the same as those used in the field. Both the units studied and my internship have really prepared me for the PR industry.

I have learnt so much from my internship, not just about how PR is practiced but a lot about how I work. I now feel fully confident and prepared to step out into the ‘real’ world and into a PR role.

I hope everyone’s internships went well!

Kiara Bonasera

15523055

Curtin Bentley

Evaluation In Action.

We have been taught since our first year studying PR about the importance of evaluation in strategic planning. Evaluation acts as a way to see the effectiveness of a project and allows you to see if original objectives have been achieved.

I have been fortunate enough in my time at Momentum Forum Events to be a part of evaluating. Early on in my internship I was tasked with sending personalised invitations for an event to Momentum’s existing contact list. However, there were lots of contact lists and ensuring invitations were not sent out multiple times to the same person was becoming an issue. So we decided that in order to save time and become more efficient in the future, we would type up and place all the contacts in alphabetical order as well as separating them into contacts for each event. Now when sending out invitations for the Men In Black Ball, I see how much more effective the new system has become.

Similarly when updating Momentum’s social media pages we pay particular attention to how well the updates are received online. By looking in detail at what was posted in the past that did and did not work we are able to see the best types of posts to write, the best time of day to post it and exactly who to target. Making sure social media is evaluated is a really important way to see if the audience is receiving the information. If the audience is not being reached, it is not working and objectives won’t be reached.

Old logo

Recently, Momentum has started revitalising their image as a whole and it has been such a great project to be a part of. The reason for the update is simply to bring the company image into the “now”.  The company logo was the first aspect to get an update. The old logo had been used for many years and no longer reflected the quality of the company and the events that Momentum holds. Therefore the aim of choosing a new logo was both to update the image and also to reflect the quality of the company. The logo chosen brings Momentum into the now as well as showing the audience the kind of company Momentum is: An events management company that holds five star events.

So far the new logo has been used in the current media release and the new sponsorship proposal. The

Updated logo

sponsorship proposal is another area that has been updated. When sending out sponsorships recently we realised that the proposal no longer accurately reflected what Momentum could offer. So before we went any further with reaching out to sponsors we stopped, rearranged our plans for the day and revised the document.

Being able to experience evaluation in action has been such an important aspect of my internship. I have learnt that in order to move forward in any project you need to understand whether what you are doing is working and if it is not, how you can go about making it work.

Until next time!

Kiara Bonasera

15523055

Curtin Bentley

Short & Sweet.

During my internship with Momentum Forum Events, the founder Barbara McNaught has taught me a number of valuable lessons when it comes to PR and writing. I have learnt that today you have an average of six seconds to gain someone’s attention and encourage them to read further. When you think about that in the scope of PR writing that is not much at all!

Barbara once mentioned this quote, which I think, is a great way to look at any sort of writing:

“I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

-Blaise Pascal

It takes time to make sure something is succinct and to the point. I think we’ve all been guilty of blurting out everything we are trying to explain and have ended up writing useless information. However, there is definitely no place for that in PR.

One aspect of my internship where this has become apparent is in writing emails to potential sponsors and donors. Barbara has taught me to firstly think of an interesting title that will grab attention and get the recipient to open the email. The next step is to write what needs to be said in the least amount of words possible. Admittedly my first attempt ended up a bit longer than needed. However, after looking at it again and editing all the unnecessary information out, I learned that I could still say everything I needed to without writing an essay. Thinking about it from the recipient’s point of view, I would much prefer to receive a short email than a long one.

The six-second rule is something I will definitely take with me when writing in any form in the future. Not only does it keep your writing succinct but also keeps it interesting. 

For those who want to read more about the rule, here is a link to an article that explains it in relation to resume writing.

Kiara Bonasera

15523055