Organising a press conference

Many organisations use press conferences as a way to let the media know about major new developments or events they are planning. They are a good way of attracting media attention and are often tied in with a press call. However, you need to know when and how to organise a press conference, or you could find yourself facing an empty room.

With ever decreasing numbers of staff on the regional media, running any sort of briefing event that involves getting them away from their desks can be a risky business. Before deciding whether to go ahead with a press conference, it is a good idea to speak to two or three of the key regional media and ask their thoughts on whether it would be something they would be interested to attend. You could also ask what they would want to get out of it (it is in their interest to help you make their job easier) and what day/time/location they would prefer.

If you get a generally positive response and decide to go ahead then bear in mind the following points:

• Don’t spend more money than you have to – if something else hits the local news that morning you might end up with no one there.
  
  
• Pick the time and location carefully – take the advice of your key target audience (if you want to get TV along you will need to come up with a strong visual ‘hook’ for them).
  
  
• Offer some sort of refreshment to help entice the media along.
  
  
• Keep the briefing short – one hour maximum – and make sure you start and finish on time.
  
  
• Let the media know about the briefing well in advance and remind them the week it takes place.
  
  
• Be clear about why they should attend (opportunity to ask questions/ people on hand to interview/ learn more) – make it clear they can gain more from attending than simply asking you to email the information over.
  
  
• Manage the expectations of those taking part – journalists are fickle creatures so you never know who will actually turn up until the day.