Southbound surveys, SLAM and secret stuff- Sunset Events

Hi everyone,

It's the first day back at uni for most people today and soon it will be the first day of some students internships which is exciting!

I have been doing a variety of tasks at Sunset Events lately, as well as continuing media monitoring and organising publicity documents for each event. Janelle, the communications manager, printed out the survey results from Southbound 2011 and this year, as well as the results from Moshtix. There was a quite a bit of information to sort through! My task was to work out the main changes from Southbound 2011 and 2012. The paperwork given to me showed where people bought tickets from, how people heard about the festival, how much people would spend at the festival, how many people camped, what age groups attended, the backgrounds of people and the postcodes where punters came from.

It was really interesting pouring over all this information because it showed the target demographic of the festival and gave a great overall picture of the festival. I compiled a document and calculated the percentages and numbers that changed between the two years of the festival. There were some notable differences. Surveys are actually so useful because I think that would be a way to improve them and cater to the needs of the target audience. It also gives a good indicator of who attends so that key messages and strategies can be tailored to that specific audience when promoting Southbound!

I realised there can be one downfall to surveys and that is inconsistency. The 2011 surveys were conducted on a certain number of people, and the 2012 survey was conducted with half the number of the 2011 survey, so it is hard to say as larger audience and variety of festival goers were approached. The other problem was that the surveys were conducted differently in each year so it made it impossible to compare some data when it was done completely different. Surveys need to be uniform each year so that you can get a broad picture of the changes and make accurate assumptions.

I have also been looking up flights for a potential competition for West Coast Blues n Roots, a festival coming up on the 1st of April. Singapore also has a roots festival (as they also had a Laneway too!) so my communication manager is brainstorming potential competitions and so I've been doing research to see if it is feasible. I know there may be a few students from/in Singapore so if you're a blues and roots fan you can get more info at www.rockandroots.com.sg/!

I've been doing a fair bit of research for a confidential matter which I'm sure will become public sometime in the near future, but that has been interesting and I've really enjoyed doing it. I find research so enriching because you learn so much! Other than that, I've also been trying to help with SLAM- Save Live Australian Music. It is a cause pretty close to the hearts of all live music lovers to help save live music because it is quite a dying thing. Janelle was looking for bands to get on board and support the national cause but found it quite difficult. I've just been making a document of the WA publicity of SLAM for Janelle to report to the national counterpart.

As usual, there is so much more to say but I will have to save that for next time! Can't wait to hear more about everyone's internships, hope they are all going great!

Until next time,
Lisa

Problem Resolved - (Famous Last Words?)

Ok so after all the negativity and stressing out that’s been done in the past few weeks I thought I would request a meeting with my supervisors and tell them how concerned I am about the fact that a) we only have four weeks left to organise a major event for 100 people, b) we need to get everything sponsored, but nobody is willing to sponsor, and c) nobody seems willing to offer up their venue free of charge for an entire evening during peak wedding season.

I addressed these concerns with my supervisors and suggested that instead of worrying about all the additional sponsorship that we would need to hold an event, we should hold an online auction instead, meaning that we would only need to worry about getting product sponsorship from businesses. My supervisors seemed happy enough with this idea and it was agreed upon that now we would be running an online auction instead of a physical one. I couldn’t be more relieved.

At this point, which is about the half-way point, I have some great sponsors on board but need to secure many, many more. So far, I have received donations or commitments to donate from Hoyts, Westfield, Axis Capital, Beds Plus, Sharma Heylen-Silvia (Artist), Sienas of Leederville and Little Creatures. I cannot tell you how thrilled it makes me when I receive a positive response from a prospective sponsor. Who knew that charity work was so damn difficult!?

One of the things I need to remind myself about asking for sponsorship is that I’m not asking anyone to do me a personal favour. I keep feeling like I’m asking so much of people and that they are really doing me a huge favour by sponsoring my auction. I am just so overwhelmed that I get one yes out of every one hundred businesses contacted that I forget that I’m not actually doing it for myself, I’m doing it for the tens of thousands of cancer sufferers and their families across Australia. I think that most Perth businesses forget that also!

If you guys have any tips for securing more sponsorship, I’m open to suggestions!

Until next time,

-Carmen.

Work experience finished. New job started!

Hi everyone,

So I officially finished my work experience last week but
have stayed on here working full time until uni goes back! I wrote a few weeks
ago about the Perth Fashion Festival that was due to take place!
This event was a huge success for Atlas as well as he PFF! I
was on my feet from 8am until midnight organising models, media, caterers ad
presenters but it was so worth it! ­The PFF girls were great to work with and
the whole night went smoothly.

Below is a link to some more info about the night:
http://www.perthfashionfestival.com.au/_blog/perthfashionfestival/post/THE_UNVEILLING_OF_THE_WA_FASHION_AWARDS_2011_MEDALLION/
A few things I learnt from the event were:
·
Time creeps up on you-when you think everything
is going smoothly and you completely organised, something will happen to throw
you off course! ( I had a few mad rushes to forget things that were forgotten!)
·
Don’t put high heels on until you absolutely
have to (5 minutes before guests arrive.)
·
Learn to multi task and be able to make small
talk whilst thinking of the millions of things you still have to do!
·
Be prepared for the carefully laid out plan to
change!

Above is a photo of he medallion all
West Australian Fashion Award winners will receive.

Since the event we have built on the relationship we have
with STM and were able to have a full page advertisement in last week’s issue.
For this ad I was asked to create the text in such a way that it aligns with
the new direction for the company. This meant referring back to the key messages
that had been discussed in previous meetings and written about in the Media
Strategy I created. In the end with the input of my managers I was able to
create the first of Atlas’ newly focussed media portrayals. It was highly
important that this was created in such a way that the intended messages were
portrayed correctly as it would pave the way for future ads and campaigns to
come.
Another one of my roles in the last week has been creating
and managing the Facebook page for the company! This has been such an enjoyable
task and in since Monday the page has received 220 likes! I have plenty of
ideas for the site in terms of aligning it with the desired messages, running
competitions, events ect but I am not entirely sure how best to keep the number
of ‘likes’ on the page growing so that there is a sufficient database to
implement all the ideas! If anyone has any ideas I’d love your help!

This is my fourth and possibly my final blog entry but I hope
everyone’s having a great time and best of luck!

All Worth The Long Wait!

~21st February 2012~


They say "patience pays off"...
I can definitely relate to this quote as far as my internship is concerned. Given that this is my first post, i will start by introducing myself! Let's not make this all formal so here it is: My name is Shynee Chetna Raojee and i am currently following my internship at the Sottise Development Company which forms part of the Maxcity Group. The company deals with Real Estate and Property and land business activities. You might just as well think what can be so interesting about a Public Relations internship in Real Estate and Property but here comes the interesting part!!!

If you are a curious and well-informed PR student, i am sure you must have heard of Grand Baie La Croisette! Well friends, this is the big project i am working on for my PR 393 internship and this i believe is indeed an AWESOME opportunity!! GBLC is the biggest forthcoming large retail centre in the Northern region of Mauritius and will be the unique development boasting of having shopping, leisure, residence and work all under one gigantic complex!

My first day  has been so enriching in terms of learning more about the approach to PR in the company. I was feeling a bit awry as to what i would be able to do on a first day given that i did not know anyone and it was something new i was going to be dabbling with. But i was all wrong!! All the staff gave me the warmest welcome and by mid-day i was already deeply absorbed in the different anticipated activities the PR and Marketing Team along with the Centre Manager had planned for me.

My first task has been to go through a whole lot of database of contacts, tons of classified Business Cards, email addresses of stakeholders, tenants of the Grand Baie La Croisette and to classify and compile them. My second task came up throughout a brainstorming of ideas with the Centre Manager and it concerns the development of a Recruitment Advertisement proposal to be placed in print media:newspapers for job offers at the grand Baie La Croisette. A third task was given to me at the end of the day about reviewing a newsletter content on a french brand called 'Jeudi Après-Midi' and propose a new concept for this kid's clothing line, given that i also have fashion designing skills. The last task of the day was to keep track of online presence of competitors of the Grand Baie La Croisette through social media and web content. Some of these tasks are homeworks that i will be working on tonight!

It was indeed a very long tiring but such an exciting day and  i am looking forward  so eagerly to work with the team tomorrow!

Cheers!

Shynee Chetna C.Raojee

CTI Mauritius

Happy Birthday Textile Industry!!!!

Hello PR students, 

This week was very interesting; I went to attend several meetings with my Communication Manager, and particularly one of them was very instructive.

11.45? We’ve got a meeting with the Mauritius Export Association (MEXA). So here we were in the streets of Port-Louis, zigzagging among the dense traffic and stifling with the midday sun. 

The purpose of this meeting was the 40^th anniversary of Textile in Mauritius which will constitute of several events in October, so a meeting was organized with an Advertising agency (CreaAd) that will cover the events.

Several points were discussed during this meeting, especially that an integrated PR campaign will be implemented to demonstrate that the Textile and Apparel industry in Mauritius has a promising future and that it provides good job opportunities to the youth of Mauritius. 

Unfortunately I would have finished my internship before they begin the campaign, but nevertheless I had the privilege to assist, comment and give my ideas on the subject. It will be a huge event where the Prime Minister will assist, and even if I shall not be there during the campaign, I had the opportunity to see how such a big event is being prepared, with an event plan, keys points to follow and so on. It’s really like what I’ve learned during my 3 years of studies.

It will be very heart breaking to leave this company…

Maxine Desvaux de Marigny

Charles Telfair Institute

Curtin University

Time to fill bigger shoes!

The deadline for the exposition is fast approaching and there is still a lot to do! We came up with another concept focused around polaroid photos. The theme challenges the target audience to see their “picture perfect future.” The brochure will be A5 size and will appear like a photo album. The artwork was completed yesterday and I have sent the brochure and booth designs to London for printing. This has calmed the client’s nerves a lot!

Next on our list are the slot card promotional item and a contact card for the workers to fill in when they visit the booth. The slot cards will have images of WA on one side and the client logo on the other. Teaming with the photo theme, my client has purchased a polaroid camera and will be taking photos of workers who are willing. This will be attached to the contact details fold out card.

It has been my job to make sure the designers are on deadline with their artwork and to make sure that the printer is ready to go. We need to make sure that the printers get everything done in time. I have been lucky to find a very cooperative printer who will meet all of my own and my client demands. I know this can sometimes be very challenging!

Also this week we had a new client approach us who are eager to gain investors. In order to do this they will need a complete rebranding. They are in need of investors to fund a capacity expansion project on order for them to expand their business. The first task we had was to create an investor fact sheet from nothing and have it printed and delivered in two days! This was a difficult task and thankfully it has been extended! However, the designer on the job did a fantastic job and had it ready to go within the day.

I also have to plan for a client dinner for next week. There will be 14 guests and it is being held at Lamonts in Cottesloe. I have to create a pack which includes our company brochure, a notepad, pen, menu/winelist, and Cape Mentelle brochure. The notepad, menu and the table name tags will all need to be designed in the company branding. The menu and name tag will not only have to be branded by our company but also incorporate the Lamonts brand. I am thinking of packaging this in a nice box for the guests to take with them.

I also need to arrange gifts and merchandise for the guests to take with them. A goodie bag for each guest would be nice. I am excited for this project! It is something light and fun after the stressful time the office has been subjected to. I am working closely with the designer to have everything designed and printed before Wednesday.

I have been working a lot with the design team this week and I have found they are very talented and are able to produce great work in such a short time. It has been interesting to witness all the different roles of the company and how everyone fits in together.

It is my final day as an intern… and I am so happy and excited today that I am stepping into bigger shoes! I have been offered a position as a Junior Communications Consultant, which I have accepted. Better yet I have also been told that I have also been offered a secondment with a WA mining company, onsite just 1 hour and 20 minutes away. I will be contracted out through the communications company who I have just signed up with. I am to be the Community Relations Officer for two mine sites in the area. It is a huge job and very scary but I am also very excited.

I am so proud of how my career is going and how well I did as an intern! I still have one semester left at university and I have already accepted my first job; I think that’s pretty exciting!

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post so I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce myself an my placement. My name is Natalie and I'm in my final semester of a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in public relations and marketing. I've recently undertaken a placement at the Asthma Foundation WA, and so far it's been great!

My main role is to provide event support for the 2012 RAC Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma. The hike is the biggest fundraising event for the Foundation and while the event logistics are taken care of by Corporate Sports Australia; there is still plenty that needs to be done here at this end.

My first day comprised of calling all previous participants and encouraging them to register again this year. By the end of the day I was in quite a panic over the task I had been given, worrying that I would not gain the experience I needed to complete the unit. This was only my first day though, and I realised that it was probably not a fair indication of what the next nineteen days would be like.

In the last few days I have been given some more exciting tasks. I was asked to brainstorm ideas that could be included in a public relations strategy for the event. Having been on holidays for the past three months this certainly gave my creative mind a workout! Part of this plan was to have a celebrity fundraiser, with Josh Catalano being secured to participate in the 10km hike.

With a heavy smoke haze over Perth, the Foundation has been enjoying many lucrative PR opportunities. Geof Parry from Channel 7 came into the offices at the beginning of the week to interview an asthma educator as to the effects of the smoke haze on asthma sufferers, and I was lucky enough to observe the whole thing! Channel 9 and 6pr have also sought comments from asthma educators in the last few days. The smoke haze really is a textbook example of the way in which an organisation can use a natural occurence to get their name and key messages into the media.

There are heaps of exciting things lined up for the coming weeks, so I'll be sure to keep you all informed!

Until next time,

Natalie
14280126
Bentley

Hello People,

I hope you guys are enjoying your work placement.. two weeks already spent there... crazy, how time flies so quickly!

My two weeks were awesome, very fruitful and I must say, i have learnt many things from the entire team of PILS. The staff are very helpful, each time, a problem crop up, i seeked help and they helped me out. They are always boosting me up. This week i was assigned to interview the best volunteer of the year 2010 for the Activity Report as i was assigned to work out on the Activity Report of Year 2012. My supervisor supported me. I had to prepare the questions and it was done i french. I must say, i had some problems with the french, but now i can see an amelioration in it.I admit i had a deadline to meet and i was unable to meet my interviewer since of time factor, but finally we got to meet. 

The interview conducted was awesome. It was a teamwork as we all cop-orated for the the Report Activity. In Public Relations field, I must say that teamwork spirit is an important factor for a success. Teamwork helps you to communicate face to face, trying to solve conflicting situations and thus giving better results. Teamwork leads to a better understanding and sharing opinions, thus providing a more productive and effective work.
 
okay guys.. take care..

Speak soon,
Archana...:)

The Downside of Charity Work...

Running a charity auction sounded simple enough, didn’t it? I met with my supervisors today and was very overwhelmed with their expectations of this event. Everything has to be sponsored. This includes food, alcohol, a venue, catering, small prizes and $10, 000 worth of products to be auctioned off on the night. Then I’m told that I have just over a month to make it all happen, and that my supervisors are so busy that they don’t have much time to spare to assist. Yeah, not too much pressure for my first day at all!

After accepting the challenge I set about compiling a database with hundreds of Perth-based businesses and their contact details. I write up an event plan, and set about contacting businesses for sponsorship.

I begin ‘cold calling’ businesses. I seem to get nothing but ‘NO’ in return. Instead I decide to email them my sponsorship requests so that I am able to get a word in before they tell me they are ‘already committed to other charity organisations and won’t be able to take another on board’. Even my emails receive few responses.

I am extremely overwhelmed about this task, especially seeing as I have such a huge responsibility of getting the event off the ground. I’m literally calling fifty businesses a day with no positive responses. I still don’t have a venue, and as we all know, if you don’t have a venue, you don’t have an event. I’m not quite sure if there’s a venue manager in Perth that would be willing to offer up their venue for free for an entire evening during peak wedding season. I just don’t think it’s feasible.

Even if I do secure a venue, I still need to get free catering, alcohol and prizes to auction off on the evening… and that’s just the beginning! While a venue is my main priority, I have continued contacting businesses to tell them about the event, but haven’t had any sponsors jump on board yet.

If you have any brilliant ideas gang, keep me posted.

-Carmen.

PR: Never say Never!

After long awaited weeks, I started my internship a few days ago at Logos Publicity Ltd, a communication agency and one of the leaders within the audiovisual industry in Mauritius. My name is Pearleen Ah Kay Mun, young and ambitious intern en route to becoming a degree holder in a few months.

It is my very first experience as an intern but it is also a baby step in the realm of the working place. For this reason and probably for the fact that it is the start of a new phase in one’s life, this internship has a significant personal meaning.

I wanted to impregnate myself with the feeling of working before writing this post. The first thing that pops in my mind when considering work is that if you are not fully prepared whether it means being up bright and early for work when you had only a few hours of sleep, knowing all the intricacies of the company you will be working for, or handling pressure and meeting your boss’s expectations (which resumes to exceeding them in reality), then you might not be ready for what awaits you.
Disregarding the little troubles of having to become a morning person, I am fully enjoying this opportunity of putting into practice what I have learnt but also discovering the hardships of real life and discerning the rare opportunities at succeeding in an industry that is often competitive.

Since I am also majoring in web media; I was automatically assigned the task of handling the company’s online presence. I started my internship by analyzing and submitting audits of Logos’s web presence leading to the suggestion of further ideas through an online consolidation program. Though I am grateful for an open minded supervisor who admits the increasing importance of social media and the cyberspace in the industry of PR and publicity, I could not stop myself from noticing a certain restraint.

Which is normal after all, people tend to shy away from anything new and all they require is proof. Besides, anything that shines is not necessarily profitable. Nonetheless, social media has proven effective and world changing especially with regards to PR. There is no doubt that PR has evolved and became vital (as if it never was!) with the creation of web 2.0.

Unfortunately in Mauritius, probably because we are a small island, social media and PR are not as developed and important with regards to international standards. We consider Facebook, a social platform which gathers masses of people, merely as a gossip column (which might be half true) when it is a tool to build relationships with the publics, we choose to write press releases when there are online resources that could make a journalist hang on to your news with more interest than dull written press releases and we think that we can continue with our old habits while generating as much revenue as before when the whole world is changing and adapting to the evolution of technology under a rough economy where money is sparse.

What do you think? Are social media that essential for our economical growth? Even more, can we actually practice PR without web 2.0?

My task is not yet done at Logos as there are many changes to do concerning their virtual imprint and adding a professional touch to their online presence which for now, exists but does not flourish. I would like to bring a public relations perspective to the use of social media within the company as this could help them not only gain a certain exposure that they might lack but also refresh their image into a youthful brand.

Next week my blog post will include a detailed explanation of what I have been working on, focusing on the company’s online presence as well as other small tasks I had to do.

In the meantime, good luck!
Pearleen

Dirt and dust.... The intern part Three

Finally I get the opportunity to venture out of the office, it is kind of reviviscence to leave the daily media monitoring task, I was able to accompany the PR executive during a “Press Tour” on construction sites of one of Blast’s Clients. The agency planned this outing to reap maximum media coverage, so various Journalists from various media were invited to tour the premises of the client. So here we were, waiting for the journalists at the rendezvous point. All but one were already there, One important Journalist was late, the PR executive decided to wait for 10 more minutes? But was this the appropriate move? The others were penalised, waiting in the heat, but on the other hand, the latecomer was from a very popular newspaper therefore a potential consequent coverage. How do you guys would have handled this issue?

Minutes later we were onsite, walking in the dust and mud, touring the construction site of a future shopping mall, the sun heat was overwhelming and it was annoying to wear smart clothes in this situation. We were welcomed by the project managers who gave a brief presentation of the project and guided us through the growing buildings. The journalists kept asking questions and seemed to be very interested. As a result of the tour, the day after, the client’s project gained noticeable media exposure.

A thriving approach used by Public Relations organisations includes visits by journalists to the property, destination, or a construction site tour. That is one of the best vehicles for gaining feature stories, and a key tool for anyone experienced in media relations. These “press tours”, are sponsored trips that boutique PR agencies organise on behalf of their clients.  Planning the tour might take time but nonetheless, the results can be wonderful.

Cheers and continue to enjoy your placements!

Giovani Adeline

back to the past!!

Hi friends!!!

It’s my last week at CIEL group, and I’m very sad to leave them all.

Last Friday, my communication manager gave me the task of searching for press clippings in a huge box full of newspaper article on breeding farms, macaques, activist groups against the use of animals in medical research, etc. ... articles dating back to 1992. I have archived all, scan and put in chronological order on the computer. It took me a long time, but it was very interesting to see all those old newspapers!!!

I am responsible to monitor the websites, to look at what is going on about the subject in the media. Doing these daily researches is very useful in this context, given that activists have launched a campaign in Mauritius.

This is why I had to do a big press kit, which is intended for the media. It contains explanation on this market. So it’s a big and exciting job!!!!

That’s all for today…

Maxine Desvaux de Marigny

Charles Telfair Institue

A hop in the past…. The intern: Part two

During the last days I was assigned the tedious (at first I thought so) mission to spend hours at the national library immerging myself in newspapers archives to research information about a client.  My task was to reap the maximum articles about the launching of Phoenix beer , a local brand ,  to enable Blast communication to analyse the media coverage at the time and also find proof of the launching date  as the company itself,  Phoenix beverages , as they were not really sure  when they started.

So there I was, scrutinising pages one after another, meticulously looking for any article mentioning the brand. It was really interesting to compare the writing style and the social mindset in the 60’s to now, a huge difference.  It was also an opportunity to observe how media relations were done at that time.

Observation One- Organisations send invites for press conferences and hope journalist write stories about it.

Observation Two- No big deal, for this brand, they just made a press tour and press conference and waited for media coverage and the magic of word of mouth.

Observation Three- Events were discreet and relied heavily on journalists for media coverage.

Observation Four- Now, Media Relations moved from this broadcast model to an engagement model, in a constant two-way communication.

From this assignment, I eventually made a compilation that was sent to the client.

As mentioned in my previous post, media monitoring is an important pillar of Public Relations and in some occasions a hop in the past is useful for modern media and client relations.

Cheers,

 Jean Allen Giovani Adeline, Curtin 

My First Day in the Real World

I’ve recently started a new internship with The Pink Book Club, an organisation established to connect, support and assist women from all walks of life. In particular, the Pink Book Club raises money for various charities that support cancer research. This year The Pink Book Club has set a goal to raise over $10, 000 for the Cancer Council’s Relay for Life, and in order to do this, have set about organising a charity auction.

When I was first told about this internship I jumped at the opportunity and found it a little bit poignant seeing as I lost my grandmother to lung cancer in December last year. This has made me a little bit more determined and inspired than usual, and hell-bent on raising a good amount of money for the Relay for Life.

I was told in my first meeting to brainstorm some ideas on how to raise $10,000 for the Relay for Life. I think an event would be a great idea, where people can buy tickets and have a fancy meal and champagne and some entertainment for the evening? Perhaps a charity auction? Raffle tickets? What do you guys think? Bearing in mind I’ve only got 5 weeks lead time!

-Carmen.