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So you want to organise a news conference or photo call

A news conference, or informal briefing, should be called when your organisation or campaign wishes to announce something of importance. If it is a general statement or response a press release will do the job better. Most news organisations have limited staff so they need to make careful decisions about who to send to which news conference or event.

Timing

Plan the event carefully. Are there other major national events on the same day (eg. Key government announcements, elections, national holidays or celebrations) that your event will be competing with? Is the conference held in time for journalists to meet their deadlines?

Media sources should be informed about the conference well in advance by a media advisory or press release, but not too long in advance - otherwise they may forget about the event. So send out a release or advisory about a week in advance of the conference and then follow up with calls or personal visits in the days leading up to the conference. If possible, also call key contacts on the day of the conference to remind them. In some countries, journalists carry beepers, which provide information on news events so they are a useful way to remind reporters of news conferences or other events.

Speakers and venue

Choose a few speakers who can speak on different aspects of the mine issue or your particular campaign. Try to pick good public speakers, and people who can put across the position of the organisation. Bear in mind issues of geographic, religious, ethnic and gender representivity when selecting your speakers and aim for a good mix. Also try to have speakers who are fluent in a range of languages, and who are able to give interviews in these languages after the conference.

Choose a central and accessible venue. It may be a church hall, community centre, conference room in a hotel or sometimes large NGOs have a meeting room which can be used for the purpose. It is important that the venue has parking, is easy to reach for the media, has power points, exhibition display board and refreshments. Set up a table near the entrance to lay out press packs, a register of attendance and name badges. Also set up the chairs facing the front table where the speakers will be seated (this way of setting up the room is called school room or cinema style). A podium for the main speaker is sometimes useful, though not essential.

Make sure that there is a good visual backdrop behind the speakers at the news conference - use banners, posters, photographs etc. In that way a television clip of the news conference will illustrate the ICBL message twice — visually (through a bold slogan on the wall behind the speakers) and through the spoken message given by the speakers. Without a good visual backdrop you can probably forget being shown on TV at all - as few camera operators will be inspired by a boring scene of speakers seated at a table in a drab conference centre!

Ask staff or members to come to the venue an hour or so beforehand to hang the banners and arrange the displays. Have a few staff available to meet the media as they arrive, answer questions and introduce them to spokespeople and others they will want to interview. Sometimes tea and coffee or light refreshments are served as the media arrive.

Programme of the news conference

Most news conferences are fairly quick events - do not be surprised if everything is over in less than an hour. Aim to have the following programme:

introduction of speakers and welcome media representatives
short inputs by each speaker (try to stick to 3 speakers or less) and each should have a different angle
questions from the media and answers
closure: thank the media for coming and sum up

Most interviews by radio and television take place after the conference. You may need to facilitate these by introducing or suggesting possible interview subjects to the media - though they will almost certainly have their own ideas.

After the news conference

Drop off copies of the press packs to media sources that did not attend the conference but are interested in covering the story.
Keep copies of the media coverage of your event - print and electronic copies for your records.
Update your media lists with details gathered from the attendance register.
Evaluate how the news conference went: attendance, speakers, coverage, organisation and other aspects of the event and use your learning points for future news conferences.

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