There are no right and wrong ways to work in this business, but there are
some basic common-sense practices. Work very, very hard and always be prepared;
never give up; and once you get the job, give them more than they ever
expected: - Shine! - Jimmy Smits (Actor)
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today. - Elbert Hubbard (writer and philosopher, also owner of cool cowboy hats)
Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation
there is sure to be failure. - Confucius (teacher, editor, politician and philosopher)
Hi again,
So I am back with more on my experience with Integrated Public Relations (iPR), here in Kuala Lumpur. So just a heads up, this may be a long post but
I don't know if I have mentioned this or not, or maybe you would have guessed by now, iPR is a public relations consultancy firm. What this means is that we are not a public relations department in a bigger outfit, affiliated with one corporate body or company. Instead we provide public relations related services to many different clients.
Some of our clients in the past have included Uniliver, EMKAY Group, USANA Health Sciences (Malaysia), Sime Darby Group and MBO Cinemas to mention a few, some of whom we were actively working with during my time with iPR.
As a consultancy we are tasked with organizing press and media events for our clients and their various press worthy activities, among other tasks.
As exciting as it may sound to host and organize events, let me tell you, it can get very hectic and a lot of the times you will be sure that this about to be a disaster no matter how much effort you have put in. There will be last minute details that will keep you up late into the night (even though you always hope you might manage to get a good nights's rest the before an event, it is highly unlikely, and if you do manage to grab that, consider yourself lucky!) and something or the other will always go wrong.
There is however a way to minimize this stress and that is to basically get as much preparation done in advance as possible.
Here are some of the tips I have picked up having observed and participated in 6 major press events during my two months so far. Let me clarify that these events were all for different clients so slight variation on the prep is to be expected. I have highlighted the difference wherever it is necessary. I'll be using the Pulau Banding Foundation's Royal Belum 4th Scientific Expedition Launch event as an example.
Steps To Make Your Next Event Flawless (Or as close to it as possible)
1) Preparation:
Remember that being prepared in advance is basically your key to a win. This is probably the golden rule of public relations practice, just having all of your bases covered from your end which is all you can really do. You cannot predict how other parties will behave but by having your end sorted well in advance you can have the capacity to deal with other unforeseen problems.
Usually we are contacted by a client regarding some activity they are about to do.
Take for example the Royal Belum 4th Scientific Expedition Launch, an event that was held at the Royal Belum State Park in Perak province to announce the beginning of a large scale foray into uncharted areas of the rain-forest. The Pulau Banding Foundation which works from the Island Banding in the forest is an environmental conservation effort by EMKAY Group.
2) The Prep:
Acquire any and all details from the client about the event, including (but not limited to):
- theme and purpose,
- exact location and timing,
- aim of the event,
- who will be in attendance, details of VIPs,
- the kind of media they would like to target,
- logistical details,
- details of investors
- and most importantly, THE BUDGET
You should also ask for whether the client would like you to draft out the press kit (Media Invitation, Itinerary, Press Release, Speeches, Post Release etc) or if they will be providing the materials. Depending on if they want you to arrange everything (which they usually do), you can then ask more pertinent questions regarding official statements to be made, background of clients and so forth.
Follow this up by conducting your own research. Look into previous events hosted by your client, look into their corporate profile, if possible visit the location of the event in advance (so you can provide super specific direction in the media invitation. I suggest screen shots of google maps and a corresponding link).
For the Royal Belum 4th Scientific Expedition Launch event, we were also asked to arrange transport of journalists and photographers from Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh (which is in Perak but still 5 hours from the park).
This required booking a bus, arranging a pick up point in Ipoh (We ourselves drove the 4 Kuala Lumpur journalists to Ipoh), knowing well in advance the location of Pulau Banding within the forest where the event would take place.
Another consideration is the duration of the event. Most events will be a few hours long. The Belum event was an overnight escapade.
I have to admit this was very exciting for me! Travelling for work just felt like I was really part of the team and genuinely involved. I felt professional and included, which felt great and motivated me to really do my best.
Getting back to the story, the fact that the event was over night meant that we needed to arrange accommodation for all of the attendees from the media who we were responsible for. The client of course covered the charges but it was up to us to sort out the rooming details such as where to place whom. This required of course gender segregation as there were male and female journalists involved as well as a more subtle consideration of who would get along best with who to minimize drama.
I soon learned that these minor consideration can make all the difference. Happy media is more willing to come to events arranged by companies they like. This makes inviting them to further events easier because they will remember you fondly, making the process far less painful.
All of these things need to be organized and confirmed well in advance so appropriate bookings can be made. This all leads back to the preparation aspect of event management.
3) Getting to work:
Once you have all the information, it is time to put it to paper. Using the information you have gathered, a media invitation will be drafted (see previous post for more) and this will be sent to all media outlets.
After this, a press release will have to be drafted. This, I find is best done while the speeches are being drafted simultaneously because it is easy to insert quotes from the speeches into the press release. Sounds confusing yes, but remember you will probably not be the only one working on this so don't fret.
Basically you will end up making the following documents:
- An itinerary
- Press release
- Speeches
- Fact sheet (optional)
- Sign in sheet (for the media to register themselves at the event and for you to keep track of who showed up)
- A list of media that confirmed in advance and all available contact information
Once you have all the drafts, print and make photocopies depending on how many media confirm their attendance + extra 5 sets just in case. These should be sorted out into sets which will be put into envelopes or folders for distribution before the event day.
Meanwhile, make sure to keep making those calls to reach as wide a media audience as possible. The worst they can do is tell you they are either not interested in the story or that they have no one available. Again, I speak more on this calling business in my last post.
On the day of the event it is possible that the client will bring goody-bags or other printed material they expect you to add to your existing press kit. Do the sorting as soon as possible and have everything ready before the time you gave the media to show up. This can, of course only be done if you are there well in advance yourself. It also helps to get there early so you can set up in peace and not have to rush, so by the time the media does show up to sign in you look calm and collected.
4) The little touches make the difference
- At iPR there are some set ways of doing things, as I am sure is the same for most other companies. Once thing I found to be really helpful is the "Event Bag".
The Event Bag is a little trolley bag (an overnight size approximately) that is used to keep all the things we need to take to the event with us and is packed the day before. This is where the press kits, extra folders/envelopes, stationary (a loaded stapler, a white out/liquid corrector and scotch tape might save your life!), calling cards of the team and any other important items will be stored.
It's just really easy to grab it and go the next day!
- Walkie Talkies
- A Camera
*******
And that right there ladies and gentleman, is a breakdown of what it takes to be prepared for an event as a consultancy firm. There is pretty much no room for error because it puts not only your own reputation at risk in front of news channels but also that of your client.
The only way to avoid that is to have as fool proof a plan and set up as possible which of course can only be done with meticulous attention to detail, rechecking and laying the ground work well in advance.
Its a lesson I believe will help me throughout my life.
On that note, I wish you all a very fruitful remainder of your internship and look forward to reading more posts! Thank you for sticking this far to the end of the post!
Ramsha Zia Siddiqi
Curtin University, Sarawak Campus
Student ID: 7e2b1164
Student ID: 7e2b1164
