FINITO!

Hi everyone!

This would be my final post, marking the end of my internship period and soon, the university life. During the two months internship, I have gained lots of insights into the real PR industry.

For this last post, I would like to share some pointers with everyone with what I have learnt after my internship:

1.     PR is a challenging job as we are the intermediaries for many parties like our clients, the media and various stakeholder groups.

2.     Time management and multi-tasking are very important skills - as PR practitioners are required to handle several accounts at any time.

3.     Understanding the nature and products of the clients well, to prevent getting off-track or missing any media coverage when doing media monitoring.

4.     Do not overpromise. Deliver what you can promise to the client, as reliability is the key!

5.     Building good media relationship is vital- you never know when you will need their help.

6.     Be prepared and flexible for any situations especially during events- Expect the unexpected.

 

Lastly, on a lighter side, I would like to share an article about the 15 professions that drink the most coffee. Guess where does the PR professionals ranked at?

http://io9.com/5948206/here-are-the-fifteen-professions-that-drink-the-most-coffee-guess-whos-number-one

Though I didn’t have much coffee during my internship period, but I have observed that my colleagues would drink several cups of coffee throughout the day to keep themselves awake. Reason being, some of them were in the office working since 6am, and leaving later than 6pm due to the amount of work that needs to be completed for various clients. So, what are your thoughts for this article??

Hope everyone have enjoyed their internship as much as I did, and wishing everyone luck for your future endeavours! :)

Cheers,

Delvina Chiang

15006527

Curtin Singapore

Experiencing @ Colosoul

Hi everyone,

Basically, I am working as an event assistant for Colosoul however due to the lack of work for me I am currently working in the Business Hub department for Colosoul. First time working in company which involves PR and Marketing is really not an easy job, my work here includes finding potential clients, and find ways to maintain past clients but that is not the job I do most here, basically my job in Business Hub focusses more on Social Network.


In terms of working on social network basically means that there are clients who hired us to maintain and consult their social network sites, and that is what I do here in Business Hub. This is also my first time dealing with such businesses, it is never easy due to the problems that I have to do massive research on how to enhance social network site and I have to try out everything on my own.


Communication with clients and colleagues or supervisor is the most important factor for me to get my job done, however it is not as easy as it looks, I've faced a lot of issues when I am trying to get my work done when there is a communication breakdown which for a few times clients that wanted me to get their job done as soon as possible always tend to fail in replying my email, and I will always get their reply only when it is near the due date which then I have to rush their work and other's. 


Communicating with colleagues and supervisor is also as important as communicating with clients, basically because I am still a newbie in this industry, I do need a lot of advices and guidance from people who are able to teach me and guide me, fortunately my colleagues are able to do so, however there are sometimes new things that maybe my colleague and I are not aware of how to deal with it, and unable to find the right person to guide us we have to think out ways to do it ourselves which is very time consuming. 


Hopefully, I am able to gain more experience and learn how to solve these problems for my future benefits, that is it for now, I will be sharing more of my thoughts in my future post. 


Thanks for reading.


      

Half way there!

Hi my fellow interns,

Sorry I have not been up to date. It has been hectic, especially after the Easter break, with assignments from uni and also juggling my part time job with my internship. I thought my head was about to explode! I'm sure you can relate.

Anyway, I have finally finished my ten days interning at Promaco Conventions and I am having a blast. I have settled in and is more comfortable in my environment. I have also decorated my desk a little bit, which I was so happy to do and felt so professional. As you know, I am interning at an event company that deals with corporate events. I have learnt a lot, and now my supervisor Livia has given me more tasks and responsibilities such as calling up clients, emailing and liaising more. Which is great. Even though I am still doing a lot of administrative tasks, I have also been doing up sponsorship prospectus and my recent achievement, making a registration form and a website for an event that is coming up.

All I can say is, pay your dues. Put in 110% in everything that you do, even if its the little things such as organising brochures (which I had to do). Once your supervisor see the effort that you put in, and the initiatives that you take, they will definitely take a chance on you and give you more responsibilities.

Promaco's first event is coming up on the 23rd of May, and I am excited to see how it all plans out. Im more excited to be there on the event, see people from all over the state come together and maybe network if Im given the opportunity.

Nevertheless, any opportunity and experience that your able to capture, make the most out of it and take advantage.

Until next time.

Grace

week 4 recap

Hey everybody

okay its been a full month, since working at Leo Burnett, and it has been a roller coaster ride. So for last week it was a mix of moving around seeing clients, and being in the office bistro brainstorming. So il start with the beginning of March, wher we are nearing the completion of the interview sessions, however, some of the top level members, are very busy and had to postpone to a later time. This affects us in that the recommendation to LBS Group property developer is by end of March. So i had to make a lot of calls to the interviewees, who were top level management in their companies, so i had to negotiate what would be the most convenient time for both sides. During the interviews themselves, i would participate by asking questions about the re-branding. Dealing with clients is always fast paced, and you have to be ready for anything. My superiors are working on other accounts at the same time, so it becomes a juggling act, because i would also join on helping out with the other accounts. Mainly what i got out of that week, was communication with the client has to be solid, quick, and precise. I have barely room for error, and time management is key, as i have to write the transcripts right after. By the 8th March i will have to compile the transcripts so far, which is 16 transcripts with 8 pages each on average. We will have a mini workshop on what is the trend found, consistency, important opinions found through the interviews so far that would be implemented in the recommendation for LBS's re-branding. A recap of February has been good, from just starting off till now, i have been given more responsibilities, been asked on input more in matters, and has more direct contact with the client, all in all; its getting better and better.

Till next week

Marketing Major 5th ed.

Hi Guys

The final report has given me alot to consider and reflect on during the year that I have spent in the marketing consultancy. Lately my boss and I have really noticed the differences with clients and how they impact on our effeciency and effectiveness in completing projects.

We have a few clients that are ultra responsive and really keen to get work started and completed, and these clients are an absolute pleasure to work with. They reply to emails, send feedback - all within reasonable amounts of time.

Then there are the nightmare clients. One client that I am 'attempting' to complete projects for the past 3 months. These are not overly difficult projects outside out scope of expertise, they include projects such as; stationary suite, corporate profile brochure, branded presentation folder as well as newsletter development.

The client frequently doesn't respond to emails, claiming he never recieved them. I tried to counter this activity by applying send and read receipts to all correspondance - I never receive the read receipts. When verbally asked for feedback, given the brush off.

Consequently I have spent much of my project management chasing up the client, attempting to get responses and feedback, and in effect spending my own time doing this.

The situation is also unbelievable because my client's office is two offices down from mine.

Without considering this post as a rant about clients, it just reflects the two extreme situations. The responsive clients are a pleasure to work with, know what they want, and work with me to achieve it, and often come under budget because of this. Bad clients are the opposite and often blow budgets because of the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in completing tasks, despite my best efforts.

Has anyone had similar client experiences?

Blog again soon

Marketing Major 4th ed.

Hi Guys

Hope all is well with everyone! It has been exciting reading about the Perth Fashion Festival, and I have been immersing myself in this since the beginning.

On Friday the 4th the event I have been working occured, and to my great delight, it went fantastically, without a single hitch!

I had spent the day making final decorative arrangements at the commercial property where the event was being held. As well as transporting drinks etc. The event started at 4pm, the Adam Springhetti Jazz Trio (whom where absolutely FANTASTIC!! Massive recommendations) arrived at 3pm to set up, shortly followed by catering, and the event started promptle at 4.

The guests were invited to help themselves to the drinks being served at the bar, and to take advantage of browsing through the property, showcasing their investment. The event was held in the large and impressive foyer.

At 5:30pm, the directors of the syndication gave a short speech, before taking part in a ribbon cutting ceremony. The event finished promptly at 7pm and guests made their way out, while I helped to pack up and clean up.

To all accounts the event was an absolute success, the clients thanked me for my efforts in orchestrating the event, and my immediate boss gave me her congratulations - stating that she was glad she no longer had to organise events, and that in future these projects would immediately be directed to me.

I have certainly learnt alot, especially about time management and client management! Clients can be very difficult, and often don't realise time constrictions to how long it takes to accomplish projects - particularly design projects.

Overall I'm am VERY relieved the event is over, that it was a success, and that I have shown to my boss some of my capabilities. I am also incredibly proud of myself!

Blog again soon!

Marketing Major 3rd Ed.

Hi guys

The event I have been planning will be taking place Friday next week, and I'm almost 100% sure that all plans are taken care of.

This week my client decided that he would like stubby holders printed as promotional material. Because he decided this less than 2 weeks before the event, the cost of printing goes up 20% because its a rush job. My client was not very impressed with this, but there really isn't anything I could do about that. So we resolved the issue, we stubby holders are now at the printers, still paying the 20% rush job charge.

I'm also gonna get cracking on drafting up that media release, heres to hoping my skills are up to par!

Blog again soon!