How to Use a Press Conference
This article will explain the purpose of a press conference. It will give you recent examples of poor use and tips on how to set up your own successful press conference.
Press conferences have a purpose. You gather together press to make an announcement or give them information that will fuel their writing or talking about you in their media. You want bloggers to blog about your, the public to give you information, TV people to talk about your, radio people to report about you, and newspapers and magazines to write articles about you. In extreme cases, you want the kidnappers to give your loved one back. You have to give some information or facts, and then everyone can take it from there.
People may ask questions that you have to deal with or you can say sorry, no questions at the end and walk away. It’s like a buffet, you put it out there, and people take what they need or want and leave. You cannot control what is written about you. You can greatly influence what is written by how you handle the Press conference. Always remember, YOU are the one invited people to the party, so it better be good.
Here a few bad examples: Sarah Palin (you knew I would go there): First of all, get a sitter for your children. The beginning of her press conference, you have to try and hear over her child. Holidays are a great time to get a story out because most media staff is out. She gives the history of Alaska, talks about Alaska’s purpose and destiny. She talks of her administrations accomplishments and uses the example of working tirelessly for Alaskans. Not being from Alaska or living in Alaska, at this point in the press conference, I do not care about anything she has said yet. She is proud to take credit for hiring the right people and not taking a pay raise. She praises her team and says she wishes the media would tell them more about how good they are doing.
Palin explains why she is not taking any federal dollars. Then she says again, you don’t hear about the good stuff in media. Take a hint lady, you cannot speak badly about the press and then want them to carry a message for you. First she says Alaska has had to use tax payer money to deal with the investigations. Then she says that she has personally incurred over $500k in legal bills to defend herself and she has to deal with this instead of working for Alaska.
She says she is making a choice to build up and fight for Alaska and work hard to support others who seek to serve. She says she doesn’t need a title to make a difference and help people. She is setting her state free to progress by not seeking re-election and immediately transferring the power to her Lt. Governor. I understand not seeking election. I am not sure why she cannot finish her time in office. She uses an analogy and tells us she is using one. Please do not assume the media is stupid and think you mean everything literally.
She uses the term Politics as Usual over and over again. And talks about polling her kids (not her husband). One day she tells us her details. She talks about Trig being mocked by people, yet, there he is, in the public. You cannot have it both ways. Have your children in the media and no one talk about them. Strangely she says the world needs more Trigs. I have not seen the media make a comment on that, however, I am sure it’s coming. She says she is putting first things first and first she loves her job. She says she is calling an audible and passing the ball so her team can win. 20 minutes of a speech that says nothing but I am stepping down.
When you do not supply any facts, then the media will make it up. They have to say something. They have to justify the time they spent on your story. It’s best to say something so they do not have to make it up.
Another bad example is one of the first Press Conferences from Michael Jackson’s Family. Upon his death, not many family members were talking. However, the press did find Joe Jackson, his father, who promptly announced his new record label. I think someone did tell him to stop talking to the press directly after that. If the press has questions for you, just answer them.
Here are some tips for good results from a press conference:
1. Give some real facts that have to do with your real reason for being there. General historical facts do not count.
2. Do not bad mouth media during your press conference
3. Control the environment. The wind and your baby crying can be a great distraction.
4. Speak slowly. Trying to talk fast makes it sound like you are not sincere.
5. Make the press release as visual as possible, have plenty of photo opportunities.
What’s the Catch With Free Conference Calling?
What’s the catch with free conference calling services? Sounds too good to be true? Well, you’re not the only one with those questions. Thousands of people wonder the same things every day.
There are really only a couple of things you need to recognize. First, there is a chance, however slight, that your call will be blocked from entering a free conference. And second, the entire business model may be short lived, depending on regulatory decisions. So, there’s a chance that free conferencing won’t be around too much longer.
Here is a very interesting background on how the free conferencing companies operate and the kinds of challenges they face in the business:
1) In 1996, the Federal government determined that small rural phone companies could charge larger long distance phone companies to access their lines. For instance, if you had a small phone company in Kansas, you could charge a large company like Qwest for any long distance calls coming into your area. As an example, if you lived in Seattle and used Qwest as a long distance carrier, and you called your cousin in rural Kansas, Qwest would have to pay the small phone company in Kansas a fee to put your call through. Why? Because the government recognized that the small phone companies had bigger costs in servicing rural areas and lower call volume. It cost more on a per call basis to operate and maintain a smaller company than a bigger one. So, the bigger companies pay more to access the equipment and phone lines owned by the smaller companies.
2) The fees that Qwest and the larger companies pay the small companies are 10 to 20 times more than the normal fees, which makes for a great deal for the rural phone companies. Very simply, the more calls they had coming in, the more money they would make.
3) How could the smaller phone companies attract more incoming phone calls from the larger phone companies, so they could make more money? That’s easy. Just ask: What businesses have the most incoming calls? Well, two of them would be conference call companies and phone sex operators. For instance, a small rural phone company would make an agreement with a conference call company to set up shop in its area. In doing so, the rural phone company would split the revenues with the conference company that the big companies were paying to send phone calls there. The small rural companies were happy to make more money by dramatically increasing their incoming calls, and the conference call companies were happy because they could offer free service and make money at the same time. Needless to say, the consumers were happy as well. It was a good deal for everyone, that is, except the big long distance companies who were forced to pay the bills.
4) Moreover, to add insult to injury, the long distance companies found themselves in a double whammy. First, because the long distance companies offered many of their customers free long distance, either with cell phones or bundled with their customers’ local landline service. And second, paying the smaller companies to have their calls delivered. Obviously, the large long distance companies were livid. AT&T, as one example, estimated that paying the rural companies to deliver their calls — a system called “traffic pumping” — cost it an extra $250 million in 2007.
5) In an attempt to stop these fees, some of the large long distance companies have blocked calls into the rural areas. (This is the reason why some users of the free conference services have experienced problems getting in conferences.) And while the government has made it clear that the long distance companies cannot block calls, problems still exist.
6) For example, the Google Voice service has blocked its users from dialing the rural phone companies. AT&T has officially complained about Google Voice saying fair is fair. If AT&T can’t block calls and is forced to pay the fees to the small companies, then Google Voice should be required to play by the same set of rules and allow calls to go through and pay the fees like the other big companies. AT&T has used Google’s own argument that carriers should be neutral, and that a provider should not block “fair access.” However, AT&T stands united with Google in its argument that “traffic pumping” and being forced to pay the small companies higher than normal fees to access their systems is “patently unlawful.”
7) Several months ago the Iowa Utility Board made a decision that was big set back for the small rural phone companies. A complaint had come from Qwest, a major long distance carrier, that the traffic pumping schemes were unfair and costly. The Iowa Board agreed and told the small rural companies that they would have to pay back millions of dollars. Qwest said that the Iowa ruling would become a model for future decisions on the federal level, including cases in front of the FCC that could be handed down this year.
No one can predict the outcome of what will happen next. However, with the Iowa decision, the future of free conference calling has become cloudy. And with the political clout of the larger companies at play, including aggressive legal actions, the days of free conference calling could be numbered.
Many conference call companies that offer paid service (not free) have stayed out of the fray and are standing on the sidelines waiting to see what happens. In the vast majority of instances, calls are not being blocked going to the paid conference services, which is why thousands of businesses, both large and small, continue to patronize and do business with the paid conference services.