Welcome back for this series’ second blog – can you believe I am over half way through? I certainly cannot, the days have flown by.
Never having been in the agency scene before, everything is new and exciting to me – but there was one particular experience that I could not wait to share. I attended my first client event… they were on the news!
Obviously controlling the public relations for a client consists of many media and press events. Still, prior to this, I had never been at a live-broadcasting event, met a reporter, or worked in-person with a client.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I imagined my in-person client experiences would be limited and much different than what they would’ve been like a year ago. The obvious difference being that, in the case of my latest experience, we wear masks the entire time, social distance, sanitize whenever possible, and complete screening questions before entering the building. Even with restrictions, I had the best first experience working with a client and the media all at once!
I learned my first press event lesson – do not wear heels. It didn’t take me long to realize that my heels:
- Were very loud and could be picked up by the microphone
- Were not comfortable to stand in for four hours – I know, I need practice
- Made it very hard to move quickly when the camera started to pan in my direction.
Hence, you can catch me slowly creeping out of the frame as the client is on-camera interviewing with Good Day Rochester’s Michael Schwartz. Not only was this a great learning opportunity, but I also gained a lot of appreciation and respect for journalists.
We started the event at 6:30 a.m. – much later than the originally planned 4:45 a.m. It was just another exciting aspect of agency life – early mornings! Although the event was planned weeks in advance, it was a possibility that the reporter would have to cut our time short to cover local breaking news that was getting national coverage. Luckily, we were able to capture all of the segments we had planned for and have downtime between sneak peeks and the live broadcast. We discussed what goes into a feature story news package and what is required of the reporter after the cameras turn off.
To The Harley School – thank you for being my first in-person client experience; I had a blast!
To Michael Schwartz – thank you for answering my endless questions about journalism, broadcasting, and pitching to reporters!
To Tipping Point – thank you for another fantastic experience – I look forward to more in the next few months!
Check out Fox Rochester’s feature of The Harley School
