How to treat a blogger in an event

I was a writer before I became a blogger. I’ve gone on assignments, interviewed people, and attended events on behalf of several publications. I do not exaggerate when I say that you are treated like a god when you go to an event under the umbrella of the publication or television station that you work for. As soon as you are asked what publication or company you’re from and you utter a top broadsheet’s, magazine’s or TV station’s name, you are greeted with a smile and ushered to your seat complete with pleasantries and courtesies that are usually extended to VIP’s. I remember telling my husband jokingly one time that sometimes I think they’d roll out a red carpet out if they could.

The year 2011 marks my second year in the Pinoy blogosphere. In the two years that I’ve been blogging, I can say that I’ve attended many events. It wasn’t like that when I started. I guess these days, more and more PR agencies, companies and brands are realizing that bloggers are already an integral part of mass media, wielding a certain sphere of influence over their readers and followers. Then there’s Google. I admit, whenever I need information about anything, I turn to Google. It’s fast, it’s readily available, and it gives me a stream of information that’s relevant and updated. Some bloggers have what you call good SEO (Search Engine Optimization), meaning whenever they post about something, it comes out on the first page of Google results pronto. Some blogs even have more readers than regular print publications.

There are many directions I can steer this topic to. But in lieu of what I had recently experienced, I choose to tackle how a PR agency, brand or company should treat a blogger… or any invited guest for that matter.

I recently attended the launch event of a rather upscale brand held at a posh hotel. As soon as I got to the reception area, I noticed there were two registration tables. One table was marked as for bloggers, while the other one was apparently for traditional media. The traditional media table had all the bells and whistles: press kits neatly stacked in a pile, a formal registration form, and smiling ushers ready to offer assistance. The blogger registration table had one rather clueless girl manning it and a form for indicating your name, URL, email, etc. I got the message right away and did not bother asking for a press kit. Some bloggers tried, and as expected they were turned down and told that press kits were reserved for media. I did, however, ask the girl where I could get a parking pass. Hotel parking is not cheap and I certainly was not getting compensated for covering the event. Besides, it’s normal for organizers to provide guests with parking passes based on similar past events I’ve attended.

The girl manning the blogger registration table gave me a blank look. “Ma’am may ganun ba? Hindi ko kasi alam yun,” she said. At that point, I didn’t know if she simply did not know what a parking pass was or if she didn’t know if guests were to be given one. I couldn’t really blame her because she probably doesn’t even have a car so she has never had to worry about such things. I told her that it’s okay and moved on inside the event proper. I immediately looked for the person who invited me. He told me that he was only in charge of online PR (i.e. bloggers) and another organizer was in charge of putting the whole event together. That other organizer had the parking passes but their people have not yet arrived. He assured me that he’ll secure one for me and hand it to me later on.

The call time for the event was 10am but it started at almost noon. Events that take place from 11am to 2pm are usually considered lunch events, and as a courtesy the host or organizer usually serves well… lunch. It was not so for this particular event. They had waiters come out with tiny platitos of pica-pica. They’d lean over to you and ask you to take some, and that was it. I was seated in front since I arrived relatively early so I think I got a chance to obtain around four or five tiny plates during the two-hour extravaganza (not yet counting almost two hours of waiting time), which started at 12pm. I could hear people placed at the back complaining that they were not getting any food or drink at all.

At the end of the event, I approached the one who invited me again and reminded him of the parking pass. He apologized profusely and told me that they had run out. I told him that it was the first thing I asked about as soon as I arrived. He kept on apologizing, and at that point I was starting to feel annoyed. I was hungry and I was being charged P200 for parking. To top it off, the people at reception seemed unwilling to give the bloggers anything – from press kits to parking passes to the simple tokens that they had displayed on registration. I was beginning to wonder why they even invited bloggers in the first place. I guess the one who invited me felt somewhat remorseful at this point and so he offered to pay for my parking fee.

What am I trying to say? If you are a PR agency, company or brand:?

o   Make sure you really want bloggers and not just warm bodies to populate your event. It’s really in bad taste to invite bloggers and then classify them as some sort of subspecies next to traditional media. This is really one of the most important points to consider. ?

o   Like all things in this world, not all bloggers are created equal. Anyone with access to a computer can post something online and call himself a blogger. Determine what kind of bloggers best fit your niche and invite them. Lumping all bloggers together under the single classification “blogger” is kind of like saying all newspapers and magazines are the same. They are not. You have to consider things like demographics, relevance, reach, readership, following, and so forth.

o   If you are holding an event that takes place during lunch (11am to 2pm) or dinner time (6pm to 8pm), the least you can do is feed your guests properly.?

o   Brief your ushers and receptionists thoroughly. A head-scratching, blank-looking person on the frontlines who can’t answer basic questions won’t reflect well on your agency, brand or company.

o   Prepare press kits and tokens for everyone who confirms and have a buffer. If you’re not willing to do so perhaps you should rethink your guest list. ?

o   Plan for potential problems like parking, seating and so forth.

These are just my two cents. I’m still a writer. I’m also a blogger. I’ve been on both sides of the fence.