A group of Sports Media Communication and Public Relations students, together with Teaching Fellow, Dr. Liane Lee, visited the HK Tennis Open event on 12 Oct 2017 to learn from NOW TV on integrating advertising into a live event. Below is a reflective learning commentary made by Sports Media Communication and Public Relations Year 3 student, Leung Chui Mei, Trista on her Facebook page:

Thursday, 12 October 2017, Cloudy

I visited the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2017 at Victoria Park because of the school outing. Luckily, my teacher knows the staff of the Now TV. So, we were invited to not only participate in the event but also visit the working area of Now TV.

Their working area was very small just like a container. However, when I took a closer look at the working area, my mind just came up with one word, "WOW!". There was no any other single word that could describe my feelings because there were many broadcasting devices here. The working area looked like a sparrow with tiny size but all vital organs. How amazing that this area could conduct the live broadcasting for the sports event! During the industry visit, I noticed that the on-site director controlled the overall production of TV program. For example, he needed to choose high-quality footages produced by different cameramen. Then, he just clicked a few buttons to change the pictures featured in TV program. I heard that the director had 7 years’ working experiences for this position. There were two more staff working on the video editing on the spot. They went through the past and present videos quickly. If they found any good moment about the competition, they would slow down and pay closer attention to it. Besides, timing was the most important thing for live broadcasting. If the director thought that this was a perfect time to take a rest, he would ask cameramen to take a quick break and run after time. "You guys only have one minute to go to the toilet! Quickly!" he said. That was crazy! But, I could see their passion and respect to their job.

Finally, this event was more successful compared with last year, because more people came. More colorful decorations were used in the venue, which could attract more people easily. Besides, the organizer arranged some game booths this year to invite the public to play and stay. Furthermore, the organizer did advertisements this year to inform the public of this big sports event. As a result, Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open made a big success!

#TennisOpen2017 #PrudentialTennisOpenHK2017

More information about the programme: Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Public Relations and Management