Planning to executing a press conference is a very tiring process, which is both physically and mentally exhausting.
It is the end of another year, and the end of the year is often the time when major Internet companies compete to hold press conferences. Various press conferences and industry summits are overwhelming. Many times, we are just a participant who goes to witness the style of the big names. So what should we do if one day our boss asks us to plan a press conference ourselves?This year, I was fully responsible for or indirectly assisted in the holding of three press conferences. When my boss asked me to plan and execute a press conference with more than 500 people for the first time, I was also confused. Fortunately, after working overtime with my colleagues for more than two months, we finally managed to bring the press conference to a successful conclusion. Now looking back and summarizing, I think if you want to hold a successful press conference, I have the following experience to share with you.To organize a press conference, I personally summarized a method, which requires three cores and two lines. The three core elements refer to the theme of the press conference, the activities on the day of the press conference and the guests of the press conference. These three core elements directly determine the level and popularity of the press conference, so they are very important. The two lines refer to the press conference publicity line and the press conference resource landing line. These two lines directly affect whether a press conference can be held successfully. If you have done all of the above, then congratulations, you are not far from successfully holding a press conference.I personally think that the key to the influence of a press conference lies in three core elements: the theme of the press conference, the program of the press conference on the day, and the guests attending the press conference.1. Theme of the ConferenceThe significance of the conference themeThe theme of a press conference is like the title of an article, which directly determines whether people are willing to learn about the press conference. Moreover, the determination of the conference theme basically lays the foundation for the overall publicity direction of the entire conference and the information that needs to be conveyed to the target users. This theme directly defines which group of people we hope will attend the press conference. For example, the intention of a UC press conference I was previously responsible for, titled "Your Creations Deserve More," was very clear. The core purpose of our press conference was to enhance the creative value of self-media people, and the core audience of the press conference was self-media people. Therefore, the theme of this press conference basically excludes people from other industries.Common conference categoriesIn order to determine the theme of a press conference, we usually need to understand the purpose of the press conference. According to different purposes of holding the conference, we can more accurately determine the content of the press conference, thereby conveying more focused information to the outside world.Common press conferences are generally divided into four types according to their different purposes, namely new product launch conference, strategic upgrade press conference, cooperation press conference and industry press conference. The first type, a new product launch conference generally refers to a conference held by a company to promote its new products, such as the new product launch conference held by Apple every autumn. The second type is a strategic upgrade press conference, which generally refers to a press conference where a company’s product direction or brand image has a major upgrade and needs to be announced to the outside world. For example, the "New UC, Dancing with Media" strategic upgrade press conference held by UC previously announced that the "UC Browser " was officially upgraded to "UC" and fully upgraded to a "big data new media platform." The third type is a cooperative press conference, which generally refers to a press conference held when two companies start to cooperate or jointly invest to establish a company. For example, the press conference held by the newly established joint venture between 360 and Coolpad belongs to this category. The fourth type is industry press conferences, which are usually held to promote industry exchanges, such as the GMIC Mobile Internet Conference.2. Press ConferenceConference Session StructureWhether the press conference session is set up interestingly and reasonably is an important factor in attracting a large number of participants to sign up and keeping the audience until the end.For a press conference, our common links may include the following parts: leadership opening introduction, core product presentation, guest sharing, launch ceremony, roundtable discussion and lucky draw, etc. Depending on the scale, resource advantages and focus of the entire press conference, a press conference can be composed of one or several of these links. For example, the previous new product launch of the Hammer mobile phone was basically a stand-up comedy performance by Mr. Luo, who spoke from beginning to end for two or three hours, introducing all the new mobile phones. Because of Mr. Luo's unique personal charm, everyone will still listen to this press conference with great interest. Some press conferences have no highlights throughout the whole process, and the venue may be half empty before the press conference is halfway through.Things to note when setting up a press conferenceWhen setting up a press conference, you need to pay attention to the following three items. First, the most important thing to consider is how to introduce your own products cleverly. For example, when introducing a new mobile phone, Mr. Luo Yonghao played the emotional card, while Xiaomi played the body parameter card. Both of them are using the press conference to promote the highlight of the conference in the most suitable way for themselves. Second, you need to consider the highlights of the press conference. The highlight of the press conference is the most attractive point of this press conference. For example, the introduction of iPhone 7 to be released by Apple at the new product launch conference, or the announcement of an important plan at the launch conference, or a creative segment of the launch conference. Thirdly, the press conference session should not be too long and each session needs to have a certain focus. The overall duration of the press conference should be controlled within 4 hours. Otherwise, it will be too long and the audience’s attention will not be focused, which will lead to audience loss. Moreover, the time is too long, and the organizers need to consider whether to provide meals for the participants, which increases the complexity and cost of the press conference. For some important links, such as introducing new products, you can set aside more time. For less important links, such as opening speeches, 10 to 15 minutes is enough.Finally, after the sessions of the press conference are determined, a press conference flow chart is made. From what time to what time, what are the links respectively. This table can be used to control the day's progress and to notify participants of the day's activity arrangements.3. Guests of the ConferenceThe importance of press conference guests is self-evident. If a press conference has enough big names in attendance, it will definitely add a lot of color to the conference. Often, many attendees come to the conference to hear the guests share their experiences.Common press conference guests can be divided into two types: one is industry leaders and the other is celebrities. Industry leaders are generally the most influential people in the industry. The sharing of these guests can often improve the level and value of the press conference. The attendance of celebrities will greatly increase the popularity of the press conference. However, considering the comprehensive cost and effect, generally speaking, inviting industry leaders will tend to have a more focused impact and better results.When selecting event guests, the first thing to pay attention to is whether the guest’s image and connotation should match the overall layout of the conference, so as to achieve a complementary effect. For example, the vivo mobile phone, which focuses on youth and fashion, invited young and handsome men like Li Yifeng as guests of honor at the press conference, which was a good combination. But Xiaomi Note2 chose Tony Leung as the guest of the event. I personally don’t quite understand the strong connection between the two. Second, you need to pay attention to inviting several alternative guests at a time. Because a press conference usually takes a long time to prepare, it is possible that some guests may not be able to attend due to time conflicts. So be sure to prepare alternative guest plans. With special timing, the second male lead can also play the male lead.After understanding this knowledge, I will discuss with you the remaining important content of holding a press conference, which is how to do a good job in the two lines of the press conference, namely the press conference publicity line and the press conference resource landing line, to help the press conference be better implemented. 4. Press conference publicity line Holding a press conference is actually like setting up a stage to perform a play. If you want more people to watch the play, you need to rely on shouting. Therefore, if you want to make the press conference more influential, publicity work is particularly important. According to the general publicity rhythm, press conference publicity is generally divided into the warm-up period, the holding period and the continuation period, which are basically the pre-meeting, during-meeting and post-meeting stages. When planning a press conference, we must first understand the purpose and background of the press conference, the characteristics and pain points of the participants, and then determine the overall communication strategy. This strategy can be completely consistent with the theme of the press conference, or it can be an extension of the theme of the press conference. 01. All promotional activities during the warm-up period are divided into online promotion, offline promotion or a combination of the two. The same is true for the promotion during the warm-up period, and in order to achieve the effect of achieving a multiplier effect, the warm-up period focuses more on online promotion. The warm-up period generally refers to the week before the official press conference. The main communication purpose during this period is to amplify the momentum of the press conference and convey to the outside world the news of what kind of press conference XX is going to hold. Conventional online pre-promotions include creative H5 promotion, countdown poster promotion, viral video promotion, invitation letter promotion and other methods. Offline promotion includes outdoor advertising, building advertising, newspaper advertising, etc.▷ Creative H5 Promotion Creative H5 is always a classic material that people are happy to share and swipe their screens. The difficulty in making this type of H5 lies in the display of creativity. Sometimes, if an H5 is well done, there is no need for any other promotion during the entire warm-up period. I remember that the H5 titled "Travel through the Forbidden City to See You" jointly produced by Tencent and the Forbidden City in July this year had a very brilliant idea. It's about. Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty transformed himself into a rap singer, put on sunglasses, danced on horseback, took selfies, and posted expressions, which finally led to the news that Tencent and the Palace Museum jointly organized the Next Idea Innovation Competition. Personally, I think the content of this H5 is also very good for promoting offline exhibitions or press conferences . ▷ Countdown poster promotion In recent years, countdown poster promotion has almost become a standard promotional feature for press conferences held by various Internet companies. The main feature of countdown posters is that they are intriguing, easy to promote and forward, and low-cost. For the countdown poster of the press conference, I have previously sorted out 6 common ways to play, which basically covers most of the countdown poster playing routines on the market. At that time, I conducted an in-depth analysis of the copywriting and creativity of the countdown poster through this article, so I will not go into details here. At that time, my article was also reprinted by many websites. You can reply “countdown poster” on my public WeChat account (Daxiong Shuo) to see this article. ▷ Viral video promotion is just like the saying “words are not as good as tables, tables are not as good as pictures, pictures are not as good as videos”. The characteristics of video content itself that are easy to accept and understand often bring better communication effects. However, shooting viral videos often requires high costs and a long period of time, and is not suitable for use when time is particularly tight for organizing a press conference. Shoot a creative viral video, such as a heartwarming or funny one, and if the performance is good, it can eventually become a hot topic for discussion among netizens. There is an interesting example. Although this video was not spread during the pre-release period, it is indeed a classic. Previously, when Lei Jun held a Xiaomi mobile phone launch conference in India, he showed off his English on the spot. Some netizens edited the live video into a ghost video, which was forwarded and commented on all over the Internet, and even created a magical song "Are you ok". ▷ Invitation letter promotion A novel and unique invitation letter is often a promotional highlight. Because the invitation letter is the ticket to attend the conference. If the invitation letter is interesting, participants will often show it off in their social circles. For example, the invitation letter for Xiaomi’s previous press conference, “The Artistic Journey of a Piece of Steel Plate”, attracted many people to scramble to forward it on their WeChat Moments, becoming a classic example of invitation letter promotion. However, even if you can't make a very creative invitation letter like Xiaomi, you can at least make a customized invitation letter with a picture version. Write on the picture "Invite respected Mr./Ms. XX to attend the press conference", and then encourage participants to post it online, which is also a good way to promote it. ▷ Offline promotion Conventional offline promotion includes outdoor advertising, building advertising, newspaper advertising, etc. However, for timeliness and cost considerations, more conference organizers will generally consider using creative full-page newspaper advertising for promotion, and generally choose to place advertisements in newspapers with greater local influence in the city where the conference is held. At the beginning of this year, the Beijing Times published a full-page newspaper advertisement with three rare Chinese characters in a row, and said that the answer would be revealed on the 7th. Later, everyone found out that this was an advertisement for Fotile's new product launch conference. To sum up, if a press conference is large in scale, has a large budget, and has sufficient operating staff, all of the above methods can be selected to maximize the publicity effect. If the budget and manpower are limited, completing the promotion of countdown posters, picture invitations and newspaper advertisements can also achieve certain publicity effects. 02. Promotion during the holding period The promotion during the holding period of a press conference is usually carried out three days before and after the press conference, including the last day before the press conference, the day of the press conference and the first day after the press conference. The main publicity focus during this period is to reveal some of the important highlights of the press conference. Because of the warm-up period, the number of participants in the entire press conference is basically guaranteed. Common promotional methods during the event include celebrity platform promotion, video promotion, live broadcast promotion, etc. ▷ Big-name platform promotion Big-name platform promotion refers to the platform promotion made by the guests attending the conference for the press conference. It can be in the form of a short video or a creative character poster. In the video, a common scene is that a big shot holds a microphone and reads out similar promotional copy such as "I am XXX, I'll be waiting for you at the xxx press conference". The creative poster uses high-definition photos of big names and comes with an invitation message, indicating that these big names will also attend the press conference. ▷ Video promotion Video promotion refers to the video about the introduction of new products in this press conference, which can be promoted in various channels in advance. For example, Luo Yonghao, CEO of Smartisan Smartisan, was particularly fond of the promotional video of Smartisan M1, which was played before and during the press conference. This exquisite video has indeed achieved a very good communication effect. ▷ The venue for live broadcast of press conferences is often limited, but live broadcast can extend the impact of the press conference and expand it, allowing viewers who cannot arrive at the site to enjoy the press conference simultaneously. Live broadcast promotion includes video broadcast , audio broadcast and interactive live broadcast. Common video live streaming refers to the live streaming of major video websites, such as Youku, iQiyi, Tencent Video, etc. Audio live streaming refers to some common online radio apps, such as Himalaya FM, Qingting FM, etc. The above live broadcasts basically transmit images or sounds in real time and lack interaction. Therefore, in the past two years, interactive live broadcasts at press conferences have quietly become popular. A common interactive live broadcast is that the organizer invites a group of internet celebrities to sit in the audience of the press conference, broadcast the press conference dynamics live, and interact with fans in real time to introduce the latest developments of the press conference. 03. The end of the extension period publicity conference does not mean the end of the publicity. Continuation period promotion means continuing the promotion within one week after the press conference. Taking advantage of the residual heat of the press conference and continuing to strike while the iron is hot can often achieve icing on the cake in terms of publicity effects. After the press conference, generally speaking, there are three main aspects of publicity: the first is to publicize the press conference press release on major media websites. The second is to invite some KOLs (opinion leaders) to write articles and share their thoughts on the press conference, commonly known as KOL soft advertising. Third, invite some reporters to report, conduct exclusive interviews and in-depth reports on the company or its responsible persons, and reveal the exciting content behind some company press conferences. It should be noted that the press release for a press conference is often prepared before the press conference begins, highlighting the highlights of the event and some of the wonderful speeches by the guests, and is used to spread the spiritual connotation of the press conference again. When commissioning KOLs to write articles, we usually look for those who have a high degree of match with the product and have participated in the press conference, and commission them to write articles in various dimensions, allowing them to promote the company's new products as industry observers or users. 2. The landing line of press conference resources. While carrying out vigorous press conference publicity, there is another very important line that we must not forget, that is the landing line of press conference resources, which is related to whether the press conference can be held normally. The implementation of press conference resources is mainly divided into three categories: preparation of people, preparation of materials and preparation of venue. 01. Human preparation There are three types of human preparation for a press conference: The first refers to the determination of the participating guests until the guests attend the press conference normally. The second one refers to the audience attending the press conference. It is necessary to ensure the number of participants in this press conference from the promotion to the end of registration. The third one refers to the staff at the event site. They divide the work among the staff and perform their respective duties to ensure the smooth convening of the press conference. To determine the guests, it is often necessary to start inviting them during the planning of the press conference, and to determine the guests' schedules and dynamics at any time. It is best to have a dedicated person to maintain the connection until the other party attends the press conference. Because the schedules of big names are generally quite full, in a one-on-one connection situation, they can first maintain close contact with the guests, which shows that the organizer values the event guests. Secondly, it is also to continuously confirm the guests’ schedules and ensure that they arrive on time. The recruitment of press conference audiences also needs to start before planning the press conference, and the recruitment of press conference audiences must be completed by the end of the warm-up period. According to past experience, the number of spectators recruited should be greater than the number of participants that the actual site can accommodate. Because it is very likely that some of the audience will not be able to attend the event on that day due to various reasons, even if all the audience arrive on time, we can still create an atmosphere of full house and high popularity. The press conference staff must be confirmed before the end of the press conference warm-up period. It is best to make a division of labor table and a contact list of responsible persons. Assign job responsibilities to specific individuals. And when some staff members have urgent issues, they can contact the relevant person in charge at any time to assist in solving them.02. Material preparationThere are two main types of material preparation:the first type refers to the promotional materials before the press conference , such as the invitation letters and creative videos mentioned earlier; the second type refers to the souvenirs for participants and guest gifts on the day of the press conference. Because these materials require a certain production cycle. For example, videos need to go through the process of script confirmation, shooting, editing, and finally becoming a film. The production of gifts requires processes such as selection, proofing, batch production, and delivery. The confirmation of each material generally requires the approval of the company's leaders. Therefore, the entire cycle is very long, and the deadline for material preparation is the end of the warm-up period. In other words, all materials must be prepared one day before the press conference. 03. Venue preparation Venue preparation includes two steps. The first step is planning the press conference, which requires selecting a suitable venue. The second is that the press conference site needs to be set up on the eve of the press conference. Common press conference venues are generally divided into hotels, conference centers and stadiums according to the size of the audience. When determining the venue for the press conference, you need to consider factors such as the venue's grade, transportation conditions, number of people, overall price, venue schedule, etc., and select a venue with the best cost-effectiveness. When arranging the press conference site, it is necessary to design the layout plan in advance and rationally plan the various areas of the press conference site, including the ticket checking area, activity venue, interactive display area, etc. The activity venue is divided into leadership seats, guest seats, media reporter seats, and ordinary audience seats. There are also various promotional elements on site, which also need to be considered. If the budget is sufficient, the work of setting up the venue can be outsourced to a reliable supplier. The effect will often look more professional and the organizer will have less worries. To sum up, when we carefully considered and implemented a complete set of press conference preparation content, it included 3 cores and two lines: the theme of the press conference, the activities and guests on the day of the press conference, the press conference publicity line and the press conference resource landing line. The preparations for this press conference are basically complete. If you look closely, you will find that we have completed the preparation work from the inside out, from the core to the whole. This kind of idea can also serve as a reference for large-scale events other than press conferences.However, there are still some points that need your attention:
Organizing a press conference is a systematic task. It is best to work as a team and complement the strengths of different students. It is almost impossible to accomplish it by one person alone.
The process of preparing for a press conference requires a lot of preparation work, and it is very important to control the progress. As the person in charge, you must have a clear understanding of the progress of each preparation link of the press conference and move forward steadily.
A press conference is a huge project that is time-consuming and labor-intensive. We need to be careful, check and check again, iterate and optimize at any time, and prepare alternative plans.
Planning to executing a press conference is a very tiring process, which is both physically and mentally exhausting. We often sigh that watching a press conference go from idea to implementation is like watching one of our children from conception to birth. I believe that every student who has worked in the operations of large-scale events will have similar experiences. But won’t all our painful, frustrating and frustrating experiences eventually turn into our growth?
Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media information flow
This article was compiled and published by @大雄说(Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!
