Riding the media storm
by Jon Brooks
What could be better for an aspiring Public Relations professional than cutting your teeth on the media circus that was Lance Armstrong’s return to international competition? Nothing according to UniSA student Sebastian Geers.
The third year Bachelor of Public Relations student is about to complete a six month internship with Events SA that has included working in the Tour Down Under media unit; the epicentre of a media storm that descended on South Australia along with international cycling’s biggest name.
"I’d worked on WOMAD before, which was great, but nothing like this; the Tour was just an amazing, intense experience," Sebastian said.
"I got to see and work on almost every aspect of the media machine behind the Tour, from accrediting media to helping journalists with their inquiries, to writing press releases and stage management at the start and finish lines.
"I learned as much from dealing with the media during the Tour as I did throughout the whole internship. It was an intense couple of weeks and I’m so glad I had a chance to take part because sport is one of my great passions and events don’t get much bigger than this."
Part of the inaugural intake of students to the University’s Public Relations program, Sebastian said his first two years of study were invaluable to his successful placing with Events SA for the Tour.
"I guess one of the great things about getting out of the class and into PR itself is that you get to see that the things you’re learning as part of your degree really do happen, and because we’re learning real-world skills you actually know how to approach a problem. It’s been really great," he said.
"Probably the memory that will stand out the most for me was just getting to hang around with two very senior cycling journalists – one from The Guardian in the UK and one from AFP (Agence France-Presse) – very acclaimed journos from around the world.
"Just going out with them and chatting and seeing how they live and getting an insight into what their lives are really like wasn’t just a great networking opportunity, it will help me be a better PR practitioner once I graduate.
"There are so many places this degree can take you, there’s people in the degree that want to get into fashion, sports reporting - it’s such a broad discipline – and that’s the beauty of this degree, it doesn’t limit your options."