Expectations vs Reality

This week marks my half way point for my internship! I can’t believe how quickly it has gone. The last 5 weeks have been great however, they weren’t exactly what I was expecting. I think I had the expectation that I would be thrown into a project, something that I could work on from start to finish. This hasn’t been the case for me and it has become clear that this isn’t really the reality of working as a PR Practitioner.

At Telethon, although initially one person might be given a project to manage, each member of the comms team all play a role in the development of that project; whether it be an event, a campaign, internal communications or a new program the organisation is developing. In the last 10 days I have been exposed to a vast array of tasks and although I might not have many work samples to show for my internship yet, I have learnt a broad range of things that I couldn’t have learnt in the classroom.  I have listed some of my learnings below:


Working on the development of a new school program that Telethon is launching has taught me to never underestimate the power of feedback. Hand written feedback from a class of year 3 students that participated in one of the trial programs was sent through to Telethon. It is this feedback that has actually helped us to adapt some of the activities for the program and has also assisted us with the development of other activities. Furthermore, this feedback also helped my supervisor to get approval to proceed with a pilot program beginning next year. I have included some of the feedback below as it was too cute not to share.

This just shows that feedback comes in all shapes and sizes and we as PR practitioners need to consider all age groups when seeking feedback.


Sitting in on Christmas party planning meetings during the weeks leading up to Telethon’s Christmas Party has taught me to always plan for the worst case scenario, particularly in terms of events however, this is also relevant for all other PR activities. I found a great blog post about event planning challenges where (Silva 2019) states that when acting as event planners we should expect the best, but plan for the worst.

It might not seem like a hard task, planning a Christmas party, but for Telethon Kids with 200+ staff attending the event, a range of factors needed to be considered. I had never thought in the past that things that appear so simple such as staff having to cross the road, would need to be factored into organising an event. There are also things beyond the control of the organisation that need to be considered, such as the weather. Unfortunately for Telethon, the weather was forecasted to be 42 degrees on the event day and therefore steps had to be taken to mitigate any issues that could arise from this. The location of some of the activities (such as a mechanical surfboard) had to be moved to under highly shaded areas, an extra bus had to be scheduled to avoid people walking to the venue and an email was issued warning all staff to be sun smart on the day of the event.

Even worst case scenarios such as eating too much watermelon in the watermelon eating competition needed to be considered by the comms team to ensure no one got sick or was left feeling uncomfortable (it was my idea to schedule this activity towards the end of the day as I am sure no one would want to be running around doing tug of war and relays with a belly full of watermelon)! These are just some of the things that were discussed in the meetings to ensure the event went as smoothly as possible. It is now no surprise to me that event planners wake up at 2am in the morning worried they have forgotten something in the lead up to an event!


Watching photoshoots and filming has taught me that as a PR practitioner you need to have the ability to think on your feet. This is also mentioned in the article 11 Skills you Need for a Career in Public Relations and Media (International Career Institute, 2018) with strategic thinking being one of the key skills required as a PR practitioner.

I have witnessed a few photo shoots now, one in particular was capturing a book reading that one of the Telethon researchers was conducting at the Perth Children’s Hospital. The comms team were sent to capture photos to utilise on social media, however not everything went to plan, and we were required to think on our feet. Firstly, not all parents gave consent to have their child’s photo taken which meant we had to try to capture photos without these children in the background (this is quite difficult when kids are excited and want to be amongst the action). The second challenge was that not all kids wanted to read the book and were quite pre-occupied with colouring and other toys. In the end, we were only able to get a few of the children engaged with the book reading which is what we captured and utilised on social media.


Lastly, although slightly less academic… interning during the months of December in an office environment has taught me that this is a great time to do an internship. Although it may not be the most productive time of the year, it is highly enjoyable, particularly at Telethon. Telethon has activities such as Bake-Mas. This is where an email is sent out to all staff in the comms team asking staff to sign up to bring something tasty each day during the 2 week lead up to Christmas (not to mention this is also a great internal communications activity). There are also desk decorating competitions, along with students fundraising by selling Christmas treats…The only down side to this is all the chocolate and junk food you end up eating!

I still can’t believe that I am already half way through my internship! I have already learnt so much and am excited to see what else I can learn over the next 10 days. I would love to hear about your internship experiences! Have you had any of the same key learnings as me? If not, what are some of the key things you have learnt at your internship so far?

 References

International Career Institute. 2018. “11 Skills you Need for a Career in Public Relations and Media.” International Career Institute. https://www.ici.net.au/blog/11-skills-you-need-for-a-career-in-public-relations-and-media/

Silva, Katie. 2019. “Corporate Event Planning Challenges: Tips from 27 Event Planning Experts on How to Avoid Headaches When Planning Corporate Events.” Wonolo (blog), July 10, 2019. https://www.wonolo.com/blog/corporate-event-planning-challenges/