Day 3

Goodbye Brisbane hello Gold Coast

This morning Alison and I started off the day by heading down to what we thought was going to be our first proper buffet breakfast. Instead by the time we arrived the buffet was closing so once again we had to stuff our hands full of food and make a mad dash back up to our room. Our day began with eating while packing our things in preparation for our journey up to the Gold Coast, already it was difficult to repack. Once we had done our final checks of the room we made our way downstairs and checked out of the Ibis. This left us with an hour or so before the bus left to use however we liked. So me and some of the girls went for a walk down to Queens Street mall where we enjoyed some shopping and a quick bite to eat.  Soon enough we had gotten back on the bus and arrived out our destination. We could see the beautiful beaches out the window and the excitement grew for our short stay, here we were, Surfers Paradise and paradise it certainly was. 

Austereo

But before we could enjoy the sun we first had to enjoy a company visit to Southern Cross Austereo. So to fill the short time we had between our arrival and appointment start with them we went to Max Brenner to have a hot chocolate and I discussed with my group Thi and Kath the sort of questions we should ask the company. Then once again we were off and made our way up to the offices. We were greeted by the Geneal  Manager Paul Bartlett who took us for a tour around their newly acquired modern office space. And for the first time I got the chance to stand in a radio studio. It was a strange experience as a radio listener, as the work places and atmosphere of the radio studio are often romantacised in your head. When MC Jack took us into a studio he was currently working in and we saw exactly how the technology worked. Jack would have clips of all different recordings including music, advertisements and conversations of radio personalities or listeners to which he organised and played within a 10 second air delay. For instance a conversation he would have with someone calling in would be edited to remove any awkward silences or possibly inappropriate content before aired. Also conversations with other radio personalities were partly pre-recorded. What we witnessed was Jack recording himself asking Fifi Box what was happening in her afternoon show, to which then Jack clicked a pre recorded clip of her response. It was a completely staged conversation, as the two have never even met, but to a listener would have sounded like they were on the other end of the phone to each other. What struck me is the amazing multi tasking skills Jack must have had to keep up with such a time critical job. 

 

Once our tour was over we met the companies PR and Social media manager Luke Parsins. Luke discussed with us the role of social media in their industry and how they both use and manage it. He described it as a tool for engaging customers and explained that often a forum such like this created a tribe of fans who would more than often come to your rescue when negative comments were posted. While using social media as an engagement tool rather than an advertising one, Luke also mentioned the importance of being up to date with the media and using forums such as Facebook as an opportunity to reflect on your audience and what they respond well to. 

We then had the opportunity to ask both Luke and Paul some more specific questions which they happily answered. During this time they reflected on the importance of media personalities and again the crucial role of being relevant and the success of their latest breakfast presenter Charlie Robinson in their bid to keep the brand young and fresh. Advertising was also a topic of interest in which they spoke about the need of advertising to survive and choosing advertisements that are appropriate to air. They also expressed the need to make strong and long term relationships with these clients, creating positive outcomes for both partners in the long term. 

Evening in Surfers Paradise

At the conclusion of the presentation we went straight back to set up out our new home, hotel Vibe. After having a short time to refresh we were down at the hotel Bar having a few drinks in the sun. A great opportunity for some more socialising. Soon we all walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a group dinner, where we sat out on the balcony looking over a beautiful view. After dinner we were forced into a scare when we walked over to Dracula's Haunted house. Here me Alison, Angelica and Olivia walked through together all though it took us a considerable amount of time to even get through the entry door as we were to busy already screaming. We eventually made it out the other side. When we had all made it through a group of us made our way out and spent some time walking around the main strip before we found our way to a bar where we enjoyed some drinks and a dance.