Hotwire are MWC legends. Much of the video footage you might have seen from MWC over the years has been thanks to some serious efforts on the part of the Hotwire team moving heaven and earth to sort out logistics to enable me to get some of their client executives on camera. It’s all a bit of a rush during those 3-4 key days and rarely does everything go exactly to plan. Which is why preparation is absolutely key, especially if you’re new to MWC — or if you haven’t yet had the responsibility of managing your CEO’s expectations when he’s expecting you to deliver a sit-down 3-hour fire side chat with a chap from the Financial Times — with 10 minutes notice. And when all he’s got to talk about is a 0.8 product revision.

Oh it’s a stressful time for the PRs. I do my best to get organised as quickly as I can and get the meetings in the diary. And I do my best to try and work with as many PRs and companies as possible during that week.

There are some really smart techniques that you can deploy as a marketer/public relations person. If you happen to know the journalist or blogger in question (and Hotwire do), then you can style the news and announcements to their exact requirements. For instance, I much prefer capturing output on video. I don’t *like* sit down interviews at MWC where I have to take notes, because the chances are I’ll be running a massive sugar low — and can’t write fast enough.

If you’ve got that kind of media knowledge then the chances on getting better, faster or higher quality coverage are so much greater. THIS is the sort of thing the Hotwire team will be discussing at their reception. It’s all informal though. No presentations, no speeches. Just good company, a keen topic and a bit of food & drink.

By the way, in terms of sugar lows, did you know that Rafe Blandford of All About Symbian and All About Windows Phone stuffs his laptop bag with Mars Bars at Heathrow Airport prior to coming to MWC? I thought it was hilarious until I found myself starving running from interview to interview. Rafe’s offer of a Mars Bar kept me going. Now I do the same. BUT. And this is a big but… why don’t you think about doing similar with your press briefings? For instance, last year I arrived to film one of Hotwire’s clients and Annette from their team asked if I’d like a coke from the bar of their client’s stand. Yes. Yes please. It might sound a bit trite or a bit irrelevant, but that sort of thing really can help a blogger/journalist along. These are the sorts of tips I’m getting into order for the reception — I shall be there to vent forth on my viewpoints if you’d like to listen.

Please do consider coming along.

The reception is taking place on the 25th of January 2012 from 6-830pm at Zebrano Bar, 18 Greek Street, Soho, W1D 4DS. If you’d like to come, please simply drop a note to Fiona Stevens (fiona.stevens@hotwirepr.com) to RSVP or give her a call on 020 7608 4697.

I’m going to get a Digg-style Mobile Industry Review system setup shortly that will enable all our readers to review every single PR pitch we’ve received in connection to the upcoming Mobile World Congress.

We’ll add every single one we’ve got and that we receive. Anything that receives… I dunno… 5 or 10 diggs will get the MIR torch shined brightly upon it.

Anything that gets 20+ diggs will get a visit from the MIR Show team and we’ll do a piece on them.

And.. I dunno — this is just arbitrary at the moment — anything with 40+ diggs will get a visit from the MIR Show video team and we’ll record a video interview.

I think those diggs numbers might be too high. The MIR audience doesn’t click that much. You guys are too busy changing the mobile world, right?

We’ll see how we get on.

The key points being that the MIR audience can indicate what they’d like us to look at — as well as being pleasantly surprised by the general coverage we’re planning anyway.

And if nothing from the pitches takes your fancy… so be it. That’ll tell us quite a lot won’t it?

I am delighted to talk with PRs. Some media absolutely abhor being contacted and pitched by PRs. I think it’s excellent — I’m happy to be ‘pitched’ by either PR or directly from readers and interested parties.

Regularly we’re sent news — most of it relevant, and we do our best to get it up and out. That’s fine. We don’t distinguish between PR or you, the reader. We make a value judgment as to whether we publish irrespective of who sent it.

I’m continually surprised by how many public relations professionals cannot handle the opposite. Routinely I send out a note to them asking if they’ve got any shout-outs for the weekly newsletter or the podcast. This isn’t restricted to PRs — it’s a public thing we do.

I like doing shout-outs. I think it’s a nice way of recognising efforts, launches, achievements or simply just saying ‘nice work’ to folk across the industry. Most shout-outs are a few words or a sentence. Nice and easy. If you’d like a shout-out, simply knock it over to me or to Krystal and we’ll put it in.

I like to ask the PRs too.

How many of them reply to me saying ‘No, sorry, we don’t have any news this week?’

About 80%.

Fascinating! Absolutely fascinating. I do sometimes feel like questioning this. What do you mean you’ve got ‘no news’? NOTHING has happened with your clients? Nothing… at all? What you mean is that you haven’t got a press release to issue. But you’ve most certainly got news. Surely? If you don’t, what the hell are you doing in the PR industry?

But, well, it seems a large chunk of the PR industry is stuck in broadcast mode. Happy to talk to you if they’re flogging a press release, but highly, highly unable to react to a request for a shout-out.

So, if you’ve got a PR agency working furiously on your behalf, contact me and I’ll tell you if they’re in the ‘Er, no news’ list. I do, actually, have a list of the companies. You shouldn’t be paying them if they can’t broadcast and react.