 Media events hold all kind of promise for organizations and for a product and a rollout and a promotion and all those types of things Media events can have a huge Can provide a huge boost for your efforts But when they're not done well and one on the flip side of these things They can also be a real embarrassment and be a real detriment to what you're trying to achieve So when we think about media events, we need to do so in a very mindful way very intentional way in a very Purposeful way, so let's talk a little bit in this video about what it means to put on a media event and and how we can go About doing so successfully So first of all the keys to success to any media events are two-fold first of all focus you ought to have extreme focus Be very narrowed in and very keyed in on what it is you're trying to accomplish out of very specific objectives and goals for this event and Every decision that you make ought to be centered around is it helping us get closer to achieving that objective? You need to think of it as a concentric circle where you know Purpose is right in the middle of that burst that bull's eye and and you've got your your sights set firmly on that purpose And everything else is just noise if you're thinking about you know something or making a decision on something Your only focus should be does this help us achieve that purpose if not its noise and get rid of it But if it's not gonna help us, I don't care how flashy it is How good it is what how big a celebrity you can get to come if it does not support your purpose It should not be a part of your media event You have to be singularly focused on that purpose not objective And everything has to go through that lens and does it fit and does it help that purpose not objective? the other key to a successful media event then is Execution can you focus in on those details and the little things if you're somebody who says well I'm more of a vision person or I'm a big picture person. That's fantastic Let somebody else run the media event you assist you provide that vision or whatever but It's the person responsible for a media event has to be able to execute those ideas It's not enough just to have a great idea or to have a great thought or to see a great vision, right? You've got to have the ability to follow up on those details to arrange them and then to follow through on them to execute That idea you have to have checklist after checklist after checklist and the people working with you ought to have their own Checklist and you ought to be checking their checklist and then checking to make sure the checklists have actually been completed There ought to be checklists and to-do lists and things these details Matter you have to have an immense amount of planning for any event and and check off all those boxes on that checklist in order to have Effective execution which is the only thing people are going to notice Really they shouldn't notice what they're going to notice is poor execution and that's not what you want when things are executed Well, they're going to notice your purpose your objective again What is the focus of this event when it's executed properly that's going to remain the emphasis in the focus and the in the end result Will be a positive one for that particular product or objective or goal or whatever it is So we need to have focus and we need to have execution So we also need to keep in mind when we're putting on an event. This is not just for us It's not just because it's it's for a specific target audience, right? And actually there are multiple target audiences that we have with any media event First is the organization itself. You're presumably putting this event on on behalf or part as part of an organization And you need something that will say to the organization that this adds value to what we're trying to do overall This is going to help us achieve our objection or our Objectives rather as an organization. This is going to add value to what it is We're trying to accomplish and the service we're providing or that the the goal we're trying to meet Your second audience then is the media that you're inviting to this event Obviously you want people to come and you want people to report on it You want people to write stories and do stories on it so for the media it has to be two things It has to be both unique and relevant if your event doesn't provide those two things then they're not going to be interested They've got other things to do with their time, but it needs to be something that's unique That's going to be something they can't get elsewhere and can't cover elsewhere and isn't provided elsewhere And it's got to be relevant relevant not just to the media themselves But to their audience more so the the media has their own target audiences, right? So we've got to provide something that is relevant to their target audiences so that it is relevant to that particular media So for the media we need to make sure that our event is unique and relevant in order to fit into that target audience Goal and then finally our project has goals to we've talked about I mean we should be specifically focused on does this bring us closer to meeting that objective to achieving that goal? Our project has its own end So is this media event going to be effective in helping us achieve that goal and that purpose again? Everything ought to be filtered through that particular lens So you have these target audiences your organization the media and your project itself Your event ought to fall somewhere in the middle of all that right? Ideally that's where your your your sweet spot is for this event your media event That's going to provide something for the organization for the media and for your project and achieving that that goal overall Your media event ought to fall somewhere within that that cross-section of those three audiences Okay, when we get down to actually planning an announcement or or an event and planning You know something that we're going to whether this is a Product launch whether it's a new new site development that you're talking about whatever it is We ought to put a lot of planning into this so some things that we ought to consider when planning an announcement or event First of all the date and time that's a key consideration, right? We need to think about are there conflicting events at that time not only within the organization, but outside of the organization Is it election day or is it the Superbowl or is it whatever is something going to conflict with that? What's the weather potentially going to be like they you know for before six months eight months whatever out? We don't know exactly what the weather is going to be like But if you're in the Midwest and you're planning an event for January, you know It's going to be cold right or if you're in the south and you're planning an event for for August You know it's going to be hot so we need to think about is that the right timing for this announcement in terms of weather? Do we think we'll have the general cooperation of the weather that we want for that particular thing? You know and notwithstanding is it going to rain that day? I mean for six eight months out We don't really know for sure if it's going to rain that day or snow that day or whatever We take our chances with that but we have a general idea what the weather is going to be like And then the time of the media deadlines when should we plan this for what are these the key deadlines? And when do we know that the media has their biggest audiences and so forth What's the best time for us to hit help them hit those major deadlines? So the date and time are an important consideration The location is another one again. What's the weather going to be like in this given location? Are we going to need to hold it indoors? Maybe you're outdoors or is it going to be on-site or off-site? We're going to hold this at our organization or we're going to look at somewhere else off-site as they're going to be Good accessibility for guests are they going to be able to get there in a reasonable amount of time? Are they going to be able to access the venue and the different things that we we have planned for that? So we need to think about the location in those terms. We need to think about our message What is what is our message? What type of message do we have again? What's the purpose and the goal of this event? So we need to think about our message in that way and then how do we keep on that message? How do we keep on track with that message? How can we focus everything from the promotional materials to the setup of the event to the speakers that we have? Selected to be a part of that event. How can we work to keep all of that on message? We need to think about the guests and the media in general. Are we going to invite government officials? Is this something that might involve, you know, some some, you know, local, national, state government, whatever? Do we need to invite government officials? Are there other community and business leaders that we can invite either as guests or as speakers to to enhance that event or that would be connected would have relevance for them? What about the news media? What kind of media do we want to invite? Is this a print thing or a TV thing, a podcast thing? Is there a specific journal, industrial journal or business journal that's related to this? We want to invite, you know, those types of things and then employees. Are we inviting employees? And if so, which ones and how many and what kind of event is this? Are they going to be interested in that? Is it going to have relevance for them as well? Finally, we need to think about speakers. When we're thinking, if you're going to have speakers in an event, you need to be selective and be intentional and stay message focused. Don't just invite people for the sake of inviting them, inviting celebrities and things just to make appearances. If they're going to be there, it ought to be for a purpose, especially if they're going to be speaking, if they're going to be at the podium and on the lectern thing, it ought to be for a purpose. They ought to have some connection to that project or be able to to speak to that project in some meaningful way. So we need to be very selective about our speakers and not just have everybody under the sun speak. And we need to be intentional about what they're saying and how we're keeping them on message. So lots of things, including these and others, go into planning an event. Another plan type of plan or part of the planning would be the type of occasion. The news is a news conference. Is this a reception? Is this a lunch or dinner? Depending on what our purposes are, we'll determine what kind of event and what type of occasion we're setting up here for this media event. In terms of media relations, we need to be thinking about press kit materials and transportation and interview availability of executives and other speakers and things. Are we going to have interview availability for those people? And so we need to be thinking about how we can best connect with the media and make their job easier here and make it easier for them to tell our story. We need to be thinking about invitations, invitations, which platforms and or people are we going to invite? How are we going to send those invitations and what kind of invitations is it going to be? So what kind of media do we need to invite? Who are the people we need to invite? What's the best way to get them there? We think about mementos. Are we going to have swag for everybody? We're going to have handouts and giveaways and gift bags and things like that. And is it going to be all the same or is it going to be different levels or categories like to, you know, executives get one type of thing and government people get another and media get a different package? And so what kind of mementos are we going to have and make sure it's branded, at least with the organization, if not with that event? So we need to be thinking about mementos in advance so we can get those things in the works. And then collateral materials, just other things that may be a part of this. Again, the details matter. So are we going to have printed programs? If so, what are they going to be like? Who's doing that? And where we're getting them made? Is there going to be an exhibit or an exhibit hall or things that we want to show off during this? During this event? If so, again, what? And how do we do that? Do we need signage? Is this going to be at a huge location where we need signage directing people to different places? There's just a million little details like that that need to be considered well in advance so that we can have these things, you know, in time for the event and have them in place for the event. So lots of things, as you can imagine, go into a planning event. That's really the, you know, the rest of it's kind of the tip of the iceberg where you see the 25% that happens. You know, at the time of the event, the speakers and all the fun and stuff like that, but really 75% of any media event takes place before the work takes place before that event ever happens and ideally months before it ever happens. Speaking of which, what are some of the things we need to do then? Again, before the event? Well, you know, when we're leading into an event, when we're thinking about an event, first of all, we need, I can't stress this enough, we need to make sure this aligns with our organizational goals. We have to make sure that we are on purpose not only for our project, but as an organization, as a whole. That's a critical step that we'd be within the organizational goals. We don't just be out there operating on our own. We need to invite the appropriate VIPs. In other words, who do we want to be there? VIPs meaning government officials, media outlets, different people like that. Who are we going to invite? Who do we specifically want to be there and need to be there for this to be a success? Even if we're going to invite other people, that's fine. But who are the core group of people that we need to be there in order for us to consider this as a success? We need to coordinate schedules, and we need to contact these people. If we're going to have speakers, we're going to have corporate executives, things we need to coordinate schedules before him, before establishing the specific event date as much as possible. We want to make sure that schedule is cleared. We get it on people's calendar so that they save that date, and so we just want to coordinate schedules as best as possible. We want to choose and prep our spokespersons. This may be people that are on stage speaking or may not be people on stage speaking. Maybe they're people that we make available, subject matter experts and project leads and so forth that we make available. We need to, as we discussed in a previous video, be selective in how we choose these people and how we prepare these people. I think there's a whole other video we've done on spokespersons and how to deal with all that, so you can check that out. But we need to, in advance, before this event, choose and prepare those spokespersons. When it comes to actually the time for the event, when we're implementing the actual event, we need to, first of all, prep the media, let them know what's going on, give them some informational materials in advance during that event, and so we need to be thinking about it when we're getting closer to implementation on that. We need to limit the number of speakers. We already chatted about that a little bit, so not going to spend a great deal of time here, but people didn't come to hear people speak at this event necessarily, unless it's a speaker series. If it's a product launch, if it's a site launch, if it's something like that, we want to limit the number of speakers. That's not the main attraction. We can have a couple speakers, but limit their time, limit the scope of their remarks, and limit the overall number that we have. As we mentioned, we want to plan and personalize that swag. Any mementos you're going to have, you want to plan it out in advance, and you want to personalize that, you want to arrange for photos to be taken at this event and stage the area so that it's appropriate for photos. And if possible, and if appropriate, you might want to stream it online. That's a possibility now, too, right, that we can have this air online for people who can't attend live and in person. They can still attend online or we can record it and stream it and make it available later then. We need to plan and build those press kits in advance. We need to talk specifically about what goes in those press kits here in just a minute, but we need to plan and build those press kits so that they are ready when the time comes. We need to arrange logistics. So do we need to transport people here and there? Do we need to reserve rooms? We need to do the schedules and things so that we're not overlapping in different events. We need to get our facts straight. If we're going to have information available, we need to make sure that we have consistent and accurate and appropriate information that we're making available to the media and to the participants in the event then. We need to think about the optics as we talked about, what's it going to look like when it's staged? Are we going to have a nice clean area behind them? We don't want a lot of distractions and things. So we need to think in advance about what it's going to be like to have pictures taken there and have video streaming from there and all this other kind of stuff. So think about what it's going to look like to an audience, not only the audience that's there in person, but the audience seeing any pictures and streaming activity. We need to post materials online. That can make it easier for the media to access information. If we have this robust online newsroom, specifically with information about that product or project or whatever it is that event is related to, we can provide them with links so they can access it later. It just makes it a huge convenience for the media folks in particular if they have access to that information online and we post those materials online. And we need to be, as the event organizer, we have to be hands-on with the setup. We have to be right there in the moment. We can't be totally removed and say, oh, no, I'm just going to trust everybody's got it done. You should trust that they've got it done. You should also verify that it has been done and that responsibility falls on you. Okay, so now that we've had our event, what do we need to do to follow up on that? What do we do after the event is over? Well, first and foremost, we monitor the media coverage. We see what's been said about this event and about our product and about whatever it is we're trying to get out there with the event, what the purpose is. Do we achieve our purpose in that way? Do we get the mentions that we want? So we need to monitor that media coverage. We also then want to create a file of that media coverage so that we keep it on hand. And so just be sure that we have it for future reference and just so we can verify that this was the result of the event. How many mentions do we get? How many square inches in terms of print media? Or how many minutes of airtime did the event draw? How many mentions and were they positive or negative and so forth? But we want to create a file for better or worse of all that media coverage. I also want to compile a file of just everything related to the event. All the planning notes, all the details, all the checklists, all the everything that we have for that event. You want to be sure that you save all of that. That's for future reference again. And so we have a record of what happened during that event in case you need to do something else with it. OK, we talked a little bit about PresKit and making a PresKit available and the importance of that for the media in particular. So let's talk a little bit about what goes into your PresKit. Not in great detail, but we're going to talk just briefly about what kind of items would be in your PresKit for the media. So first of all, your official news release. You ought to have an official news release that they can draw from they can use to gather information. And so that official news release ought to be part of your PresKit. Also any information for related feature or sidebar stories. If you have something interesting that they may want to include in a sidebar, touching story, human human interest story or something related to that project or related to that purpose. Then you want to include that and the information for that in the media kit, the PresKit as well. Links to online resources. As we mentioned, you want to have a robust online newsroom with this information. They ought to be provided links and just you ought to provide that in the PresKit as well. A list of information for event speakers and participants. So they're biographies and anybody was on the lectern. Everybody who spoke, anybody was a part of the event or basically in front of the crowd at that event ought to have their name and contact information and a basic fact sheet about them in the media kit in the PresKit as well. You also want to just include a basic fact sheet for the organization. This ought to be something standard that you have in your public relations toolkit. You can just drop that in the fact sheet on the basics of the organization itself. And then finally included some contact information for who they should follow up with if they have questions. And maybe that's one person that you want to flow through this one singular person. Or maybe it's if you have questions about this contact this person and this contact this other person and however you want to do that. But you ought to have contact information for any follow up questions that the media press may have. So we also finally want to think about the strategic timing of putting on a vet. What's the best time for doing this? Some considerations we need to think about include things like industry timelines. Obviously you have a product deadline, but there may be industry timelines, ebbs and flows and things where this may be important within the industry overall. So you want to be think that and keep that in mind. Your participant schedules again, we ought to be coordinating calendars and schedules beforehand to make sure that we can get our participants there. The VIPs and the press that we want there. I'll be thinking about media deadlines or touched on this before as well. What are the key media deadlines both in terms of the time of day, the time of week, time of month, that kind of thing. That's going to be best for the media and for us to get our story out in the media then thinking about the season and the weather. We talked about that a little bit before as well. But you know, all of these things go into what's the best time for us to do this so that we can have the most success again, thinking about what our objectives are. We ought to be thinking about how does it line up with these things? It won't always line up with all of them perfectly, but we ought to be working toward maximum possible effect in thinking about this in a strategic way in terms of the timing of our event. Hopefully this gives you the idea that media events require a great deal of planning, preparation and ultimately of execution and performance. So they're not just something we throw together overnight, not in any kind of effective way. They take some time to think about what is our purpose and then how can we best achieve that purpose and then executing that idea in the end is ultimately the most important thing as well. So hopefully you get a better sense of that through this discussion. If you have questions about media events or anything related to that, please feel free to email me. Be happy to chat with you about it in that form. In the meantime, I hope that this has opened your eyes a little bit to what may go into a media event and the importance of thinking about these things through. The importance of having a focused event and of the execution ultimately of that event in determining whether or not you present a successful media event.