By Alaina Chiappone, Senior Account Executive
Like clockwork, industry conferences and significant events will dominate the social media news feeds at least once a year. From booths to business cards, there’s no shortage of work that goes into preparing for events. What most people don’t see is just how far back that work starts. As a public relations agency, it’s our job to strategically elevate your company’s presence at events and make sure your executives and key influencers are prepared, whether we’re in the room with them or five states away.
Setting the Stage Before the Doors Even Open
A PR agency’s involvement in client industry events starts long before those events do. If a client wants to secure a speaking spot, we’re looking at prepping those submissions months in advance. Even for clients that already have a marketing team running logistics, we’re still on the scene months ahead to start planning media outreach.
That lead time is critical. We research the event’s history, identify which outlets have covered it in past years, and check the list of registered media. Then we reach out directly to reporters, letting them know a client will be there, what they’re presenting or announcing, and where to find them. If an event doesn’t have dedicated press coverage, we’ll sometimes pitch local reporters who cover the industry more broadly, framing the event, or a press release you’re rolling out at the conference, as a reason for them to pay attention to what’s happening in their own backyard.
How Agencies Help While Working Remotely
While we’d love to be in the room for every single industry event, more often than not your PR team is going to be remote support. Fortunately, a lot of the coordination that makes attending an industry event successful doesn’t actually require being there in person. For example, the events that generate meaningful coverage (and the ones you want to aim for) usually have one thing in common: news, which means reporters are there looking for something to write about. That can include a client presenting new data, a partnership announcement, or the unveiling of a product during the show. Even without a formal announcement, there’s always an opportunity for a meeting, either with a potential customer or a reporter, that builds a future relationship.
Getting in touch with those reporters beforehand is what makes or breaks that opportunity, and reporters fill their schedules ahead of time. Communication by text and email is far more efficient for connecting with those reporters, instead of hoping for an in-person check-in. This holds true for the meetings an agency sets up. The ones we’ve made happen are because of outreach done in advance, not because we had someone standing nearby on showday.
The best results come from groundwork laid beforehand, not our physical presence at the event itself.
Again, we love to be in the room with our clients when events happen, but a successful industry event isn’t measured by what happens on the conference floor alone. It’s often the work that happens before and after events that truly moves the needle. Whether that’s research management, opportunity preparation, or presentation input, our proven process ensures we’re elevating any client event, even from halfway across the country.
