We just completed a wildly successful Fall product line-up launch program consisting of a 4-legged national tour for one of our clients. 100+ in-person editor, columnist, blogger, analyst and producer one-on-ones were held in decked-out studios in New York, San Francisco, Southern California, plus a series of telephone briefings and web-conferences with many more individuals across the country.
In maybe the most rapidly changing media environment in modern times, we wanted to share a few insights from a high-tech PR perspective that allowed us to pull together a single event that met both the expectations of demanding clients as well as the diverse requirements of today’s news and information channels.
1. Plan, plan, plan! This may seem obvious, but having all contact phone numbers, shipping lists, travel itineraries, briefing materials, layouts and schedules are crucial to managing an event. You will never see a Walt & Company staff member at a media tour without multiple mobile devices that contain every piece of information available and are connected to our VPN. And, as back-up, paper-based briefing books make the trip too. When you’re coordinating schedules of a dozen client spokespeople and scores of editors and bloggers, there are always a few people that need to reschedule at the last minute.
2. Adapt. This may seem contradictory to the previous bullet, but your event will never go exactly as you planned on paper. Embrace that fact from the beginning, and thinking quickly on your feet will be much easier and efficient. (The weather cooperated this time, but it doesn’t always.)
3. Snack. This is often overlooked since we’re much more concerned with getting everything setup and client-ready, managing the media, and ensuring successful meetings. Thus, food is on the back burner (pun intended). Having a package of nuts or any other high-protein snack can mean the difference in treating the client to happy hour versus gorging on stale hotel sandwiches in your room. And let’s be real, who doesn’t like chocolate?
4. Fun. Likely, months of planning have gone into an event, so take a little time to enjoy the event! Being able to show the client you can work hard, but still enjoy yourself will go a long way in maintaining a relationship.
5. Document. Photos and videos are appreciated by everyone and obviously one of the best ways to ensure that the entire client organization, as well as everyone back in Campbell at Walt & Company, can actually see what took place.
