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When Should You Organise a Press Conference?

3 min read

Organising a press conference is not a decision that institutions frequently face, but it often comes up in the context of significant events or situations. The key question is: when is the right moment to decide to hold a press conference?

Having worked as a communications manager for three different organizations, I’ve had to organize press conferences only a handful of times. Why? Because it usually requires an extraordinary event or situation to make a press conference truly effective. This in itself highlights why and when such an approach is appropriate.

So, when exactly should you organise a press conference? The simplest answer is that when a press release alone isn’t enough, the information affects a broad audience, and calling every publication or newsroom individually would take too long. Press conferences are particularly useful when information needs to be shared quickly and directly with as many people as possible.

“The simplest answer is that when a press release alone isn’t enough, the information affects a broad audience, and calling every publication or newsroom individually would take too long.”

If the situation is critical and has high news value, a press conference is often the easiest and most sensible way to provide information to everyone simultaneously and address questions immediately.

For example, The Government of Estonia holds weekly press conferences to share decisions and respond to questions.

The Estonian Health Board organised regular press conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate information to as many people as possible at once and to allow journalists to ask questions on the spot.

To evaluate whether a press conference is the right step for your organization, consider the following checklist:

  • Does the information, event, or situation meet at least four newsworthiness criteria? Is it unusual, impactful, relevant, timely, and topical?
  • Does the situation have significant news value, impacting a large group of people or a substantial portion of your target audience?
  • Do you have enough information to justify holding a press conference? Specifically:
    • What happened?
    • When did it happen?
    • Who is involved?
    • Where did it happen?
    • Why did it happen?
    • How did it happen?

If you can confidently answer “yes” to all these questions and have enough information to explain the situation, the next step is to ask yourself: are you prepared to answer critical questions? Do you know what happens next? Press conferences are often organised in response to crises — whether due to major accidents, reputational issues for a large institution, or the need to disclose significant new information.

In these situations, having a skilled communications specialist or agency partner is invaluable. They can help assess the situation, provide crisis communication support, or suggest alternative solutions to ensure the information reaches the right audience quickly and effectively.

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