The things I’ve taken away…

Internship (n.) a pre-professional experience that provides an opportunity to gain relevant knowledge and skills prior to starting out in a particular career field. (definition courtesy of About.com)

My internship experience was that and much, much more; an awesome opportunity, where I learnt an incredible amount to help me along the way. As I spoke about in my last entry Lessons learnt, I gained a lot of knowledge and experience from the people I worked with at Bauer Media. However more so, I learnt a lot about myself both professionally, and personally. I particularly learnt that if I put my mind to it, I can come up with unique ideas and present work that I am proud of, and that I also have skills that can contribute to a great team like the one I was apart of. There was a moment one day where I found myself helping one of the other employees with a simple formatting task that she was unable to do, despite the simplicity of the help, I learnt that to some degree I can be valuable in a team environment. I think my strengths as a professional relate to my organisation, and my ability to try my hardest when I set my mind to it. It is one thing to be a brilliant writer, tech wiz, or anything similar.. But I think it is really important to have the foundations of being highly organised and motivated.

In saying that– personally, I need to develop my ability to be creative and to go out on a whim with crazy new ideas. This, is what really gets you noticed and what can lead to producing brilliant copywriting and other such work. Being inspired by the creativity of the people around me really sparked my interest in immersing myself further in building my creativity and experience in communications.

Whether it be as the {tiny} times baby blogger Marshall (with the help of his lovely knitter Mum, Karla), or as creative bloggers Dom and Meg from Citizens of the World who take inspiration from many different ordinary things, these people are so inspiring to me themselves, and an amazing demonstration of the kind of creative communications that is important to possess in the industry.

Despite not physically being a part of the office dynamics of the team on a long-term basis, I continue to learn from them through the process of remote interning, and to be inspired by their work both personally and professionally. I know I couldn’t have learnt the amount I did from any ordinary team and I have an incredible appreciation for the opportunity to learn so much about myself professionally in such an inspiring environment.

N.G. Miller

“What are you doing to tell your story visually?”

“What are you doing to tell your story visually?”

Intriguing post from Media Hunter on the nature of visual storytelling versus text and how effective it is. A really interesting insight into the simpler things that can make such a difference!

Blog: Pigs Don’t Fly

Blog: Pigs Don’t Fly

Witty and entertaining, head to Zac Martin’s blog Pigs Don’t Fly for a fun look at all things marketing, from a Melbourne-based Digital Strategist’s view. Love his work.

Lessons learnt

It’s Monday morning, 8:26 am, and I am sitting at my desk with a peppermint tea brewing beside me, patiently waiting for my first assignment, thinking all sorts of nervous first-day-of-school thoughts. What if I get completely lost? What will they think of my work? Will it be published?

Fast-forward to two-Friday’s time, sitting at my desk much the same, but with so much more knowledge squeezed into my head and a much bigger love for the industry that I have been working with, and the people that taught me so much.

My experience interning for Bauer Media [formerly ACP Magazines] has taught me an unmeasurable amounts about communications, publishing, and everything involved with working in the industry, perfectly prepping me for the wide and wonderful world of communications. If I learnt three things while I’ve been working for Bauer, they are that:

1. It takes really hard work, a lot of dedication, and passion to achieve big things and get your work noticed, the team that I worked with all had incredible work ethics and a serious passion for what they did, it was so inspiring to see people who really delved deep into what they were working on and consequently produced incredible results;
2. You need to find your niche that gives you your creative edge, this was something my co-workers taught me that really stuck in my mind. It allowed everyone to contribute a new angle, and provided for some awesome ideas being created by meshing all our thoughts together; and most importantly,
3. It is incredibly fun. I learnt so many pieces of golden knowledge and had an amazing time working together to create new ideas for many of the clients, and watching the creative flares spark.

Creating content: A day in the life…

As a team, there were so many different angles of communications that were put into practice including extensive researching, copywriting, liaising with relevant PR contacts, preparing presentations for clients, HTML, and online editor duties. Working together we produced (to name one project) some incredible travel-inspiring photo galleries for Qantas Travel Insider, featuring destinations around the world, ranging from movie-inspired places, to the most unique romantic spots. Being able to contribute to the work that was actually going to be published was incredible, and I was surprised by my ability to generate new ideas and for us to collectively turn them into something brilliant.

Hopefully one day I can inspire interns just like working with these people has inspired me.

N.G. Miller

Booze-y behaviour and professionalism, can you really put the two together?

Traditionally, a lot of people aim to maintain separate professional and personal lives, but in today’s society it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain this divide. Why?… Well, with the modernisation of our workplaces’, there is now a bigger emphasis on employee’s transparency within their work environment. This essentially comes down to the increasing demand of being able to understand, and read, what kind of colleagues’ people are, in an effort to assess and develop effective working relationships and collaborations. Professionally, it still remains important to possess the ability to separate your personal lives from the workplace, but in interactive, team-based industries such as communications, public relations, and marketing, it is important for each employee to bring something fresh to the proverbial melting pot. This sort of industry requires you to be able to create new and innovative ideas and to reflect some personality into your work in order to be able to create great content with an edge, regardless of what sector of the industry, be it in advertising or online editing.

Obviously, it is still really important to maintain etiquette, (as discussed in my previous post Modern-day workplace etiquette) however there is not so much pressure placed on a clean divide and sense of secrecy between the personal and the professional anymore. Conduct in a social context generally exhibits a lot more about you than your professional persona alone, and this can go both ways– either working in favour of your professional image, or to it’s detriment (Uh oh, someone brought it to everyone’s attention that Barry has terrible body odour after a few too many glasses of wine). The traditional end-of-week Friday evening office drinks that take place in some workplaces are a great way to experience a more relaxed and personal aspect of employees, and in some companies, there is great importance placed on the ability to have this opportunity to interact with each other.

This is also a time however, where there are still certain lines that need to be recognised and that should not be crossed– as explored by Diane Gottsman on her blog where she discusses Happy Hour behaviour. It is important to recognize that it’s not an opportunity to write yourself off and discuss the ‘gossip’ of the office and whom you find attractive or unattractive. This is an especially imperative time where professional conduct remains important (to a degree), and the ability to be able to locate that line that should not be crossed is important for maintaining professionalism. In my (so-far short) time as a professional in the industry, I have learnt that it is really important to recognize that while it isn’t a great idea to sit in the corner and remain quiet when it comes to interacting with other employees; it is also necessary to remain professional when getting friendly with colleagues. There may be difficulty in people’s ability to recognize these lines, however it is an important (I’d even go as far as saying vital) part of any professional environment, and really varies between companies, departments, and various offices, so it is worth paying attention to your surroundings before you get too comfortable. I’d say the lesson to take away from this, is that while you shouldn’t display your private life like a smorgasbord for the world to feast on; new age office aesthetics and work production really thrives when a degree of personality is added into the mix.

 

N.G. Miller

Modern-day workplace etiquette

While we are living in the 21^st century, basic etiquette still remains a vitally important part of maintaining a professional image and ensuring that you are projecting the best possible version of yourself. Whether it be as a graduate entering the industry, or an experienced professional, the ability to professionally network and ‘enter the market’ as such, can be done in many ways today, through online communities such as LinkedIn, and in many different face-to-face situations such as conferences or interviews.

Regardless of the industry or specific workplace that you’re involved in, it is still really important that as an employee (especially entering a new company) you take note of the ‘jungle’ that you are about to enter. In learning about your profession, it is possible to see the kind of mannerisms and level of professionalism that you should exert as a new professional cub entering the lion’s den. Experts like Diane Gottsman know it all when it comes to professional etiquette; her blog is full of wisdom on etiquette for the modern executive, so if in doubt, see Ms Gottsman!

Below are my top 7 ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ for workplace etiquette

• Write handwritten thankyou notes, doing this projects a great sense of appreciation on your behalf, and will create a good impression to the recipient; you never know when you might need a favour from someone in their position! See one of Diane’s videos
  
• Dress appropriately, this is such a basic yet important skill to have, as you are judged on appearance at a first glance, and it important to look the part (this goes for fresh breath and clean hair, too)
• Avoid slang and lingo, and be sure to remain professional in emails, professional social networks i.e. LinkedIn, and equally as important, in person. It is essential to communicate professionally, and this means no slang, lingo, or emoticons in any correspondence
• Follow up! Don’t be afraid to contact people that you meet in professional settings such as at a conference. It is important to network and put your best foot forward, and this is the best way to build connections throughout the industry. Be sure to promptly get back to someone if they get in contact with you too!
• Be on time, one of the absolute key’s to professionalism and creating a great first impression, there is no simpler explanation that to simply make sure you arrive to meetings and other such events, with sufficient time to allow for any mishaps
• Don’t over self-promote, it is important to ensure that people know your skills when networking, but be sure that you aren’t tooting your own horn too much, a little bit of humble pie goes a long way…
• Remain attentive and interested, whether it’s in a meeting, or at a business function, never appear to be disinterested, people will always remember the person tapping their fingers and watching the clock

N.G. Miller

All American adventures

The past couple of weeks (and even the past months) have flown by. It seems like it was only yesterday that I sat down to apply for the New Media and Digital Business course at Michigan State University; more commonly know as MSU.

Whilst it has been quite a while since I began filling our guest room with belongings that I needed to pack (and did not need for the remainder of my time at home!), the flurry of organised chaos that has accompanied the preparation of this trip including visas, US dollars, travel insurance, and much more, has finally begun to make it sink in that I am are about to embark on an awesome adventure. I guess the important and most exciting aspect of this adventure though, is that it is not like your typical holiday or backpacking experience, we are not just travelling in the US, but actually study at a universities and (hopefully) completely immersing ourselves in the culture that is the typical American college experience.

Personally, I’m incredibly eager to meet all the other participants that will be studying at MSU with me, and also to be able to have the chance to experience this new university culture; which I’m sure will be quite different to the university I currently attend, the University of Canberra. While there is much to look forward to, there will also be challenges for some of us, and for me personally, I think it will be an interesting and new experience to share a dorm, study, and travel with people that I have never met before, and will not be very familiar with.

Putting the challenges aside, I think that this experience will give me (and the other participants) more of an ability to understand the university cultures of a country that differs to what I/we have grown up with, and I think that this is an especially important asset to achieve in today’s world where globalisation is growing so rapidly and becoming so prevalent in the study of communications.

As the final countdown gets into the single digits of days until we leave, my excitement grows, as I imagine it is for the other participants, and I look forward more and more to meeting everyone involved and getting settled in.

Only 8 days 10 hours 5 minutes and 52 seconds to go!

Natalie x

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Resolutions of a domestic goddess (in training)

One of my few New Years’ resolutions for 2012 was to work my way through Nigella Lawson’s 374-page How To Be A Domestic Goddess: Baking and the art of comfort cooking, Julia Childs’ style. By this, I mean that I want to bake every recipe from the start to finish of the book. It might seem a little bit odd to set such a resolution for myself, and in a sense it is more of a project than a resolution, but I think the resolution that comes out of this challenge is to enjoy the little things in life and to actually take time out to do some of the things I love – i.e. in this case, cooking.

So, I plan to document each chapter of the book as I work my way through the many culinary delights and possible challenges.

Yours in baking,

N x

What would you do different, if you couldn’t fail?

The question itself makes you think.. What would you do differently? The fear of failure holds people back from doing what they love, and to some, the chance of failing is not worth the risk of succeeding.

When we’re young, we learn through trial and error, and somehow as we grow older, the idea of trial and error gets buried. We become people that do things we know are possible and within our reach, we take less chances for fear of failing. Why? Because as children we weren’t as aware of others and we didn’t understand the concept of judgement. As children, we ‘trialed’ ways to do things – like walking. If you sit and watch a young child trying to walk, even when they fall back down, that failure turns into encouragement, the encouragement to get back up and try again until they can succeed. I think that this is important thing to realise as an adult, that we need to take a chance on [what we perceive as] the impossible, and at first we may fail, but if we keep trying we can achieve great things.

As Benjamin Franklin was once quoted saying, ‘Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries.  Truth is uniform and narrow; it does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified‘

I think he was onto something.