How ‘Speaking and Events’ Can Elevate Your 2019 PR Strategy

If you work in PR, you’re already planning for 2019 — especially when it comes to relevant events and speaking opportunities for your executives. Building a calendar of conferences is a tedious task and as the big events get bigger and inaugural events pop up, this can seem like a massive undertaking. The terms “speaking” and “events” are broad for an outsider, and they’re becoming increasingly broad for PR professionals. But when done right, this can be an invaluable component of your 2019 plan.

A few of my own observations and words of advice from someone that works in tech PR:

• Conference Landscape: As big events (SXSW, TechCrunch Disrupt, etc.) grow and take over larger venues, it’s getting harder to break through the the noise in a meaningful way. Either get creative, be provocative and take risks in 2019 if you want to make the big ones worthwhile or place your bets on next crop of conferences (the up-and-comers). Avoid conferences in their first year, unless it’s a must-do and run by a reputable organization and convenient.
• Goals: Media coverage should not be the only desired outcome of speaking, attending or exhibiting. This will set you up for failure and that’s what media relations is for! Identify your target audience and agree on other goals — like growing your community or building relationships with peers and partners.
• Media Lists: Due to stricter policies about giving out personal information (or at least that’s the excuse I’m getting these days), conference organizers are less likely to share media lists ahead of time. Utilize Twitter, lists from prior years and good ol’ Google to do your homework and find reporters before the event. At Disrupt SF this past September, you couldn’t get access to the press room unless escorted by a member of the press, so I can’t stress pre-work enough.

So where do you get started? To lighten your load when you’re creating a calendar and to make it easier to evaluate incoming opportunities, build out a scoring rubric that’s personalized to the executives and brands you work with, considering the following:

• Reputation: media presence, peers’ attendance, platform for sharing content to outside audiences
• Community/Relationship Building: how target audience matches your key audience, proximity to a hub where your key audience is located, other meetings or media in that location, whether speaking can help with recruiting
• Impact/Presence: potential speaking role, overlap of audience and key stakeholders, booth and signage opportunities, sponsorship fees

By assigning written and numerical values to each of these areas, tailored to your client, you can create a scorecard that allows you to identify the best opportunities.

And it’s worth noting that a good indicator of a solid conference is the success of recent years. Have an open conversation with your clients, executives and others about their favorites from 2018.

Hopefully these insights make the month of November a little easier. Happy planning!