Media Photographers

Hi all,

The White Butterfly Gala Event that I have been working on for the Global Good Foundation was held on the 22nd of August and was a great success. Whilst most of my work on the event was concerned with media relations, publicity and sponsorship, I was able to look around the room and identify different areas of the event's management and how everything came together on the night.

One of the first successes that became apparent as I arrived was the attendance of photographers for The West, The Western Suburbs Weekly and The Sunday Times. The event was consequently covered in the social pages of all three publications which is a great achievement for our PR team. The was the result of a process we undertook to attract them to the event and motivate them to attend. Initially establishing direct contact with them was difficult as there are often not direct lines to call and emails tend to go unanswered. The photographer from the Community News was a good example. My emails went unanswered, however an email from the PR Manager was responded outlining conditions for attendance. The PR Manager was quite firm about what we could offer and reminded him this was a charity event and we could not afford to hand out freebies. This made me realise that regardless of whether you require something of the photographer, you can't let them make impractical demands. Furthermore, whilst we required his services, he also requires events to cover and generally the larger and more interesting the event, the better it is for the social pages. Despite the fact we turned down his requests, he still attended and covered the event.

I guess the real underlying lesson I learned from this that sometimes, especially in PR, you have to know what you're offering and what it's worth to the party you're offering it to. In having this knowledge, you're able to judge whether what you're offering is worth what you hope to receive in return. This is perhaps even more important or significant when working for a not-for-profit. If what you're offering isn't worth what you hope to receive, you may need to consider what further value you can add. Similarly, if what you're offering is worth more than you're hoping to receive, then perhaps you are spending unneccessary resources.

I'll continue to post my reflections on my placement as I write my final report.

Thanks,

Lyndsay