20 minutes chrono

The roof of Cyber Tower 1

Last week I had the chance to assist my supervisor at Maluti Communications for a partnership announcement ceremony. The partnership announcement was about one of the local telematics leader associating itself with another world leader. The press was of course invited to the event. Everything was ready: press release was written, invitations were sent, media kits ready to be distributed… The big day was finally there and I was all thrilled to assist to my first press gathering. I thought everything would go as planned but I was wrong! 1.30pm. 30 minutes before the opening ceremony, my supervisor and I reached the venue which was Voilà Hotel at Bagatelle. We headed to the reception and asked which conference theatre. But then, due to some unforeseen situations, which I cannot mention here, the venue had to be changed. It was 1.40pm and only 20 minutes were left to fix and reorganise everything. I was amazed by the rapidity with which my supervisor thought of a solution. Just a couple of phone calls. Cyber Tower 1 in Ebene and the time was maintained. My supervisor organised for two vehicles to be sent to Voila Hotel for the journalists – in case some needed a lift in-between the two venues. My supervisor left Bagatelle at 1.45pm and I stayed back to inform the journalists about the last minute change. I was tensed and worried; I was wondering if everything would be ready for 2pm. I informed some journalists about the change and they preferred going to Ebene by their own transport. I waited till 2.10pm and left for the conference in one of the vehicle. I asked the other guy to wait till 2.40pm in case any journalist would be late. 2.20pm, I reached the new venue for the conference. I was pleased to see everything was going fine. The conference already started and we had an excellent media presence. The lesson learnt is that however planned and prepared an event could be, issues may always arise convert dreams into nightmares. One should always be ready and able to find quick and reliable solutions to these issues in these circumstances.

Organizing a Press Conference for a Client

                                      
Hello buddies,

It's my really first blog post and I am on my third day of internship at Immedia Agency. My first day started last week and it was quite relaxed I shall say. I came to met my new colleagues and discover my new working environment and how things work out there. I was really surprised to see a lot of newspapers of practically every media outlet in the country.

Basically Immedia is an Art, Entertainment, Advertising, and Public Relations agency mainly specialised in event making since 1987. Their events featured some artists like: Gad Elmaleh, Yannick Noah, Pascal Obispo, Khaled, Mathieu Chedid, and Groundation. At this point of time they are busy planning for two major events namely: The Phantom of the Opera and Tikoulou which will be held at the end of August and September respectively. 

On my second day, well, I received a phone call from my supervisor on the eve telling me to attend a press conference for one of their client. Before that, Immedia has as main client, Emtel World, whereby Immedia is in charge for some communication projects for CSR programs of Emtel.
This time both Immedia and Emtel are working together for the program: Emtel Painting Sensation 2014.
On the day of the conference I was quite anxious as it was my first press conference. We arrived early to settle everything. Then I discovered how things worked while organising a press conference, firstly when I entered I saw the sound technician installing the sound system and secondly the catering service settling a table with a lot of food! I haven't ate nothing since the morning and...   I was really hungry!

The first task my supervisor asked me to do was to welcome the journalists at the reception, take down their names and which media outlet they work for. I liked this task as there were some pretty nice journalists who gave me their phone numbers (I don't know if it was for working purposes or personal...).

I was already given a list of media outlets which had confirmed the invitation of my agency. After everything was settled in the room and that my supervisor had prepared the CEO of Emtel for his speech, I was given the signal to bring all the journalists upstairs.

After the conference, came the question time for journalists who did not ask too many question (only two in fact) and when I asked my supervisor why they didn't ask that much, he told me that journalists in Mauritius had become very lazy. In fact, I think that they were more interested in the food we were offering them.

The best part was when we invited everyone including the managers of Emtel and journalists to eat and drink something after the conference. It was a way to invite everyone to socialize and build contacts which is important when being a Public Relations practitioner or even a simple journalist. I myself was presented personally to the CEO and other managers at Emtel by my supervisor who gave me their business card too. The worst part was when everything was over and that we had to get back at the office and had to write the press release concerning the press conference.

To finish, I spent only three days and I already had some good experiences and there are more (including bad experience too)  to come. For the moment, Love My Job!

Mehdi 

              

       

   

Things Can Happen, Preparation Are Required

It is true that press conference is still the flavor tool for the company to announce their latest movement, especially crisis communication. Two-way communication is one of the benefit which offers during the session; both parties are allowed to give their opinion or ask question during the press conference.

It is always encourage the organizer to inform the relevant department as soon as possible before holding a press conference. To achieve maximum impact, media conferences required well planed and publicized; which all of these actions need time to process.  

From the experience I learned from Eastern & Oriental Hotel, one of the organizer inform the Public Relations Manager in the very last minute (three days before the press conference) will create trouble to the hotel and also the organization themselves as they won’t gain as much as possible of media to come over to support on the event and publicity. As most of the press had already arranged their schedule and it will be difficult for them to switch their time. This is the moment to prove whether the public relations practitioners had done well in maintaining and building relationship towards media. When you manage to build a long term relationship with them, they will show support on you.

The following is the things that need to done before media conference:

·         Check on the availability of the venue. It will depend on the needs of the organizer. For example, will it require a projector or audio visual system to assist the press conference?

·         Invite the press. Send a media conference advisory at least a week before the event. Follow up with them two days before the press conference. One day before the event, call to the press and remind them regards the event.

·         Prepare background materials. A press release accompanied with the detailed background paper will help the journalist and press have a greater understand on the event.

Furthermore, try not to put two event under one press conference as it will confuse the press in their angle to write about the activities and also if separate two event in two different press conference will help the organizer increasing opportunities on publicity. Organizer should know about the goals of holding the press conference, thus it is organizer’s responsibilities to plan the press conference. Always remember to include something newsworthy to reveal, announce or discuss about.  

The most important thing is always be on time. The organizer cannot late then the press, as they might have another appointment need to attend and start on time can avoid this kind of situation. During the press conference, it is reasonable to give the press have a brief idea or background on the event and organizer but it is suggest to keep it short and straight to the point (it should not more than 15 minutes) and reading from the press release which already assigned to the press will not help them to get a greater angle on writing the news.

The day after the press conference, organizer can start to monitor on the media who had attend the press conference. By monitoring on the media outlets it will help you observe the impact of the event. Such as how many press published about the media conference? What is their angle to bring out the story? Did I achieve my objectives for holding a press conference? From the evaluation it will help the organizer to have a better idea on how to improve in the next press conference.

A well planned press conference will create a greater awareness on the target audience, increase the impact of the events and eventually achieve the organizational goals.

Soah Hui Sing

15414748

Miri Campus