Behind the scenes of a horrific tragedy

Hello my fellow 393 placement students,

As many of you have probably already heard on the radio or read in the news paper, a terrible tragedy occurred at Ellenbrook speedway yesterday afternoon (7/9/08) where a man was killed by a St John Ambulance as was on its way to attending to a crash at approximately 4:30pm. After hearing this tragic news I knew I would be in for a busy day at my placement (at St John Ambulance) as many news stations would want to cover the story. I was right!!

When I arrived at work I was informed that we would be holding a press conference and TV channels ABC, 7, 9 and 10 would be coming to our head office in Belmont to film the statement made by our spokesperson as well as ask and questions they may have surrounding the event. The spokesperson who addressed the media was Peter King who is the Ambulance Service Director. He had been in the office since 2:00am this morning and was clearly shaken by the event. I was excited that I would have the opportunity to have a behind the scenes look at this press conference as many people may never have to hold a press conference for a crisis, although I am very upset that a life was lost as a result of this horrific event.

Everyone around the offices is in disbelief over the event and it must be a very difficult thing to come to terms with for the paramedics involved. It is a terrible thing to have occurred and an enquiry into the reasons behind the event is currently being undertaken.

A very important thing for all PR people should know and remember when dealing with the media is to always carry your business cards with you. This way you can easily hand your card out for future use and questions that the media may have.

I have learnt that you can never stick to your plan when you are working in PR. My supervisor Clare is currently working on the annual report and I have been writing articles to go in the quarterly newsletter the Bulletin and the deadline for both is rapidly approaching!!! This has all been put on hold as we have attended to the crisis. Today I have started writing up a Communications Plan for the Lotterywest Grant St John Ambulance receives. It is so interesting that I am applying what I have learnt at Uni to my everyday jobs. The communications plan is pretty much the same as our end of semester big report we always hand in. I am applying the skills I have learnt in the PR units to real life situations.

Other recent thing I have been doing in my placement have been two photo shoots which occur every 3 years, with the photos being used for the magazines and to accompany press releases, writing numerous stories for the Bulletin and taking a trip to Abbots printing company which is where all the magazines are produced for St John Ambulance and many other organisations. I was roped into being involved in the photo shoot as a patient and now I may be appearing on the cover of the annual report!

I am really looking forward to Wednesday because I am attending a Communications Workshop held by the organizers of the Red Bull air race. It is held for all the stakeholders who will be part of the event which, in numerous years, has been a massive success. It is a briefing on the RBAR community relations and media communications. I will post more about this in my next blog, once the event has occurred. I may even see some of you there.

I hope you are all enjoying your placements as much as I am and that you are obtaining a good insight into the world of PR.

Bye for now

Sarah