CLIENT: The Telecommunications Industry Association
AGENCY: WilkinsonShein Communications
TIMEFRAME: January-June 2005
BUDGET: N/A
Each year, there is one venue where more than 25,000 telecommunications professionals get together to talk shop. Before and during the industry blowout known as Supercomm, PR
professionals muster their efforts to make sure that a) people show up, and b) that exhibitors get their money's worth in terms of media exposure.
At this year's event, held at Chicago's McCormick Place June 6-9, there was a new twist. The show's longtime sponsors - the Telecommunications Industry
Association (TIA) and the United States Telecom Association - are parting ways. They're ending the tradition of Supercomm, and each plans to launch its own show next
year, so this was Supercomm's last hurrah.
It could have been a sticky situation in the Windy City. Were the sponsors now rivals? Would Supercomm become a place to wrangle over exhibitors and attendees for next year's
shows? In this case, the PR professionals solved the problem, Brooklyn-style: Fuggataboutit.
"We were very careful to focus only on Supercomm," says Keira N. Shein, a partner in WilkinsonShein Communications (Arlington, Va.). "Our focus was just on making sure
that we did everything we possibly could do to make sure that Supercomm went out with a bang."
The clients had no qualms. Given the complex association, with politics undoubtedly unfolding behind the scenes, Sharon Grace, TIA's director of communications, was looking
for a PR strategy that would keep the breakup far in the background. "We needed the communications to not distract the exhibitors and the attendees from the business at hand," she
says.
Which brings us to the show itself.
Although it was its first year handling Supercomm, WilkinsonShein had a distinct advantage. Principal Leah Wilkinson had managed the show's PR while working with TMP
Integrated Marketing Communications through 2003. In 2005, when WilkinsonShein successfully bid for the business, she and her partner were ready to step right into the
role.
The five-person firm went to work in January, targeting potential attendees with invitations and e-mails about the show. Perhaps more important was the effort to reach out to
the exhibitors who would be paying for floor space to hawk their wares. That meant giving exhibitors all the tools they would need to gain media exposure and public clout while at
the show.
Ramping up to the big weekend, the PR team kept up a running communication with exhibitors via e-mail and phone, reminding them of upcoming editorial deadlines and informing
them of show coverage being planned by various publications. This information was readily available to the PR team via the show's organizers. To spread the word, Shein and
Wilkinson had to nail down their targets early.
"In a trade-show environment, you have any number of different contacts," Wilkinson says. "You have the person who is managing the booth, the person who is managing the
chairs, the person who is making sure the Internet comes in and the person who is handling the promotional items."
She adds, "So we go to lengths to make sure we are reaching the right person. We ask that each one of our exhibitors supply us with internal PR contact information and any
external PR contact information. That way, we can be sure that we are hitting the right people."
The PR firm also provided an extensive how-to manual for exhibitors seeking media coverage. Making sure the exhibitors are satisfied can come down to an excruciating level of
detail. "We have had a number of experiences in the past where PR people have provided press kits for the press room that have been too large to fit in the bins," Wilkinson says.
"It sounds very minute but, if for some reason your press kit can't fit in the bin, you've lost that presence in the press center." Lesson? Talk to exhibitors early and often.
Spell it all out for them.
This year, the PR team itself had two near misses in the press center. As the show opened, it was clear that space would be tight and wireless access spotty.
However, everything went off without a hitch, thanks to PR having laid solid groundwork and working in close cooperation with those handling the physical space. "You need to
establish good relations with the facilities folks within the convention center, so that you know exactly who to call to make things happen right away," Wilkinson says.
All in all, it was a solid week for the show's sponsors as well as for its exhibitors. About 670 exhibiting companies churned out more than 580 press releases, up 10% from
the prior year. Meanwhile, the PR firm's advance efforts helped drive some 480 members of the press and industry analysts to the show, with attendance up "significantly" from the
prior year, according to Wilkinson.
As for the decision to sidestep the show's pending demise (and whatever inter-association politics may lay behind it), TIA's Grace says she has no regrets. "Our PR objective
wasn't any different than it had been in years past," she says. "We needed the show to be a success for everyone involved in it."
Contacts: Sharon Grace, 703.907.7721, [email protected]; Keira N. Shein, 410.363.9494, [email protected]; Leah Wilkinson, 703.892.8080, [email protected]
Exhibiting good media relations
Going into the Supercomm trade show, Keira N. Shein had one thing in mind. As a partner in WilkinsonShein Communications, she wanted to help exhibitors get all the media
coverage they might desire.
"Supercomm is a place where news is made, and the amount of news that comes out of a show like Supercomm is very important," she says. To facilitate the distribution of press
releases, the PR firm connected exhibitors with both BusinessWire and Virtual Press Office. The agency also offered exhibitors access to its own "news flash" service, which
consolidates press releases and sends out periodic communiqués to reporters, editors and analysts planning to attend the show.
The most significant "how-to," though, is the PR firm's manual for exhibitors, an electronic document outlining every possible PR opportunity at the show. The manual gives a
basic tutorial on how to write a press release, it explains how to plan a press conference, and it outlines times the press and analysts will be available. For the PR firm, it's a
slam dunk; imost of the basic instruction pieces can be reused from show to show, with only the scheduling and other specifics needing to be changed.
"The show is about the exhibitors," Shein says. "The reality of an event like this is that we are there to serve the companies that are exhibiting, to give them the time and
the tools to make announcements about their products."
Trade Cards
Heading for a trade show? We asked the folks at WilkinsonShein how corporate PR executives can maximize their media relations in the trade-show space:
- Leverage-free publicity opportunities provided by the trade show. If sponsors ask your president to get up and speak, make sure he or she gets up.
- Follow guidelines and deadlines outlined in the trade-show PR program. If the show recommends sending 50 press kits, don't send 200.
- Take advantage of additional trade show relationships with official vendors. If a trade show uses an official news-distribution wire service, you might be able get discounted
rates or bonus distribution. - Read the literature. As the event nears, you should get news of deadlines, media opportunities and scheduling notices. It's all worth reading.