In your company, are you responsible for booking venues, facilities, restaurants and organizing transportation for meetings and events?
| Fish Sticks and Other Reasons to Hire a PR Firm for Event Planning |
The fabulously inexpensive caterer you hired is running only about 20 minutes late, your florist overcharged by an obscene amount and the proposed menu included the words fish and stick—together.
To make matters worse, the full house you had expected looks more like a street scene from an old Western movie just before the showdown. Well, long before you find yourself at that moment of peak desperation and utter despair – what can you do to avoid this disaster in the making? Hire a public relations firm to handle your event.
Now more than ever, public relations (PR) firms find themselves in the role of event planning and for good reason. With hundreds of years of combined event planning experience (not to date myself too much), we’ve been through it all.
We know the vendors, the community and the media. Perhaps even more importantly, we know the caterers who deliver on-time and on-budget, the florists who give you roses when you say roses and the absolute best and worst dates and times to hold an event. That being said, you likely already have one full-time job, and we doubt a secondary occupation as an event planner sounds very appealing.
If you’re not experienced, you might miss the most essential minutia in the logistics of event planning. For example, clients often ask why we want to have signs up all over the place during an event. Signage is just one of those highly overlooked little touches that can make or break the lasting impact of an event.
Think about it this way: if you have media coming to your event, wouldn’t you rather that every photo they take have your name emblazoned on it somewhere? Of course you would! There’s a nifty little name for this phenomenon.
It’s called branding. Name recognition can give you the all-important credibility every organization needs.
Do you have a community event that requires a big-wig? A PR firm can help with that as well. With exposure to a broad spectrum of clients, a reputable PR firm has relationships with many different types of folks. After all, we are in the people business! Government officials, head executives of major corporations, doctors, professors and fascinating folks from every walk of life have developed relationships with public relations professionals.
From the swankiest soiree to the most humble of grassroots get-togethers, every event has its own pulse. Finding the heartbeat is essential to diagnosing your media needs and what messages will resonate with your target audience. From entirely themed events to educational seminars and trade shows, understanding media is key.
If TV coverage is the desired outcome, consider how visually friendly your event is. Can you provide great sound bites? Then maybe radio should be your focus.
Got a great human-interest angle? A print feature story with heartwarming photos is your best bet for optimal coverage. Finding the pulse of your event goes a long way to planning not only an entertaining or informative event, but also one that will get your name out to the audiences you care about in a positive way.
In general, the earlier a PR firm can be pulled into the event-planning process, the better. If you find a themed event is your thing, this rings especially true. Embossing your logo on 1,000 whirly-gigs takes some time. Several weeks to be exact. Not to mention matching invitations and themed food (with the exception of fish sticks, no matter how well they tie in). It’s the details that can make an event shine and seem well organized.
Don’t have a theme? Well, believe it or not, we handle that, too.
Still need more incentive to pull in PR people at that first crazed moment you decide to host an event? Then consider this: We know every deadline you’re up against and we can meet them within budget (and sometimes under.) Trust us: Your administrative assistant doesn’t need the hassle.
Speaking of deadlines, think your event would be perfect for Better Homes and Gardens? Then get ready, because for many national publications you’ll need at least one year in lead time, even two in some cases. Bottom line: Prepare early and get better results.
Now let’s just say that your top wish-list publication confirms a reporter and photographer will attend your carefully planned event. Now what?
You need someone to escort them around the property, answer all of their basic questions and help the photographer stage numerous branded photos. (With your logo on a sign in the background, remember?) And who is going to run around at the last minute finding a wedding ring for Santa Claus? (Another entry for the annals of bizarre true PR stories.)
A public relations firm has the personnel; from the strategy to the arms and legs necessary for all stages of event planning, even while the event is in progress.
To make matters worse, the full house you had expected looks more like a street scene from an old Western movie just before the showdown. Well, long before you find yourself at that moment of peak desperation and utter despair – what can you do to avoid this disaster in the making? Hire a public relations firm to handle your event.
Now more than ever, public relations (PR) firms find themselves in the role of event planning and for good reason. With hundreds of years of combined event planning experience (not to date myself too much), we’ve been through it all.
We know the vendors, the community and the media. Perhaps even more importantly, we know the caterers who deliver on-time and on-budget, the florists who give you roses when you say roses and the absolute best and worst dates and times to hold an event. That being said, you likely already have one full-time job, and we doubt a secondary occupation as an event planner sounds very appealing.
If you’re not experienced, you might miss the most essential minutia in the logistics of event planning. For example, clients often ask why we want to have signs up all over the place during an event. Signage is just one of those highly overlooked little touches that can make or break the lasting impact of an event.
Think about it this way: if you have media coming to your event, wouldn’t you rather that every photo they take have your name emblazoned on it somewhere? Of course you would! There’s a nifty little name for this phenomenon.
It’s called branding. Name recognition can give you the all-important credibility every organization needs.
Do you have a community event that requires a big-wig? A PR firm can help with that as well. With exposure to a broad spectrum of clients, a reputable PR firm has relationships with many different types of folks. After all, we are in the people business! Government officials, head executives of major corporations, doctors, professors and fascinating folks from every walk of life have developed relationships with public relations professionals.
From the swankiest soiree to the most humble of grassroots get-togethers, every event has its own pulse. Finding the heartbeat is essential to diagnosing your media needs and what messages will resonate with your target audience. From entirely themed events to educational seminars and trade shows, understanding media is key.
If TV coverage is the desired outcome, consider how visually friendly your event is. Can you provide great sound bites? Then maybe radio should be your focus.
Got a great human-interest angle? A print feature story with heartwarming photos is your best bet for optimal coverage. Finding the pulse of your event goes a long way to planning not only an entertaining or informative event, but also one that will get your name out to the audiences you care about in a positive way.
In general, the earlier a PR firm can be pulled into the event-planning process, the better. If you find a themed event is your thing, this rings especially true. Embossing your logo on 1,000 whirly-gigs takes some time. Several weeks to be exact. Not to mention matching invitations and themed food (with the exception of fish sticks, no matter how well they tie in). It’s the details that can make an event shine and seem well organized.
Don’t have a theme? Well, believe it or not, we handle that, too.
Still need more incentive to pull in PR people at that first crazed moment you decide to host an event? Then consider this: We know every deadline you’re up against and we can meet them within budget (and sometimes under.) Trust us: Your administrative assistant doesn’t need the hassle.
Speaking of deadlines, think your event would be perfect for Better Homes and Gardens? Then get ready, because for many national publications you’ll need at least one year in lead time, even two in some cases. Bottom line: Prepare early and get better results.
Now let’s just say that your top wish-list publication confirms a reporter and photographer will attend your carefully planned event. Now what?
You need someone to escort them around the property, answer all of their basic questions and help the photographer stage numerous branded photos. (With your logo on a sign in the background, remember?) And who is going to run around at the last minute finding a wedding ring for Santa Claus? (Another entry for the annals of bizarre true PR stories.)
A public relations firm has the personnel; from the strategy to the arms and legs necessary for all stages of event planning, even while the event is in progress.
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Send submissions to
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If accepted, your submission will be edited for length and clarity. There is no monetary payment if your item is used; instead, you can publicize yourself through a five-line biography with your contact information that will appear at the end of the article.
Send submissions to
editorial@MeetingPlannerResources.org. We will contact you if your submission is chosen.