Dissecting the Media Launch

I'm very excited about the upcoming arts & cultural event that is happening across Canada: Culture Days, otherwise known as a celebration of my favourite things.  With audience participation!  As a communications person, I made sure to attend their recent media launch on September 14th at the forks.  And in true Teri fashion, I feel like looking at how they did from every angle. I can't help but always be a critic.  After all, it's as good way to learn something. 

Considering Culture Days is a national event that has been organized by a small number of people, in a short amount time, they did great.  But things can always be done differently.

The Good

• They sent out a media advisory the week before the event and it contained lots of relevant info
• One of the attractions (which was of course mentioned in the media advisory) was a performance by an aerial dancer.  What media wouldn't want to capture that?
• They presented the conference in both English and French
• CBC is a sponsor of Culture Days, so it was pretty certain they would cover the event
• While the launch was outside, it was under the canopy at the forks, which took into account possible bad weather
• They integrated Aboriginal participation, which included a drum performance and a blessing of the event- always good when you're trying to be inclusive; especially when you're standing on sacred land
• They called arts organizations the morning of the event to make sure people from the arts & cultural community were going to come
• Media actually showed up!

The Not-so Good

• The media conference seemed pretty long at almost an hour.  Most of the media got what they needed and left, and they wouldn't have had a chance to do interviews one-on-one with organizers after.  A lost opportunity to drive your key messages home
• There didn't appear to be pool sound, and the canopy at the forks is surrounded by fountains.  That makes it a little more difficult for media people to get good audio
• There were too many talking heads.  Five people gave presentations, and they all pretty much said the same thing
• Media kits weren't ready when the media got there
• When I accidently grabbed a media kit off the information table, I got scolded.  I'm not sure if the person putting media kits together was the communications person or not, but as far as she knew, I could have been a reporter.  Being rude when you're representing an event or an organization isn't a good plan. 

All in all though, it was a good experience to be there, and of course it was great to represent for Arts & Culture in the city!

I'm sure I'll be talking more about Culture Days before the month is over, so stay tuned...