For the past few months, I have been on the Santander University SME internship programme, working as the PR and Marketing Intern at nesma (North East Sales & Marketing Academy).
My favourite part of the internship has been exhibiting and networking at various events across the North East. The first of these was the North East Expo, which was an excellent chance to talk to as many different people as possible about nesma’s range of qualifications and shorter courses. We were also able to attend some engaging seminars throughout the day, including ones on social media and branding.
I also thoroughly enjoyed attending the People Power event last month, especially as we had the opportunity to hear from a variety of exciting speakers. The second most capped rugby player in England, Tamara Taylor gave an inspiring talk on tackling unconscious gender bias and about the importance of diversity in sports teams. Geoff Ramm spoke in the afternoon about celebrity service and how to attract more customers, using lots of his own examples of when companies have managed to exceed his expectations massively.
I couldn’t believe my luck that I was able to squeeze in my attendance at the CIPR Northern Conference on my last day. It was packed with headline speakers, breakout sessions and workshops, as well as panel debates and emerging tech presentations, followed by a drinks receptions and plenty of networking opportunities. My favourite sessions included the artificial intelligence slot by Stephen Waddington, Chief Engagement Officer at Ketchum and visiting professor at Newcastle University and Joanna Feeley’s, Founder at Trend Bible, insight into “How PR can use trends”. I thoroughly enjoyed the #PRchat between ‘the father of public relations’, Bob Leaf and CIPR President and Newcastle-native, Sarah Hall, as they talked about the constant changes in the industry. I had such a great time, I’m definitely a convert to the fact that live conferences and workshops are a great way to gain knowledge, skills and new opportunities.
In the office, I have enjoyed writing blog posts for the news section of the website and creating content for the nesma social media platforms, particularly for Twitter. Recently, nesma has begun using Instagram too, to post photos from various events and to advertise our upcoming courses, so be sure to follow!
A particular highlight from my internship has been learning new skills and taking part in some of the workshops held at nesma’s study centre in Newcastle.
This included; a one-day training course on how to become GDPR compliant, where the regulations were broken down into easy to follow steps and extra Microsoft Office training, which revealed lots of keyboard shortcuts which can make day-to-day tasks so much quicker to complete.
However, the real icing on the cake for me was the opportunity to study with nesma during my internship. I have just completed working on my assignment for the CIPR Foundation Award in Public Relations (and awaiting my results). The course covered how to create content for different types of media, as well as it giving us an understanding of the role of PR in an organisation. You can read my posts about each study day here;
Day 1 – My first day on my first CIPR course
Day 2 – Delving into the techniques and theories of PR
Day 3 – Understanding the ethical side of PR
I’ve enjoyed getting back into studying after graduating from University last year, and I hope to continue my studies with nesma in the future.
This has been a fabulous internship and I’d like to thank the team at nesma for their encouragement and fueling my passion for a role in communications.
Rebecca Hutchinson
A PR & Marketing Intern with nesma on the Santander University SME internship programme.
