My Growth in Public Relations

Wow! What a quick semester it has been...I'm not sure about the rest of the class or due to the fact that I have been extremely busy over the last 6 months but it has come and gone like a gust of wind. You have that sigh of relief that it is over but then an itch to keep going and be pushed once again. I believe the quote in life that 'You can never be overdressed or overeducated'.

I look back at my first blog entry..I think it was fresh and written through the uneducated eyes of PR. I was clearly unsure of what I really was embarking on and I really didn't know the fundamentals of PR as a profession. This semester I have not only been faced with written and verbal challenges but also been able to use my enthusiasm and determination to successfully complete some tasks with ease. As a group we were given such a great opportunity in running our own campaign, even though at times I had thought 'seriously this is impossible to accomplish?' but we all worked very hard and pushed ourselves beyond our capabilities to raise over $5000 for Read Write Now. And that is just amazing!

My initial thoughts of what PR is has been tipped upside down and swirled around, the hands on experience from this course has enabled me to really know what it feels like to work for a PR agency and complete a successful campaign and event. I feel that my interpersonal and leadership skills have not only helped me but others in the group to get the job done and to do it with a sense of pride in your work and the work of others around you. I really needed to dedicate my time, on and off campus to complete assessments and activities effectively. Time management is a key role within any learning environment, but was made prominent in the field of Public Relations.

One key importance to me has been the momentum and guidance I have gained from the lecturer's - to really go that extra mile. It has enabled me to notice the drive and passion I need to facilitate as I enter the job market in this industry. There hasn't been many moments of complete relaxation or switching off from PR this semester but I'm hoping this hard work is going to pay off and really open up a new world for me.

Taming The Lion's

Last Saturday night’s 7^th home game for the Emirates Western Force resulted in both a much anticipated win against The Lions. The game concluded 17 – 11, and the third win of the season for The Emirates Western Force.

Set up and running of the day and night is all familiar to me now, which takes the edge off a little but I have to remember to always be on the ball, as I am dealing with different people and different events laid out on the run sheet. There are always different promotions and competitions carried out at all home games. This game was particularly enjoyable, as RugbyWA had a competition run through The West Australian newspaper for a school student in Perth to win the junior captain role and for his/her entire class to win tickets to attend the game. To see the smiles, excitement and appreciation on the 11 year old’s faces was incredible.

I was in charge of Remi (Junior Captain) for the game, as I am for every home game. He was enthusiastic and in awe of his surroundings. His job entailed the coin toss, running the game ball out and also running out with the team for kick off. I also took him around the field a few times, sat with him to watch the players warm up and his class mates got to come down onto the field also for the team to run out onto the field. The greatest moment for Remi was, ‘I got to shake David Pocock’s hand.. twice!’, which I overheard him say to his mother after his job was complete. Then they got to enjoy the game while I was packing down inflatable’s and preparing half time activities. 

A dominant performance from the Emirates Western Force brought them out on top but a strong defence from the Lion’s kept the score quite even. At the end of the day it is great to win and that is what sport is all about it, the supporters and everyone involved really needed it, so it was good to see smiles on fan’s faces. I helped organise the players signing after the game, which is always great to be part of after a win as the vibe is blissful and positive. The end bump out of the game took some time throughout the corporate rooms, so it was a late finish but the second last game down..already! How quick the season has gone by. That’s all from me until the final home game for the season on June 30^th.  

Same Sex Marriages

Same sex marriage is an extremely sensitive subject that has manoeuvred back and forth within political discussions and debates. There are for’s and against points that can both be argued and then it merely comes down to the individuals opinion on sexuality, politics, religion, marriage, family and love. These can all be valid points of discussion when accessing the legalisation of same sex marriages. I personally can see both sides of this debate and I certainly don’t have a problem with the way anyone wants to live their life and if that being heterosexual or homosexual...

As of May 10, 2012 – 8 states in the US legalised same sex marriage, Massachusetts to be the first and it is also permissible in 10 other countries including The Netherlands, South Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Portugal.

Looking at Barack Obama’s recent public announcement in favour of same sex marriage nearing pre election, this decision can be debateable even though times are changing and equal rights are evolving in many different social aspects. I cannot see this as a political move as there are many US citizens that are against same sex marriages all together, that already don’t back Obama’s Democratic political party. There are currently conservative groups that follow Obama but oppose same sex marriages, so now where does that leave their view on Obama and his decision to move forward with legalising same sex marriages in The United States? This defined in quote from the Washington (AFP) “He has always had trouble with white, blue collar, socially conservative swing voters and Wednesday’s move will hardly help.’’

But in politics who can you really believe is being sincere and honest in any situation?

I can definitely see this happening closer to election time in Australia as there are certain leaders pushing for it and others against it. We also tend to follow trends from The US politically, as there is a strong relationship between the two countries. Same sex marriage has been a debate in Australia and all over the world, it is only inevitable that the issue is faced again in parliament and during election squabbles between Labour and Liberal parties.

My views on the legalisation of same sex marriage are not entirely clear but can be expressed through two very important key words: ‘marriage’ and ‘union’.

Marriage: the formal union of man and woman, typically as recognised by law, by which they become husband and wife.
Union: the action of joining together or the fact of being joined together, especially in a political context.

I believe the word marriage originates from religion and as they believe the word homosexuality is a sin, looking at the above definition, it is then weakened and the institution of marriage is lost if same sexes are to unite. Same sex marriages could then confuse and develop issues with the legality of marriage and family values tipped upside down. Not that everybody does get married under a religious ceremony but do the history and definition of marriage then need to be reassessed and changed for a minority of people wanting to unite in same sex marriages? Gender roles will also be changed and the subject of pro creating (naturally) is not possible in any way.

There are also reasons why allowing the union between the same sexes is beneficial and positive, such as that you cannot deny anyone of their religious freedom and homosexuality is highly recognised and accepted in society today.  Research has also shown that there are an increased number of adoptions available for same sex couples and it is a form of individual discrimination to not allow gay marriage.

Personally I think there should be such a thing as same sex union between two people recognised by law and the word marriage be left out as marriage is defined by the union of a man and woman initiated from religion and legalised this way thousands of years ago. I could be named a fence sitter on this situation and will need to do further research on the positive and negative reasons towards same sex marriages but it doesn’t affect me personally for the same sexes to be together and make it accepted legally and to the world.  But I do believe that the word marriage is the bonding of woman and man and same sex marriages should be legalised under a union in some way possible.

Quotes to get us through our study days...

The Big Move...

Young at heart with curiosity, adventure and good times on her mind, I at 19 decided I wanted to move from my home town of Perth to Sydney…for it to be for 3 months, 6 months, a year or as long as I could last away from home. I had been on many holidays to Sydney growing up and had always wanted to live there at some point in my life but would not have thought it would have been so young or have had such a huge impact on my life at the time and still today.

There were many emotions, experiences and events that took place from fun to sad and very overwhelming. It started from my good friend (Lauren) that I had grown up with moving to Bondi 3 years previously, I went over to Sydney for a month holiday to stay with her and pretty much had the time of my life. Of course at the young age this heavily involved eating and drinking out, tourist attractions and opening my eyes to life in the big city that was new to me. I came back to quiet Perth after my amazing holiday and had mixed emotions of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be... then the opportunity to move in with Lauren came up and I jumped at the chance! Of course it was a very hard decision to leave my family and friends but my heart and head was telling me to ‘Just go! And if I don’t like it, then come home.’

Two weeks later, leaving my mother crying at the airport, I was off. Everything was so surreal and I had friends tell me ‘I give you 3 months Jen and you will back, no way can you last being on the other side of the country from your home.’ This comment did come in the nicest way possible from a good friend and I admit was based from the beautiful home and care I have grown up with. Although I have always been a hard working and independent soul, definitely the baby of the family in regard to being spoilt and had a lot done for me growing up (which I entirely thank my parents for) but excuse me, three and a half years later until I returned to Perth.

This entire experience changed my life and not saying there weren’t horrible moments leaving me in crying array on my bedroom floor from home sickness or general tough days but I would never take the experience away. It opened my eyes up to a completely different world and I believe in things happen for a reason and I was meant to move there when I did. I leave it down to ‘If it feels right then do it’ and I did! People asked how did you do it, like make new friends or be happy in a new anew place? I am very sociable and outgoing but I definitely had to get out of my comfort zone and jump in there, and to this day still have made friends in Sydney that I will have for life. If I didn’t put the effort in and open myself up to new people and new friendships, I would have been home in an instant.

I find it difficult to explain the uplifting feeling, maturity and life knowledge I gained from moving to a completely new city and unless you have lived in a different city away from your comfort zone, you could not understand entirely. This moment in my life holds great significance into the person I have grown to be today, not saying I didn’t make any mistakes or silly decisions but I am proud of myself for opening up for a new challenge and venture. I can still remember the first day as a little 19 year old girl arriving to the big city, falling into a job at an amazing company, living a 5 minute walk from one of the best beaches in Australia, eating tuna out of a can so I could afford to go out on the weekends and learning discipline and understandings that I didn’t know existed. 

Three Big Weeks of Football

With The Emirates Western Force having 3 home games at nib in a row, was a big and overwhelming 3 weeks for myself. This now also leads us already to half way through the super rugby season. The way things fly by when you're having fun hey...

This definitely was a testing time with everything I had learnt through RugbyWA since I first started back in February & remembering and putting it into practice on my own. As I work along the branding and marketing sectionsnfor each event, I was given more responsibilities and in charge of certain activities through out the game without being told where to be at what time. The run sheet for the day and night being my bible! Examples of these were knowing exactly where signs are meant to be up and taken down, preparing half time activities with signed balls given out and monitoring the teams mascot Westy.

Unfortunately we had 2 losses the last 2 weeks against the Chiefs on Friday 6th April (family day) and a loss to The Waratahs on Friday 13th April. (This being quite a devastating one...it's so interesting how involved you become with the game after only working with them for a short period).

I have been in The RugbyWA offices on a weekly basis preparing for each home game, the tasks have been just as important as the ones on game day. Some of these include;

• Ticket allocations (organizing tickets for charities, promotional winners & force fanatics etc)
• Preparing word documents to be placed on the emirates western force website.
• Putting together prize winner packs including hats, jerseys, mini rugby balls, stickers and posters.
• Setting up spreadsheets for competition entrants and mailing out letters for winners e.g. The West Win a membership competition. Office filing from previous office and years of documents for rugbyWA.
• Being apart of captains run at nib a day before game day (clients invitations, final training day for players, morning tea, tour of change rooms, team photos etc
• Phoning and congratulating competition winners (also notifying them of winner details, eg where to pick up their tickets for the game.
• Email out going to all competition entries. Putting away western force merchandise (hats, jerseys etc).
• Help loading up cars with merchandise for game days (signage, prize packs, ticket allocations)
• Pre day organizing and set up for game day at the stadium.

 Thats it for my update half way through the season and I hope you enjoy reading about my little escapades.

Behind the scenes at The Emirates Western Force

We have flags, junior captains, signage, inflatables, morph men, mascots, ball shooters and more!!