Super Intern Wanted 2011

It is that time of the year again! I am excited to announce that Super Intern Wanted competition has now become an annual London Met event and I am looking for a team of highly creative and dynamic students to lead this project this year.

Below is the full job description for the role of a project manager:

Role: Project Manager

Employer: London Metropolitan University

Salary: Voluntary role

Type: 3 months contract

Hours: 10-14 hours per week

Reporting to: CIPR Student rep 2009-2010

Deadline: 18 March 2011

An opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated PR student/graduate to fill the project manager position within London Metropolitan University.

You will be supporting the CIPR Student Rep 2009-2010. The role will involve planning, organizing and executing a second annual internship competition from concept to completion. You will need an excellent understanding of the specifics of the same event that was organized last year, event's business requirements and commercial objectives.

The ideal candidate will be hard-working and have a proactive and creative approach to public relations.

As the project manager your duties will include but won't be limited to:

• Developing, planning and executing the event strategy
• Liaising with LMBS and other internal and external event stakeholders in preparing the event strategy
• Developing, planning and executing a promotional and marketing event campaign to secure maximum publicity internally (LMBS Times, Metropolis, Vervezine, Verve Radio, LMU website), locally, nationally and internationally where appropriate.
• Securing sponsorship for the value similar to or more than that from the last year's event
• Ensuring excellent internal and external communication throughout the 3 month's event campaign
• Securing three most attractive London PR agencies, booking event and reception venues, organizing refreshments, printing materials, securing a graphic designer, two photographers and other event logistics
• Maintaining the event Twitter and Facebook accounts, blog and be available for interviews and features if requested by media
• Submitting an application for London Metropolitan Student Awards 2010-2011 in the nomination voluntary work
• Carrying out a survey to obtain the feedback

You will have excellent writing, interpersonal and organisational skills.

This is a fine opportunity for a highly creative and dynamic student or graduate who needs to gain comprehensive PR experience before moving onto a paid role.

Most work will be carried out distantly (email, phone, Skype).

If you are interested, please email your CV and cover letter to ekaterina.a.aleksandrova@gmail.com.

Media Coverage

Now that a few months have passed I am in a better position to assess the media coverage and online presence of the event:

PR Week - http://prweek.com/uk/researchData/login/1013261/

Interview given to student PR publication vox-pop PR Careers - http://www.vox-pop.co.uk/tag/ekaterina-aleksandrova/

Feature published in Behind the Spin Magazine - http://www.behindthespin.com/features/life-changing-event

Pre-event press release at Behind the Spin - http://www.behindthespin.com/news/wanted-super-intern-with-x-factor

LMBS website - http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/lmbs/news/news-2010/july---september-2010/lmbs-pr-weekly.cfm

London Metropolitan website - http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/news/latest-news/october-2010/pr-comp-superstar.cfm

Britannica - http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/52366036/Uni-intern-competition-was-a-super-idea

Blogger (contestant) - http://thewayiseethem.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/

Letter to my alma mater in Russian - http://www.lunn.ru/?id=7182

And a few more links to Russian publications:

Feature in the local newspaper in my home town - http://iskra.lysva.ru/storages/files/pdf/data_2273.pdf?PHPSESSID=a6e4b2e7abff41b234deac3604ebcb21

Interview with PR 26 magazine- http://www.pr26.ru/mnenie-eksperta/ekaterina-aleksandrova.-9-voprosov-o-public-relations.html

Article in Communications Management magazine - http://www.man-com.biz/novosti/novosti-mirovogo-pr/razyiskivaetsya-superstazher.html

Interview with Communications Management magazine - http://prblog.man-com.biz/ekaterina-aleksandrova-o-public-relations/

Article in RASO (Russian Association of PR – equivalent to CIPR) - http://www.raso.ru/news/news25077.html

http://doone.at.ua/news/ekaterina_aleksandrova_blagodarja_pr_organizacija_mozhet_naladit_otnoshenija_s/2010-08-03-231

http://www.vgoroden.ru/?id=113842

http://www.limpa.ru/blog/user/PRpro/archive/2010/6

http://ezerin.com/?p=5728

http://www.ipr.by/news.html?news_id=1784

Here you will find photos from the event: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wanted-Super-Intern/119855904702170?ref=ts

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1:

I could have timed it better. The week when my pre-event press release went out was the election week and therefore there was zero percent probability that my press release would be published. The fact the Behind the Spin magazine accepted my press release was more due to luck than strategic thinking.

Lesson 2:

I should have definitely chosen a week in April and definitely no later than the first Monday of May (it had to be a Monday as we have classes every other day of the week at the university) and Friday is no good for such events.

Lesson 3:

I should have prepared a contingency plan in case one or more of the agencies/candidates has not shown up. As it happened at the event, I had one student stranded in Barcelona due to ash cloud flight cancellations, one student refusing to attend the contest due to the pressure from the exam and one student just did not turn up. If I was to conduct the same event again, I would prepare a waiting list of the students who haven’t been chosen for the contest but could be called in for the competition in case of a cancellation. The same applies to the agencies.

Lesson 4:

Refreshments should arrive not at the break but half an hour before the event itself.

Lesson 5:

None of the logistics arrangements (i.e. printing and goodie bags) should be left until the day of the competition but at least two or three days beforehand.

Lesson 6:

I should have asked a friend of mine or someone, I could rely on, to be on call and be able to be a distant assistant in case of an emergency. In this particular instance I did not need it but I am sure this would be of great help especially considering that as a chair you hardly ever have any time to sort things out. You have to carry on facilitating the event.

Lesson 7:

I know this was only an internship contest but about a week before the event I realized that I should invite a music band to perform at the reception as it would create a special atmosphere at the reception. As a matter of fact, my Facebook search has generated some interest: I have been approached by Erika at Just Groove Live who offered their services for free but it was too late. Next time I should start looking for a band from the moment I have the event idea.

THE BIG DAY

Ok, I had never woken up before my alarm clock in my life. This was the first time ever. A whole hour before I was due to get up – I just can’t believe it! The Monday 17 May 2010 arrived. I knew I had half a day off in the afternoon and help from my friend Maria who was acting both as an event assistant and an assistant photographer but even though I thought I had done most of the printing, apparently there was a lot more to do than I expected. All signage, labels and name badges aside (which I prepared on Friday 14 May) I still had to print the final agenda, the CVs of the confirmed students and put together the goodies for the goodie bags. I just don’t know what I would have been doing without Maria. This was the moment I realized that I should never underestimate any offer of help and make use of all offers. No matter how big or small. 

I must admit that in preparation for this event I made use of all the contacts I had made through LMU Corporate Events Officer Ann Willis.

Director of Student Recruitment and International Development Mark Bickerton connected me with the university photographer Steve Blunt who attended the official part of my event. Mark also organised free refreshments and goodie bags for the contest.

Director of Corporate and Community Synergy Pat Wood arranged the publicity for the event at the university itself.

The event was to start at 3PM. I arrived at the auditorium at 2PM and still did not have enough time to prepare. Ann Willis brought lovely purple university logo labeled tablecloths for the judges, so the room looked really nice and very official. All the guests arrived in time except for Antony Poppleton from Phoenix who had contacted me in the morning to inform me about an emergency he had and therefore he could not make it in time for his group presentation but would try and do his best. Hoping that he would arrive soon I made a decision to start the competition without him.

In my opening remarks I welcomed all the guests and announced the agenda. Students briefly introduced themselves followed by the PROs who spoke about their companies, internship terms and presented their briefs. Then the students split into two groups and started working over briefs jointly. As Antony Poppleton had not turned up yet, the students who had prepared his brief for the competition (briefs were emailed to the students at 9AM on Sunday 16 May) had to choose between the two present agencies. One minute into the presentations Antony arrived ever so apologetic. I comforted him saying that emergencies do happen and the fact that I had to deal with one of them at my event only prepared me better for the future. The students' presentations exceeded all expectations: the judges seemed to be totally thrilled by the caliber and level of preparation of the participants. Anna Schirmer of Lansons admitted later at the champagne reception that she found it hard not to be able to jump in the brainstorming session. When the presentations finished, we moved to the reception venue – the Wall Bar. Each of the event participants received a goodie bag containing a copy of the Communicate magazine and London Metropolitan Business School Times, a corporate logo pen from CIPR and LMU, an oyster holder with the LMU logo and flyers with offers from CIPR, LMU and the Wall Bar.

The function room at the Wall Bar was a nice surprise to all the guests. It was spacious enough to accommodate twice as many, had its own terrace, bar and bathrooms. After a group photograph was taken the judges announced their decisions. Lansons offered their internship to Lukasz Gwozdz of London Metropolitan University and offered interviews to all the other three members of the group: Melina Ex and Hubert Miernik of LMU and Menglu Wang of Westminster University. PHA Media chose Oana Jinga of Birmingham City University to be their super intern and offered an interview to Maja Vuckovska. Felicity Stewart of Communicate magazine made a dramatic change to their initial plan and offered a free admission to their next five conferences to all the three of the winners of the contest which was worth over £7,500 in total.

Antony Poppleton then suggested that he was going to invite all the students interested in his company to a brainstorming session in their offices in Leatherhead and a lunch on the house on Thursday 3 June.

As an addition to all the scheduled benefits Felicity invited the students to join their editorial team at the Communicate magazine and I made an announcement about internships available at NACUE (National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs) who had approached me that same morning.

Despite of all the pressure and shortcomings I had to face that day I must admit that I was pleased with the overall event development and happy with the outcome of the contest, which meant that more that three students were the winners.

More photographs can be found on the event Facebook fan page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wanted-Super-Intern/119855904702170?ref=ts.

Event agenda for the contest and entry requirements, 17 May 2010

I thought it would be good to publish the agenda for the day and entry requirements as I seem to be receiving more and more enquiries:
Competition, Moorgate campus of LMU

15.00 - 15.15 Registration
15.15 - 15.30 Opening remarks by event chair Ekaterina Aleksandrova

Agency overview, internship proposal and brief

15.30 - 15.45 Sophie Lilley, Director, and Anna Schirmer, Account Director, at Lansons
15.45 - 16.00 Mark Gregory, Managing Director, and Stuart Skinner, Senior Manager at PHA Media
16.00 - 16.15 Antony Poppleton, PR Director at Phoenix
16.15 - 16.30 Coffee break: students splitting into groups
16.30 - 17.15 Group work
17.15 - 17.30 Coffee break
17.30 - 17.15 Presentation: Lansons group
17.15 - 17.30 Presentation: PHA Media group
17.30 - 17.45 Presentation: Phoenix group
17.45 - 18.00 Coffee break/Judgement
18.00 - 18.15 All participants are going to the Wall Bar

Champagne reception, The Wall Bar (5-7 minute walk)

18.15 - 18.30 Awards ceremony
18.30 - 21.00 Networking

Students will be able to work both individually (agencies will provide their briefs one day before the event) and in groups (on the day). After introductions students will split into three groups and the agencies will score them on their creativity, ability to work in a team, communicate effectively etc). After 45 minutes of group work students will delegate a 10 minute presentation of their ideas to one candidate from their group. As a result three students will represent three groups. It can also be done by more group members than just one but will depend on the decision of the group.

University affiliation is not relevant in the contest.

I am still in the process of finalising the list of students for this contest and am accepting new enquiries until 10.00 on Friday 14 May 2010. To submit your enquiry please send me your CV and I will let you know by 17.00 on Friday 14 May if you have been selected for the next stage.

Unexpected surprise

One of the first benefits of having a pre-event press release published is that you can enrich the event potential being approached by third parties seeking to benefit from the event's publicity.

On the next day after my press release had been published in Behind the Spin, I was contacted by Andrew Thomas, the publisher of The Communicate Magazine who offered a free subscription for the magazine (worth £90) as a prize to the three winners and a free entry to five of their annual conferences on corporate and financial communications as the main prize for the one selected winner which was worth over £2,500.

My first press release

On Wednesday 5 May I sent out the press releases to major industry publications and was pleased to have my piece published in Behind the Spin Magazine the next day - http://www.behindthespin.com/news/wanted-super-intern-with-x-factor.

I suppose what helped me was that I knew Richard Bailey who was the editor of the magazine and we had a mutual friend - Oana Jinga, a CIPR student rep for the University of Birmingham City University who is also PR Coordinator at Behind the Spin.

You don't realise how much the world of PR is built on personal relationships!