Naren has raised an interesting issue.
Here are my observations; My experience with TELCO and ALSTOM enumerated below.
Media attendance at press conferences are a nightmare. Though I am part of the media , having been Economics Editor of PTI, I knew the media at every rung, and most newspaper Editors are all my peer group. But I never went to them for any press conference request but handled it at the COB or Chief Reporter level. They were for emergencies only.
The Delhi media is difficult to handle. Unlike Chennai, Bangalore or Mumbai. They have to be told several times about a press conference. You are not sure they will attend , because Delhi is so busy and quite often government events or psu press conferences take precedence.
When I was working for an agency handling TELCO ( now Tata Engineering) we avoided press conferences but had one on one meeting which was highly successful. Press conferences are to be avoided unless you have something really sensational or big time announcement to make. Tatas understood thiswell and so also ALSTOM..
AT TATA's I took 16 journalists to Pune to show them the Indica facility and it was a whopping success. But the purpose for which the trip was organised was never served. To write about the environment protection programmes. Very few wrote about them. The entire press conference was on TATA Indica, delivery schedules, new models, pricing etc.And I had told them in advance that questions would be on these and not on environment, so they were mentally prepared and did not crib. .
At ALSTOM, we never held any press conference unless there was something big to announce. Usually press conferences were organised during the world wide chief's visit to India or business head visit. and usually i used to keep the number down to five dedicated journalists, hardcore ones on the beat. We were never interested in plublicity blitz kreig like PSU's where 50 jouirnalistsa are invited to impress the CMD. And only five write at the end of the day. . We never hired PR agency and did everything ourselvess. I had a small department of three and we were in control all the time. PR agencies often dont understand the need of a client or the sensitives involved. We cannot blame them because they handle too many clients and they are not focused on any client except the billing.
So the moral of the story is :
1) Dont hold a press conference unless you have something big to announce.
2) Consult the media before organsing a press conference if the event will ensure attendance
3) If the response is weak, tell the organisers, press conference no go, have informal meet with one or two
4) Always limit the attendance to a press conference to just five or six, mainline media, one leading vernancular media and all economic papers.
5) If the press conference is a disaster and if only one or two attend against an invite of 10 ort 12. The client is going to be fuming. Tell the client why press conference was a damp squib. Dont promise the moon to the client. Dont brood and dont let the client get on top of you, stop blame game. Do the next.
Ask the client what is his message to the media and public - make a short summary , prepare a press brief or brief the journalist who did not come verbally and ensure they print. Nxt morning you have all the journalists writing about an event they never attended.You have saved your a...s and your client's reputation. Then collect your money from the client.
6) Believe it or not, at ALSTOM, we had a sister company's evert derailed when only four journalists out of seven eight we have invited turned up because the Power Secretary called an impromptu meeting.
The foreigners were not upset. But the country head was uneasy, he did not blame me or anyone. Instead he advised me on what to do next. We came out trumps the next day. its difficult to get and work with such understanding
and thougtful CEOs. I was lucky. All will not be. So have a backup strategy.
Best Regards,
TN Ashok
Consultant
All India Rice Exporters Association
ex advisor, TATA Engineering, ALStOM, Alcatgel, Xerox,
Authentix, ATMA.
Ex Economics Editor PTI.
On 10/15/09, Narendran A <naren_vna@yahoo.com > wrote:
Hi
I wish to highlight an event which received no media attention. A Pr agency invited media for a PC and the announcement was "a hotel chain was to organize a sport event". It was an ordinary announcement. Invites were issued to all the media and media did not turn up for the PC.
Where are we going wrong.Many of us forget the basics at times. Request members to share their thoughts and experience.
Best regards
Narren
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