Hi De Hi – Morning campers!

I’m slightly tardy to the blogging party this week and am writing this on Monday morning rather than Friday afternoon, but hopefully this will bring a new angle to the blog – how is my attitude to work, the universe and everything on a Monday morning with the whole week ahead of me, rather than a Friday afternoon with the weekend a mere beer bottle and snack’s consumption away?

Across the course of last week I was tasked with putting together a Powerpoint presentation that sold the legion of skills within the Public Affairs team, compiling their ‘best bits’ as Davina would say and presenting them in an aesthetically pleasing and stylized way. I have to say this took me back to various GCSE presentations and I had to restrain myself from putting in an excess of swishy transitions and technically impressive timings!

Monday also saw me putting together a couple of biographies using Dods, Factiva and Randalls – useful little research tools that have the potential to save you some serious page-flipping time. I was also ‘lucky’ enough to proof-read a report on the previous week’s Tory conference; assuming the role of teacher for the hour I whipped out the red pen and was merciless in my dissection of every sticking-out syllable, every precarious paragraph and wayward word. It’s relatively satisfying to for once, pick apart someone else’s work, rather than have them pick yours apart. Sadly, like getting drunk at lunchtime, the novelty soon wears off and it becomes a test of concentration rather than satisfaction. How teachers don’t get fed up with marking I’ll never understand…what…they do!? Ah.

A graduate’s rotation week would not be complete without drawing up some sort of contact list and in what was to be my first foray into the lists this week; I was assigned the enviable mission of drawing up a list of contacts relating to alcohol misuse. With the benefit of hindsight and the memory (or lack of) of the weekend just gone, this was a highly ironic task for me.

Tuesday progressed in much the same vein and on Wednesday, I got fully involved in a project for a major client, who, let’s just say, lives life to the Max. The task was to research into campaigning work done by NGOs and to demonstrate how they can be successful and also fail in equal measure. This required lots of ‘surfing’ hours and while I fell off the board a few times; I eventually managed to stand it up and ride the wave of information and bring it crashing down into a word document. It was genuinely quite interesting to look into the work done by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and others like them so whilst it was ‘work’, it was work of the kind that could also be ‘enjoyed’. Incidentally, if you notice a particular preponderance in my use of the around words this week; it’s merely a ‘tribute’ to the ‘ironic’ finger gesturing that seemed to be so ‘popular’ in the public affairs department. Jamie, Chris – you know who you are (and if you didn’t, you do now!) ;o)

A large part of the latter half of the week was occupied with me putting together a mammoth contact list for an event we are organizing in Battersea on behalf of a related client. This involved, again, a lot more surfing, quite a substantial amount of phone calls and a whole lot (or, an excessive amount) of excel time. What seems like a simple and short task quickly becomes a relatively simple but stupendously time consuming task. Once again, trying to source the names and positions of certain people really is like trying to get blood out of a stone. If only people could be more trusting…damn you National Sheep Alliance!!!!

Friday was a good day, not least because it was Friday and by definition; Friday’s are always good, but also because I was given several tasks which were both interesting and involving. I was able to do some research and prepare a Briefing Note and also write the weekly bulleting which would be sent to one of our clients the same day. Research and creativity are two things that have featured in varying amounts during my time here at Edelman so far and when they do crop up, it’s usually the most enjoyable work that you get; so treasure it and do a good job!

The guys and girls of Public Affairs have had a tough time trying to please me but only because the first week and a half was fairly poor and this is no reflection on them, but an uncontrollable result of the party conferences. To their credit; the last half of my 3 week rotation has been far more enjoyable and involved and the department is full of some great people and in my eyes, has the potential to be a great place to work. I’m now torn between financial and public affairs as to which department to plump for when the time comes to decide and it will be a difficult decision, not least because I still have four more departments to try and potentially enjoy to the same degree. Only time will tell.

Slightly off topic (and with tongue firmly in check) – this weekend I went to the Worthing Beer Festival. Organised by CAMRA (the Campaign for real Ale), it is the most glamorous and widely reported beer drinkers event of the calendar year. Bringing together the finest and tastiest locally brewed beverages it gives young and old (but mostly old) the chance to sample the hoppy delights that are bursting from counties across the UK. In reality, it was a chance for myself and 8 mates to go down to the countryside for the weekend, get irresponsibly drunk, (but not make nuisances of ourselves, of course) eat good food and generally ‘bond’. It was a really enjoyable weekend and whilst my liver and my head were heavily against the idea both before and (more so) after the event, I think it was well worthwhile. Although the majority of the weekend was spent in the company of middle – aged to old men with guts the size of the barrels they were drinking from and beards that even Merlin would be proud of, it was good, clean-ish fun and a break from my normal whirlwind clubbing lifestyle that I generally tend to indulge in of a weekend.

Once again, if you’ve made it this far I’m touched and slightly surprised but I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey and will join me on the good ship Edelman at some point in the future.

Secret Squirrel – over and out.