It’s Thanksgiving! Time (again) to tell your family what you do in public relations

Posted on November 16, 2016November 21, 2016 by TimOB

It’s that time of year when you get together with your family and catch up. You can smell the turkey cooking in the oven, the fireplace is roaring, and the football games are on the television.

Everyone’s doing their best to avoid those taboo dinner table topics (some more successful than others), and somewhere between that second helping of green bean casserole and the pumpkin pie, someone asks you once again, “So, tell me, what do you actually do in PR?”

We’ve all been there. Our families often hear us use words like “public relations,” “marketing,” “communications,” or other terms like “social media,” “digital,” and “integrated.” They want to show an interest. Maybe more accurately, they want to be interested. Your mother may even produce the business card you gave her two employers ago to show you she’s always thinking of you.

Now it’s your turn. What do you say this time? How can you make it clear once and for all what you actually do for a living?

If such a question causes frustration for you, let’s take a step back and consider the questions that are really being asked. When a dear loved one asks you what you do, they don’t usually want to know what you really do in terms of tasks. Here’s what they are really asking:

Are you happy in your work? Is it rewarding?
Is the stress of work having an effect on you?
Do you have time to enjoy life?
Is there a future at your current employer or in your field?
Is there a chance you could be laid off?

Then, of course, there may be a small bit of curiosity about how public relations people “get away” with making large sums for “typing on a computer.”

So here’s my recommendation.

So, when you get the inevitable question, don’t plunge into a description of tasks you do at work. Don’t use jargon like “digital content” or “market share.” Don’t drop the names of famous people or well-known brands and companies you may cross paths with through your work. All of that is a big turnoff and likely to get people to turn the sound down in their minds when your lips are moving.

Instead, try to package your response to answer the questions they are really asking. Let me offer a hypothetical example for your Thanksgiving “elevator speech” that (I’d like to think is true) may address the questions behind the Thanksgiving question, “What do you do in PR?”

“I love my work. Every day I’m always doing something new and meeting new people. I like the people I work with. I work with the media, and develop my skills with technology and writing talents. It’s very rewarding.

I work hard but have great friends and coworkers. We do things away from work together. I’m taking an art class just for fun, and I joined a gym to stay healthy and fresh. I feel really great and have learned how to balance work and life.

My field is very exciting. Whether it’s with my current employer or somewhere else, I hear about opportunities all of the time. Of course, you get out of it what you put into it, but I’m seeing progress.”

OK, I know. Some or all of that may not be true for you. But the point here is at the very least to know the questions behind the question and to answer those questions honestly and sincerely.

Also, I realize that this still does not get at how the field of PR works. Trust me. I’m a veteran of many Thanksgivings.

Unless you want to clear the dinner table so you can conduct an impromptu Powerpoint presentation on the history of PR, starting with Edward Bernays, I’ve got another idea. When someone asks you, “What is PR?,” just say, “Pass the stuffing, please.” Works every time.

As always, if you’d like to talk PR with someone who knows how it works, please let me know. I’d be happy to talk turkey. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

When that PR Guru Says You Need a Wakeup Call

Posted on November 6, 2016November 11, 2016 by TimOB

The next time you hear a guru tell the communications industry or public relations field to answer his wakeup call, hit the snooze button.

Let me explain. Consider this story from my relatively short Boy Scout career. In that time, I went on many campouts. Without fail, there was always that kid who woke up before everyone else. Because he couldn’t sleep, he decided it was everyone else’s time to wake up.

He’d go from tent to tent, nudging us all until we had climbed out of our warm, comfortable sleeping bags, long before we needed to be, just to keep him company in the cold, damp morning air. What he didn’t realize was that he was a unifying force for the entire troop in a mutinous sort of way. His habit of waking us up too early sometimes led to discussions over the morning campfire on how exactly we were going to throw this kid into the lake with his clothes on.

That brings me to the current trend of some self-proclaimed communications visionaries telling the rest of us we need to wake up to the market forces that are changing our operating climate.

Here is how that usually goes.

The speaker delivers what is billed as a “wakeup call” to a communications industry group. Typically, the speech is characterized by “hard truths” the guru believes the industry has not yet demonstrated a willingness to embrace. Then he tells us his own story, full of examples where he achieved things early in his career that to the best of his knowledge no one has ever before achieved. He tells us how he challenged the status quo, turned conventional wisdom upside down and became this person who stands before us that we should all aspire to be.

Then he tells us the bad news. We’re focused on the wrong things. If he’s a digital pro, he’ll tell us we’re too focused on traditional media. If he’s trying to earn his stripes as a full service pro, he’ll tell us we’re too captivated with digital. If he just wants attention, he’ll tell us to stop doing something (anything) a certain way, that everything we’re doing is wrong and we need to be smarter about it.

Of course, he may drop in a few vulgarities to shock us and make sure we know he represents a new way of thinking. Often, he’ll remind us that geography no longer matters, and somewhere near the end of the speech, he’ll talk about what’s most important in life beyond business.

Rest Up

Here’s my advice. Rest up. Or more to the point, do not be alarmed by yet another professional Chicken Little trying to create an iconoclastic personal brand for himself.

The fact is the public relations industry changes and evolves every day. We aren’t doing things the way we did them five, ten or 20 years ago. That’s baked into the profession. The industry has changed without the need for wakeup calls, and it will continue to evolve. In other words, change and evolution is what we do.

So the next time some guru stands in front of you and tells you everything you’re doing is wrong and you need a wakeup call, just imagine we’re sitting around a campfire together, on a cool mountain morning, contemplating ways to throw this guy into the lake with his clothes on. I guarantee that you’ll feel much better.

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If You Think You’re Already Optimizing Your PR, Think Again

Posted on October 30, 2016October 30, 2016 by TimOB

One of the problems with “shiny new object syndrome” is it can be overwhelming. I experience a little of it every time I buy a new tech tool, online solution or piece of software. The helpful tutorial videos and call center staffers can do much to make the new thing easier to use and more embraceable, but I know the whole time I’m probably not using the tool to its fullest potential.

Like most, I buy it for an immediate need, and once I master my ability to meet that need, my curiosity over its potential diminishes. In the course of any one day, I don’t have the bandwidth to learn everything about everything, so I have to pick my spots.

As for learning more about a new tool, I tend to be like most and pick it up as I go, listening to others tell me how they use it, or perhaps seeking an answer to a question on Google or YouTube and then realizing I had the solution in my pocket or on my desk all along.

It’s with this in mind that I’ve realized of late that the way people use public relations is much the same. I’ve seen it with clients and others. They tend to see PR as that one thing they use first or most often, like publicity or media relations. Or, they may see PR as nothing more than an extension of their marketing and advertising programs, not fully realizing what more public relations can be doing for them.

As social media has come to dominate the communications landscape, more and more organizations see public relations as nothing more than maintaining a day-to-day schedule of blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, and LinkedIn posts.

To be sure, the practice of public relations can be all of these thigs, but it truly is more than the sum of its parts.

To get PR to work for you, to optimize it, it’s good to have a full understanding of your organization’s larger public relations strategy, which encompasses social, marketing communications, corporate and investor communications, employee communications and executive positioning. Sometimes this also includes wellness and benefits communications. And tied into any one of these areas, crisis communications and issues management can come to play.

If you sense that you may be leaving some of the power of PR on the table, one way to begin to tap its fullest advantages is to step back and go through a thoughtful planning process.

Conduct Research

Conduct research – original and secondary – to assess your brand or reputation. Conduct communications audits to see what’s most effective and what is not, not only in terms of tactics, but perhaps more importantly, in terms of content and message, and delivery system.

Identify and Prioritize Key Stakeholders

Think about what they want to hear, need to hear and the best means to connect with them. You may find that what you’ve been doing could use some tweaking.

Think of the process for optimizing your public relations program in the same way you use those software wizards to guide you through all of the capabilities of a valuable tool. It may take some extra time up front, but in the long run, it’s time well spent. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions about a more holistic approach to public relations. Just let me know.

You Want to Know How to Create a Powerful Key Message? Try this.

Posted on October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 by TimOB

In my media training work, I once worked with a colleague who liked to handle the portion of the workshop on key messaging. That segment included classroom lecture followed by an independent exercise.

She would “click” to the Powerpoint slide that featured this question:

“What is the meaning of life?”

Then she would ask the group to spend a few minutes writing their own individual and personal answers to the question. She’d remind them, “There are no wrong answers. Please take a few minutes to think about this and after a break we’ll discuss your answers.”

Most of the time the break would start quietly as people would contemplate their answers. Sometimes a few stand up and get a cup of coffee or just stretch their legs, and they would talk to each other informally about the question, seemingly as a way to prep themselves for open discussion of such a personal topic.

After I saw my colleague do this in a few sessions, I learned to expect the same group behaviors every time.

When the break was over, group discussion would follow a round-robin format with volunteers reading from their notes. One might start with, “To me, the meaning of life is golf and sleeping in on Saturdays,” which would predictably get a few laughs from the group.

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But pretty quickly, the tone would get serious, and some very simple and short concepts that had almost universal appeal and understanding would emerge:

“My family.”

“Faith.”

“Country.”

“Health.”

Consistently, it didn’t take many words or much time for people to answer the question, and very rarely was there any confusion or self-doubt. Almost to a participant, there was tremendous conviction behind the words or sentences.

At the end of the exercise, my colleague would tell the group that what they just did was come up with their own key messages. Then she would tell them what makes for a powerful key message.

If I may paraphrase my colleague, she would tell the group that good key messages are simple, clear and direct. They represent universal qualities that targeted audiences readily understand and appreciate.

She is no longer with us, but if my colleague were here, I know she’d add that a good key message is credible and believable because it isn’t just a set of words, at its core it’s honesty.

Let me know if you’d like to talk about key messaging.

Communications Inbox: How to Start a Solo Practice; When to Communicate During a Crisis

Posted on October 16, 2016October 16, 2016 by TimOB

Without any encouragement in recent weeks I’ve gotten some questions via email from some people who’ve become regular readers of this blog (Thanks!). The questions have ranged from how to start a solo practice, to how to structure a business plan.

With that in mind, and with the permission of the questioners, I thought I’d pick two of those questions and respond to them on this blog. Should you have a question you may want to see addressed in this space, just let me know. From time to time, I will feature them here.

Question #1: I’m presently working in the corporate department of a large firm. I have no agency experience. What steps should I take if I want to start my own solo practice?

– Nathan B.

Response: Nathan, this is one of the more common questions I get from people in the PR field, mostly due to the fact that my business has been established for 15 years and I have a monthly column in PRSA’s Tactics called State of Independence.

The main thing I’d tell you to do is to create a thorough and detailed business plan. There are many books on the subject, and many good articles to be found online. It’s not as important that you follow any one structure over another. What’s important is that you find one that suits you, and that it is exhaustive in its detail.

Chances are you will encounter several points in the process of creating a business plan where you don’t have the answers. Take that as a sign you need to do more homework, or in some cases, get more experience. If you have agency experience, the transition to starting your own solo practice will be a little easier because you should be already familiar with the business development and administrative processes that work behind the scenes to create a structure for effective client service.

But until you’ve actually started your business, it’s very difficult to imagine the difference between self-employment and working for someone else in an agency or another kind of organization. The process for creating a sound business plan is probably one of the most significant steps you can take to determine if starting an independent practice is right for you.

Question #2: There have been times when smaller crises have occurred within my organization and my supervisor was reluctant to communicate. His position was to wait to see how people would react before communicating. Is that the best approach?

– Jennifer K.

Response: No. Usually, when you wait for the worst, you increase the chances that the worst will happen because you’re surrendering control to others and circumstance. In any crisis, the first and most important thing to do is gain a clear and accurate assessment of the damage and potential damage to the organization’s reputation.

That means doing your own internal reporting and identifying potential vulnerabilities, not only to the organization’s reputation, but to the organization itself. Waiting to do this or to plan a crisis response can lead to operational problems that can hinder the organization’s ability to function at its best.

Once you have an idea of how big the crisis is or what could happen in a worst-case scenario, the next step is to prepare. Draft strategy documents, identify crisis team members, and begin to draft the full suite of documents and materials you may need should the crisis unfold. Make sure your channels are in place for communicating to all important stakeholders. This includes conventional means and digital.

This kind of preparation is invaluable even when organizational leadership is reluctant at the moment to communicate on the issue. No one will complain if you are prepared when the time comes to mobilize and communicate.

Strategically, the reason it’s best not to wait is that when you do, you give others a chance to shape the story for you, and the way they shape it may not be in your best interest. It may be inaccurate, irresponsible, or it may be agenda-driven, such as when a competitor spreads rumors or gossip.

If you have a question you’d like to see featured here, please let us know.

Wish You Were Here: The Media Panel Luncheon in 3 Minutes

Posted on October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 by TimOB

If you’re on any of the lists I’m on, chances are you get an invitation every couple of months to some public relations event where the featured speaker is actually a panel of reporters and editors. The premise of the event is usually for the public relations professionals in the room to get some tough love from journalists so they can do better at their jobs.

This idea has tremendous potential, but in the time I’ve spent in both the news and public relations business, I can’t remember anyone hosting an event where a group of journalists sat in the audience so that a panel of public relations pros could bash them, but that’s beside the point.

Rather, the focus here is on the public relations industry’s tradition of hosting these kinds of events and how unfortunately predictable they can be. I had written about the “dreaded media luncheon” years ago and continue to contend that PR people endure this sort of thing mostly because they want to ingratiate themselves with the journalists in the room. My main reason for believing this is if you are already in PR, you have countless opportunities in your day to talk to reporters and learn first-hand what reporters want and need from us.

If you’ve never been to one of these events, here’s what to expect:

The majority in the audience will be public relations pros with five years’ experience or less, with most having never stepped foot in an actual news room, and not that many who actually consume substantive news content for pleasure. Many in the audience typically view the media panel at the front of the room as a curiosity.
Some PR professionals only attend to use the post-remarks period to walk up to individual reporters to pitch stories or commence relationships to serve as the foundation for pitching future stories. These attendees often don’t listen to a word during the formal discussion. You can spot them with their heads pointed down toward their smart phones.
The reporters who participate usually do so because they really want to impart words of wisdom on the PR profession, or they may just be flattered for the invitation to speak, or they know their news organizations could downsize any day and this is a good way to network if a quick transition into public relations is necessary.

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Once the discussion starts, you may well hear journalists say:

“You people in public relations don’t know our beats, our deadlines and you don’t even read our content or study our work before you email, text, tweet, and on rare occasions call.”
“We really don’t need you for story ideas, we just need the subject matter experts you provide.”
“Don’t call me in the morning, evening on weekends, or during the work day when I am on deadline.”
“That said, you need to make sure you’re there when I call in the morning, evening, on weekends or during the work day.”
“Make sure your press releases are newsworthy, have reliable information, and are accurate.”

Do the journalists have a point? In a sense they do, but in a larger sense, there is much about public relations they don’t understand and that can make some of what they say sound very one-dimensional and sometimes misguided.

Reporters are too often right when it’s obvious to them some PR person doesn’t even know what the reporter covers. This has as much to do with the PR industry’s pattern of assigning recent college graduates to media relations duties with little training.

But the one thing many of these reporters underestimate is how much they rely already on public relations professionals, not only as direct sources for information, but even indirectly in story formation. The casual conversations we have with reporters, our pitches, and many of the things we do behind the scenes on our end (i.e. spokesperson training and coaching) usually work to give the reporter a better product in ways they don’t even see.

I would never discourage anyone from attending a media panel luncheon, but if you go, take what you hear with a grain of salt.

The one thing too many public relations practitioners check at the door is the understanding that if reporters base their perceptions of PR only on their interactions with us, they’re not getting the full story. We can’t lose sight that many journalists assume public relations exists to serve the media and nothing more. This means some media panelists likely only know a fraction of what we do and how our profession functions.

The trick is to listen to everything that’s said with a critical ear and not to accept everything discussed on face value.

If you’d like to discuss this, just let me know.

Reputation Savers: 8 Incredibly Simple Questions to Answer Before Every Communication

Posted on October 3, 2016November 7, 2016 by TimOB

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a multi-million-dollar communications campaign or a single tweet, a professional communicator should know the answers to these 8 questions before touching that keyboard, mouse or computer screen:

#1. Why are we doing this?

If you don’t know why you are communicating, there is a good chance you will miss the mark in any number of ways. Know why you are communicating. Know what in the world can be made better through your communication and how that communication will make a difference. Otherwise, you’re probably talking to yourself.

#2. What are we trying to achieve?

What are the specific goals and objectives of the communication? For any communication to be effective, it must have an objective. All communication is designed to inform or educate, entertain, or persuade. But it should go deeper than that. You should know specifically why you are trying to connect with someone, and why that targeted audience matters.

#3. Who are we trying to reach?

In the communications business, we often call them our targeted audiences or stakeholders. They are the people with whom we are trying to reach, connect with, educate or inform, entertain or persuade. All real communication is two-way, and as such, knowing as much as we can about who we are trying to reach and why is critical.

#4. What do we want them to do or think?

Whether the goal is to educate, inform or persuade, we should have a clear vision of how we want the targeted audience to react to the communication. Knowing this from the outset helps shape the message and helps determine the best way to time and deliver that message. Without a clear idea of the desired effect of communication it will fall flat.

#5. Is it right or responsible that we are doing this?

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Ethics. Are we doing the right thing? Are we doing it the right way? Do we have the appropriate credibility on the issue? These are just a few of the sub-questions that only we can answer before communicating. Since each case can be so unique, the key is to have a guiding set of values, principles and a code of ethics, not to mention a set of best practices. Not having any one of these things can lead to crises of credibility and not only a failure of the communications effort, but ultimately damage to your reputation and that of the organization.

#6. Is the information we receive accurate?

In today’s digital environment, it’s extremely common for many to receive un-vetted information and to share it without verification or to comment on it as though it’s fact. Very often, this information is inaccurate, misleading or wrong. It’s the equivalent of spreading rumors and gossip. Accepting the premise on face value of the information we receive is quite often the first major step towards disaster. Even if it’s “just” a social media share or post, make sure that the information or claims you are required to address are accurate and credible before you base any of your own presumptions and communication on it. In other words, check it out before accepting it as fact.

#7. Is the information we are sending accurate?

Honesty isn’t just telling the truth. To borrow from a common term used in courtrooms, it’s “telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” More to the point, it’s assumed that in any human interaction you have a good faith obligation to be honest. This is often based on the accuracy of the information you share. When you engage in partial truths or untruths, you lay an unstable foundation and risk alienation of those most important to you. This is not to say anyone has an obligation to share proprietary or confidential information, or that others have a right to know everything about a particular person or organization. Without question, everyone should expect a certain right to privacy. This must be balanced against the need for accountability. When organizations communicate, accuracy goes beyond literal meanings and into intentions, which should be forthright.

#8. Is this the right time?

“Timing is everything,” we all know, right? But when it comes to communications that’s an understatement. You can say all the right things to all the right people, but poor timing can create perceptions of insincerity or even callousness. For example, you may have a great idea to boost employee morale after a round of layoffs, but the day after the downsizing is not the right time to announce much of anything. That’s a mourning period, believe it or not, and no time to have a pep rally.

Or, let’s say a beloved celebrity died last night. It’s probably not a good idea to flood your Twitter feed with gratuitous “tributes” that come off as thinly veiled marketing tactics. Choose your timing carefully.

Anyone can think through these 8 questions in a very short span before engaging in every communications activity, from a simple social media post to the process to plan and implement a major communication initiative.

If you would like to receive future newsletters, articles and updates from O’Brien Communications, or go over some questions of your own one-on-one, please let me know.

Open Enrollment: Will Your Employees Buy Into the Awesomeness of Your Wellness Program?

Posted on September 25, 2016February 23, 2017 by TimOB

On the workforce management calendar, Fall is known as the time for open enrollment for benefits. As employers across the country prepare for this year’s open enrollment period, many have some familiar but bad news to report. Health insurance costs continue to rise and there’s no end in sight.

For all the hype, it seems the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has not collectively made health insurance more affordable. This is the news many employers must now deliver to employees.

This has led some organizations to refocus their efforts on promoting employee wellness programs. Many employers may already have employee wellness programs in place, but they may not have seen them quite the way they do now, which is as a critical means to take control of rising health insurance costs. Still, other employers are now are taking a more serious look at establishing new employee wellness programs.

For an increasing number of organizations, employee participation in a wellness program is the key to better manage health insurance costs. The rationale is that with a healthier the work force, there will likely be fewer claims, and as a result healthcare cost increases can be minimized.

The common emphasis in many wellness programs is on biometric screenings, preventive care, and an intensified focus on weight loss through exercise and better nutrition. In addition, employee wellness programs promote a tobacco-free lifestyle, and engage in more open dialogue on stress reduction.

The Communications Challenge

The challenge for employers is persuading staff members to commit to the employee wellness program to the extent that they can make and sustain lasting health improvements and habits.

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For its part, the communications effort in support of a wellness program should seek to do three things:

Engage employees – create awareness of the employee wellness program, what it can achieve and what employees can do to manage their own health and health insurance costs.
Increase wellness program participation – Create or increase participation in a new or existing wellness program. This means registering increasing numbers of employees, and then getting them to participate in each phase of the wellness program consistently, from biometric screenings to annual physicals.
Keep the focus on positive outcomes – Because wellness programs are flush with data, it’s easy to gauge progress against goals. It is important from the start is to clearly communicate baseline numbers for the collective work force, and then to establish collective goals, be they averages or percentages. And then to keep those goals top-of-mind throughout the work force throughout the year and from year to year. Some employers provide financial incentives for employee wellness program participation and progress, but creative thinking and problem-solving can lead to more than just monetary incentives.

Brand Your Wellness Program

In a communications sense, every employee wellness program is a campaign. As such it requires a theme, a message platform and a campaign structure to create and build enthusiasm in a given time frame. Campaigns exist to package and deliver often complex information in such a way that it can be readily understood by targeted audiences, and so that enthusiasm for the message can be sustained. For employee wellness programs, the campaign structure starts with the open enrollment period and continues throughout the year, following a schedule of quarterly, semi-annual and/or annual benchmark reports.

Given the number of communications vehicles now available to any employer, it doesn’t need to be very difficult to keep communications going and awareness of the employee wellness program high. From existing newsletters, employee events and communications, to Intranets, certain use of social media and special programs, all can work together to keep momentum up. And that’s just the beginning.

What do you think? What can employers do to get employees excited about employee wellness? Let me know, and feel free to get in touch to discuss your own questions or concerns.

Every Press Conference Disaster Has a Point of No Return

Posted on September 18, 2016September 18, 2016 by TimOB

Anyone who has run public relations for an organization will tell you that there is always a point of no return for any press conference disaster. Usually it happens sometime in advance of the actual day of the press conference. That point of no return is what immediately comes to mind when you are five minutes from the start and in front of you is a room full of empty seats.

Call it a flashback if you will, but you stand there and your mind replays the moment of clarity when you were given every possible warning that this just wasn’t going to work out.

Perhaps the most common example goes something like this. You’re going about the business of providing excellent public relations support for your organization, and you are called into a management meeting.

Your boss tells you that you’re going to organize a press conference – not asks you if a press conference is the right approach, but more like, “We’ve got this new thing and we’re having a press conference. It’s going to be on this day, because that’s when I get back from the West Coast. Go over the details with Pete here, I’ve got another meeting to attend.”

Yes, the good old point of no return. Your press conference disaster awaits. Had the head honcho asked you for your opinion before making his decision you might have gone over some of these questions:

Is the subject of this news conference newsworthy outside of our organization?
What makes it new, interesting, relevant and timely?
Is this a broadcast story? Meaning, is it visual, is it something the general broadcast audience cares about? Or is it more of a business story? (Read: We can do this just as well by phone.)
Can we get the same results without a press conference?
Does this story absolutely require that a reporter sacrifice a half-day or more just to attend the press conference, and then the rest of the day to write the story?

Of course, there are many other questions to cover, but they all point to the fundamental issue of whether a press conference is warranted.

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The challenge for most public relations chiefs is not to appear as a naysayer when the organization wants to have a news conference. Usually, when the organization gets behind a media relations initiative, that’s inspiration in itself. But this kind of enthusiasm needs to be managed, to be sure.

The right balance involves not automatically rejecting the idea of a press conference, while trying to engage in a dialogue on whether the PR tactic is the most effective approach.

Two of the more common myths around press conferences is that they in-and-of-themselves generate news. They don’t. Or that the media prefers to get its information in large-group settings. Usually they don’t.

Here are some realities the organization needs to understand about the media:

Newsrooms are shrinking. That means there are fewer and fewer reporters to go around. Most news organizations require journalists to work on two or more stories per day, which means losing just one reporter to attend a press conference will likely going to drain the newsroom of a valuable resource. Unless you’re coming out with the next iteration of the iPhone, don’t assume the media will make that reporter available.
That said, technology does help lean newsroom staffs to gather news more productively. They can conduct interviews by phone, by email, and by video conference. For live press conferences they may prefer to listen from their desks via dial-in access. If you have a press event planned, don’t forget to provide live remote access, which can include audio and video.
Still, the optics of empty seats are never good. The best way to assure attendance at your news conference is to consider the following:
- What visuals can we provide? Do we have any products to show or demonstrate? Can we go on location with the story? Will the background provide a visual to help tell the story?
- Can we get all of our expert resources in one place at one time?
- Would it make sense to have the press conference in a location where the media is already on hand like an industry event or trade show?

When There’s Still Time to Change Plans

Click on graphic to enlarge.

If, by chance, you have not yet reached that point of no return, here are some other questions to consider going over with top decision-makers:

Is the news we’re announcing something already likely to generate a good deal of media interest without a news conference? If so, the chances of media attendance go up significantly.
Logistically, will we have trouble responding to reporters on a one-on-one basis? This suggests demand is inherent and attendance is likely.
How accessible are our subject matter experts or spokespersons? The unusual nature of having all SMEs together could be a draw, but it’s important to be realistic about whether this is newsworthy.

If the answers to these questions suggest that having a press conference is not required and there could be a better way, keep these alternatives at the ready:

Of course, the standard tools of the media relations trade are press releases and telephone interviews. This is assumed, but usually only a starting point.
Depending on the nature of the news, you can offer “test-drives” of the new product, technology or service. Some journalists actually prefer immersive reporting.
Consider informal media briefings or site tours, which can be one-on-one or with small groups. Instead of a formal press conference, your spokesperson could meets in a round-table format with selected reporters.

Regardless of whether the decision to have a press conference is within or beyond your control, the one thing you can do is manage expectations. From the very beginning, take care not to over-promise or guarantee media attendance or outcomes. Keep the focus on your process for giving the organization its best chance at coverage. And then make it clear that you and your team are doing everything possible to assure the most positive outcome.

If you have any questions about media relations, or any additional thoughts to add, let me know.

Remembering September 11, 2001

Posted on September 9, 2016September 9, 2016 by TimOB

The following blog post originally ran on September 5, 2011, ten years after 9/11:

It’s been ten years and a common question these days is, “Where were you on 9/11?”

My memory is probably less interesting than most, but for that matter, I remember being in a meeting with a colleague right next to the Pittsburgh airport. The air traffic outside became a distraction over the course of the hour we met. By the time we finished, as I was leaving, an administrative staff member asked me if I had a plane to catch. I said, “No.” She said that was good because all of the air traffic was backed up due to a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.

I hustled to my car and listened to the latest on the radio. By that time, it was being reported that two planes had hit the towers and one of them may have been from Delta. I have a niece who is a flight attendant stationed in Boston at the time. I spent the ride calling my sister to see if my niece was okay. She was fine. By the time I got back to home base, like everyone else, I was fixated on the live TV coverage the rest of the day.

A few months earlier, I had been on the 93rd floor of one of the towers in a meeting with people from Fred Alger Management. This was in my prior position just before starting my own business in May of that year. I wondered how the people I had met were doing on that day.

In the days to come, like so many others, I gained a new appreciation for so many things and continued to watch the news more carefully than I already had been doing.

Eventually, an article in a business publication reported that 35 of Fred Alger’s 39 employees at the World Trade Center had lost their lives on 9/11.

This past week, National Geographic has been running a series of compelling documentaries centered on 9/11, focusing on how leaders at that time felt and dealt with the minute-to-minute decisions they had to make.

If you have the chance to spend an hour or so watching, you won’t regret it. It’s a very good way to step back and reflect on how 9/11 changed this country’s worldview.