Public Relations / Public Affairs Ideas To Use

Announcing For President In An Online Video

Are candidates for president abandoning the traditional announcement news conference?  It looks that way.  Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Barack Obama and Sam Brownback all announced the formation of their presidential exploratory committees in an online video.

Why are the candidates embracing online video?   According to Duncan Riley in The Blogging Times, it’s all about message control:

“Delivering spin is all about control.  Online video is a spin doctors gift from heaven. Where spin use to be focused on sound bites, online video allows a broader message to be delivered without the editing you get with the mainstream media.  He who controls the message wins the war is a stock standard concept in political spin.”

One a side note, one candidate’s determined tussle to control his hair before a television interview made it to YouTube.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q)

P.S.  Did you miss the draft Barack Obama meeting in Edison or Mitt Romney’s visit to East Brunswick?  See who was there and what they said.  View our slide videos of both events.

• Obama event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_iDYlzMH7U
• Romney event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvmxFx_iZ1Y

Technorati Tags: political campaigns, presidential election

Michael Caine's On Camera Appearance Tips

Where should you focus your eyes while being interviewed on camera by a television reporter?

Your instinct is to look into the interviewer’s eyes. That, after all, is how we communicate with people every day.  But that’s not the most effective appearance for television.

When recording a television interview, the cameraperson is pointing the camera at you from next to or over the reporter's shoulder.  So let’s say you are standing opposite a reporter and the camera is peering over the reporter’s left shoulder.  You should shift your eyes so your left eye is looking into the reporter’s left eye.  It is a very subtle movement, but the effect is magnified when doing a close-up interview.

You can watch a demonstration by actor Michael Caine in his “Acting in Film” video, which someone posted on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfz7_YjRww). I can’t imagine it remaining on You Tube much longer, so view it as soon as you can before it is taken down. The demonstration appears 3 minutes into the video and lasts about 2 minutes.

Caine also demonstrates how not blinking on camera makes you appear stronger. If you have any suggestions on how to prevent yourself from blinking, please forward them to me. I’ve practiced this, but trying not to blink only makes me want to blink more.

Technorati Tags: public relations, media training, Michael Caine

What does "off the record" mean?

What’s the difference between talking to a reporter “on background” versus “deep background”?  And just what does speaking “off the record” really mean?

The Associated Press helps answer these questions by explaining and defining the concepts on their Web site.

Keep in mind that the AP’s definitions are their own, and other publications may have slightly different ideas about what these terms mean.  Whenever I speak to a reporter, I first clarify what I mean when speaking off the record or on background. I want to make sure the reporter and I clearly understand and agree to the terms of our conversation.

Some media professionals believe the risk of a reporter failing –– intentionally or not –– to honor your off the record remarks is too great, and advise that if you can’t say it on the record, then don’t say it at all.

That is probably wise, especially if you have little experience speaking with reporters.

You can visit the AP site here.  Scroll down to the fourteenth paragraph under Standards and Practices Anonymous Sources.

Technorati Tags: public relations, corporate communications

How Do You View Crisis?

Corporate or government leaders can view crisis as either an interruption or a test of their stewardship of the organization.  When crisis strikes, how you view it naturally influences how you and your organization respond.

Writing in Strategy & Leadership, Helio Fred Garcia looks at good and bad examples of crisis response.  Garcia says Exxon’s ineffective response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill led the public to believe that the company’s primary concern was not the harm the spill caused.  The government’s response to the New Orleans flood showed a similar indifference.

Garcia compares President George W. Bush’s response to the attacks of September 11, 2006 to his response to Hurricane Katrina, where the President seemed “disengaged, uninformed, and unconcerned.”   Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown's admission on CNN that the government was unaware that thousands were stranded without water at the convention center added to the feeling that government leaders were indifferent to the plight of New Orleanians.

The perception of indifference is the single largest contributor to reputation harm in the aftermath of a crisis, especially when there are victims, says Garcia.

As for examples of good crisis response, Garcia points to the McDonald’s Corporation and the Boeing Company.  McDonald’s left little room for speculation about its future and minimized its stock volatility by swiftly appointing a new CEO just two and half hours after announcing the death of CEO James Cantalupo.

Harry Stonecipher was tapped by Boeing to replace CEO Phil Condit after a scandal involving the recruitment of Pentagon employees.  Stonecipher, who instituted a revised Code of Conduct, was quickly dismissed after the company learned that he had violated his own code by having a romantic relationship with a female subordinate.

Both McDonald’s and Boeing understood the importance of the “Gold Hour” of crisis response.  Garcia says the Gold Hour refers to the observation that incremental delays in responding to a crisis have greater than incremental impact on the outcome.

Here is Garcia’s lesson for leaders:  Effective leaders (1) demonstrate situational awareness in a crisis, grasping the significance of the underlying event and its likely impact on the company and its stakeholders, and (2) see crisis response not as an interruption in their stewardship of a company, but as the test of that stewardship.

Garcia, Helio F. "Effective Leadership Response To Crisis."

Technorati Tags: public relations, crisis communications