Katherine gets the hopwood experience

Katherine Wood, 16, took a break out of her summer holiday after finishing her GCSEs and joined us for a week’s work experience at hopwood Public Relations. Here is her story.

If I had to sum up my week at Hopwood PR in four words, they would be “unexpected, enlightening, fascinating and welcoming”.

On my first day, I took part in a brainstorm for PR opportunities to support a campaign for teenagers with HIV.
After that, I sat in on a weekly planning meeting with the team. This was really interesting, and gave me a clear indication of just how many clients the firm has, as well as how busy they are!

After lunch, we went to BBC Radio Leicester to have a tour. We were shown around the offices and even the studios, with all their state-of-the-art technology. It was really interesting to hear how radio journalists and PR people work together.

The second day started with me being given a brief for my very own press release!  Next, we went on another tour, this time to a printing company that Hopwood sometimes uses for its clients. It was a completely new experience, as I had never seen any of the machinery before.

After lunch, Duncan, the managing director, spoke to me about PR writing and journalism. I got to know how to build a good relationship with journalists and what the best PR techniques are – it was really informative, and I will never read newspapers in the same way again!

On the third day, I started by doing an interview for my press release. Having gathered together all the information I needed, I put together a draft for Kirsty, Hopwood’s senior account executive for editing and approval. It will now be issued to the local media – my first real-life PR job complete! Next on my agenda was to write another press release.

After an early lunch, I sat in on a meeting with one of Hopwood’s clients, yet another new experience for me. It was quite strange to be sitting in a proper formal meeting, but I got a much better understanding of how PR is used, and even learnt a lot about the housing market!

Hardly any time at all was spent in the office on the fourth day. In the morning we went to Nottingham to visit BBC Nottingham and have a tour – needless to say I was excited!

Here we would find out about the relationship between PR and the BBC, and also learn about loads of different journalistic jobs, some of which I had never heard of before!

In the gallery, we saw everything that was being broadcast on the television (live) and, as our guide explained to us, time is seen very differently when working there, with some material being prepared just seconds before it goes live on air.

Next we went into the studio (which is much smaller than I imagined). Our guide explained to us how the news presenters do not just read the news, but have to write their own scripts, as well as doing other filming during the day.

Overall, the day was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which I’ll never forget. I learnt so much, both about PR, the BBC, and a whole new side of journalism.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my week at Hopwood, and have learnt a lot about what the PR industry encompasses. It has made me look at the media in a different light, and has shown me how important PR is within the news and local media. Hopefully, I will be able to get even more experience of PR in the future.

Katherine Wood