What is your background? How long have you been working in public relations?

I was brought up in St Johns, went to St Johns school before going to Stonyhurst College
in Lancashire and from there I went to Middlesex Polytechnic in London. I’ve lived in
London for the last 20 years and have workedboth in-house and for some of London’s main
agencies. My wife, Vicky, is also from the Isle ofMan and we are planning on returning soon.

You became Press Officer last year - how did thiscome about?

The agency that I worked for were invitedto pitch for the job of promoting the TT to a broader audience. I jumped at the chance to be involved and then was lucky to work alongside Colin Brown who showed me the ropes and Annie Gale and her team from the DTL who introduced me to everyone and helped me to settle in.

What were expectations for 2006?

The Department of Tourism and Leisure, under Carol Glover, had already done a lot of great work in improving the perception of TT among riders and indeed the bike press so I was confident that we would be able to build on this. I was surprised, however, at the lack of awareness and understanding among sports journalists on the main UK newspapers for the TT. The event itself more than met my expectations. I grew up to the sounds and thrills of the TT and last year’s races certainly didn’t disappoint.

How did your perception of how a Press Centre should run compared to how the TT Press Centre was organised?

The TT has its own unique flavour and I am keen that we don’t destroy the originality and informality of the races. However, with the modern day pressures of instant information required by editors we also have to make sure that we can meet the demands of the media by running a professional operation. With all of the improvements made by Paul Phillips and the DTL we now have aworld class sporting event and we need to make sure that our Press Centre reflects that.

What changes did you make so that the Press Centre gave a more professional, informativeand supportive

image? How successful were these changes?We have looked at the way in which we communicate the races so that anyone wishing to report on the TT, whether they come over to the Island or not, can have access to detailed quality information. As a result we have created a new press website (iomtt.com/press) where press can get the latest news, race previews and reports, archive and race shots, ‘facts and stats’, copyright cleared archive and current pictures and manufacturer announcements. We also held press conferences with the riders after each race which allowed media to obtain insight and quotations to increase the quality of their articles. We have also tightened the entry criteria for press accreditation to ensure that only bona fide press, particularly photographers, are endorsed. We don’t want to be heavy handed about this but have to ensure that genuine media are allowed the facilities and access to report the races effectively.

What feedback did you get from the media representatives?

We have received a lot of positive feedback from press who have been pleased with our approach, particularly international titles. They have benefited from having a point of contact to
help with information, pictures or event flight and accommodation questions.

What feedback did you get from the riders, teams and sponsors?

Again, modern commercial realities mean that sponsorship is incredibly important. ‘Signature
Sponsorship’ has done a great job in introducing new sponsors to the event and we have to make sure that they receive maximum return from their investment as we are looking to build long term partnerships with our sponsors and manufacturers.

What did you learn from 2006 and what will you change for 2007?

We are moving the post race press conferences to a new dedicated Press Conference Centre
(the old hospitality area next to the current Press Centre) We are also restricting accreditation to print, broadcast and on-line media only. We don’t want to be heavy handed about accreditation but the increased interest in the races means that we have to restrict access to recognized media only to allow them to be able to do their job. Anyone with a camera can still take pictures on the course, and indeed in the paddock, but we have to respect the requirements of official media and make sure that they are able to do their job. As part of my job I visited the Press Centres at a number of motorsport events in 2006 including Goodwood Festival of Speed and BSB. I’m happy that the facilities we offer the press will compare favourably with those. This year we’ve built a wireless network in the Press Centre which will allow journalists with wireless enabled computers to log on immediately without finding an internet point.

You brought in Andy Tilley from the Press Association, how successful was he in getting the TT into the sportspages of the nationals? Will the Press Association be involved again this year?

Andy is a real personality and made a great impact in the Press Office. He filed a total of 30
stories on the PA wires, many of which were picked up by nationals, despite competing with the
football World Cup for coverage. I have made a particular effort in persuading all of the major news agencies to return to the races as I believe that they represent a great way of generating coverage in a broader range of media. Expect to see photographers from Associated Press, The Press Association, Getty Images and Reuters as well as Double Red around the Press Centre this year. I must also thank Steven Davidson from Pacemaker for his continued support for TT; people would be amazed to find out how many publications world wide run his pictures.

What initiatives are there to increase the media coverage for 2007 and beyond? Have the Sports Editors (of the Nationals) been invited to any promotional TT Dinners / Seminars / Road Shows, during the Winter, to whet their appetites and encourage them to cover the TT?

We are using the centenary as a way of getting the main national newspapers interested in the TT again. The Mirror’s John Brown and Dave Fern who writes for the Express, Star and Telegraph have been fixtures in the Press Office. However we have specifically targeted the other nationals and are hoping that the fact that there is no BSB clash of dates this year will mean that more of them are able to attend. I was surprised in my conversations with some of the national bike correspondents that some of them have never attended a TT and we will be looking to rectify this. We are also using the riders themselves as we have some fantastic personalities who can provide great copy. We have already set up a number of national and lifestyle press interviews with riders and the feedback from journalists has been really positive.

Local radio and press - what initiatives are there to inform them of how their local riders are doing in practice and during the races?

This year we have invited all of the riders to fill in a press form which includes a few details about their personal lives including their professions and family details. We are then using these details to build up a story for local press and radio.

2007 being the Centenary of the TT, how many extra journalists, photographers and media personnel will be coming to the Island?

As I have mentioned earlier in the article we have reviewed the accreditation process, which we
would have done whether it was a centenary or not. We have received great interest worldwide
from TV stations and press interested in covering the races. I’m a firm believer that there is a real opportunity for the Island to promote itself globally via the TT. It gives us a great opportunity to showcase our positive national identity. I think that people would be surprised at the world wide interest in the races and in centenary year we have received accreditation requests from every major country in the world.

MCN published a subjective and scathing report on the Marshalling at the TT in 2006, what was your reaction to their underhand piece of journalism?

It has been well documented that we weren’t happy with the article and we responded immediately to their comments. I’ve worked closely with Roger Hurst and his senior team to promote the excellent work that they do. We have been in regular contact with MCN during the winter months and established a strong working relationship with the senior team there to ensure that the reports produced about the TT are a fair and true representation. MCN remain supportive of the TT and we have already seen a number of major stories backing TT2007. MCN have confirmed that they will be sending senior reporters – Marc and Gary have already booked their tickets.
 What, if anything, can the Press Centre do to discourage such subjective pieces being written?

Many of the articles and views on the TT are from people who don’t attend. Typically they are
filing copy from a UK news desk. We have done everything to encourage press to come over and experience the event first hand before making judgements.

Where do you see the future of the TT and where do you rank it as a) a Motorsport Event, b) a British Sporting Event and c) a world Sporting Event?

I firmly believe that the TT has a great future on the British sporting calendar and the international flavour of the event means that it is of increasing interest to people worldwide. As a spectator sport the event really is second to none and we probably forget the impact that the races can have on the first time spectator. People who have never seen a race before are always taken aback by how close to the action spectators are and, within the safety guidelines, this is certainly something that makes the TT a unique event.

Thanks to Simon for providing us with this insight; we wish him well for this year’s meeting, which promises to be an incredibly busy, but rewarding, period for him.