It's Not Just a Post

Content creation is something we over look. Especially when you get bombarded with pictures, videos, graphics and so forth scrolling down your social media news feed. How often do you see a picture of smashed avocado on toast in a day? Or a flat lay usually consisting of a few products to create a feeling in the image #perthisok.

No matter who you are or how many followers you have, you actually create content every time you upload something. Of course as part of an organisation, your content is important to communicate and support ideas and activities surrounding a cause.

What I’ve learnt so far in my internship is using appropriate images to support up coming stories in the magazine that is yet to be released.

There’s more thought and consideration in these images then one would imagine. Like mentioned before, we see so many on the daily through our own social media feeds. An image is just an image. But when you’re creating social media content, your image has to be engaging, appealing and translate the message across.

You think about the time to post, how many posts to posts, what kind of filters you use to reflect the brand. Not to mention the consistent hash tags for association. I’ve also downloaded a range of apps that help with creating graphics. Not to undermine the laborious degree of smart graphic designers, but these apps (yes to technology!) can give anyone a very very short crash course in the simplest graphic design. If you can call it that.

One day, I spent 3 hours, walking around taking pictures for up- coming and future social media posts. Apart from the many weird glares and confused looked; I enjoyed scouting for content and thinking of how images could be posted.

This internship has taught me that you definitely have to get out of your comfort zone, even if it is walking up and down a street taking pictures! 

What have you done so far in your internship that has brought you out of your comfort zone?

In-house Video Interview

Hello everyone,

This is my third blog post and i will be sharing about the process of video interview done in-house.
The company I intern in provides in-house video interview as a value add service for our clients.

In the third week, i learnt the setup, layout and questionnaire for the filming to be smooth at the first trial.
Setting up the equipment was pretty easy, the tough part is the layout, angle of camera lens and the sound recording. As we would need to include a logo of our company, the clients name and brand in the video, we had to ensure that the background is plain white with no pictures. Before the interview, we also had to advice the interviewer and interviewee on their dress code. On screen, clothes with stripes or fanciful prints are strictly not allowed as the it gives an optical illusion effect on screen and it looks like there are a thousand ants crawling on the persons body.

The angle of the camera have to be at eye level with the persons in the video and usually only the distance is adjusted to ensure the camera view is clear and shooting the persons from above or below. During the interview, i encountered problems with the sound recording as the equipment is very sensitive to background sounds, i had to ensure everyone in office is not moving around. As our office is small and everyone is in the same room, there's a level of difficulty, thus we had to retake a few shots but luckily it was my colleague i was interviewing and not a client.

Usually the questionnaire is given to the client in advance to allow them to better prepare themselves. Questions  may be asked twice for backup as at times the first shot may not be as good and the use of video editing software come in handy to make the video perfect!

In short, it was awesome learning the tips and tricks on doing a video interview and stay tune for my final post on video editing!

See you soon,
Yi Jing
14673991

Internship: Interview and Day One at Work!

Hi everyone,

I got my internship through a referral and was so excited to start the journey of exposure to the PR world. Let's begin with my interview. I was thrilled that the location of the office is less than 5 minutes away from Bugis Junction. 

The office is located in a shop house and the interview atmosphere was a little awkward as the office space was the size of the room and due to some issues, the interview was held in the office instead of a nearby cafe. So just imagine being interviewed in a office where there are two other persons doing their work at the same time. Oh well, the good thing is the small space gives you the cozy and  comfortable work environment.

Everyone in office are really nice and i spend my first day reading and reading as i'm totally new to technology public relations.

Time passed really slowly on the first day and my brain was in a 'information overload' state at the end of day one. After all the reading from day one, I kind of understand what each client specializes in but after talking to my colleague i realize i got the client's profile mixed up.  I was pretty embarrassed but was reassured that time would put everything in place.  Everything was good but the tiring part was having to carry my laptop (that weighs a ton) to work every day is not just testing my arm strength but at the time training my muscles.

That's all for Day One of the internship in technology PR!

Cheers

Yi Jing

14673991

My first internship: Welcome to the world of PR

Hello everyone!

I’m Justine Lai, currently pursuing my final semester as an undergraduate for BA in Marketing and Public Relations.

This is my 15^th week with Porter Novelli Singapore (PN) and so far it’s been a really great experience working here. One thing I’ve learnt as a Public Relations (PR) intern is that time really flies without knowing during work, because there’s never really having nothing to do. There are never ending tasks, millions of news published around the world to read about, and so many skills and theories to pick up in PR. And I think every PR professional all started out as blur as I am, hit many obstacles and crawled up step by step before reaching the position they’re in today.

I started sourcing out for internship opportunities three months before the start of my semester, and it was really quite an experience as I went for four interviews before landing in PN. Unacceptable job scopes, different timings, I shall not bore you with details.

I felt really lucky when I received a call to attend an interview with PN (I sent out my resume two months before receiving the call so I was extremely surprised). I prepped myself from top to bottom - goggled for successful interview tips, worked on my speech, collated my reports and did my best to make sure I was fully prepared. I met Jimmy, the Vice-President for Consumer and Lifestyle, and Gabriel Wong, then Vice-President for Technology, during the one-hour long interview (Yes it was that long, I can’t remember what we talked about either), and I thought I fumbled a lot. I received another call from Jimmy the very next day and I was accepted (in my head, I was throwing confetti and hopping around with joy.)

To be honest, I was quite stressed out before beginning my internship. I heard about the heavy responsibilities that the previous intern was undertaking and I doubt my capabilities of handling them. On my very first day, I felt like a total amateur – I took more than an hour to monitor the newspapers, explored Microsoft Outlook for the very first time and I couldn’t even speak properly during the supposedly relaxed lunch outing with Jimmy and Gabriel. I guess my colleagues were all looking at me speculatively.

Thankfully, the work environment at PN was really comforting, and despite my awkwardness, I blended in and adapted to the working culture with ease. Everyone was nice and guided me with patience and sincerity, and I began to focus on my work effectively.

This internship gave me a huge exposure to many industries, from consumer and lifestyle, to corporate and technology. I supported several accounts such as Mercedes-Benz, HP Singapore, Bosch Home Appliances, Imedeen, SKF, Yahoo! and a few others. My job scope entitles me to draft press releases, research content for conversational calendars, liaise with media, compile media lists, collate monthly and quarterly reports, and other responsibilities. It was definitely an awesome experience which broadens my knowledge on media relations, corporate cultures, industry markets, client servicing and many other useful insights.

I’ve come to the realization that learning PR and applying PR are two very different things. However, the reason to everything that we do still dials down to the theories that we learnt during our academic semesters, which people often neglect during their hectic schedules, such as the implementation of Two-way symmetrical model by Grunig that is shaping the current industry now. 

Overall, I think the PR world is really diverse, and you can really learn a lot by being in this industry. Nevertheless, there’ll be occasions where people start to get bored or frustrated with their work load, but I think these can be overcome with the right attitude and a balanced life style.

Till the next, have a great internship!

Best Regards,

Justine Lai

15215640

Curtin Singapore

Communicating to Communications experts at a Communications Trade Show

Hello Awesome People!

Today, I’m going to give you a little insight of how the first communication tradeshow of the Indian Ocean went on...

When 'THE' dream becomes concrete…

The ‘Salon de la Com’ was that time of the year! The time for the PR, Communications, Event and Marketing World to look at the challenges and opportunities ahead. It was the time to determine what’s in store for their businesses, industries and way of working.

The first Communications Trade Show of the Indian Ocean major aim was to bring together under the same roof the agencies and professionals of the communication, advertising, branding, media, event management, audio-visual and web production family. This event was a means to attract decision makers of local companies and those of the Indian Ocean region, with the objective of familiarizing and educating them on the services and products offered by the agencies.

The exponential growth of media and technology is changing the world we live in significantly. While some are already embracing it fully, others have yet to exploit its full potential. The ‘Salon de la Com’ was an opportunity for agencies to increase their visibility, to establish new business relationships and networking in Mauritius and in the Indian Ocean.

This initiative of Odysseus has allowed experts in various disciplines to present their ideas or to initiate debates surrounding new trends, recent communication techniques and technological advancements. A platform was set up and used for interviewing agency managers and representatives present, the idea behind it being… to communicate well!

Communication in a changing world…

It has been observed that changes in the PR and media landscape distinctly reflect the changes in human behavior that we have been observing and experiencing in ourselves over the past few years – changes brought upon by new technologies. Just think how you consume information nowadays, as well as what you expect from the creators of this information in terms of presentation and access. Think about how you as content creators aim to share and spread this information in order to gain maximum exposure and engagement. 

Today, Social media has become an exceptionally powerful promotional tool. Social media is the personal relationship that gives your company the chance to engage your audience in the informal and friendly way that creates long-term customer loyalty. In order to develop your brand’s online personality, you need to have a clear idea of who your audience is and how to engage them. Remember that it’s the day-to-day aspects of your brand that customers will respond to most.

My experience…

Personally, working during the two consecutive days at SVICC have been full of amazing experiences. I won’t start by enumerating all the Communications/Advertising experts I've met, networking or the things that I have accomplished during the ‘Salon de la Com’ but I can say what I have been learning during the past three years at CTI finally made sense at the end of those two days.

I couldn’t dream of a better opportunity to gain a real insight of how the real PR world function. Public Relations involves hard work but at the end of the day, it is a really challenging and exciting job!


However, I should add that this week if nothing else showed me the importance of team work in the PR industry. The ‘Salon de la Com’ would never have been a success without each and every member of the Odysseus team! 


Public Relations + Team Work = Success!

[A mini clip of the event:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY9OPZzXops&feature=plcp]