Timing is the Key to Everything

---posted on behalf of Lee Xiao Tian -----------
I just had my first press conference! Something that is out of the ordinary kind of press conference I would say. It is painstakingly carved and planned by the Executive Director, Mr Louis Ng and our Director of Communications, Ms Leanora Gaffar. It is so confidential that we are not allowed to leak the information to any other third party before the press conference. It is a press conference to launch the 'World Saddest Dolphins Campaign' campaigning against an intergrated resort resided in Singapore to shelve their plans on displaying 27 wild-caught dolphins from Solomons Island. We are urging them to release the dolphins.

However, timing is the key to everything - I realized.

No matter how meticulously planned, timing is still everything. Before the press conference, we sent out press invites and invited the media for the press conference - releasing only the headline and a summary of the campaign. I had to call up each and every media which consist of mainly the mainstream newspapers, television station and radio station. It was each a disappointing hung up when they refused to attend as they either find it not newsworthy enough, the story is not aligned to their objectives or either that, they are actually too busy to attend, which is such a pity. Not only that, the calls are made also to ensure they did receive the invites and are aware of the conference. Again, timing is everything. They might have missed it out in their mails, missed the fax and any other possible misses.

Nevertheless, I was very impressed by the Executive Director's presentation during the conference. I am sure the reporters were equally inspired by the talk. Hoping that the inspiration could be converted to pieces of articles that will be circulating in Singapore, we proceeded to the roadshow venue, located at Far East Plaza to increase the awareness of the campaign and the issue. The PR tactics used for this campaign is to make use of social media and engage Singaporeans, especially from the younger generation and build awareness starting from there. I was delighted to know that Mediacorp Channelnewasia covered the story and put it on their online website hours and Suria News covered the story a few hours after the press conference.

We were all very elated about this and were all looking forward for more coverage that night on the news and on the papers the following day.
With high hope, we knew our covers will definitely be lesser than our expectation when news regarding building more housing in Singapore and Singapore Presidential Election news were heard. The newsworthiness of any economic and political related issues is far more important than an animal welfare organization shouting out for help. That is the wrong timing that happened, dashing our little hopes.

I am angry because I know ACRES has being working very hard and putting in every ounce of effort to make this campaign a successful one, having more coverage in the media and letting more people know about this issue can actually be a big stepping stone towards the goal. However, when it is time for us to shine in the limelight, politics and economic policies have taken away what we need and this can be really frustrating. Even for an intern who is only assisting them in a short term period, I realized how important timing can be. Every media may be notify, they may even have drafted out the news, however, it could be shelved into the shadow of more newsworthiness articles because the timing isn't right.

Then again, this is the media, and what Public Relations agents, consultants and professions are working towards is to achieve the PR objective of any plan and campaign and snatch the limelight from the media and increase publicity for the organization.

I am also very motivated and determined to be interning at ACRES and to execute what I've learn in school, especially where I am an avid animal lover and I believe in animal welfare.