3 Secrets to PR Event Management
It’s always interesting to see the reaction of people when you tell them you work in PR. Typically, visions of publicists sipping on champagne and blowing air kisses come to mind. After all, that’s what events PR is all about, right?
Allow me to let you in on a little secret. As much as event management can be rewarding when you secure a great media attendance and when spokespeople don’t divulge company confidential information in a state of panic; it can also be hard work. You can end up doing things you never dreamed of when you signed on the dotted line.
Some of my memorable highlights of working on client events (from start-ups to global brands) include:
-Keeping guests calm when we’d hired a marquee on the top of a castle (in Europe). Storms ripped apart the marquee so guests were drenched and a small fire started. I recall one VIP guest shouted, “We’re all going to die.” Dramatic stuff.
-Having to download nine documents to 350 USB media kit sticks when very jetlagged. Calling it a “USB party” and bringing snacks to my hotel suite didn’t numb the pain and monotony.
-Fetching sandwiches and drinks for celebrities who I then had to “gag” as part of a charity silent carol concert. Uncomfortable times.
-Getting up at 5 a.m. to join other bleary PRs and having to spend five hours holding an electronic dinosaur at a trade show, pretending to journalists that he was almost alive.
-Running an event where the focal point was a bin. Yep, a bin. Nothing more, nothing less. Having to direct a photographer to take “multiple, creative shots” then convincing the media that this was newsworthy.
Three valuable lessons my seven years of running events has taught me:
1. Expect the unexpected and create a plan for every eventuality. People remember how you cope with problems, often not the problems themselves. So have a plan B, C and D, just in case. If it can happen, it will
2. Keep calm at all times. If you panic, everyone else will, including the client.
3. Keep smiling and act like you have everything under control (even if you don’t). And remember: it’s PR, not ER.
April 04, 2011 at 10:10 pm, Ross said:
Clare: You forgot to mention “having a sense of humour,” which you clearly have. No doubt your sense of fun has helped to keep tension and panic out of your events.