Zoom, zoom goes the news conference
One of the biggest professional fears of any PR person is to hold a news conference and have not a single reporter show up. Bad fear; a worse reality.
We recently facilitated a news conference and EVERYONE showed up.
If anyone ever questioned the interest in high school sports, let me provide your answer: People are interested!
Because of obvious COVID gathering restrictions, a tight timeframe, and intense media interest, we fired up the Zoom machine and welcomed TV and radio stations and newspapers from every single market in Michigan, the UP and South Bend, IN included. Some outlets even sent multiple reporters. It was a full house, and the clips report afterward demonstrated the massive reach of those 39 minutes online.
Our team has worked for governors, AGs, presidential candidates and major corporations.
Aside from a news conference hosted years ago in the governor’s press auditorium to reveal the identity of the Michigan winner of the Mega Millions lotto, I am hard pressed to remember a press conference I was a part of that had such massive media participation.
High school sports are a big deal, but they aren’t THAT big a deal. Going virtual has heightened the potential of the news conference game. Geography and drive times no longer matter. Satellite feeds and station pooling agreements aren’t required. Today, made possible through technology and instigated by a pandemic, a link in an email is all it takes to have a front row seat and access to a live news event. And on the flip, people with news to make now have access to a press corps spread far, wide, and thin.
Once the COVID shots are in everyone’s arm, I don’t see this changing. The news conferences of old, with their carefully selected, message-driven locations and backdrops will return and have their place, but will they have the same impact? Will reporters want to drive in for what they know they can watch from their offices, or even their phones at home? Will news conference participants converge at a single site or caravan from market to market when they know they have the opportunity to get their news and message out with a Zoom link and a professional to facilitate the logistics of an online event? I have my doubts.
It’s time to add “Zoom expert” to every PR pro’s job description.
When managed well and reporter access is assured, the benefits of the online news conference are real for participants on both sides of the podium... (cough) I mean, screen.