As Covid-19 restrictions are starting to ease in Australia, everyone is getting excited about a return to competing and performing and there has been a considerable amount of media attention on athletes and performers. To support you around this and help build your media skills ACU Communications Advisor Damien Stannard will be hosting our next webinar, Media Skills – Managing the Media, on Monday 22nd of June from 12:00 - 12:45 p.m. We’re also delighted to have ACU Alumni and dual Olympian/Paralympian Milly Tapper joining us to talk about her experiences with the media.

Milly Tapper was born with brachial plexus palsy, but has spent most of her long table tennis career competing against able-bodied female and male athletes alike. She made history in 2016 as the first athlete to represent Australia in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. After finishing fourth at the London 2012 Paralympics, she became the first Paralympian to qualify for the Australian able-bodied Commonwealth Games Team at Glasgow 2014, where she helped Australia pick up bronze in the Team event. Two years later she made history again when she represented Australia in both the singles and doubles competition at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Damien Stannard spent 16 years as a journalist at Australia’s largest media company, with an audience of around 16 million, it was his responsibility to unearth fascinating characters and tell stories that fascinate, surprise and engage audiences. Following this Damien made the leap to media relations where he has provided communications support for professional teams from a wide variety of sports and industries. He has also been a sport panellist for the ABC and was responsible for every netball news item from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.