Press conferences are like an extremely valuable ingredient in the communication kitchen: use them rarely and only when you have something really interesting to say. Convening a press conference requires an extremely valuable outcome, well explained by an experienced communications researcher and professionally illustrated with audio-visual material.
Press conferences are a communication tool that allows results to be announced directly, with an immediate opportunity to answer questions from the press.
Both online at this time and physically, press conferences have a standardised format. I start with a brief introduction to the subject (the reason for announcing the press conference) and the institution by the communication specialist. This is followed by the researcher, who presents his/her scientific results in a concise manner, starting with conclusions and the most interesting aspects of the communication. Other members of the team may also attend the conference, each bringing their own perspective. The main part of the conference is devoted to questions and answers, after which the researchers involved should be available for individual interviews with any journalists who request it.
The conference should be scheduled at a time when there are no other events in the field (e.g. you need to find out if another university or research institution is not holding a conference at the same time), so that journalists are not faced with having to choose between two or more locations to attend.
Online, things are a bit different: you can record the conference or stream it live, so that even those who couldn't attend at the proposed time have a chance to watch the statements.
Prepare a press kit containing a press release (read here how not to write it), additional explanations, materials that allow you to go deeper into the subject, attractive graphics, videos if you have them. Give everyone present the press kit, and also create online links to it, so that it can be easily downloaded by those who are interested and could not be present at the conference.
A more particular 'species' of press conference is the 'press tour': this takes the form of a guided tour (of a laboratory for example) or of a project site, and is a formal and informal way for journalists to learn more about a particular project.
Here are some iconic press conferences to inspire you:
- CERN press conference on the Higgs boson
- NASA press conference after Apollo 11 landing
- The online press conference of Royal Astronomical Society about possible signs of life in Venus's atmosphere (a controversial result now a few months away)
My favourite, for the way they organised it to be a simultaneous press conference in Brussels, Santiago, Taipei, Tokyo and Washington, is the 2019 one about the first image of a black hole. In addition to the event itself, you can see here (language: Romanian) how much additional material they have prepared to be available to journalists.
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