Press Conference, 10 Steps From An Intern's Experience

A press conference is.... A LOT OF WORK!

Imagine allowed me to assist in the preparation of press conferences during this past two last weeks.

Don't we all love good news and happy events? Yes, of course we do! But press conferences are not always about announcing profits of a company, or the welcoming of new CEOs or all that fun and good stuff.

Very often, press conferences are used to mediate statements to the public, which are not always positive and flowery.

A daily has recently known some turbulence due to some controversial article that was not well received by the Mauritian public. Several organisations felt concerned about the article and as a consequence, many statements had been made.

Imagine was to prepare a press conference for one organisation who wanted to react in a peaceful manner to the controversial article. I was guided through this process and assisted in the preparation.

Day 1
Step 1 - Preparation of the Media Kit. 
The media kit included several different articles and speeches of the speakers that were present during the press conference. A poem which was to be read during the press conferences was also found in the media kit.

Step 2 - E-mailing journalists
A very important, if not the most important, ingredient of press conferences is the presence of journalists. So obviously, it is very important to send them notifications of any press conference Imagine is organising. This was done through e-mails and personal invitations. The e-mail informed journalist about the press conference's subject, speakers, organisers, venue and time.

Step 3 - Follow ups
E-mailing is not enough. One must be sure that invitations have been well received. This follow up is done on the same day after invitations have been sent. During the follow up, I was asked to confirm whether the journalist had received the invitation. If not, then I was to send them the invitation by fax or on different e-mail addresses. This follow up also allows Imagine to keep their contact list up-to-date.

Day 2
Step 4 - Confirming journalists' presence
Here again I was asked to contact journalists but this time it was to confirm their presence during the press conference. Calling journalists a second time also acts as a reminder for them about the press conference. Journalists have busy schedule and such reminders can be seen as helpful and even welcoming.
In case of their unavailability, this gives Imagine enough time to contact other journalists from same news corporations to replace their colleagues.

Step 5 - Preparing the Media Kits and attendance list
Since the number of journalists has been confirmed, I was asked to go ahead with the final preparation of the media kits.
The attendance was thus done in accordance.

Step 6 - Go to the venue!
As a representative of Imagine, we were asked to reach the venue before the indicated time in order to make sure that all material was present, and also to make sure that the venue was welcoming. Mircos and cameras also had to be tested before arrival of journalists and speakers.

Step 7 - Welcome journalists
After phone calls, time to meet in person! Here it was necessary to take down the names of present journalists once again for further follow up. This is done so that Imagine knows who to send the media kit via e-mail once the press conference had been completed.

Step 8 - Listen and take notes!
It is important to take notes during conferences for Imagine's purposes. Pictures and voice recording are also necessary for Imagine's database of events.

Step 9 - Thank you and good-bye

Step 10 - Draft your own press release


And... Done!


Next post: More conferences