Above: A conference that thought they would be just fine without any press Today marks the beginning of our new series of blog posts, in which we share with event planners, producers and professors tidbits of compact yet actionable wisdom picked up from working with event organizers from Tokyo to New York to Barcelona and beyond. Today’s topic: event press

Your Event and the Press

Depressed with last year’s turnout? Have a pressing need for higher ticket sales? Well, it’s time to become the impresario you were meant to be (no pun intended). And here is how to go about that:

A) Make a list of all the blogs and online publications that might have a chance of showing even the faintest interest in what you are doing.

B) Contact them all. Make it clear to them you are not a Fark (the semi-derogatory term the press sometimes uses for publicists), but that you are indeed a big deal and the organizer of your own event. You can even suggests article ideas, like “This Mycology Summit will Blow your Mind,” if you plan on organizing a mushroom tasting.

Above: Even mushroom tastings are press-worthy

C) Contact them all again over Facebook. You actually have the ability to send as many personal Facebook messages to organizations’ pages as you like, and the response rate, based on our experience, is much higher than that of email.

D) When article is achieved, make sure that sucker links directly and correctly to the ticket sales page. If not, you have our permission to send a passive-aggressive email to the author.

Above: Never underestimate the power of the Facebook message

E) Invite the author to your event with a comp ticket. This is like publicity 101. It’s important to show gratitude toward the person who gave you a bunch of free advertising, and who may be your ally for future events.

F) If you weren’t able to score an article before the event, follow-up with event invites to the local press. It has often been said that no press is bad press. Which is true also in the sense that if you have no press for your event, you are very bad at getting press. But we’re sure that won’t be the case. So get out there, befriend some tastemakers, and then bask in the fabulous radiance of acknowledgement that is sure rain down all over the lead up to your event.

Also, truly sorry about all those puns earlier.