Invitations

Write a warmly-worded, friendly letter of invitation, which should be personally addressed to each journalist you intend to invite. There should be a heading that summarises what the event is about, plus the date, the time, and the venue. The body of the letter will give just enough information to grab the journalists’ interest, but won’t give the whole story away. It is also as well to include a small form for a response: ‘I will/will not be able to attend the press conference’. Focus particularly on your ‘hit list’ of priority publications that you use in your features work, and make a special effort to get someone to come from each of them.

If possible, send out the letter at least three or four weeks before the date of the conference; journalists’ diaries fill up quite a lot in advance. Then, about ten days before the conference, get on the phone and follow up those you haven’t heard from. Don’t forget to notify the venue of the numbers 24 hours before the event.