by Melissa Lorz 211 821 232Gitta Witzel 211 742 041

Deakin UniversityBurwood

Journal of

Internship Experience, Report and Folio

Deakin University

School of Communication and Creative ArtsALC313 - Media and Communication Internship

Mr. Ross Monaghan

1 March 2012

Trimester 3 2011/2012

2

3

4

We engaged in a Study Abroad Program at Deakin University in Trimester 3 - 2011/2012.

This internship is part of the Unit ALC 313 Media and Communication Internship we both enrolled in.

We commenced working for Alkira Centre - Box Hill Inc. on 14 December 2011 and concluded on 1 March 2012.

5

6

Gitta Witzel,I am a German student at Deakin University in Melbourne. I was born on February  16th 1989 in the former German Democratic Republic. After the Wall came down, my parents and I moved to Southern Germany where I graduated from High School in 2008. I  have joined an American Explorer Program in the U.S. and also participated in a Work and Travel program in Canada. I lived and worked in Toronto for six months and later moved to Vancouver for one month. In 2009, I started studying Applied Media Economics at Fresenius University of Applied Science in Cologne (Germany). Having completed four semester successfully, I decided to study one semester abroad before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in October 2012.‘

7

Melissa Lorz,I am 23 years old. I was born in Stuttgart Germany, on August 18th 1988, and grew up in a little suburb of Stuttgart. After graduating high school, I travelled through New Zealand for half a year. After I came back, I moved to Cologne and studied Graphic Design at the Fresenius University of Applied Science. I am in my fifth semester and I am studying one trimester abroad at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. In March 2012 I will return to Germany and complete my Bachelor of Arts.My dream is it to travel a lot more through Asia and Australia. After travelling, I would like to do my master in event engineering in Berlin or/and work for an event technology company to work at concerts and festivals around Europe.‘

8

Content

Part 1 - Journal of Internship Experience

Part 2 - Report

Part 3 - Folio

9

Page 10

Page 36

Page 42

The following journal has been designed to present the internship experience by Melissa Lorz and Gitta Witzel gained

at the Alkira Centre - Box Hill Inc.

Assignment No. 1

Journal of Internship Experience

General InformationAlkira Centre - Box Hill Inc.3 Thurston StreetBox Hill VIC 3128Tel: 03 9890 1365 Mail: info@alkira.org.auWeb: www.alkira.org.au

The organisation - Alkira CentreThe Alkira Centre - Box Hill Incorporated is a community organisation that was established in 1954 by a small group of parents whose children were born with intellectual difficulties. Therefore, they made a commitment to ensure these children would be raised to be an integral part of the community with 'dignity and purpose'. From this firm foundation Alkira has become one of the most highly committed and respected organisations of its kind.

Alkira‘s Mission‘Alkira strives to meet the needs and wishes of people with intel lectual disabilities, through care and support, to enrich and challenge them to be part of the world community’. 13

Alkira‘s clientsAlkira provides a range of services for more than 150 people with an intellectual disability. Families were Alkira's foundation and remain the corner stone of the lives of people here. With their support, Alkira ensures that all clients achieve and enjoy a lifestyle that extends smoothly into the community. The dignity and autonomy of the people who use the services is of first priority. People at Alkira are actively involved in making decisions, not just about the activities that are offered, but about how things are run.The organisation seeks ways to meet the special ,needs and wishes‘ of the clients. They are being regarded as participants, not recipients. That's the Alkira difference.

14

Alkira‘s nameAlkira is the Australian-Aboriginal name for ,the sky’ and it furthermore means ,bright and sunny‘. For many it refers to ,a happy place in the sun‘.

Alkira‘s serviceThe quality of the services provided is significantly funded by the State Government as well as donations and contributions from the general public, companies, and families. Alkira relies on this support in order to maintain the quality and keep the variety of services and support.

Alkira's services are divided into two categories:

Training & Support Services Day ServicesTransportMomentum ProgramIndividual Community Options Home & ChoiceRecreation Family Liaison

15

Residential ServicesPermanent AccommodationRespite and Crisis AccommodationLow Support Living

Our role and tasksWe have been employed as volunteers in the PR and Communication depart-ment at Alkira. Our major project was to help promoting The 2012 Alkira Sky Festival as well as setting up the social media activities. Even though we shared duties, we were also responsible for:

Developing a plan through electronic means, photography, coordination, and Facebook development.

Developing a plan through media outlets, printed medium, and written articles for publication.

Writing an article for the Yarra Valley & Ranges Country Life Magazine.

16

17

First day at AlkiraWhen we first came to Alkira, we were briefed in terms of the organisation and the clients by the Volunteers Co-Ordinator Simon Nette. He introduced us into the world of disabled people and Alkira. We had to read a special, very difficult text, in order to exper-ience their environment.

He recommended watching the movie ,Annies coming out‘, which was -referring to him - ,a milestone of the changing support system in Australia‘. This movie has been very touching and it sensitised us.

Week 1: 12.12.2011 - 16.12.2011

We have been introduced to our general tasks and the current project status by Bob Slater, Manager - C o m m u n i t y a n d F u n d r a i s i n g Development.Field trip to the Lilydale Airport; the place where the festival was held. We also took photographs for the maga-zine and met some sponsors.Researched on possible marketing actions questioning ‘What have other community organisations done so far?’For the first time, we took part in the Planning Meeting No. 5, where we were briefed by several invitees who already worked on the festival.

18

(foto vom meeting sheet)

Week 2: 19.12.2011 - 23.12.2011

Developed a plan for activities in terms of Facebook, newspapers, sponsors etc. We searched for other community organisation events and compared their offerings with ours.Set up a timetable of our working hours.Caught up with Elizabeth Curran, an Alkira volunteer, in terms of what has been done so far and what is considered to be done in the future.Attended Alkira‘s annual christmas party.

19

Week 3: 26.12.2011 - 30.12.2011

Christmas holidays!

Week 4: 2.01.2011 - 6.01.2012

Christmas holidays!Meeting with Elizabeth at the Deakin University Campus. Besides having a coffee we discussed future steps and further promotional activities.Revised the flyer and the package for the jumpers.Worked on the billboard and the banner.

20

Week 5: 9.01.2012- 13.01.2012

We wrote emails to Deakin and DUSA staff, asking for their support in terms of promoting the event on campus.We modified the flyer’s layout.Updated the Alkira’s Facebook and event page.Telephone conference with a lady from the animal farm Animal 2 U.Created an auction for two diamond tickets at the Roger Water – The Wall Live concert in Melbourne, which took place on 8th February 2012.

21

Week 6: 16.01.2012 - 20.01.2012

Joined the Planning Meeting No. 6 where we presented what we have done so far and illustrated the social media progress. There was also a discussion about the entry fee and the change towards using coupons for three areas instead of charging $25 per car load.We adjusted the Facebook event page and made some small alterations on Alkira‘s Facebook page.

22

Week 7: 23.01.2012 - 27.01.2012

Made some small modifications on the jumper‘s package.Emailed schools in terms of imple-menting the flyer into their newsletters or be up on the noticeboard.With sending out an email to each staff member, we tried to upgrade Alkira‘s social media activities. Got in touch with Michael Katz, the Business Development Manager of the Melbourne Skydive Centre. The centre was responsible for the aerial activities and we asked Michael for support regarding social media. He then posted our event on the Melbourne Skydive Centre’s Facebook page.

23

Week 8: 30.01.2012 - 3.02.2012

Contacted a few general event pages such as ,Only Melbourne‘ and created accounts in order to get the event listed.Altered the banner plus the billboard design.Talked to the former Community Rela-tions Manager Meaghan Adams in regards to involving her in the media work.

24

Week 9: 6.02.2012 - 10.02.2012

Set up a media plan for the following Facebook entries in terms of keeping the social media activities up-to-date.

Week 10: 13.02.2012 - 17.02.2012

EXAM PERIOD!!! We were busy studying and working on other assignments.

25

Week 11: 20.02.2012 - 24.02.2012

Generated a program flyer.Set up and laminated the signages for the festival.Thought and discussed about several ideas for the magazine article.Helped setting up the festival area.Planning Meeting No. 8 took place.Created two folders including relevant informations of the festival. The folders were placed in the information tent at the festival.

26

27

25.02.2012

We helped building up tents, chairs, fences, etc.Installed all signages on the festival field.We also prepared and cleaned the hangar for the public.

26.02.2012 ALKIRA SKY FESTIVAL

Made some final preparations before the event started, e.g. built up fences and barriers and cleaned tables and chairs.Participated at a joy flight (part of the activities on offer).Sold raffle tickets.Took photographs, interviewed guests and recorded several activities.Disassembly of the festival‘s area.

28

29

30

31

Week 12: 27.02.2012 - 2.3.2012

Interviewed two Alkira staff members: Bob and Elizabeth.Took photographs of our internship place.Uploaded photos of the Alkira Festival on Facebook.

32

33

We got a last present from Bob: Two tickets for the musical A Chorus Lane.

34

Internship development

First of all, we would like to thank the whole Alkira staff for their warmth and support. After already a couple of days, we felt comfortable and welcomed. This made working at Alkira very easy and enjoyable. Hence, we appreciate the opportunity of completing the internship there.

Furthermore, we have realised how important it is to complete tasks timely and accurately and that this is mandatory for every company’s project.We experienced a very harmonic and efficient team. However, we recognised the unpredictability of circumstances which caused us some difficulties in the beginning, but we also learned how to handle them.

35

Future benefits

The purpose of the internship was to provide us with an opportunity for gaining practical experience relevant to our educational objectives. We have been studying Applied Media Economics at the University of Fresenius in Cologne, Germany majoring in Media, Sports and Event Management (Gitta) and Graphic Design (Melissa). Through several course works during our former studies as well as our occupations as working students, we have already gained practical experiences.

This has been very helpful for the tasks we obtained at Alkira. We have been able to implement our theoretical knowledge as well as the impressions of the everyday working world.We have honed our communication, rhetoric and presentation skills. We are confident about working full time since our studies have prepared us properly and intensively.

The following video has been designed to present our media and communication skills which we have acquired during our

studies and the internship.

ReportAssignment No. 2

38

ReportWe choose to make a video of the Alkira Sky Festival because that was the project we both worked on the most. This video reflects our skills which we have acquired during our studies and furthermore, it has given us the opportunity to utilise a wide range of media practices.

The video shows some impressions of the festival as well as an interview of two Alkira stuff members who were highly involved in the planning process of the festival. It is already available on the Alkira‘s Facebook page and it serves as an PR video for the future to promote the festival for the following years. For all participants and volunteers it is also a nice memory.

We attached the video in the dropbox in DSO: Assignment_02_Report_Alkira_Sky_Festival_2012

Enjoy it!

39

40

Questions

1. Could you please briefly introduce yourself. What‘s your name and your position at Alkira?

2. How would you best describe the Alkira Sky Festival?

3. What are the objectives and goals for the festival?

4. Since when have you been preparing it?5. Can you state a number of people involved

in it?6. Can you already say something about the

outcome or the profit?7. What will you change for next year? What

could be improved?8. Are you satisfied?9. How did you contribute to the planning

process of the festival?10. What have you done in particularly?

The folio has been designed to reflect our major activities and highlights of our Internship as well as to present our creations.

FolioAssignment No. 3

The 2012 Alkira Sky FestivalOne of our major project was The 2012 Alkira Sky Festival. The festival can be best described as a Family Fun Day that raises funds for Alkira with aerial activities, live music, and lots of ground entertainment.

After two in-house skydiving events in 2009 and 2010, Alkira has decided to maximise the potential of this idea for 2012. The Alkira Sky Festival is determined to be an annual event from now on, aimed to grow bigger and better each year. In these uncertain times financially, Alkira is establishing community-based activities that will raise much needed funds. These funds will provide training, education, residential services, and opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Although the key goal is to raise funds and Alkira’s profile in the general community, it is also about creating a day of entertainment for the whole family to encourage guests to return in future years and to bring others along.

44

There are many ways of falling for Alkira's cause. People can participate in tandem parachute jumps, sponsor someone to jump, or simply enjoy the many activities on offer.From 2012 the Parachute Jump will be transformed into the Alkira Sky Festival, and will be Alkira’s major annual fundraiser. Despite a trophy which is awarded for the jumper who obtains the highest sponsorship, the objectives for each jumper are:

Raise as much sponsorship money for Alkira as possibleBring others to the Alkira Sky FestivalHave fun

Apart from sponsored parachute jumps there are aerial acrobatics and joy flights, musical entertainment including the Australian Welsh Male Choir, and games and displays for the whole family. Refreshments are available from a range of vendors, with wine tasting provided by Coldstream Hills Wines – the oldest winery in the Yarra Valley, and now managed by Jason Steele (grandson of the late Alkira Life Governor Mary Steele).

45

Besides our contribution to the planning process of the Alkira Sky Festival, Bob Slater has designed a Sky Festival Personnel and Responsibility Chart as well as a cost summary, which was approved at the Planning Meeting No. 9 on 15 February 2012.

46

47

48

49

50

51

FlyerA former intern and Deakin student already designed a flyer for the festival. Honestly, we did not like this version and we also discovered many graphical ‘mistakes’. Because we were asked to make some alterations in terms of how the offerings are presented, we cautious-ly asked if we c o u l d m a k e s o m e b i g g e r modificat ions wi thout insul t ing anyone.

Due to the change of the entry fee, we had to alter the flyer a couple of times. Overall, we attached value to the simplicity, sophistication, and attractiveness of the flyer. Eventually, the flyer was published in the Upper Yarra Mail on 14 February 2012.

52

Banner and BillboardThere was the same situation as with the flyer: already quite a few drafts for the banner and billboard. From a graphic designers point of view, our main intention was to create a homogenous look and update the layout to the one of the flyer. For what we have learned in the past, it is mandatory to have a uniform look and feel. That is why we adjusted the files and as soon as they were approved by Bob, we send them out to several people in charge of further use.

Elizabeth Curran: I saw the banner as I turned into Victoria Road and photo-graphed it on the way back. It is quite visible from the road – even although being on the bottom part of the display.

53

54

Final version

Program flyerWe received a first draft by Bob Slater, which simply included the front page saying that it is a ‚program flyer‘ and the site map. By adjusting the front page, and also including the different programs as well as a ‚thank you‘ note for all the sponsor, we completed the content. Despite that, we played a bit with the layout and made three versions for Bob Slater to choose from.

55

56

Version 1

57

Version 2

58

Jumper‘s packageWe helped Bob Slater creating a package for all the jumpers. This package provided each jumper with information about sponsorship instructions, the Alkira Centre, and general concerns. Once more, our intention was creating a uniform look. With adding a bottom line, using the same colours and fonts as well as symbols, we achieved our objectives.

59

60

61

62

63

64

SignagesFurthermore, we were given the task of creating of the necessary signages for the event area.We simply established a Powerpoint presentation saying ‚Tickets and Vou-chers‘, ‚Parking‘, ‚Drinking Water‘, ‚First Aid‘ etc.Afterwards, we printed and laminated the pages on an A3 paper format and eventually set them up.

65

66

Facebook PageWe were asked to improve the social media activities. Therefore, we looked at the status quo and thought about how we can change the situation. By doing some modifications of the page, connecting with other Facebook pages and asking for more ,Likes‘ by Alkira staff and their friends, we raised the likes from 28 (16 December 2012) to 49 (28 February 2012). As shown in the diagram, we also achieved huge improvements regarding Facebook‘s ,reach‘ and ,talking about it.‘

67

68

Facebook AuctionWe were asked by Greg Trump, the Individual Community Options Manager, if we can help him selling two Diamond Tickets for the Roger Water – The Wall Live concert. The tickets were donated by an Alkira sponsor who is also the owner of the concert‘s venue. We decided with Greg that we will sell the tickets by an auction, hence install a social media auction more precisely a Facebook auction page.

We gave ourselves an overview of how other organisations handled online auctions and which information is need to be provided.After having checked the legal basis, we created the Alkira auction page and invited as many ‚friends‘ to it as possible and asked for further invitations.Unfortunately, no one participated and the online auction ended without any bid.Luckily, Greg Trump was able to sell the tickets in a staff meeting so that the money could be given to the organisation.

69

70

Alkira‘s HomepageAnother task was providing Alkira‘s homepage with a more detailed description of the festival. Therefore, we had a meeting with Jennifer McIver, the IT Co-ordinator at Alkira and Desma Jessup, Administration OfficerManager. Desma is also the one responsible for the internet appearances on Alkira‘s homepage. We composed a description and told here how we envisioned it. After her implementation, we still asked for some some alterations. But unfortunately she has not done so.

71

SurveyStudents of the Box Hill Institute of TAFE conducted a survey, which is yet to be evaluated.

Questions included:How did you hear about the 2012 Alkira Sky Festival?What was the size of your group that attended the Alkira Sky Festival?How likely are you to attend 2013 Alkira Sky festival?

This can help for future improvements and it is good to have a general feedback by some participants.

These students also provided Alkira with a business plan for the Alkira Sky Festival which was a great help for our tasks as well.

72

TicketsGaby Dowling, a Co-Ordinator of the Alkira Sky Festival and the person in charge of Kid’s Activities, was responsible for creating the tickets. Depending on the purpose e.g. the bungee trampoline or the animal farm, she created several versions.

73

74

Magazine articleAnother major project of this internship was writing an article for the Yarra Valley & Ranges Magazine. Unfortunately, we haven‘t been able to finish the article yet. We arranged with Bob, that we will send him the draft by the end of March.

Besides focusing on the Alkira Sky Festival, we also chose the children‘s attractions to be a main theme. This will constitute largely to the three filling pages article.

In order to be provided with valuable material, we took many photographs, interviewed peopled, and recorded the course of the event.

75

76

I am coming to this! I already saw the flyer.

 I saw the flyer in the Mountain Mail and I am coming with my family.

 I have received this through disability group email

listing.

 I know someone who works at Alkira (Tara Waghorn)!

 I am coming if the scones look like that!

What a fantastic flyer!

I work in the Box Hill Hospital – I know one of the Alkira volunteers.

I work for Melba Services – can I take a couple of flyers for the clients and the respite houses.

Other promotional activitiesOriginally we planned going to the Farmers market at Yering Station in order to distribute the flyer for the Sky Festival on Sunday 19 February 2012. Due to an unforeseen event, Elizabeth Curran was the only one going for one hour. Only shortly thereafter, we receive an email from her saying that she already got great feedback regarding our former promotional actives.

77

Special thanks to

Bob SlaterElizabeth Curran

Alkira Centre - Box Hill Inc.Deakin University

design by melissalorena