All good things must come to an end

Yes, it’s that time…my internship has come to an end. I spent 20+ days working with Corporate Sports Australia to help assist with the organisation of Chevron City to Surf for Activ in Karratha, Geraldton, Albany, Busselton and Perth. It has been an exhausting but rewarding experience that I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of.

Having five events to organise in just over a month was extremely challenging, particularly when four of the events required quite a bit of travelling time. Chevron City to Surf for Activ is also WA’s largest sporting event with approximately 50,000 participants which means there is so much to organise.

Over 1,200 volunteers were required for the Perth event to make sure safety standards were met (e.g. ensuring cars do not drive onto the course). Therefore, briefing volunteers is very important to ensure they are knowledgeable of the course and the procedures in place. I attended several briefings with the Volunteer Coordinator and could see the time and effort it took just to brief the volunteers.

In addition, there are numerous marquees, signs and other equipment that must be set up for the course. Setting up the equipment and organising the volunteers requires so much organisation that it seems impossible to have time to organise anything else. However, even with a small team, Corporate Sports was somehow able to organise all of this while also organising the PR and marketing side of the event.

I was extremely impressed by their ability to organise such a large event while also organising four smaller events at the same time. Their ability to do this came down to several important skills: time management, team work, setting deadlines, prioritising and communication.

Being mentored by such an inspiring team has taught me so much. They took me under their wing and gave me several opportunities to take on new challenges such as operating the help desk at the Perth event, writing press releases, creating Facebook posts, updating regional event guides, creating regional post event surveys, booking entertainers for the regional events, creating entertainment briefs for each of the performers, as well as communicating with sporting clubs and corporations to encourage them to register teams.

Overall, I am so grateful to have completed an internship where I got to put my PR skills to the test. In addition, it was rewarding to know that my hard work was actually helping to support those living with disabilities (Chevron City to Surf supports the Activ Foundation). Knowing you’re making a difference to someone’s life is extremely motivating so I will definitely be looking out for any opportunities in the not-for-profit area.

The Activ Foundation handing out medals in Busselton

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your internships.

Sophie

33 Hours in 3 Days

This past weekend feels like a blur with the running of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ. My internship has revolved around the organisation of this day (and the four regional events) and I can’t believe how quickly it has come and passed!

On Friday and Saturday (29 and 30 August) the expo was held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre where participants could collect their bibs, purchase merchandise, have their questions answered and make changes to their registrations. My role over the two days was to make sure everything went smoothly by helping out wherever necessary. This meant I had to make sure the volunteers knew what they were doing, assist them with any queries they may have, help them with the bib collections when busy and assist at the help desk.

Facebook comments

For the most part, the day went smoothly, however there were a few minor issues. Some of the issues included not being able to refund people (as proceeds go towards the Activ Foundation), advising participants they could not change their shirt size, many did not receive their postal pack (despite paying extra for it to be mailed to them), having to tell people there is a $2.50 fee when any changes had to be made to their registration and having to try to answer questions about parking and road closures when I wasn’t 100% sure myself. Another issue was that when people went to collect their bibs, sometimes their bib wasn’t there. Therefore, the participant had to wait at the help desk to be issued another bib number and then re-cue at the bib collection. Despite these issues, the day was a success and I would say only a small number of people may have been a little unhappy. The Facebook comments to the right are a perfect example of the mixed views of the day.

Sunday (31 August) was the Chevron City to Surf for Activ. My role on the day was to help set up, manage the volunteers at the help desk and help pack up. The day went so quickly with nearly no issues occurring (presides a few lost children). It was such a fun day and it was great to see all my hard work contributed to an event that brings so much excitement and happiness while also supporting a great cause.

12km start line

Overall, even though it was a tiring 33 hours spent working over these 3 days, I was able to learn so much about event planning. Most importantly, I learnt how important customer service is in any industry and how we must pay attention to even the smallest issues to try and avoid them occurring again in the future.  

I found the link below to be an interesting read about the issues facing event organisers. Nothing is more true than the statement ‘anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.’

http://www.liverpoolchamber.org.uk/article.aspx/show/2321

Until next time,

Sophie

Tough Competition

I have just returned to my hotel with the rest of the Corporate Sports team after a busy day of organising the Chevron City to Surf for Activ in Busselton. The last few days have been extremely busy with setting up the event, running a collection point the day prior, assisting with the event and also helping to pack up. 

We were on site from 5am and my role was to act as a road marshall and to make sure the entertainers were checked in and ready to perform. Fortunately, everything went smoothly! Below are a few of the entertainers I organised to attend the event (a face painter and duo band). Apologies for the poor quality images - I took them on my phone.

The event was a success with a record number of participants, however it didn’t all go according to plan. Two days before the event we discovered there would be another event on the same day and right next to our event! The other event was the Pedal Prix, a six hour pedal car race (I have provided an image of the Pedal Prix below). This was a massive issue as it was also a racing event and could steal some of the attention away from our event.

It also bought up the issue of volunteers. This year we really struggled with volunteer numbers. Once discovering Pedal Prix was on the same day, it made a lot more sense why volunteer numbers were so low as most of the local clubs and schools were volunteering at their event instead! As a result, many of the Corporate Sports team had to fulfill volunteer duties as well as their normal duties which was very demanding.

Another issue was the fact that they wanted to compromise on certain details and times. For example, when they planned to have a minute silence, we were scheduled to run our presentations and awards. With the events right next to each other, this was an issue as our presentations would disrupt their minute of silence. While they wanted to change the time of our presentations, we simply could not due to the scheduled entertainment, the times the racers were due to return and the fact that it is a sponsored event so some of the changes were out of our control. We simply could not negotiate and had to agree just to leave our events as we had originally planned.

Despite the fact we had direction competition, the event still went well with a huge crowd turning up. The event taught me a lot about competition and how to handle such issues. In future, it would be best to be aware of other events that may be running on the same day (or even the same week or month) well in advance.

I have found a few interesting links that provide more information on how to stay ahead of the competition and the do’s and don’ts of handling competition.

http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/ten-ways-to-keep-ahead-of-the-competition

http://www.smallbizclub.com/leadership-sections/best-practices/item/353-handling-competition-do%E2%80%99s-and-don%E2%80%99ts?Itemid=636

These links as well as the experience I have gained from today, will help me to handle future events.

Until next time,

Sophie

Putting theory into practice

Before starting my internship I had the perception that I would be answering phone calls and getting coffee. How wrong I was! Only 10 days in and I have barely had a minute to spare. I had no idea that the coursework throughout my degree would provide me with enough insight to handle numerous challenges and really put theory into practice.

I have been fortunate enough to have landed my internship at Corporate Sports Australia, where my role as an intern is to assist in the organisation of WA’s largest sporting event, the Chevron City to Surf for Activ. This year is the 40^th anniversary of the Perth event and the second year the event will be held in Karratha, Geraldton, Albany and Busselton.

Even though I have been so busy, I have tried to delay my first post as there is so much more yet to come!  So far only the Karratha event has been held with Geraldton, Albany and Busselton coming up over the next few weeks. Then in the last weekend of August, the Perth Expo will be held along with the Perth Chevron City to Surf for Activ where approximately 50,000 participants are expected. So as you can imagine, I will have even more to reflect on over the next month.

So far I have been involved in organising the regional events by creating post event surveys, event guides, press releases, MC notes, Facebook posts, encouraging corporations, sporting clubs and schools to create teams as well as responding to participant enquiries. I have also had the privilege of being responsible for the entertainment at the regional events and have booked in several talented musicians, dancers and face painters. I never imagined I would get so much experience in such a short amount of time!

Not only have I learnt how to put theory into practice, I have also learnt the importance of communication. Rather than sending an email, the Corporate Sports Australia staff suggested making a phone call as not only does an email prolong the communication process, but it’s difficult to get the feelings behind the words. This is particularly important with an event that supports a good cause whilst also building a relationship with the community. I could definitely see a change in results after taking this approach. Initially I sent several emails to corporations to encourage them to register a team with no response. However, once I picked up the phone I could see an immediate change with corporations wanting to be involved and register on my first call! Please see the links below to two articles I found to be an interesting read about the importance of telephone communication:

http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/11/dont-send-that-email-pick-up-t/

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-telephone-communication-business-22150.html

I have learnt so much in such a short amount of time. Even though the next month will be extremely busy, I can’t wait to see how the events unfold. It’s so rewarding knowing I am actually involved in tasks that will have an impact on the success of each event. Even more exciting is the fact I’ll be going to the Busselton event in a few weeks!

Until next time,

Sophie