Public Relations Handler Tips: Do’s & Don’ts for Success!

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I used to work in Public Relations. Long before PBJ Merch Co., promotional products, apparel, logos, embroidery, etc! I worked for politicians, governments and for one of the biggest brands in Canada.  During that time I spent a lot of my working life acting as a “handler.” A PR person who accompanies an executive, a celebrity, a company owner or a politician.  For this article I’ll call them the “charge” as in who you are in charge of. We’re the ones who help our charge reach their destinations on time and hope they say the right things when they arrive.  Along the way, here’s some tips I used:

a)      Do have complete Maps, GPS and directions for any place you have to go. Don’t rely on taxi drivers, limo drivers or others. Be prepared! And if you have to drive, ensure you’re a damned confident driver.

b)      Do have complete Contact Info for everyone involved in the task saved in your smartphone. Even if its just a 1-day event put them into your contact list (don’t just “save in email” because when you need to find the contact info, you won’t be able to find the email).

c)      Do know all the important first & last names of all the contacts you will meet during a task. As a handler, you will look like a star if you ‘feed’ the names to your charge prior to meeting them. For example “Ms. Premier this is radio host Joe Blow from KYJL.”

d)      Do stay in the background. You’re just a PR hack not a star, even if photographers are yelling and snapping pics. And, do not gush over your charges (“I’m your biggest fan!”) or the people you meet.  Be courteous and professional at all times.

It’s been so long since I’ve done this kind of work fulltime I feel like I’m forgetting some basic steps.  What else should P.R. Pros do/don’t?  Please leave some ideas in the comments section below.

– Rich