Goodbye Diploma, Hello New Communications Job

At the start of the semester I came to class not knowing what to expect. I wanted to finish this Diploma. I had plans of getting into Curtin University and continuing my studies and then getting a job. However I had some things holding me back, I hadn’t studied for ages and I was probably going to be behind the other class mates. I’d never used Wiki, never had a blog and wasn’t sure if I could overcome my procrastinating ability! However the main thing I did have was determination to do the course and determination to start my career in PR. However, where to start my career? When we started looking for work experience, I wasn’t having much luck, but through Social Media, I was able to secure a placement at Leighton Contractors, which has now turned into a job. I learnt how to run a social club and put on an event and have learnt a number of things about the PR World.

What else I’ve learnt:

• The power of Social Media in business today
• How to deal with Crisis’s
• How to make a website (for someone that is not that computer savvy and not very good at design, that was a big task!)
• That I can manage my time a lot better (Not so much procrastination this semester as compared to Certificate IV)
• To always be confident and have less self doubt about the work I’m doing. That I am doing things the right way
• How to network for great opportunities

From the start of semester I now find myself with a job as a Communication Assistant for a large mining contractor, have been accepted into the university I wanted to get into and am running the marketing team for an upcoming magazine. Pretty good for 20 weeks work! So I’ve learnt -

That You Make Things Happen for Yourself. With Goals, Drive and Determination, You Can Achieve Anything and Everything You Want.

Communications Training

Work, well it doesn’t really seem like work, so let’s call it Communications Training, was great. I got to Leighton’s already on a high after getting my acceptance letter from Curtin the night before and left even happier. How? You may ask. Well after stewing about it all day I approached Erin at about 4:50pm to discuss my future with Leighton Contractors. I nervously knocked on her door and approached her desk. I explained that my course was finishing up soon and just wondered what her thoughts were on my performance and if there was a position here for me. I also said that I had been accepted into Curtin University, which she congratulated me on and told me she went there and loved every minute of it. She told me that she thought I was smart, enthusiastic and wrote well (it was very nice to hear) and would really like to keep me on board. We discussed how long uni would take, which would be anywhere from 2 years to 4, 5, 6 years part time, I said I wanted to do it over 4 years. This would mean 2 units per semester, instead of the 4.

Erin said she was very keen to keep me, however it wasn’t up to her, it was up to him, nodding towards the Managing Director’s office next door.  She’s having a meeting with him on the 10 June, so she’s going to put my case forward then and asked me in the meantime to work out when I wanted to work here and they’ll try and fit around me. They were going to fit around me? That was so nice to hear, that a company would offer that. So I’m thinking that with doing 2 units per semester, I can probably work 4days, so hopefully that won’t be too much of an overload on work.

Before all this, I just kept working on the NAIDOC Week plans. We’ll be now taking a trip to Kings Park on the Tuesday for an Indigenous Heritage Trail Walk. I watched the DVD, In A League of Their Own, which was really well made and interesting, just didn’t have the ‘Hollywood ending’ I was hoping for. I then passed on all my NAIDOC work to our Indigenous Affairs Advisor in the Nedlands office to make sure everything was in-line with company policies and procedures.

This week, at Stray-Magazine, I've been handed the reins of the Marketing Manager title for the next couple of months, (the most important months may I add!) as Gen and Romy do their exams and then go overseas. We need to make a contact list of 1000, to send the media release out to get advertising. We then need to organise a fundraising event and then the launch party. Plus we need to organise some promo material to get our names out. All this, while still applying for grants and all this needs to be done before the 1^st issue, which comes out in September. It’s a challenge, but hopefully Bec, who’s helping take the reins with me, can get it done.

I've got Beef with the Beef Industry

The cow is in serious distress as it thrashes around in its own blood, its neck half slashed and waits to die, minutes go by. The animal is still conscious as it begins to be dismembered. There is meant to be one clean cut across the throat of the cow, but instead the neck is hacked at on average 11 times to be killed. They do not use a stun gun, as it means it is not a proper Halal killing. I'm pretty sure that this type of abuse is also not proper Halal killing.

On Sunday, while researching a crisis to write about, I came across an upcoming report due to be broadcast on ABC1's Four Corners. It was about the treatment of Live Trade Australian cattle in Indonesia's abattoirs. An introduction to the report yesterday on Triple J's Hack, where reporter Sarah Ferguson revealed that the report did contain graphic evidence of this abuse, could not have prepared me for what I witnessed last night. I sat there shocked as I watched the abuse, something that some of the top big-wigs of the cattle industry were aware of since 2002. They knew it needed to stop, but had been very slow it improving the conditions in Indonesia.

For the full report by 4 Corners click on the link below, but be aware that the footage may be disturbing to MOST viewers.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/

However now that this footage has been revealed, the cattle industry needs to be quick to react and deal with the situation as soon as possible. Meat and Livestock Australia have already sent out a media release last night after the story went to air.

 "The livestock export industry will be investigating the further facilities identified during Four Corners and will take immediate corrective action, as it did last week when shown footage of four facilities. On seeing this footage the industry immediately moved to suspend the supply of cattle to three facilities where cruel practices were identified."

This is a good start, but what needs to happen is the introduction of stun guns to Indonesian abattoirs. With Indonesia making up 60% of the market, the live export to Indonesia, cannot come to a halt, as it would cost a great deal of money and lead to job losses.

Although there have been training in these facilities by Australians, they are not put into practice. Representatives from Australia need to be sent to Indonesia to supervise the abattoirs to ensure correct practices at all time. The Indonesian workers need to be educated, as they were oblivious to the fact that what they were doing was wrong and inhumane. (The cameras had full access to the abattoirs and the workers did not shy away from what they were doing.)

Advice from the animal welfare groups also needs to be taken on board to help get the situation under control. The government also needs to be on board to support them and the cattle industry to get these changes agreed to with the Indonesian government to ensure the current unethical treatment of Animals comes to a stop.

Good communication with the media on the progress of what's being done needs to be maintained at all times to ensure Australian's minds are put to ease that the horrific killings and treatment of the animals will come to a stop.

Communications is Right up my Alley

This week I got into the office and finished off my NAIDOC report, ready to present it to Erin and Kylie. I read them out the emails designed for each of the days, they were really happy with the information provided for each of the days. The only suggestion was that the NAIDOC Winner from last year was old news, so I will change this to the nominees for 2011 when they get announced and then I'll send out the list of winners on the following Monday.

I had the DVD showing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but we have changed that to be on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so each episode can be viewed in consecutive days. I already had in the report that we could do multiple viewings between 12 and 2pm. One at 12.15pm and then another at 1pm. As each episode is only 26 minutes, there may even be room for another viewing at 1:30pm.

Kylie and Erin really liked the activity of dot painting rocks and teaching staff about Aboriginal dot paintings and also using it as a team building exercise within each of the functional departments. We finished up the meeting with a plan to get this all organised.

From here,

·         I contacted NAIDOC about getting some merchandising for the office i.e. Wristbands, stickers, magnets etc

·         I created an email to send to the managers of each functional department to inform them of the dot painting activity and that each department will have a particular time to do the activity to celebrate NAIDOC Week and also use it as a team building exercise.

·         I also needed to research Aboriginal tribes/info etc that is relevant geographically to the sites, which I will do next time I'm in.

·         Erin is going to find out some more of what Leighton is doing as a company for NAIDOC Week, as I couldn't find this information, but she said I wouldn't have been able to anyway. This information will then be added to each of the daily emails.

·         Kohby from the Nedlands office (Resources Division) is creating a prestart presentation, which I can then pass onto site and find out what they are doing.

So far the schedule looks like this. 

Day	Task
Monday 4 July 2011	Email -  Introduction to NAIDOC Week
Tuesday 5 July 2011	Email - Aboriginal Dot Paintings Activity – Each department will create individual Aboriginal dot painted rocks to keep on their desk Downstairs Board Room 10 - Communications 11am – Human Resources 1pm – Safety Upstairs Boardroom 2pm – Administration 3pm – Engineering 4pm BD/Finance/maintenance
Wednesday 6 July 2011	Email  - Dreamtime Stories Activity – Part 1 of In A League of their Own documentary in Level 1 Boardroom                                    12.15pm               Viewing 1 1pm                       Viewing 2
Thursday 7 July 2011	Email – NAIDOC Poster Competition’ Activity – Part 2 of In A League of their Own documentary in Level 1 Boardroom                                    12.15pm               Viewing 1 1pm                       Viewing 2
Friday 8 July 2011	Email – NAIDOC Awards and 2011 Nominees Activity – Part 3 of In A League of their Own documentary in Level 1 Boardroom                                    12.15pm               Viewing 1 1pm                       Viewing 2

During the week Kylie wrote a report on how to improve community relationships within the Whyalla community. It also included the information I had already researched. The site visit and media tour has also been organised for early June. Erin apologised as unfortunately there isn't any room for me on the trip this time. Kylie encouraged that I need to get to a site soon, so that was another promising suggestion from them both. To finish off the day we had to wrap about 30 presents for all the children/teenagers coming to the family day the next day.

The M&I Rosemount Bowling Family Day went down a treat for everyone that came. The whole of Rosemount Bowl was hired out and as soon as I started walking up the stairs, I could hear music, games playing and children laughing and having fun. I chatted to a few people before grabbing a drink and joining a lane. My bowling skills were a little bit rusty, but I improved and even managed to get a couple of strikes and lots of spares by the end of the two games. A gourmet sausage sizzle lunch, followed by the handing out of presents to the delight of the children and parents helped to really make a great family day for everyone.

In A League of My Own

This week, I won over the office by bringing in a delicious Lemon Meringue Pie for morning tea, as a late birthday treat for everyone, it went down a treat. Now they have to let me stay!!

I felt like I hadn’t seen Erin for ages, so it was nice to chat with her, she’s been busy working on a number of things, including organising the nominees for the Leighton Awards of Excellence in September. It seems like a while away, but nominations have to be in by July.

Erin asked me to carry on with the NAIDOC Week plans. She apologised for not having a chance to look at the work I had done the other week, I told her what I had done, but I just said I could expand on the ideas and really get a day by day guide that will be going on.

I researched a great 3 part documentary that we will be showing in the office board room on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I thought this would be better than showing different movies everyday. This will make it easier for more people in the office to watch the whole documentary on their lunch break, as each part only goes for about 26 minutes.

The movie I have chosen is In A League of Their Own. I ordered the movie and hopefully it will arrive before Friday so I have a chance to watch it and can report on it on Friday.

“This series follows Australia’s first all-black football team through their first season in the big league. After more than 30 years of running their own competition in a remote island community off the coast of Darwin, the Tiwi Bombers set out to prove that their fast intuitive style of football can beat the long established teams of the NTFL.”

Erin thought it was a great movie that’s positive for Indigenous culture, but the documentary also touches on the real issues facing the island. Suicide rates are one of the highest in Australia, so I hope the movie isn’t too dark, but at the same time doesn’t ignore the issues. Looking forward to watching it.

I also chose a dot painting exercise to do on the Tuesday or Thursday or both to get the office involved once again. Everyone will be given a rock, that they will paint using Aboriginal dot painting techniques that can then go on their desk as a paperweight to remind them of Aboriginal culture.

Erin really liked my ideas and I have been asked to present this to Erin and Kylie this Friday, which I’m looking forward to, to practice my presentation skills and to show that I am capable of doing the tasks set out for me.

Kylie just started as the Communications Advisor and she’s worked for the government and resources division and also in film and television. She is a great edition to the team and it’s great that I now have 2 people to learn from.

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

I walked into the office, feeling very happy indeed for another wonderful day in working paradise. Little did I know that was all to change, when I arrived at my desk my computer was no longer there. Ninah looked at me,” didn’t Erin tell you?” she said. Tell me what? I thought. My heart sunk, does Erin no longer want me working here, my mind began to race, but my thoughts were soon broken by Ninah’s soothing voice. “We’ve booked you into a Business Writing Course today, I hope that’s ok.”, as she said that Jo the Office Administration Manager immediately walked over to me “and we moved you down onto this desk” she said as she shifted these big boxes away to reveal my computer. Oh, what a relief, I hadn’t been let go and they were ready to train me up with some new schools. The only thing they were disappointed in was that I hadn’t told them it was my birthday, when Adele came over and wished me happy birthday, but I’ve promised them lemon meringue pie this Friday.

Ninah and I walked over to the training centre next door and met with Phil, the instructor from the Australian Institute of Management. The unit we were doing was BSBWRT401A – Write Complex Documents. The basic outline of the course was plan documents, draft texts, prepare final text and produce the document. The course was very interesting, and as a company a style manual needs to be created to ensure that everyone is writing the same (there is a style guide, but it only explains how to use the name correctly ie Leighton, Leighton Contractors, Leighton HWE.) The manager’s in the course suggested that Erin write it up or actually her assistant (ie me) write it up. Erin was quick to interject by saying “we want her to stay!” This comment made me smile on the inside. 

The first great tip we learnt to write documents, was to follow these stages:

Plan

Organise

Write

Edit

Revise

We learnt a lot about the different formats, the importance of editing, to keep your target audience in mind, but also to write everything as you would write to upper management. We also learnt about how to write in a positive light instead of a negative; however I was sceptical of this to ensure information would not be sent out as ‘SPIN.’ What I enjoyed most about the course was the fact that he emphasised that we need to write simpler, that we don’t need to use big impressive words that no one understands and that we can take out unnecessary words.

For example

“The actual prices of these cars range all the way from $25,000 to $30,000.”

Instead

“The prices of these cars range from $25,000 to $30,000.”

Another great point was that clichés should be taken out, as it comes across as fake, especially if dealing with a customer/client. I was really lucky to go along to this training session with some of the top management personnel. I learnt a lot, but will still need to practice them in my writing in assignments and at Leighton Contractors.

Remember simple, plain, crisp, clear English.

All By Myself

I got to the office on Friday morning and put a bottle of red on the desk for the raffle for Oxfam. I then opened up my email and began to catch up on the week. There was an email from Erin, apologising for not telling me about the annual Leave she had booked in for Friday – meaning today!! This meant I would be all by myself in the office with no one to turn to for support!!!Luckily, she had left me work to do for The National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC Week.)

To teach the staff about NAIDOC week, I wrote up 5 different emails that the staff will receive during NAIDOC Week containing different information on NAIDOC.

Day 1 – Introduction to NAIDOC. This year’s theme is Change: the next step is ours

Day 2 – History of NAIDOC

Day 3 – The 1967 referendum. This resulted in a change in the constitution and the forming of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in 1972.  

 Day 4 – The National NAIDOC Poster Campaign gives upcoming Aboriginal Artist the chance to be featured on the poster. They win $5000 plus their work is given exposure, not only in the poster, but in different Art Exhibitions held across Australia.

Day 5 – The NAIDOC Awards held at the NAIDOC Ball on the Friday of NAIDOC Week.

This took a while, because I was actually learning about NAIDOC Week at the same time. 

“NAIDOC is a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields.”

I researched a lot about how other towns/schools/organisations help to celebrate NAIDOC Week and jotted down some points about how the office could help celebrate the week. I think getting everyone to paint different sections of the banner in Aboriginal dot-painting style would be a great way to get the office involved and something that can be showcased in the office.

On top of the activity, there will also be movie screenings through the week. I booked out the Level 1 Boardroom for the week between 12pm and 2pm every day. To do this Ninah (EA) showed me the shared calendar the office books the room through. Very good idea and very easy to see when it’s free.  

I tried to contact the City of Belmont to see what they were doing and what we could maybe piggy-back on!! However when I rang the whole department was at a conference for the day, so will have to try them this Friday if Erin hasn’t already. 

I actually managed fine by myself, everyone in the office is great and very approachable if I had any questions, which I only had 2. Ninah even asked me for help in writing out an email to invite some management to the corporate box at the football in Brisbane (where our other office is.) I finished off the day, by working on an Unearthed article, before Pat’s weekly update while - you guessed it – I had a glass of bubbly with the girls in the office!