Connection Confusions

One of the things that I get most nervous about is LinkedIn. I'm still fairly new to the game, and am discovering that every little move you make seems to be sent out in an email to all of my connections. Something that I think is a bit excessive. Sorry everyone, that you were notified because I decided to change my title from 'Sales' to 'Sales Assistant', and now you have all been notified that I have "started working at Kitchen Warehouse" 2 years ago. See the ways that LinkedIn has been creepy here.

I'm working on building my contacts at the moment, and I do get nervous and question who to add. Yes, I'll add my current and past bosses, but what about that one girl I worked on a project with that one time a while ago? Do I add her? Or make peace with the fact that at this stage in my life, my connections will be limited to maybe 30. 

All The Cons

But gladly, not in a bad way. I am participating in Globcom, where I will be working with an international team on a PR plan for a global client, and presenting this plan in Boston, M.A in May. This opportunity is less of a merit achievement and more of a crazy, random happenstance, as my PR International class participates in the first semester, the time that I am, luckily, taking the class.

The other opportunity in this is that I have the chance to go to New York (cheap on Amtrack), and do some networking, though I don't know when, where or how. I will definitely do my best though, and armed with my new business cards, courtesy of Moira Logic, I will don my best outfits and hopefully charm myself some contacts for my big, planned move in just over a years time.

Its all happening.

The other con comes in the form of Oz Comic-Con, a popular culture convention that will be coming to Perth this weekend. I stumbled across Blue Planet PR's post calling for interns, and I applied. I got the phone call the other day saying I was successful, so I will have this great experience to add to the resume. I am very excited and keep thanking in the fates that have put me here, as well as my own hard work.

It's Buzzcut Season

As I pulled out of the car park, I was reminded of the way I drove in 2 months earlier, listening to music to pump myself up for the first day of my internship. And on Monday, I pulled away for the last time, I felt a mix of emotions. I was sad to leave the amazing people at the Leukaemia Foundation who supported me, and glad that I had accomplished what I did in my time with the organisation. 

Last Friday, on March 14, we had our World's Greatest Shave public shave event at Forrest Place in Perth City, where anyone who is registered can come shave free of charge by one of the hairdressers, or those who aren't registered could pay $20 to shave, or $5 to colour. It was a great day, hosted by 92.9's Heidi, Will and Woody, who went above and beyond their roles of MCs to raise money for the cause, and Will ended up shaving his head, while Woody coloured his hair (temporarily) black. It was also attended by Chloe and Kelly, the WA girls from My Kitchen Rules (MKR), who went around the space with collection tins, and coloured their hair.

We had many people shave, sharing their inspiring stories, telling us why they want to do it. Some just saw what we were doing, paid $20 and shaved their heads purely because they thought it was a good cause. 

I was in charge of taking photos and videos of the event, as well as helping to set up and pack down. Back at the office at the end of the day, I kept checking 92.9's, MKR's, and Chloe & Kelly's official Facebook pages for posts about the shave in a form of social media monitoring. I was pleased when photos were shared, and considered the day a success. 

After checking the social media sites, and blogs, for 92.9, I started to think about the importance of social media, especially for a not-for-profit organisation and fundraising campaign. Considering 92.9 has 87,000+ Facebook likes, you'd think that the post would be seen by a large number of people. But in further investigation, they post several times a day, so it is easy for a post to get lost. However, I was pleased with the impressions that the photo got, and I think it gave good coverage for World's Greatest Shave.

I believe that social media sites are extremely important for most organisations, especially fundraising, as it raises awareness and helps to spread the message. 

After the World's Greatest Shave PR has been done and dusted (at least my part), I loaded blood cancer education and support session events onto the Leukaemia Foundation website, continued media monitoring and updating the print media coverage spreadsheet, and edited the videos I made for the public shave into a two minute summary.

Participating in a large campaign has been a great experience. I am confident in my new skills and I feel that I have made the right decision in pursuing a career in Public Relations. I have some great memories now and am satisfied with what I have learnt in my internship.  

All The Small Things

Before the World's Greatest Shave officially began on March 13, there was a lot of work to be done to prepare for the public shave on Friday 14 to go smoothly. In this, I had to make sure that shavers in the office were working, and had all the measures. I also went through all the banners to make sure that they were labelled, and worked correctly. One morning, World's Greatest Shave had a segment on Sunrise, but we were unsure of the time, so I watched and waited for it to come on, then let people around the office know so they could come and watch.

Those these jobs don't sound glamorous, they are necessary to the smooth running of events. If someone grabs the wrong banner and don't have time to go back and get the right one, they won't have anything to put in the background for the media. I know that my contribution helps towards the success of a campaign and event. 

With the Friday public shave on March 14 in the city, I got to draft the photography brief for the day, specifying who to focus their photographs on and what kind of images were needed. The day will be hosted by Heidi, Will and Woody from 92.9, so they need to appear in the photos. I prepared media releases for one week until Shave and one day until Shave, and gather the MC packs for the 92.9 hosts, with an event run sheet and speaking notes.

I have had more media releases published, including one that made it onto the front page of the Canning Times! I was very happy.

Everything Happens for a Reason

I believe in the phrase "everything happens for a reason" now more than ever. Late last year I went for an interview for an internship, which was a great opportunity in Perth. In the interview, I was told that they were only going to be taking an intern for the second semester, when previously they had one for each semester. I was due to graduate in September, so to be offered the opportunity, I would need to rearrange my time left at uni. This would mean that:

1. I would have to extend my time at uni to another full year, when I was already itching to finish.

2. It would heavily affect my plans for the next couple of years

3. I would have to leave pretty shortly after for America for my visa to work, and I wouldn't get the full year in the USA that I wanted.

The internship has to go to a university student due for insurance to cover it. After my interview, my interviewer told me to have a think about what I wanted to do and get back to her as soon as possible. Luckily for me, I boarded an 11 hour flight to Cape Town to visit my brother, and due to my inability to sleep on planes, I had a lot of time to think about it. I decided that it was worth the chance, and so I emailed my interviewer, telling her I was willing to commit, and basically change my five year plan, to be considered.

Unfortunately, I did not get the internship. Well, at the time it was unfortunate. Since then, I have taken an internship, as you know, with the Leukaemia Foundation, and I started that in January. So instead of extending my time at uni, I could finish my internship in March and have four months to work on my big capstone report, and focus on my other two units left, Business Capstone and PR International. I love my internship, every minute of every day I have been challenged, and had the chance to show off my skills, and learn, and work in a friendly, supportive environment.

To further add to the opportunities that have arisen due because I didn't get this first internship, I now have the chance to go to Boston, M.A to pitch to an international client for Globcom as part of my PR International unit, a chance I wouldn't have been able to take if I were to be offered the internship. 

I believe now that everything does happen for a reason, and that I am luckier because I didn't get offered the opportunity. Yes, it would have been good, and obviously I was willing to change my life to have the chance, but since then I have been fortunate in the opportunities I have been offered.

I may now stay in the USA for a couple of months after Globcom, and look for a summer internship before I make the commitment to move.

You can never truly guess where life will take you.

Reverent, Like and Other Words

Reverent. The word I love the most. The aim to inspire reverence one day is a common goal. I love words, which is convenient, since I spend a lot of my day writing. For university assignments, for my internship, or my job at Hospitality Inns, or right now, in my blog.

Which brings me to my strangest enjoyment. Style guides. The set of standards and general rules for writing documents for publications, or more commonly, for media offices. Buzzfeed released their own style guide, something I personally have read 3 times, with the more recent, up-to-date use of words, including the much debated "selfie", which I guess is less of a debate considering it has been published in the 2013 dictionary (yet still sits underlined in red as I type this now. Clearly Google didn't receive the memo to update its blogger.) It also has way to correctly capitalise the Apple Store, the hyphenation of live-tweet, and the distinction between takeout (n.), take out (v.), and takeaway (n.). And if you noticed, I am for the serial comma. One thing in my family that is commonly questioned is the use of the word "like", something that my sister and I say too much after both spending some time going to high school in the USA. A word my father will correct wherever possible, telling me to "repeat that without the word 'like'." Fair, I think. However, it was interesting to see this including in the Buzzfeed style guide, and we were given a few different ways to write it. Not that I would ever, and I stress, ever, use this in my professional career without it being in a direct quote.

Freo Dockers, O-Day, and Cupcakes

As of February 6, 2014, my first media release has been picked up. The article ran in the Eastern Reporter on Tuesday February 18, page 7. It is a fantastic feeling, seeing a media release through the entire process, from finding a newsworthy story, interviewing the subject, drafting the release, sending it off, being informed it has been picked up, and seeing it in print. I have a copy that I will be laminating and adding to my portfolio. I have also had 3 more picked up since, so I am eagerly waiting to see if they will be published. 

My time at the Leukaemia Foundation is going very well. I am picking up valuable skills and experience, and enjoying every moment.

A couple of weeks ago, a group from the LF office, myself included, drove to Pinjarra to the AFL Auskick Super Clinic, an event for school kids to participate in drills with AFL players. We were there for the World's Greatest Shave as 4 of the Fremantle Dockers were shaving their heads. Those players were Michael Johnson, Zac Dawson, Jack Hannath and Michael Walters. There was a 5 year old boy who has been diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia who came and sat next to the players while the shave happened. The media were conducting interviews, and it was good exposure for World's Greatest Shave. I filmed the shave, thankfully able to work out the video camera and tripod thanks to my media classes in high school. It was an interesting day and great to be part of the event.

I have also attended ECU Joondalup and Mount Lawley Orientation days to promote the World's Greatest Shave. We have had a stall and offered cupcakes for a gold coin donation. The focus of these was to increase exposure and gain interested in the shave event.

I have drafted more media releases and conducted phone interviews. My media releases are improving. When I started, I followed the template we had been taught in uni: (name), (age), has _______ to _______. The more I write though, the better and more interesting they are becoming. I am definitely gaining more confidence in my writing and learning new skills.

I am sadly now more than half way through, but I am looking forward to the big Shave events coming up in March.