Today is 'The day'

Time for a last minute rehearsal!

This is where we finished last minute slides, and ensured that what was being said, met the objectives of the brief. As a PR agency, it was essential that we followed CIPR regulations. CIPR regulations, state PR practitioners must “maintain the highest standards of professional endeavour and personal conduct” CIPR code of conduct (2011)

Particular group members shone when delivering the pitch. Understanding that not everyone felt as comfortable to pitch, hints and techniques were passed along to help others when presenting.

Within a group it’s not about yourself, it’s about the team and how you can pass on your strengths to help someone overcome a weakness. Our team worked well together showing a good sense of teamwork and moral. Belbin (1981) states “The constitution of the group itself is an important variable in its success” highlighting the importance of group activity, and how we should work together to ensure success.

When working within a team, the leader/s have specific expectations, which they need to live up to. I believe I am correct in saying that most people would like direction, motivation, advice, criticism and democratic leadership style from their leader/s.

The three factors that a successful team must obtain are: integrity, competence and confidentiality. Team members must also be good at communicating and should have outstanding time organisation skills. This is to ensure that they are chosen again by their clients, reflecting and ensuring that they gain an outstanding reputation.

Westfields Fashion Poster

Chloe's Creative Posters

Light at the end of the catwalk

Today was interesting. The day before a presentation is always a peculiar meeting. With each group member having a last minute panic, debating whether or not we felt that we’d meet the brief... it was time to get motivated!

Each group member put forward the work that we had done. Chloe did a fantastic job, she successfully devised some background research reflecting on who, what, why questions about why we decided to host the fashion catwalk in Westfield’s London. Shrada, put forward a creative mood board, which included a mock press release. Kirsty and I worked together on comprising the slides, and did extensive research around the brief to ensure that we had met every aspect. I worked on the layout and the visual aids of the slides and carried out more research with concerns to the budget alongside Kirsty. Kirsty and I, really cracked on with the presentation over the holidays. Together we really pushed the boat out to come up with more creative ideas to help aid the fashion show.

Each of us worked well, to help each other amend last minute slides. Delegation of tasks occurred once again with each group member being assigned a task which needed to be completed for the next morning.

You learn someting new every day

EMBRACE new TECHNOLOGY!

Turning to Facebook

We set up a group on Facebook called the ‘PR Pitch’ this is where we would communicate any queries about the roles we would have to work on. Facebook allowed us to keep on track and the page enabled us to see the progress of others work, it also helped manage and appoint group meetings.

As we all lived in various places amongst the country; and were not able to meet face to face during the holidays we used Facebook to communicate the success of the delegated roles which had been appointed to us.  Facebook is the most popular social media tool, with “More than 800 million active users”Facebook (2010), explaining why we decided to communicate online using Facebook, as we knew that every group member would have and check it regularly.  Facebook allowed two way communications, as members of the group were able to comment on what had been written on the page, helping to clarify any queries. Meeting face to face is less time consuming yet, the advantage of Facebook is that information can be delivered to everyone is a quick space of time. Any comments that were made, allowed others to go back to and view at a later date. Facebook was very handy as you could see if group members were online, this helped evaluate whether or not you would get a quick response. Facebook really worked well in our favour, and was the next best communication tool.

Time is Ticking...

Looking at time constraints in more detail with regards to our PR project, time is very much one of the main factors that we should constantly be looking at. As a group we decided to realistically evaluate whether or not our ideas could be achieved in the time frame given to us.  There were time constraints with regards to the campaign, yet, there were also time issues with regards to our group meetings. As the group task had been set over the majority of the Christmas period and the fact that we had two deadlines before Christmas, meant that we had to communicate via social media to achieve our group meetings. Time management is always an issue; The Chartered Management Institute (2008) argues that:

“Good time management has always been an important skill, but it is now increasingly essential, as factors such as information overload and the need to balance private and working lives have put pressures on [us] to squeeze more out of the working day”

When planning an event, the best advice I could pass on is to ‘think of plan B if plan A goes wrong’ as a group we decided to do this, therefore we looked at our past ideas which we had brainstormed as a backup.

Practitioners passed on advise commenting that we should manage our time effectively and that we must also look at our budget consistently. We need to think about all the materials that we should use, who we would be working with, who would be involved and look over the main objectives set by our clients.

Bluewater Shopping Centre Catwalk

Our Shopping Centre Catwalk- Inspiration