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

The Internet

We use the Internet every day. More often than not, we take it for granted. This week I realised how the Internet has made our jobs as PR Professionals – so much easier!

Research and e-mails

One of the tasks in my internship this week is to distribute the Cossack Art Award’s ‘call for entry’ to galleries around Australia. After typing the email addresses of contact personnel of each gallery (which was found in an arts magazine), Microsoft outlook informed me of the some recipients with invalid emails. This is where the Internet comes in handy – It allows me to go to the galleries’ website and find the correct email addresses. Can you imagine if I had to use the phonebook or a long and outdated database to search this particular information?

This an example of the ‘call for entry’ advertisement:

Social Media

In this new era of social media, can we imagine our lives without the Internet? Facebook has been one of the biggest changes in the workforce and in our personal lives. It allows us to connect with people from all over the world and to find events on the other side of the globe.

In the internship, I was in charge of updating the Cossack Art Award’s Facebook page. I gave it a ‘face-lift’ with new profile picture, updated status, timeline and created new events. I was able to put all the relevant information online for free! Facebook has allowed the Cossack Art Award to have a constant presence in our Facebook fans’ lives. We are constantly in their notifications, and in the pages they visit (by using Facebook ads).

As we have all learned in PR and from this post, Internet has made our lives easier and opened many opportunities for us to communicate to a wider audience. I am eager to see what other opportunities it can bring for us PR Professionals!!

Until next time,

Daniela