A Bittersweet Farewell

Beginning this placement, I saw it for what it was - working in a professional environment alongside my colleagues. But actually having to say goodbye to my supervisor and two intern buddies was more bittersweet than I could've imagined. 

Driving home that last Thursday, I was left with the strangest combination of emotions. Firstly sad that one of the most fun and positive experiences of my life had come to an end and I would never be able to recreate it again. But also elated because I had just finished what I considered to be an internship invaluable to my learning and had gained all these skills, and I had some of the best times with these people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. 

As mentioned in previous posts, my supervisor acts more as a mentor for her interns than an employer. This allowed a much more relaxed environment and positively impacted my learning immensely. It also allowed us the freedom to design our workday - especially our last day.

Having finished all of our assigned tasks, our last day of work consisted of me and my two intern buddies working from our supervisors home office and completing tasks for her health food business. This meant researching and writing, but also chopping up mangoes, styling smoothie bowls for photoshoots, counting and ordering stock. As well as fresh scones with homemade jam, and chicken wraps for lunch lovingly cooked by our supervisor herself - how many interns can say that??

To celebrate the end of our placement, we also finished up early and took the three border collies to the park and played with them, it was a perfect way to wrap things up. 

I wanted to take this opportunity to express how grateful I am for the style of internship I secured and how much it benefit my learning. The creative and easygoing environment we worked in meant I was excited to come to work and push myself harder than before. It also allowed me to make three great friends I would not have met otherwise. 

Thanks for reading! And I hope you enjoyed your placements as much as I did!

Bianca

Exceeding Expectations

We all went into our internships knowing what the overall aim was - being to develop our professional skills and prepare us for a career in the 'real world'. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that the experience has done more than improve our skills, but instead has improved our  overall confidence in a way that never would have been possible in-side a classroom.

Granted we do work in teams for assignments, and we know how to interpret a brief and work toward an end product or goal. But the variety of jobs we undertook and the initiative we had no choice but to develop and use showed us that, combined with the theoretical knowledge we gained during our studies, we are more capable than we thought. 

Jobs I had never done before, and as such had no plan to follow or experience to derive information from, forced me to think critically, research, analyse and formulate a working style that allowed me to get the job done. For example writing for someone other than myself was challenging,  but had I never done so before entering the workforce, I wouldn't have developed the skills or work ethic that are now so valuable to me.

Some days I would come into the workplace and my supervisor would have new jobs for me that hadn't been previously set out in my brief, forcing me to think on my feet and work effectively - previously a weakness of mine. 

Working on jobs outside my industry or typical job description also helped me feel confident taking on jobs I wasn't normally used to or comfortable with. E.g. researching/tracking down tech equipment for the business and photography.

And of course no internship would be complete without its fair share of 'crappy jobs' as my supervisor liked to call them - which included invoicing for two of her three businesses. 

Interning definitely exceeded my expectations and benefited me in more ways than I anticipated, how about you?

Thanks for reading!

Bianca

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

Cue Reality Check

To say that I have been thrown in the deep end would be an understatement.

But it's not the workload that has me shook, nor is it the environment I find myself in each week. It is instead what I have discovered about myself just four weeks into my placement with Mikayla and my two intern buddies; I have learnt more about myself than ever.

Working at a boutique consultancy and for Mikayla’s own businesses I have been given an invaluable insight into what is actually involved in not only running your own business, but an in-depth knowledge of what PR involves in a ‘real world’ situation.

Aside from what I’m quickly learning about the industry, my placement has also forced me to learn a lot about myself and how I operate in a professional environment after 2.5 years in a classroom environment. The most standout realisation is that I have some serious time management issues, something that I once thought was a strength of mine. This realisation meant a not so productive first two weeks and resulted in only productive weeks from then on, which I can appreciate as it meant I had no choice but to focus, re-evaluate my work habits and make some changes for the long-term.

The dynamic in our workspace is more relaxed than a typical professional environment which means Mikayla is able to work alongside us as more of a mentor and relay her experiences as a Marketing/PR professional which has been invaluable. Her emphasis on the importance of both social media and organisation have helped influences decisions I make while working with her, and everything social-media related we’ve learned from Curtin is starting to make sense to me now. No wonder every assignment involved a social media aspect or we took a unit dedicated to the use of different social media platforms (Transmedia Storytelling).

I’m eager to continue my internship and see more of what I’ve learned in theory come to life in front of me as PR in the ‘real world’. 

See attached: our very cute, very authentic workspace decor. One of Mikayla's brands Broadspace is a communal workspace which is currently where we work. 

The rise of social media

As I told you all in my previous blog post, I began my internship at Devahasdin Public Relations after I worked there in 2010 and found my love for PR.

I've completed 15 days of my internship and after looking back at my time from 2010 and the past few weeks, there is one significant change I have noticed: The rise of social media.

Of course, I'm aware social media was around in 2010, but the ways in which it was used has now changed dramatically.  Although social media does not replace traditional media and the importance of a good media release or news coverage, I believe pairing traditional PR practices with new technologies and social media is the most powerful way to get a message across.

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with my supervisor and we devised a social media plan for the month of May for their client Queens Riverside. You can view some of the things that I helped to plan here.
Here's a version of a previous social media plan done by Devahasdin so you understand what they look like, but I can't show you the one being currently used before the plan is carried out, sorry everyone!

A social media plan didn't even exist when I last worked in this office.  I was shocked at how much work is actually put in to posting on social media on behalf of a client.  Even though the tone used is conversational (number one rule when posting on social media!), the effort put into deciding exactly how to seem casual when communicating to the client's stakeholders is crucial.  You must include important events happening in Perth during the month but also making sure events used throughout the month aren't similar to one another.
For instance, Wicked The Musical is beginning to show at The Crown in May, which means that it would be best not to use any other theatre events in the rest of the plan.
It is incredibly important to make use of plenty of hashtags, most importantly the few that are essential to that certain client, and as I have stated, the tone in which you post is vital.
I learnt all of these things in Techniques and Media Relations, so it was nice to be able to put some of what I knew to good use.

The social media plan covers what should be posted on many platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Facebook post for Queens Riverside posted by Devahasdin.

Instagram was only established in 2010 and not even on anybody's radars when I last worked at Devahasdin, now, it is becoming one of the first ways in which clients can directly communicate with stakeholders.

We have discussed the rise of social media and its uses in PR many times during class, but seeing the social media plan mapped out in front of me for an entire month really did give a lot of insight to what we have been talking about for the past few years.

The use of social media allows for direct two-way communication and real-time feedback between an organisation and its stakeholders.  Through the use of these platforms, many of Devahasdin's clients have been able to develop a stronger relationship with their clients, as there is ongoing communication mapped out for each month.  Stakeholders involved with Queens Riverside are able to see ongoing updates of construction via pictures (the staff at Devahasdin, including myself are also in charge of taking these pictures) and posts on these platforms.

Ongoing construction at Queens Riverside taken by Lauren Sydoruk (Account Support) and myself

Although social media allows organisations to engage proactively with their publics and the speed of information has significantly increased, there is a negative to using social media and that is in the form of complaints etc which can be seen not only by the organisation itself, but by the general public as well which can severely effect an organisation's reputation.

As we are all aware by completing this part of the assessment, blogs are also a large part of PR practice nowadays.  While being at Devahasdin I have been asked to compile media distribution lists for a number of different clients.  Another thing I've noticed about the rise of social media is that blogs and different bloggers are now targets for PR practitioners when reaching out to the media.  This also wasn't a large occurrence the last time I worked for Devahasdin.

Has anyone else been highly involved with social media during your placement?
Were you shocked at the large amount of work that is involved to post on social media on behalf of a client?

Let me know guys! :)

Claudia x

It's been quite a ride!

Hello everyone!

Today was my last day of internship and I feel quite sad already about leaving Link To Life. This internship has been everything I expected and more. It was a real pleasure to have met the wonderful people that work there.

I have learnt a lot during those twenty-three days and I have also grown as person. I am so grateful to have had my first public relations related work experienced at Link To Life. I was given the opportunity to work on the different areas of public relations: from designing brochures, to the rush and stress of organising and assisting events. Even the most trivial and boring work have helped me in many ways. I can pick up the phone without panicking! On a more serious note, I do feel like this internship has made me into a more confident person.

I remember how apprehensive I was during my first day, and every day throughout those twenty-three, I walked in with more confidence than the day before. Moreover, it was satisfying to be able to finally put into practice what we have learnt for the past two years. Working in class has always seemed easy, but I found out working in the real world is another thing entirely.

I must say, it's been quite a ride! This internship has reinforced my passion for public relations, and I cannot wait to be reentering the working world again. One more semester!

I hope you all had as much fun as I had during your internship.

Have a good night,
Stacey x

Without sponsors, [it] would not be possible.

Hi everyone,

I thought it would be time for some updating. I have been working a lot on redesigning the organisation’s main brochure. This blog will therefore be about my experience while working on drafting and designing brochures.

Selvina, the Programme Coordinator, informed me a few weeks ago that I would be working on redesigning a new brochure for the organisation. I must admit, desktop publishing has become one of my favourite things about public relations, and I was looking forward to designing this new brochure. Considering that I had worked on a first brochure at the beginning of the internship, I was now much more familiar with the application I was using. Somehow, I was also more creative. It took about two separate days to provide the first draft to the Programme Coordinator.

While designing brochures for Link To Life, I witnessed how the approval procedure for public relations materials went. Generally, drafts are sent first to the Programme Coordinator for verification and changes. Once verified, the draft is sent to the President and the other board members for approval. It is only when the President has approved the brochure that publication and distribution can occur.

A lot of other formalities happen during the process of designing brochures at Link To Life. For instance, as it is a not-for-profit organisation, Link To Life sometimes requires people to sponsor the printing of brochures. I had the opportunity to see how the interaction between the sponsor and the organisation has been throughout the whole process. Sponsors tend to be very demanding and have a lot of expectations: for example, during the designing of the brochures, they have demanded changes in the wording of some sentences, a bigger logo on the front page of the brochure, an additional logo at the back...

I found it quite interesting to experience more about the formalities of designing brochures, as well as the involvement of sponsors. Without sponsors, a large part of the activities done at Link To Life would not be possible. This accentuates how important external relations with the publics is, and why organisation should devote more time in building relationships with their key publics.

Stacey x

Interning at Fremantle Press- Reflective Blog Post 1

Hey everyone ... first blog post!

As luck would have it, I was just beginning to look for an internship when I got a message from an old uni friend asking if I was in need of one. She was leaving her role at Fremantle Press, a book publishing company where she started as an intern and then worked part time from there. A few email exchanges later and an interview with Claire, the Marketing and Communications Manager, the role was mine. Yay!

Situated in beautiful Quarry St in Freo, Fremantle Press is a small non-for-profit company that publishes Western Australian books. When going for my interview, I was curious as to what the position would actually be. Sending out books to people? Reading? Even though I am in my final year at university, my scope of what jobs are out there for my degree is somewhat limited. A marketing role in this kind of organisation ...? I wasn't sure that even existed. And oh how I was wrong!

My first day involved Kate (who got me the position) running me through as much as she could before I started the following week (my trial day was her last day). Sitting down at a computer, we went through hundreds of folders on the computer, and I was steadily filling up my little yellow notebook aka work bible to remind myself of where to find things that I would be accessing. By the end of the day, it looked as though a four year old had written throughout, reading something like this.

"HOW TO SAVE MEDIA DOCS:
Resources > 2015 Titles > Book Name > Logs > Reviews > March 2015 > Newspaper Title > "

Easy right? And thats just to save a particular file ... for a particular book ... in that particular month.


It hasn't just been computer-based work either! In the time I have been at Fremantle Press, there has been a book launch and an awards night. Some of my tasks have included calling catering companies to organise food for the book launch, sending out bookmarks to schools and libraries, emailing schools and answering enquiries, writing e-newsletter stories, contacting and interviewing authors, contacting journalists and pitching news stories ... and this was on my first official day!

The book launch we had was for Alan Carter's new crime novel, Bad Seed, at New Edition bookshop in Fremantle. Claire asked me to take the reigns and run the event that night, which was really exciting. Picking up the food and heading down to High St, I was greeted by Allan who owns the shop. Together we set up the store, and before long the store was filled with over 120 guests.
The night was a great success, with close to 100 books sold and signed that evening alone.

I have been thrown in the deep end and it's been fantastic. Claire has been great to me, helping me to settle in and answering the 101 questions I throw at her each week whilst simultaneously juggling her 101 jobs.
I feel as though I have been given a fair amount of responsibility, and am not doing the typical filing/coffee runs/errands that I was afraid I may be lumped with when I was thinking the words 'intern'. Having the title as a Marketing and Communications Assistant and being introduced as this when meeting people is really rewarding, and although it has only been a few weeks I am settling in really well.

 Some happy customers with their signed copies of Alan Carter's crime novel, Bad Seed.

New Edition Bookshop, where the Book launch for Alan Carter's new crime novel was held.





Next up is the Hungerford Awards, which I cant wait to write about in my upcoming blog!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!


Anouka

Small events, big lessons.

Hi everyone,

The semester has officially started and I am now working part-time at Link To Life. These past couple of weeks has been tremendously exciting, as I have had a variety of public relations activities to do.

A few weeks ago I got to assist at one of the organisations awareness talks at a local community centre. When the Programme Coordinator said I would be in charge of assisting the team, and taking photographs of the event, I was thrilled. Events are one of my favourite parts of public relations: from the planning to the D-Day itself. I had the opportunity to witness how Link To Life prepares for one of its awareness talks. Generally, the organisation brings their own equipment, such as projectors, laptops, etc.

Once there, we had to set up a few Link To Life banners inside and outside the building, set up the equipment, organise the brochures to be distributed, amongst other things. I was in charge of welcoming the attendees while Cindy and Javed were preparing for their talk. Once everyone had arrived, the presentation started and I started taking some shots of the event.

One important public relations policy at Link To Life is confidentiality. As such, I was required to only take shots from behind to respect the attendees’ confidentiality during the event.

I found it amazing to be a part of this small event, as it allowed me to prepare for other events that will eventually come in the future. In addition, Selvina mentioned that I would be responsible for choosing the best pictures of the events to have them posted on Link To Life’s Facebook page.

What I have learnt from assisting to this awareness talk is how the latter can help in reaching the organisation’s key publics and eventually raise awareness about the organisation. Furthermore, posting photos of the events on social media allows those who have liked the page to see how Link To Life is helping the community in raising awareness for cancer. Ultimately, it can noticed that several public relations activities may be linked in order to reach out to a greater number of people.

Stacey x

It’s all about learning and that is exactly what I strive for.

Why, hello!

I have completed exactly five days of internship, and I thought a little update would be nice. In this blog, I’ll talk about public relations and working in a not-for-profit organisation as an intern.

I realised I haven’t explained much about Link to Life and what it does an organisation. Link to Life is not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that provides support and counseling to cancer patients and their families. They have been doing great things in terms of counseling, cancer screenings, awareness campaigns, and offering outstanding help to cancer patients in general. More details on their work can be found at their official website.

Now onto the most important part of this second blog: What is it like working for a not-for-profit organisation? That was definitely something I didn’t know, but it is now something I definitely know. If there’s one thing I found out during those first seven days, it’s that when it is calm, it is very calm, and when it is fast-paced, it is very fast-paced. But generally, there is always something to do, and always someone to help. Working for a not-for-profit organisation makes you a jack-of-all-trades. One minute you’re working on a brochure design and the next you’re making phone calls about the clients’ upcoming appointment. I’ve had to take calls about things I did not necessarily know about, in a language I do not necessarily master, but it’s all about learning more and that is exactly what I strive for.

The thing with not-for-profit organisations is that they do not necessarily have enough funds to prioritize public relations. This is probably why I’ve been told a couple times that they don’t know much about social media, events or editorial, and that it’s always helpful to have someone take care of some of their public relations work. I somewhat felt proud, as a not-yet-graduate, to be asked advice on their upcoming projects. The counselor, Emmanuel, and I met up last Wednesday to talk about the posters he had designed for promoting his therapy sessions at Link to Life and what could be improved. We also talked about upcoming workshops that he plans on organising in April and how he could promote the event. It’s especially in moments like this that you realise just how much is being learnt at university and how to apply everything in real life situations.

I am glad to see how our lectures, workshops and seminars are helping a lot during this internship. We will see how the rest of the week pans out and hopefully I will be posting another blog this weekend.

Have a good night,

Stacey x

So far I'm loving every minute of it.

Before I applied for a placement in a dozen of places, I asked myself what I expected from this internship and how best I could turn my expectations into reality. My first thought was that since this was an unpaid internship required by Curtin, I might as well apply to places where I could help and where I could learn – both professionally and personally. 

When Link to Life called regarding my application, I was ecstatic. I met up with the project manager, Selvina, the next day to talk about how I could help them with my public relations skills and knowledge, and also how they could help me in making my internship experience one I would remember. Selvina and I discussed mostly about the organisation – what they are currently doing and what they want to be doing in the future. After our meeting, I was extremely motivated to work at Link to Life. Later on, we agreed that I would start on Wednesday, February 18^th.

On my way to my first day of internship, I had a lot of apprehension with regards to the work that I would be doing, and the people that I would be working with. I suppose it is only normal for one to be a little nervous on their first day – personally, I find it fuels my motivation to work to the best of my abilities. When I arrived, I was officially introduced to the Link to Life team and we immediately went into business mode. For this first day, I worked with Cindy (Assistant Project Manager) and helped with filling in appointment forms and client details for breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings.

Later in the afternoon, Selvina and I talked about a brochure they wanted to put out in the upcoming months. They wanted me to draft and design a brochure on breast self-examination for the prevention of breast cancer and that was how I was assigned my first big job. If there’s one thing I like, it’s being responsible for things. So, saying I was thrilled would be an understatement. I immediately started gathering up ideas for the brochure. Throughout the day I kept thinking, “Thank God, I learned how to use desktop publishing softwares back when we did Public Relations Techniques 220!” because those skills are certainly helping at the moment.

So far, the internship is starting out pretty well and I’m loving every minute of it. Most of all, I’m looking forward to how these brochures will turn out, and all the other work I will get to do during the next few weeks.

Stacey x