If you have something noteworthy to convey hold a press conference. It has three big advantages:
One, it is best way to get the media to you. You can be sure that if the subject is important all newspapers and TV channels will send their reporters. Most will also send their photographers.
Two, you control the flow of information. You set the agenda by reading out a prepared statement. Reporters can, of course, ask questions but the answers lie in your hands.
You should answer only those questions that are favourable. Negative questions should be deflected with a smile and “No comments”.
Three, you get an opportunity to make friends in the media.
# Organising a press conference
If need be, you should hire a professional event management company to ensure that the press conference goes off without a hitch.
Public relations staff and event management companies spend considerable time in organising the press conference. The work starts by fixing the time and place. Next, an invitation is printed and is distributed to all news channels at least a couple of days in advance. Personal calls are made to all editors and reporters requesting that a photographer and reporter be made available.
The press conference is either followed by a lunch or dinner. Most evening press conferences are followed by cocktails. The idea is to keep the reporters happy, and hope to get favourable coverage.
# Media kit
Each reporter and photographer is presented a media kit. In the good old days, the media kit was limited to a note pad, a pen, a press release and a backgrounder on the organisation holding the press conference.
Today, the media is presented laptops, Ipods, suit pieces, even company shares. If it is New Year and Christmas time you can also expect Johnny Walkers.
It is not that the reporters are not aware of what is happening at the press conference. The principled ones refuse any gifts that are aimed to influence their judgement. But such reporters are few. There are several reporters who attend press conferences only to collect gifts.
The editors too are getting concerned at the way information is being pushed at them. They are trying to limit press conference journalism by encouraging their reporters to get the stories directly from the field.
You should therefore be careful. Don’t organise a press conference unless you have something important to communicate.
Analyze your audience
In this case, probable attendees may be, Stakeholders, affected clients, and media. All of them will have a
separate agenda, one should be able to speculate every situation.
Identify your communications objective
The addresser of the press conference should have a clear communication objective and a clear message should
go out to the attendees. This should be done by first speaking to the internal employees and deciding on the
stand to be taken given the situation and then sticking to it.
Stay focused on your message
Since the audience is from a diverse background, you may be faced with questions that you are not prepared for.
Frame the response in such a way that the essence of the message is in tandem with the communications
objective.
Structure your response
When responding to a tricky question, it is better to take a few moments and compose a structured response than
to give out an unstructured response that will confuse the audience further and could tarnish the reputation of
the .
Don’t leave anyone out
To the best of your ability, address questions from all the sections of the audience in an unbiased and fair manner.
We understand that it will be uncomfortable to address a few concerns but giving out a clear message to the
audience will help alleviate the confusion that may arise from unanswered questions.
Always be polite
Remember to always be polite, even if there is anger resonating from members of the audience. Keep in mind
that they will be angry and agitated. The primary purpose of this press conference is to address the concerns of
the attendees.