The launch

Hi again,

Today was the launch of the Hunter Region Disaster Relief Initiative! It was held at the Hunter Valley Gardens (very lovely) and went smoothly (thank god).

I was still helping to organise the launch on Wednesday, which pretty much consisted on finalising the media releases and ringing up media, government offices, and partners of Hunter Tourism etc to make sure they could attend the event.

Back to the event - I went up to the gardens early with Kate (a marketing/PR girl) and helped her with setting up the amphitheatre. I then got the job of handing out media releases and other information to people as they entered the theatre. The event itself was short and sweet, with Bob Baldwin and Frank Terenzini (in place of Michael Costa) giving speeches.

It was a good turnout, over fifty people (including local media) turned up, so Sheridan (the marketing manager) and Andrew (HRTO CEO) were pretty happy.

Overall it was a really good experience - I was able to see and experience how an event (however small) comes together. I met some really lovely people from Hunter Valley Gardens, including the General Manager (who was Irish and very funny). I also got to meet some people from Tourism NSW which was really good.

I think I would really like to do some work experience with Hunter Valley Gardens during the holidays or maybe first semester next year.

I feel like I’m already learning heaps about the world of PR – mostly through talking to heaps of people about the work they have done throughout their PR careers (and through the ‘hands on’ stuff obviously). Everyone has been really friendly and full of advice.

Anyway, I’ll be able to get into the campaign properly next week (advertising is officially starting on Sunday).

Until then!

- Vicky