Spring Carnival 2016 approaches

This past fortnight at Perth Racing has been very busy, I have been finalizing all the final little elements for the opening of Spring Carnival 2016 on the 15th of October. Events that are this big are a lot to manage I am so at awe with the team all the time and the fact that they are able to pull together these phenomenal. The different components that come together to create the events that happen on the Carnival days are eminence.

I have been working on booking the entertainment for the spring carnival, this includes bands, singers and individual vocalists that will be spread out at different locations on race day. At Perth Racing it is about off the track entertainment as much as it is on the track! It is important to always have something spectacular to keep the crowd always entertained. Along with the entertainment, The spring carnival will also feature a newly release movie to play at the race day also, No only do people get a race day they get to experience a full day of entertainment. It is really interesting to understand all of the different elements that are part of these race days, it is bigger and better than I ever thought possible. Bigger is better and the more the merrier. I think Perth racing need to incorporate these elements to engage a variety of people to come to the Spring carnival.

At the end of this week I was also lucky enough to be apart of a shoot for channel 7 called 'Our Town' which features Belmont race course the winter track for Perth. Belmont racetrack is known as one of the best race track in the southern hemisphere, Our town wanted to capture the good things Belmont racecourse has on offer for WA people. The day was filled with a lot of different interviews, shots of the races, and capturing the best assets of Belmont. During the day the crew interviewed a well known Jockey, Perth Racing CEO Julian, and testimonials from patrons in the Salinger Bar. It was an interesting day seeing the behind the scenes, As a PR person your job is to be their for the producers and what they need. You are getting free endorsements and coverage of your company. You want to just keep the producers happy and get them what they need for the best shots. Even with a filming schedule it cannot always be followed to the exact timing sometimes things do not always go to plan and these have to be assesses and looked at in order to still get the shots the producers need. Work out what you need to do as a PR person to get the shots and to keep them happy. Sometimes you might have to do a phantom call to get the sound you need. Not always everyone is going to be so consolidating and want to help out it is about compromising among everyone to get the results you need. Hard work, building relationships and dedication work to get what you need to make the shoot perfect.

Shooting at Belmont Racecourse

The Search for The One

Credit: Anna Ginsburg (http://annaginsburg.tumblr.com/)

People often say applying for an internship is difficult, however I found the search for the type of internship the hardest part. In my first blog post, I wanted to share my experience with the processes involved in finding the right internship.

After interning around town and figuring out what I don’t want to be doing after graduation, the search for the industry I wanted to try next was proving a very hard task. With a PR degree there are so many options! From media advising in politics, to events management in fashion, and strategic planning for the government – the possibilities are endless.

The great thing about interning is that you can try out different fields (with little risk) and see where your interests lie.

After months of consideration (and probably procrastination and some help from this Tedx Talk), a couple of days before semester started I decided on the arts for my industry placement, and narrowed it down to performing arts. It gave me a lot more motivation once I figured out what I truly wanted to pursue.

I researched a little online, but figured that I wanted to work at an organisation that is less well-known in Perth.

With my interest in contemporary dance and the not-for-profit sector, I called up my organisation and asked whether they took on interns (knowing that an admin person usually answers and the standard response is “email us your CV”). In the email that went along with my CV, I pitched myself in a brief summary of my skills and exactly what I wanted from an internship with them, and didn’t beat around the bush.

I think a good tip is to research an organisation and kind of figure out what area they are potentially lacking in, and try and sell yourself for a position that would help with that, as they’ve probably realised they need help in that area too.

Anyway, discussing my role with the executive director was really interesting and has shown me that a lot of people see PR and marketing as the same thing (Maybe I should have shown him this) . It was good to clearly talk about my role beforehand and confirm exactly what I can bring to the organisation, what they can do for me and projects I would be working on within the PR department.  

Maybe you had a completely different process of going about finding your internship? Let me know in the comments! This is just some food for thought for future PR industry placement students, which I hope is helpful for the initial stages of finding somewhere to get experience.

Tl;dr: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t exactly know where you want to go, take time to figure out what interests you, research the industry and pitch yourself.  

- Aimee

Consultancy>In-House

Nearing the end of my degree, I've noticed the talk during class changing.  Sure, there's still the usual 'Oh God, I forgot to do the readings! Did you do them?!' or 'Do you think the tutor will let us have a break so we can go get coffee while sneakily staring at the good looking barista?" But, like I said, things are changing.  Now, you hear everyone discussing where they'd like to eventually work.  Consultancy, In-house, not-for-profit- there's plenty to choose from, but which is right for YOU.

Even in my group of friends in class, there's still varying answers even though we all seem to have the same interests outside of university and work.

For me, it has always been consultancy.

I began my university journey studying nursing straight out of high school.  A big change to what I thought I wanted to do with my life. True to my initial instincts,  I decided it wasn't for me, so deferred and entered the workforce.  It was then that I landed my first administration role.  It was at Devahasdin Public Relations and where my love for PR began.

Devahasdin Public Relations is a boutique consultancy operating in West Perth which focuses on five key services: publicity, marketing, events, promotions and writing.

The core team working in the office daily consists of Sandra Devahasdin herself, three other account managers, account support/administration and on my placement days, me :).

So yes, there I was at 19 in my first 'proper' job and being overwhelmed at the fast pace but incredibly exciting environment I had found myself in.

It was after working at Devahasdin for 6 months that I decided to get straight back into studying and applied at Curtin to study a Bachelor of Mass Communication, promising the team that I would be back once I was qualified.

And here I am, nearly completing the first half on my placement.

Being at Devahasdin has shown me how demanding the field of PR can be, but also how rewarding.  The team at Devahasdin have once again instilled in me that this is what I want to be doing, I feel like I'm in the right place.

What I love about working in a consultancy environment is that every staff member has the same attitude towards PR and believes it is important.  We've heard in class before how some in-house PR professionals struggle to convince a CEO that Public Relations is worth spending some of the budget for or that it is important enough at all.

Consultancy is all about PR and there is no struggle at work to convince your boss that the job you're doing is actually valuable.

In my first ten days at Devahasdin, not only have I gained a large amount of knowledge about the PR field, I have also learnt that working in a consultancy is exactly where I want to be.

Speak to you all again soon!

Claudia x

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

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your (working) life

Day one. Let me set the scene for you. It’s 8.40am. I’m sat in the communications office room at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. My boss walks into the office with the greeting of “Good morning Kids!” to my second supervising boss and myself. This is the beginning of what I feel like will turn into a nostalgic tradition. I was not wrong.

He sits down at his desk, turns on the desktop computer, swivels his chair around to face me, and asks the second most profound question of the day “So, why are you here?” My reply consisted of something along the lines of  “To watch, to listen, to learn. I know I can write well, but I know nothing about science and supercomputing. This placement will teach me how to write about topics I previously knew nothing about. It will push my boundaries from the word go.”

Now, I’m not going to lie to you, I was rather impressed at my spontaneous response, which was the truth, but not something I had actively considered, no doubt because it scares me half to death. But then again, nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy.

My task for day one consisted of researching and writing an article for Science Network WA entitled “What is big data?” I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the concept of big data, but I challenge you to do your research and compose a succinct definition that is both understandable for the less scientifically literate reader, yet comprehensive enough to satisfy specialising scientists and journalists.

The only comparative analogy I can give you to demonstrate the difficulty of this task, especially since I haven’t practised journalism since the first year of my degree, is the act of attempting to describe what an orange looks like to someone that has never seen one before. Here you can see the point at which I realise that I am barely doggy paddling through the deep end that I previously referred to as “pushing my boundaries”.

After expressing my struggle to my boss, he explained that you have two choices. He said you can either choose write a piece that dances over the topic and ticks the boxes, or you can get down to the in-depth explanation into what makes big data big. And with the help of some hand-drawn umbrella diagrams, he asked me “which approach do you want to take?” That was the most profound question of the day, because right there and then it made me question what kind of writer, and by extension public communicator, do I want to be? Well, I think I’ll have to get back to you with an answer at then end of day 20.

Both my bosses appear to be hilarious, welcoming, abrupt, kind, real, open, honest and intelligent. They hold the level of intellect towards communications that I dream of possessing. I know that I will learn more from them over the next 19 days than any unit could teach, and despite the doggy paddling, I also know that I will enjoy the next few months more than I could have thought possible.

Media relations in not for profits

The theme of today’s post is about media relations at Clubs WA – what is being done now, what could be done, how and why.

When I started this unit I told myself I was going to write a blog post at least every second week so I could keep a good record of what I was  getting up to at Clubs WA. But here I am just doing my fourth one - I really underestimated how busy this semester was going to be! Which I am sure all of you understand.

On top of my internship which is 30 hours a week, I am still doing a full course load, which included the mammoth unit to cap off my journalism major, Print Production.

This unit is insane, but I have definitely learnt more from this class than any other journalism unit, so for any of you doing journalism as a second major or degree definitely enroll in this unit!

This unit involves subbing every single journalism article submitted for assessment from second and third year students, at least six times, and then designing and producing the Curtin University newspaper, the Western Independent.

All the units I have done throughout my journalism and public relations degree have improved my attentions to detail, time management, and writing skills and I’ve come away with a whole new appreciation for the written word. I am a massive advocate for gaining real-world experience throughout my university degree, and PR393 and Print Production have done this more than any other units.

The Western Independent finally went to print today so make sure you keep an eye out for it around campus tomorrow to read the great news articles written by the Curtin journalism students. Now that this unit is over, I can finally make a decent dent in my PR report! I have had ideas and information floating around in my head for the past three months, and as soon as I have submitted this post I am going to start writing it all down.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media relations at Clubs WA

Communicating with the media is such an important part of corporate communications, and helps to generate publicity and could eventually influence investors, employees, customers and consumers. Clubs WA needs to increase its involvement with the media, in order to amplify its reputation amongst the West Australian community.

Media releases

I have been at Clubs WA for about 14 months now, and in that time media releases have only been sent out on four occasions.

1. January - to announce the launch of Clubs WA's Fair Go For Clubs Campaign
2. May - to announce Clubs WA meeting with south-west clubs in Bunbury to discuss the big issues facing regional clubs
3. April - to announce finalists, and then the winner of the 2014 Clubs WA Awards for Excellence
4. June - to announce the retirement of Clubs WA's Executive Director Peter Seaman, and to congratulate Karen Giles on taking up the position 

Looking at the above releases that have been sent out, you can see so far media releases have only been sent out to announce Clubs WA events.

Media outlets

Clubs WA’s media list hasn’t been updated for more than a year, and this was evident when media releases were sent out and the majority of them bounced back.

The goal of sending out media releases should be to promote Clubs WA as THE voice, and expert on the WA club industry. It should be made clear that if a story is published on a sport or social club, whether positive or negative, the journalist should automatically seek out comment from Clubs WA. Skimming over WA’s most popular regional and city print newspapers, there is at least one story written on a WA club in every issue. If Clubs WA were to become known enough that they were sought out for comment on even half of these articles, Clubs WA could increase their brand awareness so much!

I think if Clubs WA were to write releases with the angle being on a particular club, and just a small comment from Clubs WA within the article, they would have more of chance of getting an article published.

Journalism and public relations 

Journalism students are taught throughout their degrees that public relations consultants are media hungry, propaganda-spouting people who are only on this planet to send out agenda-setting media releases, and to be the annoying middle person between journalists and the truth. This is why public relations officers need to build strong relationships with journalists and media outlets.

Learning facts for the last post

Hello fellow interns,

This is my last post for the Public Relations Internship (393).

For my last days at Logos Publicity, there were not less than three press conferences to ensure (two for the Festival Passe-Portes and one for the rebranding of the AAA as mentioned in the previous post). This was pretty stressed.

So, for this post I will mainly focus on my learning and thoughts being PR intern.

As Logos Publicity has prior to advertising, there was only one employee who is in charge of all the PR stuff. She taught and guided me towards the methods of writing media releases (according to the company), contacting media, preparing brochure and poster’s text, and product research. This was really interesting but demanding at times. The fact that my colleague had not done any course for PR techniques is, by the way, more remarkable. She gains experience through years and still she is very effective/productive :)

Through the opportunity of assisting a press conference, I have learned the importance of engaging the media in an event and networking.

I have also learned about the importance of good relationships with colleagues. This is important to manage conflicts and work together for better quality work.

To conclude, I am very grateful for this wonderful 20 days. However, I discovered that public relations sector was not really my domain and that I am interested mostly in event management :) I got the chance to experience PR tactics and techniques from theory to practice.

Regards,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167

Calling Media – Not so easy…

Hello everyone,

Already third post (after 1 month). I must say that I had difficulty to handle assignments and work and hats off for those who deal efficiently with those two.

This post will mainly focus on press conference. Logos was completely occupied with Festival Passe-Portes and the rebranding of AAA (Association of Advertising Agencies) during the past week. Press conference was needed to welcome the 60 French artists’ arrival and to announce the changing brand name of AAA to ACA (Association of Communication Agencies) respectively. Therefore, contacting the media was requested:

1 -  Sending email to editor-in-chief and journalists to inform for the conference (purpose, time, date, place) several days before (4/3days). Additionally, the news must be distribute to appropriate media as said in the second post (for example; AAA - Business Magazine, L’Express or Festival Passe-Portes – Scope). This will raise interest from journalists and ensure coverage.

2 - Calling for confirmation. That’s a different kettle of fish. This phase requests perseverance and patience :)

3 - Make a follow-up with the journalists presented. This consists of emailing additional information and photos to media that assisted the conference. It is mainly to ensure that proper coverage is done with correct materials. Furthermore, for the example of the festival, the invitation for the closure was sent to those same journalists.

Learning lesson: Good communication skills are required to maintain proper relationship with media outlet and to guarantee coverage of event.

Thanks you for following,

Elodie Lamarque

15844167