Hello, this is me, William Bateman, and I am beginning a week’s work placement with Octopus Public Relations. This short blog will recount my experience at the company during my week.

Getting up this morning, first day butterflies were already taking flight in my stomach, however underlying this there was a distant but very clear buzz of excitement. Would my expectations of the PR world be as accurate as I had previously thought or would I have missed the idea completely and be currently allowing my mind to trundle away further into my imagination? Similarly to anyone else entering the seemingly Narnia-like world of marketing and public relations, I was wondering with some apprehension what was waiting for me on the other side of the normal looking door to Paul Kirby’s office. Unsurprisingly really, there were not several large computer screens displaying statistics or a self sourced news feed, as television dramas suggest, instead there was a modest office, with a laptop displaying a half finished document on screen.

Following a bri
ef interlude in the office, I accompanied Paul, to his first meeting of the day. Yet this was not with just any company official. This first meeting on the first day of my work experience, was with no other than Bryan Steel, cycling champion, two times Olympic medallist and holder of multiple other medals from both the Commonwealth games and World Championships. To be honest in a rather surreal way I was hoping that on entering the venue Bryan would be re-enacting his past “laps of honour” around the surrounding tables on a child’s tricycle to the rather horrified looks of the staff and other customers. It was probably lucky that he wasn’t doing this, even if it would have provided an excellent first day anecdote. Instead Bryan blended in with the other business people rather well, there was nothing about the well dressed modest man which suggested a world class athlete, apart from the belief and drive he had in the development and pre-eminent launch of his company. Following a long discussion on the role Octopus PR could play in the further development of the company, which involved the use of lots of field-specific lexis and jargon much of which I could just about deduce the meaning, following this I felt like I had begun to have an insight into the use of public relations and marketing in the business world. As the meeting concluded, I had the opportunity for a brief photo with the ex-professional athlete and soon to be owner of Winning Mindset, we then briefly shook hands in a conclusive manner and Paul and I left Bryan to continue his work and preparation for his company launch at Antenna on 25th July.

After leaving the Nottingham we returned to Derby to carry on work in the more comfortable setting of the Starbucks. Well placed for a drink and quiet enough for work to continue undisturbed. When I say work, work generally feels like a scratched CD, jerky and repetitive, replaying short blips again and again, until it becomes frustrating, this work didn’t, this felt new and interesting. After helping Paul finish the presentation for the event he is speaking at tomorrow, I felt much more knowledgeable in the field than previously. Now, the field of public relations seemed less like a hidden world and more an area of business where information is communicated in a more effective and beneficial way.

I suppose that if I think back to the reasons for work experience, “to learn about possible career paths” this experience is matching that completely. Thinking of some of my peers shadowing teachers in school, I realise how lucky I am at having gained this opportunity, I mean I could be sitting bored in a classroom much like I have for the past year, or I could be doing what I am now, meeting interesting people, discussing real issues, and providing myself with a real impression of the field. Even if only half the days this week are as interesting as it has been today then I can be sure I will feel fulfilled at the end of Friday.