No two days are ever the same, or without their challenges, for those who represent celebrities and manage their publicity. Whilst managing the famous is exciting and has many perks, there is a common downside – there's not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Managing multiple consecutive media interviews over the phone between a celebrity and a list of journalists in different locations can be highly stressful and time-consuming. When added to the usual daily tasks that need to be managed, as well as the demands of other clients and those inevitable crises that can crop up without warning, your workload can quickly become overwhelming.
The trouble with the DIY conference call
Of course, a PR agent, media company, publicist or talent manager could arrange and coordinate a telephone call or DIY conference between their talent and the media themselves, as there are plenty of teleconferencing providers to choose from.
However, coordinating a seamless succession of media interviews in a demanding environment can be tricky. If not done correctly, it could not only compromise the relationship between publicists, their talent and media contacts, but also take valuable time away from a publicist’s other clients.
Trying to self-manage this type of teleconference, with several participants coming and going, carries with it a very real risk of participant no-shows, call drop-outs or perhaps a breakdown of the entire interview schedule.
There is a better way
The best way to successfully and seamlessly execute multiple media interviews over the phone is to employ the services of an external provider who specialises in operator-assisted conference calls.
Smart publicists can handball the overwhelming task of back-to-back media interviews to an experienced teleconference operator, leaving them free to focus on other aspects of their busy schedule.
An operator-assisted conference call offers a wide range of functions, such as dialling in participants, connecting and disconnecting journalists and talent, adherence to the interview schedule and behind-the-scenes troubleshooting. Most importantly, this type of managed teleconference service offers a busy publicist or talent manager peace of mind.
An experienced operator specialising in this type of conference call will ensure that;
- the talent is informed of how the interview will work and the type of interview they are about to give.
- live-to-air interviews are kept to schedule.
- the talent is comfortable and ready to begin.
- the risk of disruption during an important interview is minimised.
- the talent’s privacy is not at risk.
- journalists and talent are formally and professionally introduced.
- successive media interviews run smoothly - the next journalist is already on the line prior to the previous interview finishing, so that the talent is not kept waiting between interviews.
- the publicist is kept up-to-date with the progress of the interview schedule.
- the publicist is notified of the interview’s conclusion.
- audio recordings of the interviews are available, should they be required.
- the publicist need not be present for the scheduled interviews and can feel confident that interviews will be executed as planned.
- a media interview can be up and running at a moment’s notice when support is needed most.
What’s the cost?
A customised service such as this is not as expensive as one might think. In fact, it's surprisingly affordable if the right provider is chosen. Express Virtual Meeting’s Talent Connect service could be the perfect solution.
