News

Christel Price
Public relations editorial intern
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

A local business will again benefit from a public relations plan developed for it by communication students at Avondale College.

Each year students from the public relations class "identify key stakeholder groups, design questionnaires, conduct surveys and analyse data with the aim of helping the business improve its relationship with the stakeholder groups," says lecturer Bruna Tawake.

The students worked with Fiona's Studio of Dance in Morisset this year. One of the students, Krystle Praestiin, helped develop a survey for the parents of two-five-year-olds attending classes at the studio. "We asked them what they thought about the services provided by Fiona's Studio of Dance and also how they came to hear about the studio," says Krystle. The students presented the findings of this and other surveys and the other information they had collected to the owner of the business, Fiona Donaldson, on May 20. They also offered recommendations.

Fiona says she found the recommendations helpful. "They were cost-effective tools to improve the business. The students were professional and conducted themselves well. I thought it was a worthy assignment."

The public relations plan is worth 50 per cent of the students' mark.

"It was a great experience," said Krystle. "It was full on as far as reaching deadlines and targets, but because it was a practical experience, it was beneficial. We got to implement what we were taught in class into a real life situation."

Other businesses to benefit from public relations plans developed by communication students at Avondale include Avondale Schools in 2007 and the Morisset and Toronto branch of Meals on Wheels this past year.