The End.
20-day placement is finally ended. I would like to say thank you to people who I met during my internship, especially Aaron because he let me try something I’ve never done before, he has faith on me, he taught me so much things that I’ve never learnt before.
I never thought that I have an opportunity to work with Aaron, I never thought that I have a chance to work in Australia, experienced different things in a different environment, met different people even though we have different culture and background. And, I never thought that I make it.
I remembered how we spent time in a room to brainstorm new concepts and ideas. I remembered how we spent all our energy just wanted to finish the shooting before the sun goes down. I remembered how I spent my days and nights just for those endless research.
These are my favourite moments during my 20-day placement. But sadly, it comes to an end.
During my 20-day placement, I experienced to organize and manage an event, I understand how powerful social media is and how important to do research in order to target the right audiences. After my placement, I realised that social media is one of the essential promoting tools but is not the only tool that can be utilize. There are so much more than just using social media.
Lastly, not forget to shoot out for Aperture Galleries group’s upcoming event called Halloween Art Exhibition- Spirits Ghosts Guardians on this Friday from 6pm to 9pm.
Even though my internship has ended last week but for me, it’s just a new start of my life. Good luck to all PR students and Congratulations if this is your last semester of your degree. I’ll see you all on graduation ceremony.
Small issue does matter
Perhaps, a small issue might not have much effects on a particular thing or an organisation, but what if it becomes a crisis?
Few weeks left until the due date of our final report and I realized that my internship is about to end next week. Still couldn’t believe that I’ve done so many things and all are about events, public relations, and photography. Well, I can’t wait to tell you my little experiences and how I overcome with my “secret weapon”.
“Small issue does matter”
Yes, it does. I believe that all of you know what the differences between issue and crisis and understand that how issues become a crisis. It always more cost-effective and efficient to deal with issues earlier, rather than later. As I’m currently working on an event, so basically there are some foreseeable and unforeseeable issues that have happened during the event. Even though I thought a small issue isn’t a big deal but it could affect some parts of the show.
What’s my “secret weapon”?
Sometimes, I felt bothered to have a checklist or run sheet before starting an event but a good plan takes time. It is necessary to have a good preparation before running an event/a project. I’m so glad to have event checklist and event run sheet as my “secret weapon” to support me all the time to deal with several of issues happened during the event. So, I have my checklist as to make sure everything was on schedule and my run sheet to list out every possible issue that might happen during the show.
It is essential to have your checklist and run sheets so that you won’t miss anything! 😉
Till next time,
Vanessa Lee, xoxo
I wasn’t alone
Well, we all know that how important to have a plan before starting an event or a project and we all know that things sometimes don’t go with we expected.
“Where should I start?” “How should I start?” “What should I do?” These are the questions that always come in my mind. Perhaps, you might face the same situation like I do.
Let me tell you my story.
Working with Aaron (my boss) isn’t that hard than I thought, in fact, I learnt so much things that I couldn’t find in the textbook. But sometimes, I just felt lonely/alone because it’s just me who working with Aaron. I don’t have a team, friends or colleagues because all the things are done by myself.
That day, Aaron told me that I will be the one who in charge in one of the upcoming event and I was so excited yet helpless because I’m in charge in a role that I’ve never done it before. Then, my mind came up with these questions (“Where should I start?” “How should I start?” “What should I do?”).
My tasks:
- Date/Venue/Time/ The name of the event
- The number of people (Designers/ Artists/ Bloggers)
- Sponsorship (Alcohol/ food/ dessert)
- Social media (Facebook/Instagram/ Snapchat/ Twitter)
- Market Research
- Market Strategy
- Media Release/Event plan and checklist/Event run sheet
I wasn’t sure whether or not I can handle all these, I wasn’t sure where I can find all the artists, sponsorship and etc. Till the first meeting, I saw all other members sitting in the meeting room and then I realized that I wasn’t alone. During the meeting, we allocated all the tasks and came up some ideas and market strategies for the upcoming event. The meeting went well because we worked as a team.
6 tips for overcoming all these:
- ASK- Do not hesitate to ask. There is nothing wrong to ask question. We are an intern and we suppose to learn and ask if you aren’t sure.
- SPEAK- Don’t be afraid to speak out your opinions. We speak, we talk, we discuss so that we can work together.
- Be PREPARE- Work things together, don’t be a last minute person.
- Be MOTIVATED- Things sometimes are hard, but you should tell yourself “Yes, I can do it!”
- Be OPTIMISTIC- Be positive. Even though today is a bad day, but isn’t determined that tomorrow is the same day as today.
- ADVENTUROUS- Dare to take challenges.
So these are the tips that I would like to share. I know there might be more than these, but I hope these help you through lots of challenges. Good Luck!
Aperture Gallery: Check out our page and see what we will come up for this month.
Until next time,
Vanessa Lee, xoxo!
Behind the scene
The beginning
“What is the biggest challenge to you?” Well, it seems like a simple question but I couldn’t have a certain answer because my life is full of surprises and challenges. At the beginning, I thought that studies were the biggest challenge but it is not. And, I thought working in Australia was hard but it is not anymore after I took my first step. There is no longer a challenge if I’m willing to try. Because I strived to try, learn, and work on it, I got my very first internship in Australia. So, here’s my very first job of working with Aaron McPolin in a photography company.
Behind the scene – 28/08/2017- 22/09/2017
It has been a month (I realised) since that day I remembered that I was still struggling in looking for an internship. Still, couldn’t believe that time flies by in the blink of an eye and there are so much things I would like to share about. Working isn’t same with studying, we couldn’t find what we have learnt from working in a textbook because knowledge that we learnt is to help us understand what we should do.
In the past few weeks, I had been working in a mental health campaign where I had to document “behind the scene” of the whole process of the photo-shoot. I had spent more than 7 hours at the studio and doing some endless research for the upcoming event. It was tiring but yet I got so many new experiences that I’ve never had before.
“Social media is EVERYTHING!” I couldn’t agree with this statement more. Even though social media is the fastest and easiest tool to engage with people but it should be appropriately implemented in order to correctly convey key messages to the target audiences. Different platforms performed different results and qualities. Hashtag (#) is not only the tool that can be used but there are other than hashtag that we might’ve not recognised.
*Behind the scene, documented during the photo-shoot.
To be continued…
Bear in mind, challenges will not be the biggest fear of yours, but it can be a motivation for you to step forward. In the first day of my work, I knew that I might have faced several unexpected challenges but what I have learnt in “textbook” will lead me to the rest of my internship journey.
Until next time,
Vanessa Lee, xoxo!