Sailing off on a big ship loaded with gratitude

across the waves of assignment tasking to the shores of experiences brought on through the placement.

And yes, it does feels a little tipsy sometimes at the end of the day after knocking off work and coming back to pages to read and pages to fill in for assignments.

There were times when words just run dry and the phobia of posting on this blog as most of you interns write fantastically well and the gaps were just hard to fill.

But hey. Surely this confession is not solo.

Hence the big ship loaded with gratitude.
A big thank you to all of you interns for sharing you experiences, for kind encouraging comments and most importantly for the effort undertaken in composing every word.

Another big thank you to our lecturers for without them, the course of completion and learning opportunities would not have been possible.
I have no idea how they plan the unit components which we were required in our syllabus but now i truly appreciated the way they were designed for us since the work experience placement.

Lastly, the experience placement required of us has been more then a wonderful experience for me and i hope it has been for all of you and the rest who have yet to start.
This is one of the blogs that i would carry on reading even after the journey has end because there is just endless to learn from the post you all contribute.

Sailing off now.

Warmest Regards
Grace Ye

Two ears One mouth. 2:1

"So that we may listen twice as much as we speak"

I can not recall from when or whom i heard this from. What it meant was the proportion used in listening double more then we speak. Through out the placement I had applied this thought and it has helped ease my navigation.

Being the only Asian within the Western context and along with its communication side effects equals chaos. This was one of my main concerns at the thought of  having my placement done here versus back home where every corners are filled with the same culture. 

Any one recalling 'Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory' during our previous unit, Pr Principles? It has helped me kept an open mind ever since. When ever odd times struck, i found Hofstede's theory lightening as i could reciprocate better with an idea of whats norm and what is not.

Having said that fear, i landed as the only Asian within the events department at the Multiple Sclerosis Society of WA. A pair of black eyes surrounded by pairs of beautiful blue eyes. I was pretty worried that i would be alienated out or that whatever words which parted my mouth would equate puzzled faces and worst still, a toll on my working experience. 

As agreed with many of our dear fellow interns' experience about the importance of being active at asking plenty of questions through out to strive towards a better learning curve, i found that the Two ears One mouth quote together makes a great combination.

Many times i noticed the stress faces of my colleagues and the war they waged against time. I applied this theory with questions asked. Filter my questions, ask the precious ones and keep an active listening approach at all times and it has enabled me to understand better and provide better with what was expected of me as i piece them together.

I was handed this invitation last week. My colleagues kindly pushed me repeatedly, 'It's free lunch, go!' I understood their well intentions and surrendered after a few refusals because i felt that time would be better spent at the office. 

I will attend the lunch tomorrow with this blog in mind and hope there would be something useful that i could post.

Warmest Regards

Grace Ye

Event after

The morning after 'Step Up for MS'. Lots of clicking, typing, printer zapping, phones ringing and colleagues that wouldn't stay still. Yet i thought that the tune of the days to follow would be a relaxing tone but i was wrong.

Lots of preparation before the event and still heaps to do after. A round table meeting was called upon as i sat in and listened to the discussion, results and evaluation plan. Among them were these.

• Statistics. Dissect the registration database. 

Which age groups was this event most popular with or least. Who were the fastest steppers, highest fundraisers in teams and individual category? Which corporate teams made up the most participants? Who were the repeated participants from previous years and what were the numbers of those who had not. Any growth in registration and which categories were they contributed from? The list just goes on with what could be derived through a date base and how these results would affect future plans. Plenty of eyes straining moments and giddiness on this responsibility.

•  PR collaterals. The usual mains on the menu.  

Ways to keep them inform, engaged and enticed into participation for the next year - Newsletters. Keeping the public informed - Media Releases. Acknowledge and express appreciation for those who contributed to the success of the event - Thank you letters. Volunteers who committed time and effort during the event - Certificate of appreciation.

Thank god the task of newsletters and media releases was not on me as i felt incompetent of doing so even though studies have prepared us and the techniques i read through in these blogs by other interns. Some how it was still a fear factor for me. 

Tasked with the certificate of appreciation and thank you letters which i thought would be an easy peasy task until i started drafting and realize. The thank you letter was not a one letter fits all like a piece of free size clothing. There were so many different types of contribution to thank for. The sponsors for their services such as the free massage on site, the supporters, the organisations who put in corporate teams, the venue management for usage of their premises, the security management for their unconditional care in ensuring the safety of every individual and more.

I thought i wore Mr Smarty pants by trying to format it to make things easier. I came up with a standardize letter and then later replace the tiny details like names and thought it would be fine. The same method i did for the volunteers certificate of appreciation with publisher. I was wrong. The letter took a U-turn back after being reviewed. It was too generic! 

There were situations when we were able to stand as a by-stander and tell some one else what was better but when it came down to ourselves it slipped our minds. This was one of those moments. 

It really made sense to express thank you then not but it would have felt a whole lot better for the receiver when one is able to give reasons for why they were thanked for. You agree? 

I am going to root this in my mind to remember always. Not just for work purposes but personal ones as well!

Now. Thank you for your patience in reading this draggy piece.

Warmest Regards

Grace Ye

Step Up for MS

Greetings fellow interns!

About two weeks back, i was involved with an event which left my heart tingling

My current PR placement with the events department at the Multiple Sclerosis Society of WA, a state-based non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has been quite an eye opening experience in my opinion.

The event 'Step Up for MS' under took months of preparation prior even though it was an annual event. Individuals from all walks of life and age participated by stepping up to the challenge in a vertical climb towards the top 53 flights of stairs at Central Park. The tallest building in the CBD of Perth.  

What started out as a gloomy raining, very early Sunday morning then was hyped to the beat with some eye catching steppers. This might sound cliche. Its just another charity event again. 


How to spice up an annual charity event where the challenge and venue is the same. Stand out from the rest of the charity events, their causes and still be media worthy? That was what i was thinking when i just started my placement with them. Answer, same event plus 'not your everyday' participants.

Teams of fire fighters from all over Western Australia came suited with clothing and equipment up to 30 kilos caught the eyes of many. AFL Unpire, Darren Wilson of Adelaide flew to Perth that Saturday night for this event right after umpiring the North Melbourne and Gold Coast game and as if the game was tiring enough, he was the quickest to climb at six minutes and four seconds! 

Now i realize all the hard work behind the preparation of an event is no joke, really hard and nothing compared to what we learn the academic way. Thank goodness this placement was made compulsory as part of the component in our syllabus which allowed for a hands on experience.

From identifying stakeholders, target audience, tools for reaching them to logistics arrangements and operation procedures which our previous units had prepared us for our past group or individual assignments within a hypothetical situation. I understand better now why we had to do what we did as i piece them together.

Back to the tingle.

This guy left me in thoughts reflecting upon myself and feeling ashamed of all the times i conveniently push everything till tomorrow or another day to get it done like this blog, assignments, or other task and responsibilities. Shame on me!

Double amputee, Dwayne Fernandes was one of the participants who came and completed the climb to the top! We might have seen or heard similar amazing stories like this before but for me to see it in real life. I was speechless. He is indeed a great inspiration. 

While i complain and whine on how down life is torn by assignments, this guy beats the odds and challenges faced against him in life and still manages to fund raise for others affected by MS at this event. 

My take and lesson learnt from this. 

While i was tasked the responsibility of the donations and cloaking area, even though we had prepared a system of function prior the event to ensure as smooth as possible that things would proceed well, there were still lots to improve on. True that being over prepared is always better but even more importantly to still pay attention on how it could be better improved even though the experience ends that day.

And of course, the ultimate lesson. A slap on my head for the times i think life is tough as compared to what Dwayne does.


Warmest Regards
Grace Ye