Confessions of a PR Intern: What School Doesn't Teach You

Hi everyone,

I’m into the 15^th week of my internship! I do think I’ve accomplished quite a bit in such a short time. Without a doubt, the practical assignments I’ve done for school has helped me cope with the transition from school to work so easily. This is why I was drawn to choosing Curtin in the first place – I think hands-on experience beats 100% theory tests hands down.

Of course, no amount of school assignments will prepare you for the real world! What goes on in the “real PR world” has to be experienced, not taught. So I thought for today’s post I’d share the little things our PR classes have left out.

Again, to emphasize: It’s not the fault of our PR teachers and UCs. Our syllabus is probably already pretty comprehensive. The below pointers are really just realisations that hit me through the course of this internship.

Numero Uno

What they teach you in school: Small, impractical ideas can get you As

Keyword: Can.

School lets you get away with too much. My awesome team mates (and also BFFs – shoutout to Dawn, Lisa and Xin Ying!) and I have rushed PR reports out the night before, and still manage to sneak away with a HD. How?! No idea, really.

I imagine our report was alright. Practical and workable ideas, so content wise, I would think it was not too bad. Grammar, formatting, punctuations – probably all in place. Appendixes – included. It was also nicely stapled and bound… Like I said, it was alright.

Looking back though, I have to say we were lacking in one major factor that would have killed us if we were an actual agency pitching for a new client.

Our proposals lacked The Big Idea.

From the start, our PR classes have taught us the difference between “strategies” and “tactics”, also the difference between “goals” and “objectives”. Still, it might be difficult for a PR student, or anyone inexperienced for that matter, to properly grasp the concept.

While we had a strategy, it probably wasn’t concrete enough. And we tended to jump straight to the tactics – it’s more fun to write about carnivals, social media campaigns, et cetera (the small details, basically), than to think of a solid direction of your proposal.

What they don’t tell you: The pros brainstorm on the big idea for two hours

My first ‘Brainstorm Meeting’ at Fleishman-Hillard lasted two hours. Two hours, more than a hundred minutes, discussing nothing else but The Big Idea. I think we took less than 10 minutes to decide on our strategy at school – it was like, “Are we all okay on this? Awesome, let’s go for lunch.” Hmmm.

For the benefit of those that have never sat through a Brainstorm Meeting before, you go in armed with research. Competitive scans, interesting case studies, and what have you.

And then, the pros discuss the issues and tackle it head-first like a raging bull. At least, this is what happens at FH. The other agencies should probably get out of the way. #justsaying

Numero Dos

What they teach you in school: How to prepare for a press event

Preparing for a press event obviously takes a lot of time and effort. As students, we’ve all been warned, haven’t we? Everything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong; prepare for the worst – preparing to fail if you’re not prepared, blah blah blah.

In class, we’re taught: Press events are held for product launches, an important announcement, as part of crisis management… We’re also taught other fundamental information too – that PR practitioners give out press kits, door gifts, et cetera. In my head, I imagine a glamorous event with media flocking to interview spokespeople, cameras clicking; the event starts and end off with a big bang. Awesome!

What could possibly go wrong? Mic doesn’t work. Someone falls unglamorously while walking up. The food gets delivered late. The spokesperson fumbles through his speech.

All of that can be prevented by being prepared. Right?

It almost sounds easy.

What they don’t tell you: Good luck getting media to just RSVP

What we all know, but possibly never have a chance to feel it till we work on one is that, it’s exhausting and annoying. The sheer amount of effort that goes into planning and organising an event alone is massive. Every last detail has to be looked at, pffft!

When the media invite is drafted, finalised and sent out at last, you wait. And then, you wait some more. Six days before the event, when no one has RSVPed, you scramble and you start stressing because media attendance makes all the difference between it being a success or a complete failure.

I was thrown to help on that account that faced such a problem. For a few days, it was making calls to journalists, following up with e-mails, then calling them again. And again. And again.

I think I can remember their phone numbers by heart.

We were so far from meeting our KPI of 12 journalists attending that everyone on the team was scrambling. It was top priority for a while, and the team held constant meetings for call down updates – morning, afternoon, end of day. Zzzzz.

You can try your best to pitch your event to them, and tell them why your event is different from the other 1,765 things happening that afternoon, but the choice to attend it is still theirs alone (or their editors).

Yup… Good luck! :)

Numero Tres

What they teach you in school: Press kits are a superb idea

Press kits. The pre-packaged set of promotional materials compiled by an organisation and given to media so they additional information for their story. Usually this includes a press release, fact sheets, backgrounders, profiles of spokespeople, panelists, or the management team. Sometimes, they even include a CD with a soft copy of all the media materials that’s already in the folder.

It’s the basic tool for any PR practitioner, as we’ve learnt in class.

What they don’t tell you: Compiling 100 of them - #pleasejustkillmenow

I stayed till 1am on Monday compiling press kits for the Philips Asia Media Summit 2012, which involved journalists from all over Asia attending seminars and product carousels in Singapore over two days. Basically, it is a large event that is held annually and involves all of Philips’ business units: Consumer Lifestyle, Lighting and Healthcare.

Building a fortress around my table in preparation for the
Philips Asia Media Summit 2012 Healthcare Seminar.
Not very fire-proof, unfortunately.

I also stayed till 10:30pm yesterday to pack press kits for a product launch. Just know that 25 kits alone took close to 4 hours. 4 hours! Wow.

The printer ran for hours, printing sheet after sheet of paper. My colleague finally figured how to make the printer staple the document for me so I don't have to. Someone from Finance came over and wondered why the one-page document she printed 15 minutes ago was not out yet. The printer's toner waste cartridge - I know right, what the hell is that?! - demanded to be changed when there were 20 pages left to be printed... Life.

Time really flies when you’re packing. But knee-deep in paper, it’s not that difficult to start thinking, “Oh god, death might be a better option”. Also, “How many trees have I just killed?”

Some work-in-progress pictures:

The remains of 3,456 trees.

All that paper goes in here. Neatly.

(I really think I don't take enough pictures.)

To end, the hours can be really long sometimes, and I miss how being a full-time student gave me time to pursue my other interests, like Yoga. It can be pretty stressful too, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I've had a chance to be involved in so many activities... It's valuable experience you can't learn in class.

Hope your internship has been as fulfilling as mine!

Is there something else that you learnt in your internship but never had the chance to learn in PR class? Shout out in the comments below! :)

Cheers,

Cheryl

15062105 / Curtin Singapore

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> For my first post "Confessions of a PR Intern: Just Getting Started!", click here. (Opens in a new window.)