Have you all ever wondered what
drives an event to real success? The fire burning behind its real public
attraction is the secret behind, and it’s us, PR practitioners, who make things
real by our power. We bring up sparks of planning an event through public
relations and bring to life their awareness by underlying their authenticity
and bringing value to their real purpose.
I’ve had the chance to work on two events
till now and have learned a lot about our role in corporate events and how
important it was, up to bringing to life an event and all its planning. During
the two events, I’ve been given the role of taking captions for each picture
taken for the people press coverage. I learned that even this, has to be taken
in a proper way and order of things so that the work goes quicker during the
media liaison but also so for the captions to be acceptable by the different
media outlets. The three most important things to be taken for a caption is the
complete name of the person, his or her job title and the company he or she is
working for. These three details are the most pertinent ones that help the
reader identify the pictures but also know a bit more about the organization and
the event.
Another important thing to do as a PR
role during the event is the distribution of the media kit which I learned is
usually done at the end of the event but we have most of all to ensure that it
is done before the journalist goes. You all have learnt to prepare that during
your PR courses but the real life experience is totally different. I learnt
that a media kit has really to be creative and attractive to attract the
journalists present so that they want to write about your event or publish your
press releases. During one of the events, the media kit documents was put in a
creative folder with the logo and name of the company on it but what was interesting
was that for the second event, they put the documents in a creative bag specially
prepared for the occasion and they put a candle in it to make it more amazing
and attractive. I could not be involved in the preparation of the media kit
because I was not at work on the days they set it but I learned that the
documents to be put in include a backgrounder, a fact sheet of the company or organization
and a press release. You might also include a CD at times or any gift that will
represent your company and stimulate a journalist. But our job does not end
here; we still have to do the liaison with the press after the event and the
follow up to ensure that all press releases have been distributed to all
targeted media outlets and that the event has got enough coverage - this will be
done through the news monitoring and will help to do the press book to close
the event’s file.
There are times also when you are not only in
charge of doing the public relations side of an event but also organize the
event if your company is a PR and events firm like the one I am working for. I
will be having the chance to work on one in the next weeks and I believe this
is another challenge from another perspective that might not only stimulate our
PR role but also enhance it from a new dimension.
I hope you are all enjoying your days
and that you are all building up on that on a positive flow.
Beatrice Etiennette
Charles Telfair, Mauritius Campus
15633006
3 comments:
Hi Beatrice!
Events is part of Public Relations that really fascinates me! It's funny how much more there is to an event than meets the eye. Particularly in the lead up to an event, in my experiences I've learnt there is so much more planning then I had expected. Often learning the trick to running events is experience, and learning from past mistakes. You're events sound very exciting, it is really good to see where the learning of creating a media kit comes into reality.
Thank you for your post!
Hello Beatrice,
It was a pleasure going through your blog and seeing how you are enjoying internship.Seems like we are all being taught the same thing from our respective organisations. I know I might sound mean but some journalists are indeed 'finicky' and I have realized that during my press conference.They love being pampered and feel special. That being said, I realised that you just do not send a plain media kit/folder to the journalists if you want them to report about it. Because as we know, your media release must be sort of unique so that the media outlets will choose your media kits over that of others because remember you are not the only organisation to send media kits to the different media outlets. So that being said we come to the second phase of your blog about creativity. I strongly believe it is the key to success. As PR practitioners our aim is to get the maximum of media coverage for our organisation. That will be done by being as creative as possible; that is send media kits in such a creative way that it already represents the events and along we can send goodies like decorated/customized envelopes or CD about our organisation. The goodie is always a plus as there will be something among all the stuffs sent that will catch the attention of the journalists. So along with your media kits, you sent a CD, it increases your chance of having a more broader publicity.First about your event and the CD will contribute as background or add-on information.
Keep it up, it is always a pleasure going through your blogs :)
Hi Beatrice,
Great post and your title attract my attention instantly. It is true that having the change to participate on an event is really exciting and I was astonished too when I realise that media kit was not sent prior the event. Then, when you undertook your internship you realised that it is logical to give the media after the event so as to increase the chance to have media coverage. I can relate to the part of finding creative ideas and giving small gift to raise journalists’ attention about your event. The work prior, during and after an event is unbelievable as it is essential to ensure that you have media coverage from different newspapers, radio and TV station. During the event, the work still continues as it is vital to check out whether the journalists are present and it is an opportunity to take contact details of journalists present to make the follow up afterwards. At the same time, it is a chance to add up connections to the contact book for the next event that will be held.
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