Learning facts for the last post

Hello fellow interns,

This is my last post for the Public Relations Internship (393).

For my last days at Logos Publicity, there were not less than three press conferences to ensure (two for the Festival Passe-Portes and one for the rebranding of the AAA as mentioned in the previous post). This was pretty stressed.

So, for this post I will mainly focus on my learning and thoughts being PR intern.

As Logos Publicity has prior to advertising, there was only one employee who is in charge of all the PR stuff. She taught and guided me towards the methods of writing media releases (according to the company), contacting media, preparing brochure and poster’s text, and product research. This was really interesting but demanding at times. The fact that my colleague had not done any course for PR techniques is, by the way, more remarkable. She gains experience through years and still she is very effective/productive :)

Through the opportunity of assisting a press conference, I have learned the importance of engaging the media in an event and networking.

I have also learned about the importance of good relationships with colleagues. This is important to manage conflicts and work together for better quality work.

To conclude, I am very grateful for this wonderful 20 days. However, I discovered that public relations sector was not really my domain and that I am interested mostly in event management :) I got the chance to experience PR tactics and techniques from theory to practice.

Regards,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167

Calling Media – Not so easy…

Hello everyone,

Already third post (after 1 month). I must say that I had difficulty to handle assignments and work and hats off for those who deal efficiently with those two.

This post will mainly focus on press conference. Logos was completely occupied with Festival Passe-Portes and the rebranding of AAA (Association of Advertising Agencies) during the past week. Press conference was needed to welcome the 60 French artists’ arrival and to announce the changing brand name of AAA to ACA (Association of Communication Agencies) respectively. Therefore, contacting the media was requested:

1 -  Sending email to editor-in-chief and journalists to inform for the conference (purpose, time, date, place) several days before (4/3days). Additionally, the news must be distribute to appropriate media as said in the second post (for example; AAA - Business Magazine, L’Express or Festival Passe-Portes – Scope). This will raise interest from journalists and ensure coverage.

2 - Calling for confirmation. That’s a different kettle of fish. This phase requests perseverance and patience :)

3 - Make a follow-up with the journalists presented. This consists of emailing additional information and photos to media that assisted the conference. It is mainly to ensure that proper coverage is done with correct materials. Furthermore, for the example of the festival, the invitation for the closure was sent to those same journalists.

Learning lesson: Good communication skills are required to maintain proper relationship with media outlet and to guarantee coverage of event.

Thanks you for following,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167

Discovering of a new world

Hi fellow interns,

Here I am finally for my first blog post which is just AMAZING. I am actually a BCOM student at Charles Telfair Institute in Mauritius (Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and Public Relations). After 2 months of sending emails and calling companies in vain, Mr Cyril Palan from Logos Publicity Ltd was the do-gooder to accept me for my 20 days of internship.

MY FIRST DAY

Officially trainee in Logos Publicity (25^th March 2014). I stayed the whole day and was introduced to the employees with a site visit. The director also shared with me his career path and the history of the company.  During the day, I was asked to make research about a new product for its launching advert and I also helped to prepare invitation to journalists for a press conference (Figure 1). This was to announce the first Festival of Theater and Music “Passe Portes” in Mauritius which will occur at the end of May.The festival will not only constitute of icon theater and music personalities but will also act like a platform for young talented artists from different countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Reunion Island, France and Mauritius. They will get the opportunity to present their own play(written and act by themselves). Awards will also be given for the best concept. 

SECOND DAY

My second day was really special, full with unexpected events. I was invited to the press conference held in the evening. This was a great pleasure as it was the first time I assisted such event and it was exactly what I wanted to discover.  This was really impressive to be surrounded with important personalities (such as General Director of Total Anne-Solange Renouard; Director of Le Caudan Waterfront, and Director of Blue Fish, Laurent Garnier, French Ambassador). Logos Publicity's roles, during the conference, were to distribute the press kit to journalists, to take photographs of the event and also for networking. 

The importance and objectives of project were clearly explained by the organizers of Passe Portes, Catherine Swagemakers and Francois Moravic.

Figure 2 pictured the organizers, French Ambassador, and the participants from Mauritius. Figure 3 shows Mme Swagemakers during the presentation. 

 Figure 1

 Figure 2

 Figure 3

 Stay connected. More to come. I will keep you update about the festival preparation.

Elodie Lamarque

CTI Student

15844167

PR v/s Journalist!?

Hi all,

Hope you are doing good. I have reached half way of my journey and I was waiting for this event to be done so I could talk about it. One thing I have to agree that this internship is teaching me a lot of things and things which I had actually learnt from books and now I am actually experiencing it all.

Very often we used to come to the golden question of whether PR person needs journalists and vice-versa. While at university we have had several debates and learnt that both need each other specially nowadays since no other thing can replace the role of a journalist and Public Relations; it is only now that I have been able to witness it.

I had been to my very first press conference at Apollo Bramwell ( who is one of our clients) a few days ago. It was an awesome experience :) The press conference had been organised by our company and it was about the new ottoblock system at Apollo Bramwell. Our organisation has to finalize the venue which was at the Apollo Bramwell Conference Centre and cater for the logistics during the whole event. My role was to assist the supervisor with taking pictures and taking notes during the seminar so we could draft our Press Release. I also had to sort of confirm the names of the 'interviewees'. Needless to say many took to me to be one of the journalists.

                               Me assisting/helping  my supervisor with taking photos during the conference

                               Mr David Gray, Depute Chairman of Apollo Bramwell Hospital during his presentation

                                          Presentation on the newly set otthoblock clinic at ABH

Now coming to the main issue,some journalists had informed us that they would be late, therefore we had to wait for them. I asked myself the question, granted they are important persons but some do we need to wait for all the journalists to be present so we could proceed? ( bearing in mind some were already present) It was really intriguing. I then asked my supervisor why...

She simply asked me 2 questions : 1) who will write articles (different angles) on us if we do not wait for all of them?   2) Who will they contact if they need additional background information such as interviews or Press Release?  This got me thinking! Actually it is true, we need different articles about us. As PR persons, the more media coverage about our event, the better for us. Similarly, the more relationship building, the better will it be to both parties. And finally where will the journalists go if they need information. So this gets back to our question of who needs whom? I guess we all have the answer for that.

That having said, we can see how at times we tend to neglect things. Like me for example I thought some journalists were present, so it was still good for us. At the end of the day we come to see that journalists are those who can either take us up or down the ladder according to our behaviour towards them. They are indeed important person and they are well aware of that. We need to please them to maintain this mutually beneficial relationship.
Lesson learnt is that we both need to understand the need of each other to be able to reach mutual satisfaction!

And to be honest, all the waiting paid off because we were almost on every newspapers during that whole week :D  ( * Find some print screens below )
Thant`s all for today. Hope to hear about your experiences so far and comments are most welcomed ^_^


Karishma Rughoonundun
15636461

Mass communications in PR

Media relations is the core of public relations as it is about liaise with the media to inform about an organisation or company we’re representing. Building a good relationship with the media is very important as they are the one who can help us to convey the key messages to the publics. In fact, the media also need public relations as it is their job to get a story or news for the publication they are working with. Hence, public relations and media need each other.

Press conference is one of the way to communicate with the media in mass. So, what is press conference? It is basically an event where the journalists from different media are gather in one place with company’s spokespersons. The aim is to have Q&A session with the media and to make sure they filled in with information about the company’s profile, programme and etc.

I usually watch press conference on TV news but this time, I was invited by Volvo Trucks Malaysia account holders to help out with a press conference event as well to witness it live. The press conference is called ‘iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks’ that aims to inform the media about their plan with governmental bodies to create an innovative solution to reduce crashes between motorcycles and trucks. The press conference was held on January 15th, 2013 at Volvo Trucks Malaysia headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter receptionist counter 

The Managing Director of Volvo Trucks Malaysia, Mansoor Ahmed giving his speech.

Officiating the Signing Ceremony of iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks

Below were my tasks that I've done :

Before the event:

• To update the media list to ensure the invitation are send to the correct person.

On the day itself:

• Pack the goodie bag (media kit) for the media
• To call the RSVPs to confirm with their attendance as well to enquire whether they can find their way to the place.
• To ensure they register their attendance for us to contact them after the event.
• To take note of questions addressed by the media and answers from the spokespersons. Yes, I have to remember their name and which media they’re representing. I’m very bad in memorising people’s name but I can only remember those who are unique to me. Thankfully, I remembered most of them.

One of the items in the goodie bag.

Media Registration booth.

I was very surprised as press conference is very different from what I’ve watched on broadcast media. At first, I thought one question should be answered by one spokesperson but I was wrong. I asked my colleague, “Is press conference supposed to be this way where one question will be answered by 2-4 spokespersons?” and she said, “yes, in case one person missed one of the important point but it should not be more than 2 or 3 persons actually as things will be a mess”.

How press conference can be a mess? Having so many spokesperson to answer can be misleading to the press as one point might be clash to another. Plus, not everyone can think likewise. The journalist can be likely to include information that may change the publics’ view on the company. Thus, it is crucial for PR practitioner to make sure that the spokesperson are briefed and understood on what should they do for Q&A session with the press.

Remember the Q&A document that we need to prepare for our PR 250 (Media) assignment? That is one of the document that we need to prepare for our client including few other documents such as interview details and tips. The document basically to guide our clients so they know how to handle with the media.

After the event, we need to send out the news release to all of the press who attended and contact them to check if they have received it and will they be using it. When the media said they won’t be using the news release, it is our job to ask why and seek for advice in order for them to accept it. Sound pushy but that is the most gentle way to push in order to get more media coverage as well to improve the media release quality to match with the publication’s preference.

Best regards,

Fazar Ria Muneera Bt. Safree Zainudin
13761196/ 7D5B3504
Semester 1, 2013
Curtin University Sarawak campus

PR should be experienced, not just taught

Hi future PR practitioners,

This will be my last post and it will wrap up some of the things that weren't taught and experienced in previous PR units. I firmly believe that a PR degree is just a starting point and as Harrison (2011, 15) has said, “Graduation is not an end to study. It is the start of a lifelong process”. By now, I can tell that only a portion of what I have learnt at university will be useful in the workplace because not only I will always be learning new things as a PR practitioner but also some of these things have to be experienced. Likewise, PR is a fast-evolving profession, so every PR practitioner has to constantly adapt to the changes in this demanding profession.

Things I didn't learn and experience at university:

1. Drafting media releases and communication plans in French (Written communication is mostly done in French in Mauritius and most PR Practitioners need to have an excellent grasp of the French language)

2. Media monitoring – Writing and sending daily Media Alerts to clients on positive and negative articles about them.

3. Calculating Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) for media coverage of PR generated news stories by measuring the dimensions of these articles and multiplying to the newspapers’ advertising rates.

4. Assisting in Press Conferences – Greeting journalists, marking their presence, noting down their contact details and distributing goodies/media kits to them.

5. Contacting and following up with journalists – confirming if they have received invitations for event/media function/press conference/round table and calling them again to mark their presence.

6. Working without a proper brief – Sometimes, we are not given a written brief for a particular task while at university we always had those for every PR assignment that we had to submit.

7. Implementing a PR Plan – We've been writing a few PR plans for real life clients at university although we've never executed any of these and this is the most complex part.

Although this internship is just a foretaste of the real thing since it was relatively short and we didn't experience everything, it actually prepares us to join the workplace confidently. Moreover, I do believe that I've done quite a lot in one month and learnt many new things. If it wasn't for the PR 393 Professional Practice unit, my knowledge and understanding of PR would be limited to only general PR concepts and guidelines. So, kudos to Curtin for having introduced that unit a few years back because it certainly allowed us to put some of the teachings of the other PR units into practice.

Okay fellow PR 393 students, now that most of us have already completed our internships and we are nearing the end of this semester, it's time to move on to other things. It felt great to share my internship experience with you and to read about yours during the last few months. I would like to seize this opportunity to wish you all best of luck with the report writing and for your future endeavors.

P.S: Do you guys have any anything else to add to the list above? You’re most welcome to do so in your comments :)

Much love,

Houmaira Ramjaun

15102108

CTI, Mauritius

References: 

Harrison, Kim. 2011. Strategic Public Relations - A practical guide to success. South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan

Advocating Stakeholders, Press Conferences and CSR.

Hi, It's me again! It has been an exciting week for me as there were two events in a week, a press conference and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony. I feel delighted to be invited to a press conference held by our campus, Curtin University Sarawak and a local renown poverty company, Naim Land. This alliance of both companies benefits to fulfill their common mission on community engagement. This is also an opportunity for me to meet more people and extend relationship with our stakeholders. 

The main purpose of this press conference is to launch and deliver the important details of the short video competition themed "My High-rise Home". This competition aims to gain local community's view of what forms of ideal high rise living and also collecting marketing messages through creative video productions. I personally think this is a great platform provided for the local youngsters to shine their talents and creativity ideals. 

After the press conference, the VIPs and journalists are invited to have a glance on Naim Land's newly launched architectural and interior miniature models displayed at the exhibition corner. Refreshment was served after that. I really enjoy the pleasant atmosphere where everyone stays to socialize with each other. It is really a great experience for me.

Q&A session during the press conference.

My colleagues and me. Refreshment was served after the press conference.

The second event of the week is Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony. This MoU signing event is to assure co-operation between Curtin and Samling group of Companies can be continue in broader range. 

The local journalists and managers of Samling Group of Company were invited to the event. Before the ceremony starts, media kits are distributed to the media journalists. The honored attendants of this event are Curtin Sarawak council's chairman, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan, Chief Operating officer (COO) of Samling company and vice-chancellor and chief executive of Curtin Sarawak, Ian Kerr. 

In Dr Chan's speech, he believed through this MoU signing not only it will reinforce both parties' relations but also continue to improve students' development through internships placement, scholarships, subsidiaries or guest lectures. This MoU signing also encourages collaboration in CSR activities advocate community's benefit and interest.

In this event, I learnt the procedures in organizing a press conference. My supervisor has been busy sending invitation e-mails to the journalists. We arrived to the venue early to ensure the sound system works, the backdrop is nicely put up, indoor lighting is bright enough and so on. Media kits are needed to be prepared and hand in to the journalists before the event starts. 

To conclude, I found out that the common ground of these two events are both aiming at gaining mutual benefits while advocate the other key stakeholders - students and the community. By having collaborations between the education institution and other enterprises help in gaining more stakeholder's support and useful resources. The press conference is a way to communicate with the stakeholder of what is happening recently. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is also one of the vital activities in our department. We often  collaborate with some of the corporations for CSR activities. 

Coming week, we will have another CSR event going on. I will share with you guys with my experience again on my next post!

Renee Tiong

Curtin Bentley

15621580

The overall internship's experience has been so beneficial!!!:)

Hi to all followers,

This will be my last blog post which will encompass and wrap up my whole experience in the professional world as a public relations practitioner at Imagine Communication.

This was a great opportunity which I seize, to put all that I have learnt during my studies into practice and the team of Imagine Communication has believed in me and has entrusted various tasks to me.

This was interesting as I even have to deal with issues by myself and I was guided by the project executives other there. This trust that Imagine Communication had in me has enabled me to undertake work and projects in the appropriate way and handle them as a professional.

I have grasp the most out of all the work that I have undertaken such as media clippings, press summaries, press releases, cover letter, media contact lists, report of meetings and so much more.

Assisting in press conferences and meetings were very beneficial to me as I have been able to understand the steps and procedures that should be respected on the spot. I have also been able to meet prominent figure such as the Leader of MSM, Mr. Pravind Jugnauth.

The most interesting experience acquired is during my last week whereby I had the opportunity to deal with media outlets to settle appointments as well as to accompany our client to his meetings.

I am very grateful to the team of Imagine Communication who has given me this opportunity and I thank them for that privilege. 

Thank you for having followed me during my internship and hope that you enjoyed my posts

Natacha Rosalie

More conferences!

This is Part Two of the first post on conferences I published.

The earlier post was about conferences that will give out statements by specific organisations to some kind of event happening in the country. Today's post will be about press conferences that announce and highlight the activities of a particular social, educative event, or one that will describe the future exhibitions of the event.

The second press conference I was asked to assist (and learn from) was organised by several parties, both Mauritian organisations and African organisations. The press conference announced the opening of a three day exhibition taking place at the Caudan Waterfront in Port-Louis. This event covered more than just one press conference.

During this event, I got to see the contrasts that can exist in press conferences; their nature, goals and subjects differ from one another. Of course, the procedure taken by Imagine Communication to organise the liaison between hosts and journalists remain the same, but atmospheres of each press conferences differs according to the subject and objectives.

The second press conference was about sharing of knowledge and information as well as providing  explanations of aims of the exhibition at the Caudan Waterfront.

Press Conference, 10 Steps From An Intern's Experience

A press conference is.... A LOT OF WORK!

Imagine allowed me to assist in the preparation of press conferences during this past two last weeks.

Don't we all love good news and happy events? Yes, of course we do! But press conferences are not always about announcing profits of a company, or the welcoming of new CEOs or all that fun and good stuff.

Very often, press conferences are used to mediate statements to the public, which are not always positive and flowery.

A daily has recently known some turbulence due to some controversial article that was not well received by the Mauritian public. Several organisations felt concerned about the article and as a consequence, many statements had been made.

Imagine was to prepare a press conference for one organisation who wanted to react in a peaceful manner to the controversial article. I was guided through this process and assisted in the preparation.

Day 1
Step 1 - Preparation of the Media Kit. 
The media kit included several different articles and speeches of the speakers that were present during the press conference. A poem which was to be read during the press conferences was also found in the media kit.

Step 2 - E-mailing journalists
A very important, if not the most important, ingredient of press conferences is the presence of journalists. So obviously, it is very important to send them notifications of any press conference Imagine is organising. This was done through e-mails and personal invitations. The e-mail informed journalist about the press conference's subject, speakers, organisers, venue and time.

Step 3 - Follow ups
E-mailing is not enough. One must be sure that invitations have been well received. This follow up is done on the same day after invitations have been sent. During the follow up, I was asked to confirm whether the journalist had received the invitation. If not, then I was to send them the invitation by fax or on different e-mail addresses. This follow up also allows Imagine to keep their contact list up-to-date.

Day 2
Step 4 - Confirming journalists' presence
Here again I was asked to contact journalists but this time it was to confirm their presence during the press conference. Calling journalists a second time also acts as a reminder for them about the press conference. Journalists have busy schedule and such reminders can be seen as helpful and even welcoming.
In case of their unavailability, this gives Imagine enough time to contact other journalists from same news corporations to replace their colleagues.

Step 5 - Preparing the Media Kits and attendance list
Since the number of journalists has been confirmed, I was asked to go ahead with the final preparation of the media kits.
The attendance was thus done in accordance.

Step 6 - Go to the venue!
As a representative of Imagine, we were asked to reach the venue before the indicated time in order to make sure that all material was present, and also to make sure that the venue was welcoming. Mircos and cameras also had to be tested before arrival of journalists and speakers.

Step 7 - Welcome journalists
After phone calls, time to meet in person! Here it was necessary to take down the names of present journalists once again for further follow up. This is done so that Imagine knows who to send the media kit via e-mail once the press conference had been completed.

Step 8 - Listen and take notes!
It is important to take notes during conferences for Imagine's purposes. Pictures and voice recording are also necessary for Imagine's database of events.

Step 9 - Thank you and good-bye

Step 10 - Draft your own press release


And... Done!


Next post: More conferences

PR: The Real Deal

Hi all,

In my previous entry here, I shared about my dilemma in deciding whether I wanted to join a local boutique PR agency or an established international PR firm. Today, I'll be sharing snippets and pictures about real world PR from a greenhorn's perspective!

A Press Conference is not just a Press Conference

We learnt a lot about press releases and press conferences in school which is an integral part of PR. I was fortunate to be able to get involved in organising my first press conference in my first week! Held in conjunction with a regional futsal finals competition, I embarked on my first of many 'firsts' for sure - first press release, first media blast, packed my first media kit, printed my first CD labels and the list goes on for behind the scenes work. 

I even had to manage a media futsal team so as to ensure that they went for their sponsored gear fitting, attended the press conference eventually so that we could get coverage and was well enough to play a futsal match! This was when I realise that a press conference is really, not just a press conference. There are many details to plan and work through which goes a long way in making a press conference successful.

There are lots of Perks to the Job!

What they do not teach you in school, is that there are lots of perks to your job as a PR practitioner!

For an entire week, I was given a pressing (and delectable!) task of tasting the dishes of all the tenants of a F&B corporation and find out their business history. This was so as to put together a backgrounder which will accompany the main release for the new food atrium launch. While I got to interact with many tenants which deepened my appreciation for hawker food, I also got to binge on many local delights which made going to work extremely desirable.

In another event for a makeup brand, the client accorded a bag of cosmetic goodies to show their appreciation for our services rendered!

Getting Physical and Dirty is Inevitable

As a greenhorn, you must always be prepared to get physical (and dirty!) on the job. Think - lots of walking, carrying boxes of heavy stuff, etc. Part of my job requires me to do sourcing, set-up, packing of media kits and media drops which can get physically intensive. Coming from a boutique PR agency, there are resources constraints hence manpower will have to come from within. I find myself having to carry dozens of boxes, walking distances to source for a specific kind of jar, knocking on one too many doors to deliver media kits, peeling off price tags and labels till the fingers blister, etc.

The above are pictures of some of the media kits I have packed. Some media kit were fairly light but some came up to almost 5kg in weight! I had to deliver 40 boxes of those which came up to 200kg in weight!

PR Comes in Lots of Forms

PR really does encompass a variety of tasks and services. Here are some forms that I found out PR can take: 

 Media Presentations

 Product Launches (Media/ Bloggers Invite Only)

 Blogger Workshops

I have come to appreciate the dynamic qualities of the job. In fact, I find myself falling in love with the unpredictability of each day! I hope you are too!

Till the next,
Grace Ong
15230928
Curtin Singapore