The different way I celebrate Mid-autumn festival in 2009

Hi there,

Mid-autumn festival is coming soon, it is a day where families and friends gather together sharing happiness and love, hence I wish all of you 'Happy Mid-autumn Festival'. Perhaps, this is my last entry for PR 393 reflective blog. For those who had a glimpse at my entries, I was responsible in a Mid-autumn festival event, themed 'Celebrating The Mysterious of the Moon'.

I am grateful that the event was successfully ended with a lot of joy and happiness, particular for those children. During the very beginning, there were about 17 children age ranges from 5 to 9 years old carrying a paper lantern which was lit up and walking slowly to the stage, accompanied by adults. During the rehearsal, one of my biggest concern is regarding the children safety, and my PR Director, Mr Hiu responded to my concern as 'necessarily'. Hence, contingency planning is developed after the discussion with the other Kaying's members. The contingency planning clearly stated out the priority in any sudden cases and also the person who is responsible for each tasks.

As I am one of the programmers for the Mid-autumn event, it is my responsibility to attend every rehearsal and make sure everything is perfect before the event. My tasks including make sure the microphone is in good condition, speaker, and CD. Moreover, I have to make sure that the performers are doing well in their performances, these including make sure they are present for the event, and identify issues that they had faced, such as panic, not feeling well. Thus, in case of these, we will refer to the contingency planning, which is to arrange for the replacement.

Overall, I am quite impressed with that event. And of course thanks to my PR Director, Mr Hiu, for providing guidance so that I didn't get into trouble as this is the first time I am in charged for an event. I am grateful that I had learned a lot of things at Kaying Association. Nevertheless, the end of the event also marked my last day working at Kaying Association. Now, it is the time to concentrate on my final report. All the best to me!

Hope you all enjoy a fruitful internship experiences as me! Have a nice day! At the end, I would like to share with you some of the photos that I have taken during the event. Please allow for my badly photography skill as I am not a good photographer.

During the very beginning, there were 17 children carrying a paper lantern which was lit up. I was responsible in make sure the whole process running without chaos.

Dance Performance by Womenfolk of Kaying Association.

Sing performance by a lady, Ms Kong. She is one of the members of Kaying Association.

Performance by my PR Director, Mr Hiu

In addition to that, I was responsible in

the design of banqueting hall. And, that is my favorite design!

Flashback for the past ~!

Hello to all my fellow PR 393 mates,

Well, as I have promised in the first entry, here are some of the flashback during my first internship at Kim Teck Cheong (KTC).

KTC is a distributor for company include Summit Co (M) Sdn. Bhd, Hawley and Hazel Ltd, Procter and Gamble, Alliance Cosmetic Sdn. Bhd. Throughout my internship, I was being placed at Marketing Public Relations department, whereby people often confused of the Marketing jobs and Public Relations jobs, including me. As far as I have been worked at KTC for approximately 20 days, I knew that both Marketing and PR is actually mutually beneficial, which is the use of PR strategies and techniques to achieve marketing objective. (Kitchen and Schultz 2001, 177)

I am glad that I had learnt a lot of thing at KTC such as time management, relationship with internal (employees) and external stakeholder such as the buyers (Giant, Likas Mart etc) , and CSR. Besides that, I enjoying myself in the working environment at KTC. Although it was stressful, but we were able to interact with the other internal stakeholders in order to relax our mind being occupied with loads of works. During my internship, there was a surprised birthday celebration for one of my colleague, Alison. Then, I realized that it was the organizational culture that contributing to the organization's success because employees are comfortable and recognize with the organizational culture.

During the first couple weeks, I was being assigned to work with my Assistant Manager, Mr Chan to meet one of the major customers of KTC, which is Giant Hypermarket based in Kolombong, Menggatal and Tuaran. I was told by my Assistant Manager, Mr Chan to have priority check everyday before meeting with buyer. First, is to check whether the company products are in the good condition, as well as the expiry dates of the products. The expired products will be sent back to the company. This is one of the ways KTC trying to establish relationship with customer.

In the time while my Assistant Manager checked the available stock on the rack, I grabbed the chance to talk with the buyer, Ms Anita regarding the customers' reaction of the particular product, the preferred brand, or complaints received regarding the product. Most of the time, the buyer would love to share their opinion to us. Afterward, I have to report all the details to my Assistant Manager. In this way, KTC is able to provide greatest satisfaction for customers by continue making improvements.

Weeks after, there was a new Olay product launching event. I was being assigned to provide a list of hotels, with details such as prices for the conference room, the room size. It is crucial to get enough information from them in order to avoid chaos. At the end, Le Meridien hotel has been chosen as the venue for the new product launching. Then, I have to send the invitation cards for our customers including Giant Hypermarket, CKS hypermarket, Tong Hing department for joining the upcoming launching event. The event was launched by the representative of P & G.

Another things that the CEO of KTC, Mr Lau viewed it as crucial is gives back to community through CSR activities. These include donate money or provide foods for the vulnerable people through Ji Herr Charity Association. My job throughout the internship was to think another way in helping more vulnerable people in the society as Mr Lau thought that the events that has done so far were not enough. One of my ideas has been accepted by Mr Lau, which is to organize a charity event, 'Auction In Exchange of Hope'. The aims of the event is to raise money by auctioning things such as antique, vase, picture and etc. The money that has been raised would be given to people in needs through the local Ji Herr Charity Association.

Moreover, Mr Lau suggested every staff to participate in community event, '7K Sunset Charity Run 2009'. Well, I am proud to say that I participated for The 7K Sunset Charity Run 2009 which was organised by Sutera Harbour. The main objective is to raise funds and awareness among non-conventional donors. Be frank, it was quite challenging for me as I am weak in outdoor activities. At least, I had done the good jobs in raising the funds and increase awareness by participate in Sabah' s biggest charity run. Together with 10 other KTC staffs who participated in the charity event, a big applause for them!

There was a post run concert which was began at 6.30 pm, it was a concert to cheer everyone who has participated in the charity activities. Game stalls, food stalls and lucky draw were provided at that night too.

Lastly, I would like to send regards to all of the KTC staff.



Have a nice day!

The importance of managing your own time!

Hi everyone,

Today I am going to share with u guys about time management. I have heard lots of people complaint that they don't have enough time to manage project, assignment that has been assigned to. Yet, I must admit that I am one of them, especially during assignment and exam week.

I had learned a lesson while I was working at KTC. Well, the first few days when I just started my placement at KTC, I was responsible in sending the email that I had received to all of the department. Then I have to categorize each of the email before I sent it to the other department. As KTC is the only distributor of P&G product, Dutch Lady, Darlie in Kota Kinabalu, it is not hard to imagine that how many email I had received in one day and forward to each department. I was complaint by my supervisor because I took for a long time to forward emails to each of the department in which some of the email are urgent for them.

Besides, being a full time student and a part time Public Relations officer at Kaying Association, it was when I realized that how important for myself to manage my time effectively so that I can submit all the tasks, projects in time. PR 300 provides a guideline for me on how to manage time effectively, that is to list down all the things and prioritize the most important thing.

During the second and third week at Kaying Association, there were a lot of preparation works that will be carried out for the 'Primary School Mathematic Competition' and Mooncake Festival.

However, the first thing that I have to do everyday is to read newspaper and to search for news regarding Kaying Association, or any news related to the nature of the organization. After that, I have to collect the news and filed it properly. Then I was being told by Mr Hiu (PR director) to write a media release about Primary School Mathematic Competition' in both languages: Chinese and English. At first I thought that written in Chinese should be no problem for me as the mother language is Chinese, then I realized that it was totally the opposite.

Moreover, being a programmer for Mooncake Festival at Boulevard Restaurant, I am responsible to plan the program for that night and present a draft for them. It was happy indeed as Mr Hiu happy with my work.

Week after, I was assigned to work with Mr Hiu to approach a sponsor, Ovaltine in order to provide drinks for participants during 'Primary School Mathematic Competition'. I had learned the art of communication, which is the way to communicate with the potential sponsor in a way to persuade them with benefits that will be granted for them. Techniques that I had learned such as greeting with the sponsors upon meeting with them with slight bow. During the conversation, it was advised to look into their eye to show that we are listening to them and sincerity.

Alright, I think I have enough to say for today. More information will be posted soon.

Good day everyone!

My Internship at two organizations

Hi everyone,

I am Christy from Curtin University of Tecnology, Miri campus. This is my first entry for PR 393 blog. Now, I am going to share with you all about my experiences gained when doing my internship in two organisations which are Kim Teck Cheong and Miri Kaying Association.

I had my first internship at Kim Teck Cheong (KTC) during my one month semester break. It is located in Kota Kinabalu which is my hometown. KTC is a distributor for about 12 companies throughout Malaysia. To name a few including Proctor and Gamble, Dutch Lady, and Alliance Cosmetics. Miri Kaying Association is the placement that i recently working for. It is a not for profit organisation which serves the welfare to its members. Moreover, it is a Hakka dialect association.

However, I will be more focus on the placement that I recently working for which is Miri Kaying Association. During my first week of the training, there was an interactive session whereby all the committee of the association and members which is made up by community have an informal way of interacting with each other. Well, I must say that I love the session so much. Besides that, it is a great opportunity for me as a new member to know each other in the fastest way. The aims of the session are to gather all Hakka members and to maintain the traditional Hakka spirits of friendly or should i say hospitable?

During the session, committee pointed out some of the issue that the association is facing now which including lack of younger generation membership . Then the rest of the committees and members shared their opinion in an attempts to tackle the problems. Perhaps, it is a way for me to get a better understanding regarding the internal, and external environment of the association.

Before I joined Kaying Association, there is another ongoing preparation for the upcoming event which is "Primary School Mathematic Competition". The event will be organized in September 12, 2009. Besides, I was being assigned to work with Public Relations Director, Mr Hiu in organising the Mid-autumn festival at Boulevard Restaurant which is falls on 25th of September, 2009. I was excited upon heard that I can participate in the event. It is a way for me to show my creative and ability to run the event well.

Indeed, both of the members here are friendly and helpful, and I actually looking forward to create a sparkle in working as a team with them in the upcoming event. Alright, I think I have said enough for this time, I will include some flashback regarding my first internship in the next post.

Cheers,

Christy