A government press office is called upon to deal with many kinds of public events. There are "media events" - events to which the press is invited — and there are other events, some of which the media attend and some they do not. A press spokesperson should be able to manage participation in any event, media or not, whether you are hosting it or attending it as the guest of someone else.

Think of these events as theater or ballet. Everything should be planned and scripted, and everything should relate to the overall theme of the play or the ballet. Every detail and each person's role is well thought out. There should be a director — from your staff — on site to make sure that things are carried out as planned.

Planning for an Inside Event

Thorough planning is needed for every event in which a press spokesperson participates, but especially for events such as the visit of a head of state or a meeting of several foreign ministers.

• As a first step, appoint a manager to oversee the entire event. He might handle everything, or she might have to supervise several other people who are handling different tasks.
  
• Then, decide on the theme of the event:
  
• What is its purpose?
  
• What goals do you want to achieve?
  
• What impact do you want to have?
  
• Establish deadlines for the various components of the event.
  
• By what date must a speech be completed?
  
• By what date should requests for materials
  
• By what dates are approvals needed?
  
• By what date should invitations be sent?
  
• Have regular meetings with those involved in the event to make sure that assignments are being carried out. Make a site visit at least one day in advance to check on arrangements. The bigger the event, the further in advance the site visit should occur — for a state visit, probably weeks in advance; for a half-hour meeting between ministers, an hour in advance. But always have someone from your staff at the site several hours before the event so that they can manage any last-minute changes.
  
• Prepare a briefing book for the event that includes the schedule, list of participants, talking points or speech, biographies of important people at the event, a summary of political and other key issues, and newspaper articles that are related to the issues.
  
• Write thank you notes after the event to those involved, such as the key attendees and staff.
  
• Hold a follow-up meeting with your own staff and write a short report on what went well and what did not so as to improve future events.

A general theory in the United States is that about 5 to 10 hours of planning are required for each hour an event will last.

Planning for an Outside Event

Even if it's someone else's event at which your government official has been invited to speak, review anything related to the official's participation, including the invitation and press materials in which the official is mentioned.

Always have someone from your staff at the site in advance of the event. That way he or she can advocate on your behalf, learn if there are changes to the program, and alert your official. Without this, you will have no control over the official's participation.

An important part of outside event planning is assessing the invitation. Consider this: a government official traveled several hours to give a speech to an audience he thought would be supporters. But once there, he found he was on stage with opponents, whom he was expected to debate in front of an unfriendly audience. No staff had checked the arrangements in advance, so no one knew that the actual event deviated from the invitation, which had been given orally.

To prevent surprises, many politicians request that all invitations be put in writing. That way they know exactly what is being requested and can negotiate their participation according to what is written. Many then respond in writing stating what their participation will be.

When an invitation comes in over the phone, the press spokesperson or scheduler might say: "Our policy here is to have invitations in writing. Please mail, fax, or e-mail a request with the following information:"

• The title of the event.
  
• Its purpose.
  
• The date and time(s). In this regard, it's good to find out if there is any flexibility. For instance, if a conference is being held over several days and an official is invited for one specific day on which he/she is engaged elsewhere, can another date be substituted?
  
• The location.
  
• The number of people expected to attend.
  
• Whether there will be other participants, and who they will be.
  
• Whether there's a tradition of having a particular guest speak at the event. Is that person the official for whom you work - for example, in his/her capacity as governor of a state.
  
• What the official's role will be — to give the main address, to be the sole speaker, to be one of several speakers, to speak on a certain topic, and so forth.
  
• Whether the event is open or closed to the press.
  
• If this is an annual or repeat event, how the media have covered it in the past.