Adelaide University Internships - Taylor Alland
Welcome Taylor!
Taylor Alland joined our Media and Communications Team for his Adelaide University Arts, Business, Law, and Economics Internship for Media on the 25 July for Semester 2, 2022 - 6 September 2022.
Taylor completed a 100 hour internship onsite in the SAcommunity service at the Connecting Up office with Infoxchange, 15 hours a week over 2 days for nearly 7 weeks. Taylor's SAcommunity Media Portfolio can be found >>here https://sacommunity.org/blog/20663 with his focus at SAcommunity on digital marketing and media content-creation, journalism and public relations, copywriting and storytelling tactics.
Taylor Alland working in the SAcommunity program, Connecting Up Office, at Infoxchange
Community Services Storytelling Project and Work Experience
Taylor has been working on the SAcommunity Media project, telling the stories of South Australian charities and not-for-profits via SAcommunity media channels, website blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and eNewsletter. Taylor has been using a range of media tools such as Bee Pro, Canva, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, to plan, interview, write and present storytelling articles on community services, culminating in the release of the SAcommunity September eNews >>here, collated by Taylor in the Bee Pro design suite for the Campaign Monitor email marketing platform. Capturing the missions, histories, activities and events from a few selected organisations to help raise awareness, create connections and build community capacity.
Taylor has also participated in the monthly SAcommunity Team meetings on 2 August 2022, and in the Connecting Up All Staff meetings on the 9 August 2022 and attended the fortnightly Infoxchange (IX) Lunch & Learn initiatives from the People and Culture Team. The focus of these sessions is on topics to support staff and our interns in their worklife, and span from presentation skills to sessions on effective communication and psychological wellbeing, as part of experiencing a professional office environment.
Taylor joined staff across the organisation from offices in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane for 'Building a Brand and Compelling Narrative in PowerPoint' from Breanna Osborn from Capgemini on 30 August 2022, a session to learn how to create polished presentations that are simple, but high impact with topics including leveraging brand identity, slide and visual fundamentals and storytelling with visuals.
Trent Woodward, Club President South Adelaide Volleyball Club interviewed by Taylor Alland, Media and Communications Intern over Zoom for a story on Volleyball SA's recent Charity round.
Interviews with and articles for not-for-profits
Employing his experience in community radio, Taylor has been utilising his skills to interview not-for-profit organisations operating in South Australia to help create his storytelling content for SAcommunity media channels. As mentioned, these stories assist not-for-profits to promote their activities and events widely, encourage social connections and participation, and help organisations attract new members and build a strong cause-led community.
Recently Taylor composed questions and interviewed the Club President of the South Adelaide Volleyball Club online to follow up on Volleyball SA's recent SA-wide charity drive, raising funds for Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation. The Volleyball SA Supporting Breakthrough article was released on the SAcommunity blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and for the September eNews edition, combining Taylor's love of the sport while reflecting their contribution to the community beyond the club's recreational benefits.
Taylor Alland undertaking out-of-hours research for content for his Barossa Medieval Fair 2022 article
Our main photo captures Taylor checking the recording of his interview with the Native Orchid Society on Zoom as part of creating an article with a targeted younger audience for their organisation. He highlights the importance of preserving rare local species for biodiversity, and the Society's solution to these chalenges through education, awareness and by making native orchid cultivation more accesssible for everyone, demonstrated in his upcoming NOSSA Spring Show article on the blog, Instagram, Facebook and for the September edition of SAcommunity eNews. This story followed one of Taylor's earlier media releases for a call-out for volunteers from the Friends of the ABC a group looking for volunteers to help them in their critical work, and his post on the Barossa Medieval Fair, a portfolio of all Taylor's media content published on the SAcommunity website can be found >>here https://sacommunity.org/blog/20663.
Grant Smyth, Communications Manager Connecting Up Inc. at the Melbourne Conference 11 - 13 May 2022
Mentor Meeting Experience
As part of his internship, Taylor also met with his mentor Grant Smyth, Conference and Communications Manager on the 9 August 2022. Grant's employment history has encompassed positions as a sports journalist and news journalist prior to joining the Connecting Up office at Infoxchange, both key areas of interest for Taylor. Grant was able to provide relevant career information and advice to assist him with his future goals in the media and communications industry.
Some of Taylor's 5 Take-aways from the session included: Reflecting on his own communication style and persona, creating good first impressions with industry knowledge, skills and availability, not being afraid to embrace and emulate the traits of successful people, and the benefits of having both one specific area of expertise, whilst fostering a diverse career plan to avoid 'pigeonholing' to increase his range of work opportunities.
Intern Taylor Alland and Eric Jenkins, Connecting Up Account Manager, (and former volunteer)
Training and Development
Taylor has also been learning about media in the not-for-profit sector from training and educational webinars from the Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform, a training and development online learning platform with a selection of relevant live webinars and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons.
The online training has focussed on Taylor's interests in journalism and content creation included a live weekly webinar series on Planning and writing relatable not-for-profit newsletters that connect and covert from Andrea Rowe, newsletter copywriter and communications strategist, as well as a Digital Marketing Webcon and other related training webinars. Training webinars are provided to assist students in their project to prepare and plan content for their SAcommunity media project and are delivered by a range of subject-matter experts who also have a deep experience with not-for-profits.
Live Weekly Webinar Series Taylor participated in included:
Planning and writing relatable not-for-profit newsletters that connect and covert - Andrea Rowe
Gain insight, helpful strategies and practical tools to confidently plan for and write your NFP e-newsletter, and improve on presenting content that connects.
Session 1: Newsletter Overview and Planning Tips
Session 2: Newsletter Changes and How to Plan for Them
Session 3: Content is King and Writing For Your Audiences
Session 4: Newsletters Do Not Stand Alone
2022 Webcon (online web conference) Taylor undertook included:
Digital Marketing Webcon 2022
An online workshop that explores the different aspects of Digital Marketing with knowledge and skills to apply to your Digital Marketing strategy
Session 1: CRM Fundamental: Organising your data is non-negotiable for NFPs ~ Sorcha from Nation Builder
Session 2: Facebook and LinkedIn as cause community building platform ~ Kate VanderVoort from Social Mediology
Session 3: How to master Facebook and Instagram Advertising ~ Alecia from Hancock
Session 4: Learn How to design with Canva ~ Kate Longman & Donna Ling from Hancock
Other relevant training webinars Taylor completed included:
How to Overcome the 7 Biggest Mistakes Not for Profits Make on Social Media
SAcommunity September eNews 
Above: SAcommunity September eNews created by Taylor Alland in BeePro and a screenshot of the results of the eNews release in Campaign Monitor's analytic results from the SAcommunity September eNews 2022 on release day [Editors note any result over 20% recipients in 24 hours is a great result!]
"I wanted to give you a big thanks for allowing me to come and complete my internship with everyone here at Infoxchange. I’ve learnt lots from a range of experienced individuals, and had a blast being able to put into practice lessons from my Media degree and Journalism studies. It’s also really cool to hear that my articles and e-newsletter are tracking well, looking at the Campaign Monitor and Google Analytics results. I’m glad that I could use my interview skills and writing to try and help not-for-profit organisations through the means of SAcommunity. " ~ Taylor Alland
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Taylor who is now Media & Communications Manager at Volleyball SA!
It was great to hear Taylor's news: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you again for the opportunity to have completed my Internship at Infoxchange. It’s helped me get to where I am now and I couldn’t be happier. Life is definitely a bit busier than it used to be but I’m still thoroughly enjoying it.”
Return to Welcome New Volunteers and Interns Semester 2, 2022
