Last week I was given my first opportunity to prep a spokesperson for a press conference (and got to sit in, too!). We did pretty good, I think.
After the conference, I did what I normally do after any response, I wrote up a quick list of lessons learned. You know them, right? Your emergency planners write up those massive documents for their funders about how exercises and activations went. My list was a bit smaller, but tailored perfectly for me.
- Provide top three points and drill
- Drill phone number
- Juggle tech (flip video cam and phone) better
- Good job taking phone from spokesperson
I write up little lists like this every time I have a media encounter. Admittedly, this is easy for me since my encounters are few and far between, but this might not be a bad idea at the end of each week for more seasoned PIOs. Just a quick note to remind you to include more actionable statements in your releases, to talk to your partner agencies more often to make sure that reporters aren’t playing one off the other, to incorporate more video (or social media or accessible releases) in your day-to-day.
What do you do to make sure you’re learning the right lessons?
