The Struggle for Facebook Content
Throughout my entire internship, I found that I really did struggle with one certain task. And that was to create social media content for the WA Women’s Hall of Fame Facebook page. This group recognises and celebrates the achievements of women in WA in the past, present and future (WA Women’s Hall of Fame, 2018). These women called inductees where their names are then presented on the Hall of Fame. As this group aims to promote women’s human rights, political participation and economic security, where they dedicate themselves to advance women’s rights to achieve gender equality (WA Women’s Hall of Fame, 2018).
When it comes to the creation of Facebook posts, I was given a list of all the inductees and women’s groups that have existed. This gave me a total of 182 inductees to base my research on. I mean look at that list…
I felt like it was a struggle to look up each person to see if there was any recent news about them… I mean, I could also look for articles or news posts relating to women’s rights or politics, but it was not my strong suit. For the first few days, I was unable to find anything as I wanted the article or news to be a week old. Though the more I struggled, I asked my supervisor how recent she wanted to the content to be (I should have asked in the first place) … And she told me it can range from 3-4 weeks! *face palm*
This gave me so much more options as finding an article that was 3 weeks old was a piece of cake! Although, by the time I started to get into the flow of researching and finding content for the Facebook page, I was already being assigned a different task…
** Always ask questions! No matter how silly you feel (because I did feel silly asking)
References
WA Women’s Hall of Fame. 2018. “Home.” WA Women’s Hall of Fame.
http://wawomenshalloffame.com.au/
When Catering Takes A Down Turn
Like me, I’m sure we all love a good feed wherever we are. Whether it’s at a family gathering or at a friend’s birthday party. In my case, it’s at the Subiaco Business Conference! Of course, catering is one of the most important elements when it comes to event management. I mean what can I say… the food was glorious and I’m sure everyone thought so too!
When it comes to registering for an event, there’s often always a special dietary requirement form for an individual to fill out. If a guest does have any special diets, this information would be passed onto the caterer in advance. I mean, you’d assume that this form will avoid any issues with any special diets, but that wasn’t the case for me…
In the middle of morning tea, a woman approached me asking if there was a vegan option separately for her as she had requested it when registering. I wasn’t 100% sure so I went to ask my supervisor. “There’s a wide range of foods to choose from; there’s fruit and a salad” she said, so that’s exactly what I told the lady. But the thing was, she was very persistent in wanting to know if there was a VEGAN option, so I went to ask my supervisor again. This time my supervisor came to talk to the attendee and found out she had only registered three days prior to the event… It was a bit of a sticky situation, but my supervisor told her we would contact the caterer as soon as possible. But of course, that doesn’t work out either.
One hour before lunch starts and the caterer does not pick up the phone whatsoever. I go down to the local café downstairs and they don’t offer any vegan options either! It was quite stressful as we had to figure out what this lady was going to eat for lunch… In the end, my supervisor gave me her card and said to get something from the café “Yelo” that was down the street. And off I went! Special delivery – 1 vegan wrap has arrived!
Moral of the story… be quick on your feet and hopefully order some vegan options for the next event… (just in case)
Third Time’s A Charm!
When you’re lucky on your third try.
I’m sure that at one point or another, you have underestimated yourself or you weren’t 100% in your work. Well of course, that was me on my first day at my internship. I knew that writing was a huge part of public relations and I knew it would be a part of my career no matter what industry I decide to go into. Nonetheless, I was not fully confident in my writing skills and that was one of the main things I wanted to improve on. Before my internship ended, I knew this would be something I wanted to achieve; I wanted to not doubt myself or the work I produced.
On my first day, my supervisor had asked me — “what do you want to be able to improve on?” I answered – “I want to improve on my writing skills.” And so, my first task was to write a media release on the event the company was currently organising; a media release for the 2018 Waste & Recycle Conference. At first, I thought – “DANG IT!” I’m a third year PR student and the thought of writing a media release still daunted me… My supervisor had also sent me a media release template for me to use as a guide, but I felt as if it was useless. It also didn’t help when she said that the way she formats media releases is completely different to how I had learnt it at university.
For a minute or two, I sat there with a blank mind… I was unsure where to start as I knew nothing about the conference. So, the first thing I did was research into the conference; where it was, what it’s about, what key topics are being discussed… After that, I proceeded to draft up my first media release. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure how long I was expected to finish writing it up; I wasn’t sure if I was working too slow or not. After about 2 hours later, I emailed the draft to my supervisor for some feedback. What I received back was that it was too “salesy”, that I needed to put any information about the event at the very end. So, I tried again.
Maybe another 2 or 3 hours later, I sent her my second draft and it felt so nerve wracking. I just kept thinking — “is it good enough?” “did I write it correctly?” “did I use the right format?” All these worrisome thoughts crossed my mind and it just made me feel less confident. I was basically sitting at my desk like this…
The feedback I received for the second draft was that it was still too “salesy” and that I needed to focus more on a particular topic. She also said — “media releases usually take me half a day or more to do.” So, what I learnt was that I needed to take my time in this, so I could really have a clear idea about what I was writing.
For my third attempt, I took my time and I made sure to keep in mind all the feedback I was given. Feeling a little more hopeful, I sent in my third draft and all my supervisor said was, “much better.” There were no other critiques and with such a small task, it made such a big impact on my confidence. It also taught me that you’re not always going to get the job done on your first try. You always have to keep trying and not feel undermined by feedback.
Instead, embrace it and use the feedback you’re given to be better!
Was The Events Industry Truly For Me??
When I knew I was about to start my internship at an events management company, I was really excited to have a feel of what the industry would be like in the real world. Being at university for three years has set up a certain image in my head of what the work life might be like. I had pictured myself out of the office often and up on my feet as I was very used to it due to working in retail. I loved being in a fast-paced environment as it kept me up and going throughout the day. The thing was, after working at my placement for the past two months… I’m not entirely sure if working in events is truly for me.
When I first started my internship, I was ready with an open mind to experience what this opportunity could give me. I’ve always had an interest in events management, so I thought I was bound to like it. After researching into the company, I saw they had organised galas and charity dinners in the past; and that really excited me. The thought of being able to attend one of these events would have been amazing! It’s cheesy but we’ve all seen those big charity dinners in movies; beautiful grand ballroom… everyone dressed up… Let’s just say, my expectations MIGHT HAVE been set a little too high…
Throughout the first few weeks of my internship, I was assigned a task every morning. Usually it was a writing task, for example – “Write an article based on this” or “write a blog post.” At first, I was really into the idea of writing every day as I really wanted to build my confidence. Although, after a few weeks of doing the same task it can feel a little repetitive. Besides having my internship cooped up in an office, every now and then I was actually able to assist in the events the company was organising!
At these events, I woke up super early (5.30am is really early for me) as it was a 7am start. That was one of the many challenges for me in fact… what can I say? I’m not a morning person! My actual mood when I have to wake up early… 😓
After arriving, a big team of us would always help out with setting up and helping with registration. That mainly involved greeting guests and searching for their name card. Depending on the event, the number of guests could range from 50 all the way to 1000! So luckily, they were alphabetised or registration would have been an absolute nightmare… That’s the usual morning of an event but after the conference started, there wasn’t much else to do. I may have directed guests to different rooms or moved a pot plant or two, but there’s a lot of standing around after registration is done.
It just makes me wonder if there’s more standing action in the events industry. I know I was just filling the role of an intern and of course the events management company does all the real action, but I wonder – “can I really picture myself sitting in an office from 9-5 planning events?” Maybe… possibly not?… but I’m open to find out what’s right for me!