It’s my intern’s last day!

My internship in Curtin Corporate Communication Sarawak, Malaysia has officially ended. I started my internship on 8^th July 2013 and finished on 9^th August 2013.

I have learn and enjoy my one month internship, but unfortunate I have to leave this familiar working environment and my lovely colleagues. During my internship programme, a lot of things happened in between as well as faced a lot of problem and challenges, my supervisor and my colleagues are so kind to me and when I did some mistake.I want to take this blog for granted to thank to my respected supervisor, Ms Marcella really helpful taking care of me, she helped and guide me in every aspect, she keep giving me the opportunities to learn new things during my internship and include the outcome inside my report. She really guide me a lot and it was so appreciate.

I would like to highlight a few elements that I believe is key components to PR practitioner. All these components are based on my perspective throughout the internship programme, but I am happy to hear more different opinions from others, so feel free to comment below.

Confident

This is whatsoever very important which I strongly believe or even it has to be one of the characteristic of every PR professional. I am kind of person that lack of confident, I always don't dare to say "I can", because I scare “I can't”! But during this internship programme, I learn to build up confident through talking with people frequently by using English and try to accept every task and challenges. I believe that only if we do more practice and willing to accept the challenge, we are able to know the level of our ability and by knowingwhat alternatives ways to build up our own confident.

Willing to learn from mistake

No one are perfect, neither me. People always make mistake. The questions are how to handle and learn from mistake? I believe it is very important for every people in every kind of situation, especially when we come to the "real world". We need to have a heart that willing to learn! No one knows everything but only to LEARN! Learn from mistake make a man grow up. I very appreciate my supervisor, Ms Marcella, she always told me, "Nevermind, practice more and learn". Because of her encouragement, I don’t have to feel guilty overtime but move on to learn from my mistake and make it better!

Relationship

There is always a relationship between people. PR professional need to build up relationship with every people because you do not know one day you might need them, either your employer or client. Regardless who they are, as a PR professional, we have the responsibility to deal with people. So, smile can be a good communication tool for PR professional, smile with everyone. Not only can make people feel good, but also ourselves.

I think all of these key points are quiet useful for us as a future PR professional. I think through this internship programme, I really learn a lot of things in real world and outside the textbook. Wish I can use all of the skill i have learned from this programme in the future and I believe those points really help me a lot! Thanks to my supervisor, Thanks to my colleagues, Thanks to my lecturer, Thanks to UC and Thanks to this programme! Finally, Thanks all of you for being so patient in reading my blogs! All the best to you all! Have a super great day! :D

Best Regards,

Corina Ling

15108931

Curtin Sarawak

Useful Experience for me-- Writing Media Release!!!

This is my third week of doing internship. I would like to share my experience of writing media release. So excited that I have been granted the opportunity to write the media release! That day, as usual, I am reading the newspapers and doing the press clipping. And suddenly, my supervisor, Miss Marcella walk beside me and said, “Can you write a media release for me? I sent the information to your staff email address, just open it and take it as reference and you can see the sample of media release here in order to help you in your writing of media release. Please submit to me your works by today.” When I heard it, I feel super excited! Then I start to write media release.

As I have learned before, I refer to my experience and start to write the media release. I remember that I have learned to write media release when I was taking PR 220. I feel regret that I do not really practice frequent in writing media release at that time. Now, I am so desperate that times can come back. If the time can turn back, I really wish I can spend more time to exercise more. Now, it is not the time for me to regret of anything, but move on to complete my task.

So, I treasure this opportunity, I try my best, write, read through the sentences and think twice, research. Finally, I submit my task on time. Here is the link of media release that I have assisted in drafting:

http://www.curtin.edu.my/campusnews/mediarelease/2013/PR_13-065.htm

I have researched some useful tips of writing the body of the media release which include:

• Learn the format!

The strong headline always attract the attention of the reader and the opening sentence always sum up the most important detail of the message which include answer of five 'W' questions (Who, What, Where, When and Why). 

• Keep it short and on-point

• Set a professional yet engaging tone

Write with active words so that it can make media release sound like it is in motion and happening.

• Don not just think about your clientele- think about your media audience

Is it newsworthy? Is the valuable for media audience? Is it enough to attract them to read our media release?

• Have a release that can be read and accessed on multiple technologies and platforms

Include email and link where it can be viewed on the client's website to make things as easy as possible to find and explore.

• Keep the fluffiness to a minimum and maximise that how you economise each word

People like to read media releases which are shorter, simpler and straight to the point. Hit them in the heart, make a connection so that the media wants to keep reading your media release.

• Recognise that timing can be everything- down to the hour and day

Target the right week and day to publish the media release is important too. For example, If we send media release via email between 2-3pm, most people are just finished their lunch and the morning rush, we can get the best response during that frame.

• Quote

• include you and your company's contact information

Thanks for reading my experience and I hope you got the point. Have a great day! ;)

Best Regards, 

Corina Ling

15108931

Curtin Sarawak

‘Employee communication’ -- Learn it in the real world!

*Note: All pictures belong to Corporate Communication Department of Curtin Sarawak

After finished my first week internship, I would like to share with you what I have learned and observed while doing my internship. Due to the holiday period in Curtin University Sarawak, so our department does not have any event to deal with the students, but only event to deal with the staffs (internally).

There is an event called "Staff farewell & Welcoming Gathering for outgoing & Incoming PVCs" held in REC hall. They gathered all the staffs to give a farewell event to our Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor lan Kerr whom is leaving and also welcome our new Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Mienczakowski. After that, there was a photo-taking session and refreshment for all the staffs to allow them to communicate with each others. There are around 135 staffs who participate in this event. This event had been hosted for one and half hour. They manage this event so successful and well time-control.

Pic 1: Prof. Kerr and Prof. Mienczakowski proceed to the rostrum for 'handover'

Pic 2: Prof. Kerr and Prof. Samyudia proceed to rostrum for presentation of gift

Pic 3: Photo-taking session

Pic 4: During refreshment

Throughout this event, allow me to understand that PR responsibility not only to deal with stakeholder outside the company but also the stakeholders internally. Employees are the organisation's best possible 'goodwill ambassadors'. Employees play an important role of stakeholder because they help the organisation move on and achieve the objectives directly. Therefore, as a PR specialist, they need to concern of this group of stakeholder whom directly reflects to organisation’s success and failure. This event allows to me remember "employee communication" which I had learned on my PR 300.

What is the important of employee communication?

Relationships are based on communication and the functioning and survival or organisations are based on effective relationships between individuals and groups.

Communications help individuals and teams to coordinate and perform tasks to achieve goals. (Harrison 2012)

PR staffs play an important role in improving employee perceptions of their leaders through the interactions between employees and employers. In addition, translate corporate strategy into day-to-day basis and explain to employees also the responsibility of PR staff (Harrison 2006). As happen in the event "Staff farewell & Welcoming Gathering for outgoing & incoming PVCs", although it seems like a farewell party for outgoing and incoming PVCs, obviously the purpose for the event is to update the organization situation and everyday news to them. Besides, the purpose is a place for staff and management to interact with each other in order to have a same personal goal to achieve organisation's objective.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to attend this event during my first week internship. Hope all of you enjoy my sharing! Wait for my next post! ;D

Best Regards,

Corina Ling

15108931

Curtin Sarawak

Struggling between work and studies.

Greeting!!

Hello everyone, my name is Joanne Ting. This is my 8th semester in Curtin University Sarawak Campus. 

I am taking Bachelor in Mass Communication, major in Film and Television and Public Relations.

Because of I am planning to extend a semester in Perth so I decided to take three units only in this semester, including PR 393, so that I can work and studies at the same time during this semester.

Im a 22 year old from Bintulu, Sarawak (about 2 and half hours drive from Miri), and yes Im not far from my home town, so I can always drive home anytime.

I completed my internship at Corporate Communications Department in Curtin Sarawak. 

I remembered the first day, I was super excited and panic. Exciting because this is my first time working while, panic about the strange environment and people that I am going to meet.

But everything turned up nice as my colleagues are so kind and friendly.

In this 20 days of internship, I've learned a lot from my supervisor, Ms. Marcella and all my colleagues in the office. I feel thankful to my manager, Nicholas Leong, who willing to take me as his intern.

As it was the beginning of the semester, there was not much events going on. 

The first few days, I was sitting in the office doing media monitoring and press clippings. Through the process, I've learnt about how to calculate the value of a piece of news (sizes and prices from each media outlets). 

After I have done all the media clippings, my colleagues would assign me some works like writing tender and key-in academic staffs' information as record. 

I was so worried because I have not really done anything related to Public Relations. But, luckily, there were some events coming up which I can involve and learn. Wish to know? Stay tune to my next entry.

Take Care.

Kind Regards,

Joanne Ting

15109536

Reflections on my PR internship

Well now that the end of my internship has come, it's time to reflect on my time spent there and all the things I learned and liked or didn't like. I am definitely sad to leave the hotel and it feels strange to me to no longer have to go to work everyday and not have to think about the hotel's doings as I'm no longer part of it. Recently, I will saw a mention of the JW in a magazine and thought about notifying my PR manager about it before realizing it is no longer my concern.

But I had a great time at the hotel and I took away so many valuable experiences. I now understand what it is like to practice PR in the real world and I finally know that this is the career path I want to take after I graduate. Before I started, I was so unsure because the idea of PR sounded stressful and pressure filled. And while yes, I learned PR is stressful, I can see how it works in the real world and it looks really manageable  at least from an in-house perspective. Oh, and that's another thing, when I do go into PR, I want to try in-house because it seems less stressful and more focused which is better as I'd like to put my efforts into improving one company, rather than several.

I would say the best parts of my job have been the media events both outside the hotel and inside. I loved getting out there and meeting media people, chatting to them, making connections. And when it came to media events in the hotel, I loved watching the print media and TV crew/radio crew come in to film/review our hotel and restaurants. I loved how I got to have input on who we should allow to come and feature our hotel and who shouldn't. It made me feel like part of the team. We also got to plan the annual MICE press trip for our hotel which was a lot of fun too and again, great having that input.

The more menial part of my job was the media monitoring  It can be tiring going through all those magazines and newspapers but then I enjoyed the feeling I got when I found something and got to make a clipping for it and then file it away in the PR report. I loved being able to tell my boss how our value was looking at any time during the month. Then of course there was the media database which was tiring to put together even if it is a critical part of PR.

I really regretted not being able to stay longer though. At the end of the month, the annual media blitz would commence where the team visits all media outlets to send them gifts and further cement the PR-media relationship. But I also got to experience alot too in my time there so I'm fairly satisfied.

This is not the end of my PR journey though, and I hope to have many more great experiences in the future!

 Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)

The Media Database

In my second last week here at JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok, and things are quite uneventful. Seems like PR has downtime, usually around late December to early January because everything has been tied up for the year 2012.

The next major thing to look forward to is the PR plan for the year ahead. My boss has said that she will allow us a look at the plan and a discussion session so we can understand how it works and talk about it. This should be interesting to see whether it ties in with the PR plans we study about in class. Will update you more on that next week when she shows us it.

Other than that, we interns are put to work on another important part of PR which is not really mentioned-the media database. In other words, the database that consists of the list of media contacts with telephone numbers and emails so that we can send press releases to be published in magazines, newspapers, etc.

This is something that obviously needs to be updated properly as people are always going in and out so emails and numbers will change. The difficulty with doing this is finding the right telephone numbers (usually online or in the magazine itself) and then calling them one by one to get the right email to send press releases too. Simply looking up a valid email and filling it in the database is just enough-a publication can have multiple editors/writers and simply sending it to one lowers the chances of it being published, so you have to make sure you have the one who handles press releases.

As this is my second last week, I'm starting to feel quite melancholy. I had a great time here and I feel like I got exposed to alot of things, from the day to day media monitoring to the more exciting events where I got to meet members of the media. I'm almost 100% sure this is the career path I want to choose. I'm so glad I got the chance to pursue this internship. :)

More next week!

Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)

Making PR Mistakes and Dealing with Them

Hey everyone,

This isn't an easy post for me to write but I thought it necessary to share with you the recent hiccup I had involving a printed mistaken price error in the newspaper.

My boss recently assigned me the task of drafting up press releases which would then be translated into Thai by my Thai intern friend and would be used as the basis for a feature we were promised by a local Thai newspaper. The press releases involved prices and was promoting the Christmas buffet lunch/dinners and New Year's Eve buffet our hotel was offering.

I thought I had done a good job on the press releases and sent up all the documents which were then forwarded to the editor of the paper. When the newspaper came out with our hotel mentioned in it, we were obviously very happy... until my boss noticed an error in the listing of the prices. After going back and checking to make sure it was not the paper's mistake and going through the Thai translation and then my copy, we discovered that I had incorrectly typed up the prices. Of course I was very upset because I hadn't made a mistake like that before but thankfully, my boss was understanding, saying that she should also have properly double checked the prices before sending. It's still a shock to the system because this isn't like a mistake you make in school. Mistakes like this could be potentially damaging if not dealt with immediately and properly.

Right away, she got to work on handling the situation. The first step was to call the editor of the paper and ask if they could make a change for the following day. She made it clear that it was not the paper's fault and apologized, smoothing things over and thanking them again for offering to feature us in it. Unluckily, they couldn't which meant the prices for Christmas Eve dinner were printed incorrectly and was going to come out like it was. So then my boss asked to change the prices for Christmas Day (this day was the 23rd) and luckily we still had time to change it and were also able to correct prices for New Year's Day.

At the end of the day, even though this was not a pleasant experience, it taught me a great deal about making mistakes in the PR industry. As my boss later told me, everyone makes mistakes and even she has done so on occasion. There is no use crying over split milk and the best reaction is instant action. Call immediately and check to see what can be done to rectify the situation as much as possible. Make sure you make it clear it is not the media's fault but your own if it is indeed your mistake. Above all else, make sure you double-no make that triple-check your work before sending it off, particularly when it comes to numbers and prices.

Till next time,
Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)

PR and the media

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been a while. Been very busy with work lately. Everything is going well though and I'm loving my internship! I'm almost certain PR is the right career choice for me as I love everything my boss gets me to do. Yes, I know it can be a stressful job but I have the genuine interest in it.

Lately, my boss has been asking me to draft up releases for Christmas promotions as well as New Year and Chinese New Year specials. Getting these releases done early is vital as magazines will close the books for the following month at a certain time. PR and the media have a very co-dependent relationship. It may seem like PR need media more but this is not the case. Editors do call in sometimes to ask for any promotions to fill up their columns. It was great to be actually writing a real press release that could appear in a magazine soon!

Besides print media, my bosses and I have been looking at TV opportunities. I attended a shooting for a cooking show featuring our head chef which was great fun! I got to see how a cooking style show was filmed and it surprisingly only took an hour and half to compete it all! Very soon, we will receive a CD from the TV company with the clipping which we then use to calculate PR value in our monthly media report. We look at the time and multiply that by the amount of people watching to get a number. Obviously this is so much more valuable than a print article.

Another TV channel has expressed interest in our Japanese chef and his unique style of cooking. Our job was to get all the relevant information such as the time it would take to perform his 'tricks' and how many he could do in a certain time, as well the ingredients he would need. I also filmed a short clip to showcase his skills which we then sent to the company for them to decide whether they want to confirm the real shooting. Fingers crossed we get it!

Then we had a new chef come in and I had to draft an 'appointment' press release for him. My boss went to personally interview him as she wanted to find out if there was anything he could do specially that could garner media attention. Turns out, he was writing a cook book and it could be useful to plan an event around it in the future.

So when dealing with the media, it's important to analyze the media potential in what you have and look for any media opportunity you can in print, TV and radio and try to get something in there. You never know unless you try!

Until next time!

Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (for Sem 1, 2013)

PR Events

What an exciting week it's been for me working at the JW Marriott! I'm loving learning more about the real life duties of a PR manager from my very talented boss.

Last week on Thursday, I had my first event which was a press trip for international members of the media who toured various Marriott hotels around Thailand. The first two were beach hotels and our hotel was the last stop before they headed back home. The purpose was to highlight to them the MICE properties of the hotel. MICE is an acronym for meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition. JW Marriott as a luxury business hotel offers facilities to accommodate the business traveler's needs, such as meeting rooms, an executive lounge and specialized executive rooms to stay in. My job leading up to that involved the planning and organizing of the activities they would take part in during their stay. Me and the other intern sat down with the PR manager to discuss the activities chosen which was actually a clever and fun way to get them to remember important facts of our hotel so they could go back and write about it.

After that, it was out duty to create the tools needed, such as a crossword board and a power point presentation of a JW Marriott style quiz game, testing them on the important facts of the hotel. On the day itself, we had to standby and make sure things ran smoothly and be on hand so that we could help out if needed. I ran to the different locations to check with the staff that everything was set before the media came to visit. It was tiring but everything went smoothly which was good and hearing the very positive feedback from one of the cluster PR people that came with the media was great. Hopefully, we'll be seeing some more coverage of the hotel in the news soon! Last Monday brought some difficulty with one media who was asking more than what he would give us back in PR value, and we had some debate about how to handle him as it was a delicate situation. Thankfully, it went ok. This is the real trouble of PR-deciding whether the return and PR value for the media is worth what we are giving to them, whether it's a free lunch (for a food review) or the use of a hotel room for a night (an extra cost so they can do the review).

And then yesterday night, I attended an event hosted by a local magazine which was a good opportunity to network and meet important people in the industry and of course to maintain the important relationship between media and PR. I had two events this Thursday to attend but we had to pick only one. I learned that you have to set your priorities in PR and as one was for the launch an up and coming magazine against one for a party for a magazine we already have good connections with, my boss decided we should go to the first one so we could try and create new connections.

That's all for now!

Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)

First Day of Work: Impressions of Being a PR Intern

Hey everyone!

Today was my first day as PR intern at JW Marriott Bangkok. I was super nervous but also super excited to take all the things I learned in my course and apply them in the real world. I knew this would be a good experience as doing PR, especially in a city is extremely high pressure and there will always be something to do and something new to be exposed to.

Right off, I got introduced to the PR manager who gave me and another intern a long briefing about the 3 brands we'll be looking after under the Marriott name. Each brand has a unique writing style which will be used for the press release. We continued later with her explaining the different tasks we had to do under PR including drafting press releases, monitoring media clippings, event planning and strategy. All of the things felt very familiar as I had already covered them in PR 220 but she did mention calculating PR value which was something I wasn't too familiar with. This is basically calculating the ROI by measuring the inches of space any mention of the hotel took up and multiplying it by the ad value, followed by the PR value. All this has to be recorded in a spreadsheet which will make up the basis of the monthly media clippings report.

After this, me and the other intern got on with our work which was going through all the different magazines sent to the department, finding any mention of JW and marking it down. Then we had a meeting with the event organizer about Thursday's press trip where members of the press will come down to view the hotel and which featured an 'Amazing Race' style contest to make things more memorable. This will be a major event that we interns have to take part in and we were allowed to give our input and suggestions on how to improve it.

After that it was back to the media monitoring and then it was time to call it a day.

I definitely feel excited about what else is to come now that the initial nervousness has worn off and I know more what I am expected to do. Everyone is super friendly and even though the hours are long, it's quite enjoyable as there was (and hopefully will be later on as well) lots to do. This wasn't how I expected it to be because I thought PR would be rigidly strict and stressful but you still have fun as well! I think PR 220 and 250 will be the most useful for my time here as I will be expected to help out a lot in the creation of PR documents, more so than any planning or strategy making.

I look forward to my first big PR event on Thursday!

Till then!

Christy Lau 15130659

Bentley (for Sem 1, 2013)