Media for the Hunter

The other day I met with Claire Hargreave and Jess Singleton - the two lovely ladies who have been doing promotion all around Australia. They have been doing a fantastic job getting adverts around the place and securing sponsorship from all of Australia - which is really exciting to see come together. But now for the Hunter.

Because the Hunter is the area where I really know my stuff (or think I do :p) it was decided that I would take the lead with this one. So, I did up a media plan for us to use between now and the actual festival, and a different one for media to be covered during the festival. The media plan basically outlined all the different media outlets (and their contacts), what message we would be sending to them and when we would target them.

The thing with Newcastle is that we are so locally focused - so I did a general release about TINA 2007 and some of the exciting and new things that are happening, I am going to actually try and make some releases personal and target actual events which have local performers in them. This has the added benefit of pic opportunities. One of the things I've learnt through my time at The Maitland Mercury and The Sun Herald: Hunter Extra is that local people want to read about local people and local issues. So hopefully this will work.

I have a million and one releases to write up so I have to get to it.

Allyson.

A month until TINA

One month from now, TINA would be in full swing. That's a scary thought considering there is so much that needs to be done!

I have been working on the actual event in terms of venue and venue management. I have been confirming bookings for all events at venues and in what times. What I have also done is make a up a program for each venue regarding what events will be held there and when - like a personalised program just for each venue. Doing this for all venues which hold more than 200 events proved to be quite a large job. I have however developed some new skills in terms of databases. I've used an excel spreadsheet with sort functions to make my tasks a lot easier and I'm so grateful Marni has shown me this for it is something I could see myself using everyday in a public relations role.

The program for TINA is also nearly complete and I have been working with our graphic designer and doing all the jobs that take up time - but none the less need to be done. Things like making up adverts for our sponsors who do not have their own ads and making sure they are in jpg or gif (and small size) for the net and eps format for print.

This has been a real eye opener in how to work in a team, something which I know I am not particularly good at. I have always been really hesitant about having to rely on other people to get things done, mostly because I have been let down before and have adopted a rather pessimistic perspective of, to get the job done and done well, you have to do it yourself. It has actually been quite refreshing to feel I am working collaboratively with a team of people to accomplish something at the end. I'm not admitting I've found it easy because I always still have that feeling where I need to be in control and doeverything so it gets done right, but with an event like TINA, you see this physically and mentally impossible and I've really had to work on putting trust in other people.

As a side role, I have hit two birds with the one stone this week, doing a story onTINA for my job at the Sun Herald: Hunter Extra. This not only benefits TINA, but it helps me too!

I am meeting with the current TINA publicity team later today. They are keen to use my skills in PR and journalism to their benefit, as none of them have media experience like this. I am keen to help and I feel this is the place where I know can contribute loads and loads. More to report on that later.

Allyson

disaster strikes....

My first experience with an event crisis has come.....and is still there, but passing. The website which I have been furiously working on for the last three weeks - along with all my website material - has crashed and burned. Note to self - always keep your material backed up. That is the lesson for this week. So the site and contract with site manager hasn't exactly worked out, which is a minor setback in operational terms, but greatly hinders sponsorship potential.

As such, I have to remake the This is Not Art website. Because of personal time constraints and the festival looming just around the corner, I have made the decision to use the website from last year, but update it with the 2007 material and look. The reasons for this is mainly from a promotional perspective. TINA and the four major sub-festivals: Electrofringe, Critical Animals, Sound Summit and the National Young Writers Festival, each have a huge amount of sponsors - all of which need to be featured on the website right now and on all printed and promotional material that has already started going out. Not a good practice when trying to lure future sponsors if their logo's aren't even featured!

As well as this, everything else from what's on, to program descriptions, accommodation, dining and transport, all need to be covered in the next week. This way, the site will be fully operational for three weeks prior to the event, which should be a sufficient time. Bearing in mind I am not a graphic designer or website designer, this has definitely taught me to step up and go that step further than my usual, writing comfort zone.

Unfortunately, this also puts everything else I have been doing on the backburner, which, frankly, can't be there. The Bike Corral which I am organising has a huge amount of work that needs to be done. Briefly this includes:
- doing a spare parts drive on radio and the local media
- sourcing material for the actual premises -eg- star pickets, hessian etc.
- doing a risk assessment for the Bike Corral as a whole
- Getting and using banner making equipment
- Making up survey forms for people to give their details as the come in for a bike/workshop
- Promotional of the Bike Corral and TINA through local media
- Organising three working bees to fix up bikes
- Organising a committee of volunteers to help on the event
- and the actual running of the event - what, when, where, how.

Basically there is a lot that needs to be done and not working on it is simply not an option. I'm not sure what part of this list should be the priority, that is, what I should be working on first. As far as I can see, everything on that list is needed for the Bike Corral to run successfully. So, I think I will make up a gantt chart to help me get this into a timeline perspective.

Important lesson - I need to multitask. I think I will just throw myself in headfirst and let loose. Here goes........

Allyson.

And TINA is underway

With just over two months to go until TINA gets underway, the placement has begun with things in full swing.

I have been given some major responsibilities to do with the festival in terms of media and promotion and also the formulation of the new website.

I have also been given the responsibility of organising the 'Bike Corral' - a combination of the Bike Library and Bike Workshops. More on this later.

During TINA, there are four major sections of the festival - and they each have sponsors/supporters. These are:

Electrofringe: a festival of experimental electronic arts and culture dedicated to skills development and artistic exchange. It focuses on uncovering emergent forms and places a particular emphasis on encouraging exchange between emerging and established artists

National Young Writers Festival: Australia's premier event for emerging writers, publishers, performers and trouble-makers. Several thousand of the country's most challenging and original young minds descend upon Newcastle for a five day creative bender.

Critical Animals: an event where creative research forums will play with concepts of obscurity and obsession, academic art/institution battles, literal literary journeys and much more.

Sound Summit: an annual conference for independent artists, labels and people interested in working and playing in electronica and hip-hop. Sound Summit exists to explore and support brilliant, independent electronic music and hip-hop from Australia and abroad.

These four sections are sponsored and supported by a range of different organisations from national and local level - and an integral part of this sponsorship is the inclusion of their logos on all promotional material. This is part of a heavy media relations campaign, and as TINA is a non-for-profit festival and rely on sponsors and supporters to keep going every year, this is essential.

So, I have been working furiously on this and making a brand, spanking new website for TINA 2007. Other activities which will be coming up in the future for me to work on include the organisation and coordination of the Bike Corral, which is a sub event of TINA.

The Bike Corral is a joint festival of This is Not Art (TINA) and the Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre (NBEC), which will feature DIY Bike Repair Workshops and the Bike Library. More on this later, but basically, it is going to be a place where people can come and fix up old bikes through the workshop and then use the bikes to travel around the festival. As organiser and coordinator of this event, there is obviously a lot to think about. But as I said, more on this when I immerse myself in it.

Until then, it's all guns blazing.

Allyson.

Event Placement Secured: TINA

Last week I met with Marnie Jackson, the festival co-ordinator from the This Is Not Art (TINA) festival for an interview and was lucky enough to secure my event placement at TINA.

TINA is a five day festival held from the 27th September until the 1st October. It is Australia's premier independent arts and new media festival. The festival this year will feature five heady days of creative over-stimulus with workshops, exhibitions, performances, gigs and events.

My role at TINA will be heavily focused around the promotion of the event, using the media and communication skills I have built through my employment at the Maitland Mercury, as the Media Officer at NUSA (Editor of Opus), my job at the Sun Herald: Hunter Extra and experience such as Surfest.

My primary roles will include:

• Assisting the publicity team in pre-event publications, print and radio media
• Web coverage management
• Daily reporting at the event (which will include photography and creating and uploading web content)
• Managing the TINA e-list
• Co-ordinating the Bike Library event, including the radio and press drive

I am really excited about the opportunity to contribute to TINA and work with the rest of the TINA team to see the event come together. I'm looking forward to increasing my skills past the realms of newspaper and magazine journalism - in other words, doing some public relations work in the field. I think the place I will most develop this untapped part of myself will be in the co-ordination and management of the 'Bike Library'. Actually having my own section of the event to organise and co-ordinate is a scary, yet exciting prospect.

I am starting my placement there on the coming Tuesday, so I aim to gain a more rounded understanding of my role at TINA and then I will have more updates.

Allyson.

TINA Website: http://www.thisisnotart.org/

Purpose of this Blog

This blog has been created to document my studies and event placement during the CMNS 3290 - Applied Public Relations course at the University of Newcastle.

At the moment, I have written up my resume and I am currently searching for places to do my event placement.

There will be more to post once I have successfully found an event to be a part of.

Allyson.