Prepping for media appearances

Community Events is in the middle of creating/managing "Columbia Business Times Entrepreneurial Excellence Week" and this morning we scheduled two of our sponsors (David Keller from Bank of Missouri and Cathy Atkins from Sandler Training) for a TV appearance to promote the event.

They both did a wonderful job and I'll tell you that it was quite a relief. There's nothing quite so professionally depressing as creating a media opportunity and having it go poorly. The worst part is that the only thing the client remembers is that you put them into a situation where they looked bad. Thanks goodness that was not the case here.

One of the reasons they did so well (in addition to natural ability, which they both have in abundance) is that we took time to prep. Surprisingly, people skip this step far too often. Honestly, we could have done more, but what we did worked so I'm not going to worry about it.

The key was that I created a prep sheet with the key questions that we could expect in a general interview about an event -- such as "What is it that you are doing?" and "Why are you involved with this?"

The prep sheet was intentionally just one page because a longer document would have made it harder for the sponsors to focus on our key messages. In addition to a list of six broad questions, with suggested answers based on our messaging, the sheet included the three key points that the sponsors should stress above all others. If they couldn't think of something else to say, these three points could fill in the gaps.

When interview time came, both sponsors were total pros and repeated back a combination of the prep sheet with their own personal backgrounds.

Team work at its best.

- sean

Sean Spence
Community Events
www.commevents.com
seanspence@earthlink.net
573-823-1308

Panel discussion time limits

Years ago I coordinated a panel discussion of media professionals. It was moderated by a seasoned PR pro, so I let him handle all of the details of the panel. BIG MISTAKE! He didn't set time limits for answering questions and had no mechanism for letting panelists know that they were running long. At first it wasn't a problem... until we got to a long-time TV journalist who, literally, took just under 25 minutes to answer a question. Painful.

A good panel discussion event sets time limits, clearly explains them, and makes sure participants stick to them.

Forget this and your panelists will get rightfully upset when others monopolize the time and the audience will be unhappy that there isn't enough time for a variety of questions.

Here are the guidelines I use for a panel discussion:

• Each participant is given 2-3 minutes (depending on the subject matter) for an opening statement.
• Each participant is given 1-2 minutes to answer each question.
• Each participant is given 2-3 minutes for a closing statement.
• I don't set time limits on questions from the audience, but I mention that they need to be kept short, and if a question exceeds about 30 seconds (rare), I step in and gently push the questioner to get to the point.
• I have a yellow sign to hold up when a panelist has 30 seconds remaining and a red sign for 15 seconds. At the end of the time limit, I verbally call "time" even if the panelist is in mid-sentence. People quickly get the message and it doesn't have to happen more than a time or two. If you don't do this, answers tend to grow longer and longer.

The key is to explain the limits clearly and to be strident in enforcing them. It can feel strict, but it makes for a much better event.

- sean

Sean Spence

Community Events

www.commevents.com

seanspence@earthlink.net

573-823-1308

Fun student resources

I'm doing a small event for a local business -- bringing in a local speaker and making sure we fill the room with 100 or so guests. We are working hard to keep the budget as low as possible, while still having some fun features that add something special to the event.

One of the ways we are doing this is with student resources. Living in a college town, there are times we might turn to the university, but in this case I mean high school students.

Specifically, we are working with the culinary arts program to do the catering, the music program to provide a trio of talented musicians, and a student service group to work the door. Not only is this an incredibly inexpensive way to go, the quality can be surprisingly good (although you really need to make sure you check it out, particularly if you choose this route for catering). Further, at least some of your guests will see it as uniquely cool that kids are helping them have a nice time.

- sean

Sean Spence
Community Events
www.commevents.com
573-823-1308
seanspence@earthlink.net