By Mark Macias
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump gave his first press conference since the election. It was a big event for journalists since many news organizations haven’t been able to directly ask him questions regarding investigative stories they were pursuing.
During my time with NBC and CBS, I covered many press conferences from politicians, CEOs and celebrities. Now, as the owner of this PR firm, I have also organized and coached many executives on how to deal with the media.
Media Advice for Press Conferences
If you do plan on holding a press conference, make sure you are prepared for the anticipated questions. Many political campaigns have been derailed by politicians who didn’t remember the speech or fumbled over the message. You don’t want the story from your press conference to turn into how you messed up. (Here’s a real-life example of how a US Senate Candidate lost the message).
CNBC asked me to give some analysis on Trump’s press conference performance? How did he do? I gave him a B+. A few CNBC readers were angry with that grade, but here’s another look at that story in case you are holding a press conference in the near future. Click here to read my CNBC analysis.
Macias PR was named the 2015 and 2016 top PR Firm of the Year – USA by Finance Monthly. The founder of Macias PR – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He is also a PR contributor with CNBC, providing media analysis, insight and crisis advice on timely business topics.