Putting Uni skills into practice

This week has been exciting.

To begin I was given news of a ministerial announcement to be made public on the coming weekend. The ministerial announcement being ,the V8 Super Cars returning to Perth.

This was exciting news for Tourism WA after the previous announcement of the Red Bull Air Race Cancellation; created negative news published by the media slamming Tourism WA for its lack of events signed for Perth.

Crisis Management

It’s almost crisis management when I think back to university theory into practice. Tourism WA was able to reduce the anger and frustration from the community through releasing positive news for tourism in WA. The media will stop worrying about the cancellation of the Red Bull Air Race 2011 and start talking about the return of the V8’s to Perth! The announcement is an excellent way to keep all stakeholders well informed and happy.

My tasks leading up to the announcement

I was fortunate enough to help with various tasks leading up to the announcement, these including:

- Selecting a venue a Kings Park to film the announcement
- Organising a filming permit
- Devising a wet weather contingency plan

I was so excited to be apart of the process, it was such a fantastic experience. I was also able to sit on a teleconference between the V8 Supercar organisation and Tourism WA leading up to the announcement. The teleconference discussion covered the running order of the day as well as what V8 super car driver would be there for photo opportunities.

It was interesting to see the process of putting together a media release that has to satisfy multiple parties with pre written quotes by their departments. The following parties that needed to be mentioned included:

- Minister for Tourism, Dr Elizabeth Constable
- The Premier Mr Colin Barnett
- Minister for Sport and Recreation, Terry Waldron.
- V8 Supercars Australia Chairman Tony Cochrane
- Rick Gill, Club Chairman, WASCC


I helped on the day Saturday, my tasks on the day included setting up signage in appropriate positions. My challenge here was the strong wind, it proved slightly harder than I had thought to assemble and place signage.

My other responsibility was to manage the media and ensure the Tourism WA photographer was given the opportunity to take key shots. I collected all the media’s contact details and compiled a list.

It was exciting to be at the announcement and watch how the media works. I was excited to watch the coverage on the news later that day and to read about it in the paper.


Until next time

Stacey Tweddle
Media and PR intern