A Change of Scenery

Hey everyone,

Today’s reflection is dedicated to the somewhat unconventional workplaces I’ve worked in for the duration of my internship. I don’t think I would be alone in thinking ‘internship’ and having my mind go straight to a large office space, cubicles, a copy room and coffee runs. So I was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed into two relaxed environments over the semester.

Firstly, working for an entrepreneur that generally works from home means no official office or workspace. Although rather than me and the other interns going to her home, we did most of our work at the Wanneroo Business Association (WBA) located at the Enterprise House. This provided a positive experience, it allowed us four to work closely and collaborate as well as take our lunch breaks and chill out together.

At times it hardly felt like work as I was completing tasks while enjoying the company of Mikayla and my fellow interns which I am extremely grateful for! The relaxed environment combined with Mikayla’s mentoring style made for an experience equally educational as it was enjoyable.

When the WBA was too busy or not an appropriate environment on certain days, Mikayla, myself and my intern buddies Ophelia and Simone, would simply pack up and head across the road to the Wanneroo public library. One of the great advantages of working from home or providing services solely online like Mikayla, is that you can pick yourself up and set up your office anywhere essentially (with a wifi connection). The change of scenery was a positive, and in our case, conveniently located above Cafe Elixir should any of us need a mid-afternoon pick me up!

See below the spacious corner of the library we called our own one Thursday, featuring Ophelia our graphic design intern.

Thanks for reading everyone!

-Bianca

Stop and Listen

So, I’m currently nearing day 10, and I find myself thoroughly immersed in office life! At the moment I am responsible for the task of composing a detailed proposal document. This document outlines the suggested plans for the facility’s exhibition space. The proposed suggestions detail the goals, outcomes, and risks associated with each pragmatic idea. The document also contains an audience analysis, which details the importance of each goal and proposed idea in relation to the audience group and their importance to the facility, followed by realistic event proposals, their costs, benefits and risks for the organisation. It is then presented to the organisation’s managing director for review…

The completion of this proposal document proves to be a challenging task, as it requires the accelerative knowledge from areas of sales techniques, creative event proposals despite the space and resource constraints, stakeholder analysis, risk analysis and crisis management analysis. Given my lack of experience in the nature of events within the WA science community, proposing event ideas and the subsequent facility, versus audience outcomes proves to be a challenging task. Judging the appropriateness and feasibility of space suggestions proves to be a tricky task than one may originally think. Without the context to consider the successfulness or unsuccessful components of past events, and adjust ideas accordingly, making realistic suggestions is challenging. It has become quite apparent to me that we graduate with the ability to communicate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we know what we need to be communicating. Working within the computational sector has shown me that we, as communicators by trade, have to be adaptable.

From what I have read from other blog posts, it is not uncommon to observe that one of the perks of working within a small department is that my internship experience is particularly hands on. I feel a deep sense of privilege that my experience is shaping up to legitimately prepare me for full-time PR work, and that my supervisors have the level of faith in me to trust that I have the capabilities to construct this document. I suppose after three years of study, it shouldn’t come as that much of a shock to me that I possess the capable skills set. They value my opinions and my perspective, despite my inexperience within the communications industry, let alone the science sector.

If interning has taught me anything, it is that those within the communications industry need to have a broad range of communications skills, outside of PR and marketing. We need to know how to communicate, but more than that, we also need to know how to stop and listen. Communicating comes easily to us. We wouldn’t be here if it didn’t. But understanding what you’re really writing about, now that takes some skill.