How Not To Work Media Registration at Your Next Event

[image cred] It seems our buddy, MediaPost reporter Kelly Samardak, had quite a little run in with a PR pro - whom she was kind enough not to identify - at an event she was asked to cover this week for Stardoll.com, "a virtual paperdoll community site for everyone who enjoys fashion, design and making friends." The site had a party to celebrate Heidi Klum's virtual Jordache jeans line designed for them. (Ummm, yeah. As a dude, we're already lost here. Sorry.) Kelly made sure to let us know that Morris + King, who rep Stardoll.com are "fantastic" and were not part of the problem. However, after being berated by another PR pro who was running the guest list for the event, she wrote, "...the way I was bullied, word-slapped, and yodeled at by a rep from Full Picture PR (who reps Heidi Klum and Jordache) not only clarified to me how other press/writers/journalists can abhor the PR function, but also makes me think that Heidi Klum, who was polite, sweet, and hotter than a twice-baked potato, would not appreciate someone attached to her/their brand acting like such a prime jackass." And believe us, Kelly isn't one to get offended over some small thing, and this is good advice for anyone running an event, no matter how "exclusive" you think it is: do not bite the hand that feeds you. She says, "...if I've been invited to your party and received confirmation, I don't expect to be verbally berated and then uninvited in front of other guests. That's a valid desire in this life, isn't it?" However, that wasn't the end of this conversation... Kelly: "But your people invited me!" I probably whined. To which she responded... Wait for it... PR Person: "Can you name my people?" PR Person: "You can't even name my people, but you say you were invited to this party." Kelly: "You sent a blanket invitation to my entire company. Can you name all of the writers you invited?" Touche! So, instead of just letting Kelly into the party to begin with, where she would have taken pictures and written a review of the event, the Full Frontal PR person eventually let her in anyway, and they still got their review, but now most of it consists of the ridiculous conduct of one of their employees. Now, are we saying you have to let every journalist or blogger with a camera who has RSVP'd into your event? No. But if you invite them, and their column always runs with pictures, and you don't tell them anything about picture policy in advance, and if everyone else is taking pictures, and you end up letting them run the column with pictures anyway, then what really is the problem? Read Kelly's "Just An Online Minute" column here.

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How Not To Work Media Registration at Your Next Event

Joe Ciarallo

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Joe Ciarallo