Now for some good news...

I thought I would share with you guys some good news ... Fremantle Press, the book publishing company where I have been interning for just over two months, has offered me a part time job! YAY!

Talking with my supervisor Claire a few weeks ago, she was asking me when my time 20 days was coming to an end, and asked if I wanted to continue working two days a week, but now actually getting paid for it. I was stoked! The offer and timing couldn't be better for me. I graduate in the middle of this year, and part time work will allow me to think about what I *really* want to do with myself! I have surgery coming up in a few months which will knock me off my feet, so I didn't want to dive into a full time job only to have to take multiple weeks off... Plus like I said, I don't feel as though I have found my real passion within Marketing and PR, so I think working and getting a taste for the NFP, publishing sector will help me decide if it is an avenue I want to continue down. The people at the Press are lovely, and have made me feel so welcomed. I am learning new things every week when I go in, and I cant wait to continue with what I am doing, making friends and contacts along the way!

At the moment, I am the Marketing and Public Relations Assistant to Claire. I will be taking on an events role, so perhaps my title will change to events and marketing assistant? or coordinator? Im not too sure. I have had previous experience in events, interning in 2014 for a events company in Claremont. This has made me familiar with many processes, but like I said I am learning new things each day!

So I wont be doing a sad final day blog post, but perhaps another update or two on my *now paid!* role!

Has anyone else out there gotten some work from their internships? Or do you know what kind of work you want to do now you have interned? Please let me know, I would love to know whats out there and what you all want to do now our degrees are coming to a close!


All the best and until next time,

Anouka

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong ...

Hi everyone

As promised in my previous post, this blog is going to be a little bit about the T.A.G Hungerford awards night that Fremantle Press is involved with.

So firstly, what is the T.A.G Hungerford awards? Administered by writingWA, the award is a $12,000 prize awarded to an unpublished manuscript by a previously unpublished Western Australian author. Alongside the prize money, the winner gets their manuscript published by Fremantle Press.
The winner for 2015 was Madelaine Dickie and her manuscript, Troppo.

Winner of the T.A.G Hungerford Award, Madelaine Dickie

Held at the beautiful Fremantle Arts Centre, the setting was perfect ... But as many of you know all too well, anything that can go wrong will go wrong for an event! Claire and I were joking about this on the day, exchanging stories in the car as we set off in the car to drop some things off and begin setting up the event.

The Fremantle Arts Centre was the perfect venue to host the awards

Claire hadn't heard from Madelaine all morning, and we were both growing a little worried ... she was coming to Perth from Broome, and we knew that flights had been delayed because of torrential storms up North! This wasn't ideal for any shortlister not to be attending, especially the winner. Her plane was set to land around 2pm, and we didn't hear from her until around 4.30pm ... it is safe to say we were a little relieved when the text came through that she had arrived in Perth.

As we began setting up, we realised that The City of Fremantle hadn't dropped their pull up banner stands off. Seeing as though they were a sponsor, this wasn't ideal. Setting off in the car once again, we had to call them on the way and have one run down stairs at the town hall as Claire raced in to pick it up. Drama averted.

Back at the office we were finalising last minute things, including the guest list, name badges for the board members of Fremantle Press, and the media kit. Claire thought it was a little odd that she hadn't heard back from their usual flower company where they source bouquets for the winner from so gave her a call ... The florist had a wedding on that day and had completely forgotten! With a few hours up our sleeve, she promised to have the flowers delivered in time. Drama averted again.

Getting to the venue, I was posted at the front desk and was in charge of greeting guests and ensuring that all board members got their name badges and the judges had their assigned envelopes with the running order inside. It was then that I realised I had forgotten one of the name badges ... not the end of the world but when there are 8 others and one person missing I thought that it wouldn't look great! I had five minutes before guests were set to arrive .. armed with my clipboard, I raced down the street (thanking that our office was so close!), printed off another name badge, ran back up the hill (easier on the way down may I add) and got to the gates catching my breath and trying to look calm and collected as I rounded the corner and saw the start of our guests waiting at the closed gates... it was 5.58pm, and showtime!

Despite all of these little hiccups in the day, the night was a great success!

This blog post wasn't to criticise or point out or the flaws in the evening ... it was truly a successful night and everyone that came complimented Claire and the team and thanked us at the end of the night. I even got thanked in one of the speeches which was a nice, albeit unexpected little shock, hearing my name amongst a crowd of one hundred plus guests!
We did put time a lot of time and effort into the night, and it paid off.

I wanted to use this post to point out that no matter how well things are planned, there is always something that will go wrong ... it just depends on how well you handle these curveballs!

I remember from my PR Techniques class, writing running schedules and putting together media kits and having everything ticked off the list, thinking 'well this is perfect! Nothing could go wrong'
 - this awards night was a real life example of how you need to be prepared for the unexpected, and that you need to be flexible when things don't always go to plan!

Mayor of Fremantle Brad Pettitt announcing the winner

Madelaine with her certificate

Has anyone had similar experiences when interning at an events company? Or perhaps running an event for the company your interning at like I did? How did YOU deal with an unexpected surprise on the day of something important? I would love to hear about them in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,


Anouka
Interning at Fremantle Press,
Marketing and Communications Assistant