Through the journey...

Studying Public Relations Certificate IV has been a fulfilling experience for me. Between the hands on experience and theory work I have been able to get a taste for what the PR world is like. It has made me look forward to seeing more of the PR world next year in the Diploma class.

From the start we learnt that public relations is about developing and maintaing relationships between an organisation and it's publics. But as the course went on I discovered that a simple definition of public relations doesn't really cover what the job is. With the opportunity to listen to several people in the industry speak on what their job is like I have discovered that every PR position is different, depending on where you work. However, they all had a few things in common. In their position relationships are important. I have learnt that it is important to make friends with everyone that you meet because some day they may be useful for you in your career.

It has been a common used phrase for many years now that "there is no such thing as bad publicity." Studying what it takes to be a public relations practitioner, I have come to understand that this is not at all true. In fact there is little worse for an organisation than bad publicity. More importantly, if there is bad publicity and it is poorly handled a company can lose its reputation and risk never getting it back. This showed me that you have to be upfront about any bad situations within an organisation because the truth will all come out in the end.

The company's brand is very important to a company because this is how the public see the company. I have learnt that a public relations practitioner plays a very important part in maintaining or developing a good brand image for a company. With this I have also found that a company should be consistent in both all their messages. This can be carried through with consistency in livery and colour schemes for the organisation. Producing document in public relations is slightly more complex than just knowing how to use Microsoft products effectively. I have learnt how document in public relations need to be set out in particular ways that make them more effective for their intended purpose.

What I have learnt over this 6 month period could fill a text book, that's why we have text books for this course. I think writing it all would bore most readers. Mostly I have learnt that you need to be every one's friend, that image is everything, and that I can be creative if I try.

As far as my personal growth, well, I've discovered that I can stick to something for long enough to get the course completed. I have found that there are 24 good hours in every day and you can utilise every one of them if you need to. Finally , I have come to realise that I can be confident in anything that I believe, even if people disagree. Oh and that friends are the most important and most effective motivator in the world. *Blah, yuck, eew!*

Presumed consent isn't consent

So the Western Australian government wants us to Opt-Out of donating our organs and if we don't then we are presumed to be a registered organ donor?

The reasoning behind this new system is that the government feels that people don't register to be an organ donor because of indifference or complacency or perhaps a lack of awareness. So why are they just presuming that by not opting out of donating people are consenting to donate? Perhaps there is another solution.

In Queensland a similar system was proposed but rejected and more education on the matter was funded instead saying that "presumed consent was not likely to be effective".

The issue with presumed consent is that it is easily objected by families and loved ones. At the end of the day your loved ones will be able to communicate your  wishes with the doctor and if they had no clue that you wanted to be an organ donor then they would be fairly likely to object to you being one. Furthermore when there is an "opt-out" system in place it is highly likely that there will be less priority put on raising awareness to the necessity of organ donations and most people would be presumed to be registered to donate and therefore don't need to be informed on the importance of this. A lack of education on this could again cause confusion within families as to whether or not a person is willing to be an organ donor. However if there is more education and awareness on how to register to become an organ donor a person would be likely to discuss this with their family before they register and more people involved would be aware of their wishes.

On the flip side of this reduced education we need to think about those who do object to donating their organs, be it for religious or personal reasons. It is easy for the government to fund awareness programs for registering to donate because they know that there 1,700 Australians waiting for an organ transplant and this pushes them to encourage people to donate their organs. However there is no such push for the government to educate people on how to opt out of being an organ donor. Of course it is a great gift to give an organ but that doesn't mean that those who don't wish to do so should be forgotten. It is easy to say that those people who have a strong enough objection to donating their organs will just look into opting out but looking down the track will it really be that strongly shown how one can do this? It's highly doubtful.

There are certainly good intentions behind the "opt-out" system and with only 680,000 registered donors in Western Australia we really need to improve the numbers. Unfortunately the absence of an objection isn't consent enough to count a person as a registered donor. There are other things that need to be improved first. Plus wouldn't your family feel better about giving away your organs and saving someone's life because of you if they knew for absolute certain that it is what you wanted.

Much ado about sabotage?

Or not, as Qantas has assured us. 

In two days two Qantas planes flying from Singapore suffered engine failure. This happening just one day before Qantas' milestone 90th birthday has caused a few cynical onlookers to cry sabotage. Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the airline was still unsure what had caused the engine failure but "[they] do not believe it to be sabotage. It looks like a mechanical failure." Qantas assures the public that their flights are still some of the safest in the world.

With an incident like this Qantas risks losing customers who fear for their safety. In this article Qantas addresses this by highlighting their previous safety record and the quality of the maintenance that is carried out on their vehicles.

The article questions the effect that something like this would have on Qantas' brand giving the opportunity to highlight just how important safety is to Qantas. They also point out that some of the people who were on the affected flight would still chose to fly Qantas.

In all Qantas is still its shining example of aircraft safety it has always been and are very good at dealing with the media when an issue such as this presents itself. Of course the article wouldn't have been complete without a plug for John Travolta's appearance at the 90th birthday celebration.

Locked out

The West Australian government would like to impose new laws for pubs and clubs in Perth that keeps patrons from entering the venues after a certain time. The new laws would see all nightclubs change to a lock out time of 3:30am and for pubs to have a lockout time of 12:00am. Understandably the hospitality industry is opposed to this change. 

The law was proposed to reduce the occurrence of drunken violence and antisocial behaviour in Perth's entertainment areas, particularly Northbridge. he reasoning behind this is fantastic and somewhat necessary, the method is, however, misguided. By refusing entry into pubs at 12am the local police would be happy to know that they will have less violence in the pubs around Perth because the patrons will walk down the road to the local clubs. Come 3:30 and people are being refused entry so our clubs are now safe of drunken violence. They violence will now be conveniently walking the streets of Perth, with no security to protect those who aren't willingly participating in antisocial behaviour. Most of the violent crimes relating to drunk, antisocial behaviour occur outside of the venues. By locking people out of Perth pubs and clubs earlier the government of Perth isn't actually stopping antisocial behaviour, they are just moving it to the streets.

A similar law was trialled in Melbourne between the months of June and September in 2008. The state government made the decision not to pursue the plan as it was found to be ineffective. In fact they found that incidents of violent crime increased during this period. Instead their government gave more powers to the liquor licensing, giving them the ability to shut down problem areas instead of a blanket law. With results such as these, one must wonder why Perth has decided to impose a lockout on their pubs and clubs. Perhaps it's so the government gives the appearance of doing something about a known issue in Perth.

Personally, working in the hospitality industry, I wouldn't like to see this law be implemented. If for no other reason than the fat that I don't finish work until 12 onwards especially on weekends. Having just finished work,  and therefore of sound mind, I wouldn't be happy being unable to join my friends for drinks because the pub isn't letting people in after 12, despite the fact that is allowed to trade until 2am. Similarly, I wouldn't like to see friends being rejected for re-entry into a pub or club after going out for a cigarette. I would also like to know what the government intends to do about the fact that the only place that will be open for entry after 3:30 would be the casino. Would this not just result in an increase intoxicated people working their way to the casino after they are refused entry to their favourite nightclub.

Not only will the lockout not help reduce the antisocial behaviour in Perth but it will make the streets of Perth less safe at the times of lockout, seeing groups of angry rejecting, drunk people roaming the cities of Perth away from security. Is the government going to lock them out of our streets too.

Public Relations, a promotion

So you're looking to study are you? Have you thought about Public Relations? Do you know what public relations is? It's all about building and maintaining relationships. It's about communicating with the public. Everyone can communicate. Cert IV in Public Relations will get you off to the great start you need to head into any kind of Communications field.

In this course you get great hand on experience in developing campaigns. You will be able to brainstorm and put together real campaigns that you can create and watch grow into something tangible. These campaigns aren't just about making documents to send to be sent off to companies, you will be there from the beginning to brainstorm with your class mates and start an idea from it's very roots. What university helps you do that?

As part of Public Relations you will need to be familiar will all sorts of social media. So in this course you will be exploring different social media websites, including facebook, blogs, Wikispaces. You will be able to set up your own account in these and are encouraged to use them as a tool for communication. In fact your class will have a page set up just for you and your classmates. This will help you develop your communication skills on the internet in a fun way.

You will also be able to explore your creative side, where you create your own PR Company, putting together your own name, logo and stationary. Then you can create your very own Web 2.0 with whatever ideas you desire... your only limit is your imagination.

In order to get all of these creative juices flowing you will be versed in the basics. You will become an expert on Publisher and all Microsoft products by learning with easy to follow activities that involve fun elements for you to create. Not sure your writing skill are up to scratch just yet? Don't worry in the Edit Text class you will become a word sleuth, writing mastermind.

Still not sure if you will be able to stick it out? Well if you start to get off to a shaky start or have loads of problems Keith has organised for the diploma students to be mentoring you. They aren't scary, they've just been through all the same assignments and hard times and can offer a helping hand.

With a fun and interesting, hands on course, easy to get along with lectures and all the support in the world, what reason do you have not to do a Cert IV in Public Relations?

Did Rice deserve the dump?

Possibly not, but at the end of the day Jaguar is just doing what's best for them and their public image.

Imagine you're watching the Tri-Nations Rugby game at home with a few friends. You're all getting a little fired up, probably with a couple of personal wages on who's team is going to win, and your team is behind by one point after giving up a staggering lead of 25points. So the game is 39 - 38 South Africa's way when Kurtley Beale stepped up to kick a penalty goal from the halfway touchline on full-time. The Wallabies win. What an awesome game. You get on twitter and rub it in the faces of everyone who said they would lose. "Suck on that faggots". 


Oops. You're an Olympic gold medalist with millions of eyes watching your every move and judging everything you say and do. Quick take it back. Too late it's already been put out there for people to react. And boy do they.

It's understandable that Miss Rice got caught up in the moment but there's nothing you can do about how sensitive people can get. Everyone reacts in a different way to things and some people just like to wait for celebrities to slip up. With Twitter so popular so many people are watching as many celebrities as they can. Celebrities should be aware of just how public their lives our and how closely scrutinised every move they make is. 


What Stephanie Rice said on Twitter is really very tame compared to the sort of response you would hear if you went to a pub after a game like that and I know very few people who would take offence to it. I don't think that the word is really regarded as such distasteful homophobic slur as is once was. Unfortunately for Miss Rice it's those few who do take offence that have the loudest voices.

Jaguars reaction to this mishap was normal. The reason companies have contracts with celebrities like Stephanie Rice is because of the public image that they represent. Once that public image is tainted the contract is void. Say if you had a contract with a phone company to provide a phone service. If for some reason the phone service was cancelled you would expect the contract to be cancelled also, or for an agreement to be reached where you are no longer in a contract for a service that you aren't getting. Well it's like that. Stephanie Rice was in the contract to represent the squeaky clean image that Jaguar wants. Since she is no longer that image Jaguar is entitled to terminate the contract if they so chose. Obviously it's not quite that simple and it would have to depend on the terms of the contract and other such things.

Personally I don't think that Jaguar needed to respond as harshly as they did. It's even possible that they will get a small amount of negative publicity from it. Hopefully it was just an attempt to be politically correct, but they do have to show that they can't allow controversial and ignorant slurs like that within their brand.

A hum drum review

Writing about Telstra would usually go againts the grain for me, as I find them just plain boring. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an exception to that, but I did find this article of some interest as it appears to be a fairly untouched media release, from what I can see. 


It appears that BigPond customers have been having some problems with their service lately, with a four day email outage, and I am sure Telstra is very sorry for this and wished to rectify any inconvenience that they have caused. *ahem*


Well Thats what the article, "Bigpond fixes email server" says anyway. As much as I really do like to think that any talented journalist would love nothing more than to spend his precious time working on an apologetic piece for Telstra and looking in depth to the minds of their sparse complaining customers, it just doesn't seem to have happened in this article.


The article just seems all too much of a cheap way for Telstra to send out the message to everyone that they really aren't that big bad money hungry company that people think they are. It goes into little detail about how much of an inconvenience the issue was for their customers, focusing on the fact that there are "only a very small amount" still affected. The article doesn't give any indication to what was causing the problems were just that they are being fixed. If that doesn't sound like Telstra then I don't know what does. The article does highlight the fact that Telstra posted on their website that "some customers may be experiencing issues accessing their accounts" and that "Technicians are treating this issue as a priority and are working on the problem." Don't forget the always popular "We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you."

This is quite a short article and could have been bulked up a little bit with a heart felt story about a businessman who missed out on all those loving emails from his children while on a big important meeting, or the secretary that didn't get the memo from the boss that she was to be flown to Paris for the weekend to attend an important meeting and missed out.


I only hope that the apologies given directly to the customers were more convincing than this. 


Just as a side note, I think I may have chosen to look closer at this article because my household has recently upgraded our broadband with Telstra and the service has been shocking, getting disconnected periodically with no cause. Maybe I'm slightly biased.

In response

When I found out that few of the diploma students were following our blogs I was naturally curious to see what their blogs were like, so I followed a few. Lets say for inspiration.

Imagine my amusement when I find the next one published had my name in it. Therese's blog spot "On My Mind"  spoke about the Mentoring that the diploma students have been kind enough to donate some of their time for.  I particularly liked the descriptions of her little protege's, Keiran, Harltley, Wendy and myself. (It's OK Hartley, I don't think you're an onion, and Wendy, I don't want to sedate you.)

Being the equal opportunist that I am, I thought that I should take the opportunity to write a out my experiences with the mentors.

 So every second Thursday we have our class interrupted by a new mentoring program with the diploma students. On our first day of this we really didn't know what to expect. It was exciting to think that we get the chance to talk to the students who have been through it all before, but then what do we talk about? Would they make us think that we are getting in over our heads?

They came into our class and I was a little worried by the fact that there was only four of them. Is the course really that bad? Then we divided into two groups. Alana and Therese took Wendy, Hartley, Keiran and me to the canteen where they told us they use to sit during their breaks.

I was happy that they were so approachable. As a result we tried to get as much out of them as possible, bombarding them with questions about the assessments that they did and what the lecturers will be expecting of us and how scared, exactly, we should be of Keith. To our dismay, they couldn't help us on the assignments that we had, and some of their classes were structured slightly differently, but we got to compare notes and find that we seemed to be getting off to a decent start.

Hearing about the crying corner didn't scare me off as much as I thought. It was good to hear stories of everyone who did have a little bit of a stress time. It made me feel better in the event that I do have a cry.

In all, now I look forward to having a chance to bounce off some ideas with people more experienced, in the course, than us.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

What do I expect to get out of Cert IV in Public Relations? Well to be honest, a pass. I came into TAFE looking for a new path. Just a slight change in direction. A move away from hospitality. As much as I love working in the industry I don’t think it will get me all the riches I need to live the lifestyle I desire. So I thought that a good path to explore would be public relations. It takes all the personal skills that you develop in customer service industries and mixes it with a whole heap of other skills, some I have and some I am yet to learn. Out of this course I mostly just want to learn those skills needed for public relations. I would love to have them as an addition to my resume in life. If in doing this I am able to excel in this class then that is just a bonus.

I do want to go onto the diploma level. I feel as though I would be able to get so much more out of this course if I can push through the diploma course and succeed well enough to either get a job or go on to university and do a bachelor. However, if I don’t get that far I think that I will be content just getting through this semester.

It’s a hard balancing act trying to keep a 5 night a week job going strong as well as so many contact hours at school and then finding time to do studies at home. I’m glad that I have found friends so quickly who help me find time for it all. Without my Thursday study sessions I don’t know if I would have any of my work finished. I think my main challenge in this course this semester is to keep it all going long enough to pass and keep my sanity. In short I think my promise to myself for this course is to work my hardest at it and get the best result possible, and not to give up.

6 Word Story

Study, work, sleep, repeat until crazy.

Go plastic

Should Perth ban glass in all pubs and clubs? Well perhaps not. However with 67 glass attacks in WA this year it would be a good idea to take a step in the right direction.

It's easy to pick those places that could use a change to plastic cups from glasses. We've all been there at one time or another. When you go to a pub or club and the floor is half covered in broken glass. These are the pubs and clubs that the customers aren't as concerned with the slight flavour difference that a plastic cup may make to a cocktail. At these places its about quantity not quality. With this mindset it's clear that these are the people who don't need a glass. In a scenario like this there are many fights. This last year Northbridge had the most glass attacks of any other suburb (the West Australian, 2010). Perhaps we can start there. Why put a glass in the hand of an idiot who wants to fight when you don't have to. Its clear that banning glass won't put a stop the the problem. There will always be those drunken idiots who what to start a fight for the sake of fighting and unfortunately we can't see who they are from the start of the evening before the attacks happen, but banning the glass can't hurt.

I believe that its not necessary to ban glass in every pub and club in Perth. There are the nice cocktail bars and wine bars that would suffer for changing their glass wear over to plastic and in these places there isn't much of an issue with the glass. This is were people go to enjoy a drink not to binge. By targeting specific problem clubs and pubs it can dramatically change the atmosphere of a night out. It is a major safety problem to go out on a fun night and find that the dance floor is covered in glass. There is a tripping and falling issue and from my personal experience people don't tend to think to wear shoes that protect them against glass, usually they are for appearance purposes so big pieces of glass can find its way into feet. We clearly need to give some responsibility to the clubs who don't clean up this mess adequately and to the individual who should learn to hold on to their glass but at the end of the day these things do happen so why not avoid it?

Ultimately, banning glass probably won't make a significant change to the number of assaults in Perth but from what I can see, a small difference is better than no difference at all.

The life of an election candidate

During an election campaign each party tries to convince the public that they can do the best job at running our country. And how do I feel they're going? Well so far I don't know that any of them is capable of running our country at the moment.

Miss Gillard I believe has done an excellent job of not committing to do anything wrong. In fact I'm not sure that she plans to do much of anything. She has evolved in a great way physically. She's been re-styled and given some guidance to speak in a way that's more appealing to the public. Which makes her slightly better to look at on the television. However during the very serious electoral debate the only thing anyone could focus on was her larger than average ear lobes. This may say more about the voter than her ability to speak but I like to give Australians the benefit of the doubt and just conclude that she had very little to say that was of much interest to us. Although in the more recent debate at Rooty Hall, I will have to agree with you Miss Gillard, it should be "...about the economy and keeping it strong." I guess we will have to wait and see the "real Julia" the one that will have Australia "moving forward,"

I understand that at the end of the day an election is just a glorified popularity contest (as much as we'd like to argue it's not) but I would think that Mr. Abbot could reel back his desperate attempts to win over the women's vote. Please give the women of Australia a little more credit. We have little need to see Mr. Abbott affectionate with every women who is part of his campaign. It is however a lovely break from talk of Mr Abbott's success in his speedos during the Iron man triathlon. I am glad that Mr Abbott has been so candid in his plans for Australia, the ones we all want to hear anyway. However how can we be comfortable electing a man who tell us so openly that we can't believe everything he says as the "gospel truth." But then if we can't trust a politician who can we trust?

In my opinion the Greens just aren't strong enough to run the country and I never really consider them as part of the race. They always just feel like that nagging voice in the back of your head that says "don't put that half load of dishes through the dish washer cos you're waisting water." They serve their purpose. They are a useful extra vote for those people who don't want to feel bad about voting for one of the pitiful excuses for candidates above. Of course that vote just goes to Miss Gillard in the end doesn't it. Maybe we should all just donkey vote and be done with the system.

I will probably vote Liberals at the end of the day because I believe that they can do more for my country and if a politician is going to lie to us they might as well be honest about it. There's still time for Gillard to convince me though.

Discovering my worth

When asked to talk about something special that has happened to me I usually draw a blank. I've been to Hawaii and Wisconsin, but neither of these feel all that special. Then I recount my trip to Sydney and remember how much I learnt about myself...

In August 2007, I was 19 and had decided that I didn't want to study at university anymore, that it wasn't me and that I wanted a new start. So my best friend Maddie and I decided to pick up and move to Sydney. We booked the flights giving ourselves one month to save enough money to support ourselves and off we went.

In Sydney we did the usual partying and sight seeing. To save money we stayed in a backpackers. This also let us go places that we wouldn't have thought to go. Like where Home and Away was filmed. During our outing we decided to apply for jobs which we both got successfully. I got a job at a shoe shop in the main city centre and Maddie transferred her Coles job to work in Sydney.

Maddie met the first love of her life, Josh. He was Canadian and a surfer and her very first boyfriend. They spent a lot of time together and he took her to see different places. I made new friends and caught up with old ones who showed me where all the fun was in Sydney. And between us we went though many great and embarrassing experiences.

Alas through all the partying our funds started to run short. We were living off bare basics and I was forced to forgo my necessary caffeine hit before work and she had to forgo her coke (coca-cola) addiction which she relied on religiously. We discovered how to be frugal. Living off $20 a week for food and expenses. It was making our plans to rent a house out in Sydney look rather hopeless.

Finally we were down to the last of our savings. We had enough money to either get home or pay the next weeks rent. We had to weigh up what we wanted more and just how realistic it was going to be to continue like this. If we both got another job or more hours at our current ones we could make it. We could keep the savings for a bond. But what if we didn't? Where would we go if we didn't have enough money for the rent?

It was a tough decision, especially with the friends we made and Maddie's new love as well as our new found Independence. But at the end of the day we made the logical decision and booked the next flight back home with the intention of planning it all properly next time.

So here I am 3 years later having learnt a lot from this experience. I discovered you can live off a lot less than you think if you really need to. I discovered the importance of planning things properly. But I also had fun and that's all that matters.

To blog or not to blog

In PR we love blogs. Public Relations is all about communication and building relationships. With this is mind it makes sense that we can use blogs to our advantage.

In a blog people share their thought and ideas. Its an excellent forum to communicate ideas without prejudice. People feel comfortable to speak fairly freely about their personal opinions and have open discussions. As a PR tool we can then use this forum to get a company's name out there in the world. A blog has the potential to reach millions of people. A good Public Relations practitioner can take advantage of this and set up a blog for a client to communicate with the public. By doing this they can control a small amount of what sort of image is projected to the public on a personal basis that makes the company relate-able to their public. This also give the opportunity to gauge a response on the company itself and react accordingly.

In Public relations it is important to network. The more contacts you have the easier it is to get things done. "It's not what you know, it's who you know." We all know that the Internet and all social media is a great modern way of doing this. With millions of people at your finger tips just think of all the brilliant connections that you can make. This is where a blog comes in handy.Its not just about setting up a good blog either. Looking into useful blogs that are relevant to your cause and following them can give you great insight and connections. When you have a blog that is relevant and well written those people who you are following may stand up and take notice. Then *viola* we have connections.

A blog gives people from all over the world an opportunity to communicate. And Public Relations is about communication. They just go together.

A shakey begining

As a requirement for Cert IV in PR I am to post a Blog. So here goes...

On arrival to my first day at TAFE I was pretty unsure about what class to go to. As luck would have it I went to the wrong one. Luckily I wasn't alone. Others joined me in following a text message that led me to the wrong room, so together we waited outside a classroom that was already full with students continuing their studies. Confused we walked to the correct class and back, wandering around the school. Finally deciding to ask for help we were pointed to our classroom. Arriving 15 minutes late is possibly not the best beginning to a new chapter in my life, but at least it was a good ice breaker to meet people.

And me...
Well I'm Shae Thompson. I am currently 22. I have an older sister as well as another new found older sister. I live with my Dad and our dog Cindy in Caversham.
I recently decided that its time to start a new chapter in my life. That I need to progress my career and to do so I need to study.
I started to study in Psychology at Murdoch University which I decided wasn't for me.
So I went for a trip to Sydney and found myself... or partied.
When I got back I got a job at the local Tavern Shenanigans, where I was a waitress for a year until it closed down. After this I went on a trip to Wisconsin. When I can back I found myself a job at Victoria Station in Burswood.

Now after 3 years of hospitality I think I need something new.
So I am hoping to begin a new career. Perhaps I can pull myself out of the hospitality industry long enough to actually have some kind of functioning social life. But with full time studies and a 5 night a week job it doesn't seem as though that will be happening any time soon. I think my best bet is to keep at it and study until I have a jet setting career that will bring me many riches and keep me out of trouble. I think that this is looking pretty far down the track. This class does seem interesting enough to let me do that. Only time will tell....