The Intern Elves at Work For the “One Life Suicide Prevention” seminar

The seminar is organized by Momentum, and it is a one life suicide prevention program to present about how the community can overcome their mental health challenges and problems. Just to remind you readers that I am currently working for the Momentum Forum Events which is in charge of organizing events for worthy causes.

Since the event starts at 9.30 am we arrived one hour earlier so that we can be able to do what we can before attendees arrive. I was helping out my Public Relations team to get prepared for the seminar at the Technology Park in Bentley WA.

There were boxes of booklets, pamphlets, handouts such as the evaluation form, running sheet agenda, business cards to be given away to the attendees related to the seminar. My public relations team and I were all working together to organize them all in one media kit and place the kit on the chairs. This way we can avoid giving out the whole lot or passing on the materials one by one to the attendees.

Besides, we thought it was more convenient to put it in one pile with the handouts, business card, pamphlets and flyers all wrapped in one booklet. It is certainly better to put all in one pile with rather than just having the materials displayed on a table. Not forgetting, the team had to sort out some reserve signs to be displayed for the reservation of the VIP’s on the front row.

There was almost a panic situation when we couldn’t find the box with the name tags. It was not in the batch of the boxes. We were asked to arrange the name tags to display them on a table for the guests to register and collect. Luckily the name tag box just arrived in time. Would you imagine if the name tags were not around for the attendees?  Now that would have been a PR dilemma.

Guests arrive! Now it’s time to get serious.

The name tags were all aligned for the attendees to collect signed in for registration and was asked to sign a photo release form. There needs to be permission to be granted in case the photographer would want to take a photo by following the legitimate reasons provided in the form. 

I have learnt so much just by attending and helping out in this seminar. It has definitely been a different experience for me. Here is to sum up on all the things I have learnt. 

• Arrive before the guests to ensure all is ready in order to avoid any dilemma surprises

• Assist all guests in registering and offer help when needed

• Prepare and organize the media materials for convenience

• Team work leads to a solution

• Responsibility in prioritizing the guests

• Respecting the seminar by being attentive

• Multitask and work smart

Here are some snap shots of the “One Life Suicide Prevention” seminar. The CEO of Momentum Forum Events, Barbara McNaught quoted, “it was a great seminar, and it was a successful all went well, thank you girls for coming!”

I am glad to share this experience with you other fellow interns. If you have any other enquiries don’t hesitate to feedback or comment, thank you for reading. Be sure to follow up with my blog posts as my diary of a public relations intern continues.

FINITO!

Hi everyone!

This would be my final post, marking the end of my internship period and soon, the university life. During the two months internship, I have gained lots of insights into the real PR industry.

For this last post, I would like to share some pointers with everyone with what I have learnt after my internship:

1.     PR is a challenging job as we are the intermediaries for many parties like our clients, the media and various stakeholder groups.

2.     Time management and multi-tasking are very important skills - as PR practitioners are required to handle several accounts at any time.

3.     Understanding the nature and products of the clients well, to prevent getting off-track or missing any media coverage when doing media monitoring.

4.     Do not overpromise. Deliver what you can promise to the client, as reliability is the key!

5.     Building good media relationship is vital- you never know when you will need their help.

6.     Be prepared and flexible for any situations especially during events- Expect the unexpected.

 

Lastly, on a lighter side, I would like to share an article about the 15 professions that drink the most coffee. Guess where does the PR professionals ranked at?

http://io9.com/5948206/here-are-the-fifteen-professions-that-drink-the-most-coffee-guess-whos-number-one

Though I didn’t have much coffee during my internship period, but I have observed that my colleagues would drink several cups of coffee throughout the day to keep themselves awake. Reason being, some of them were in the office working since 6am, and leaving later than 6pm due to the amount of work that needs to be completed for various clients. So, what are your thoughts for this article??

Hope everyone have enjoyed their internship as much as I did, and wishing everyone luck for your future endeavours! :)

Cheers,

Delvina Chiang

15006527

Curtin Singapore

'Doing it all'… Multitasking prone to PR!

Hello World!

It’s Yashni, intern of Odysseus PR agency...

Time really flies when you are having fun or should I rather say when you are busy. I have already completed 10 days of internship and I can say that PR is a fun department to work in because it’s a mix of almost everything. I’m leaning that people in PR have to simultaneously be able to handle different tasks. 

I guess you must be wondering why this title? 
Well this week has been an interestingly hectic one for me, the event is tomorrow and up till yesterday I had to run after the catering company for confirmation, to ask for the menu/price lists, and look for quotations of wine for the cocktail on Friday. At the same time, I had to research and write for the new website that I’ve been assigned to do and also to contact photographs, diving centers, hunting companies, etc.. to persuade them to give the right to publish some of their materials without any compensation. And I can say that I’m proud of myself for I have successfully been able to persuade them. I have realized that multitasking is a must in PR – varied clients, work, deadlines, etc…, all necessitate the ability to juggle multiple disparate tasks at once.  

Come and join us at SVICC on 26th & 
27th July 2012 for the 'Salon de la Com'

The event is at the door and during the whole week there have been meetings, appointments, brainstorming, mailing – and I have been realizing that - you just learn as you go and you take it all in. I can say that right now at Odysseus, you don’t have a day, an hour, or a minute for yourself. 

 But still I love my internship! I’m always so busy currently, and each day has flown by so fast, but I’m loving the experience. I know maybe some could have expected to hear some negatives about this internship, but besides the lack of sleep and lack of social life, I could not be happier! It has been an amazing way to meet people who are interested in this field. I’m already SO glad I decided to do it and I just can’t wait for tomorrow!

What about you? How far are you into your internship? Are you enjoying it?

Let me know in a comment!

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