How do you react when a protestor with a cameraman crashes one of your press conferences or events?
You don't panic, no matter how dumbstruck you are. You don't call out the hounds or summon the muscle-bound security. You definitely don't tase them. (Remember the "Don't tase me, bro!" viral video?)
This situation isn't a hypothetical--it happened Tuesday afternoon at a Ragan Communications conference in Vancouver. A woman dressed like one of the conference attendees entered a ballroom where the conference was taking place and began protesting McDonald's, which was one of the presenters at the event.
Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications, was there when the protest began.
"The whole episode offered a great lesson in what to do when someone hijacks your press conference or event," Ragan said.
"I made the decision to let her speak and NOT to have security drag her from the room," he explained. "Her co-conspirator was filming her with a Flip cam, which meant they were hoping she'd be dragged from the room. That would have given her a dramatic video to send to local news outlets, YouTube, etc.
"Instead, she got a pretty boring video of her delivering a canned speech."
After the event, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals--you know, PETA--entered the fray and hijacked the event hashtag on Twitter. PETA supporters tweeted anti-McDonald's message, which included a link to a website about the restaurant chain's treatment of chickens, and included the hashtag that conference attendees are using to talk about the event on Twitter.
If you can offer some advice on how to handle hashtag hijackers I'll buy a steak--or veggie dog--your call.
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Comments (6)
one point of view in the Marie Claire article. Any good journalist includes opinions/facts supporting the angle, as well as
Posted by Microsoft Office | February 24, 2012 10:03 PM
Posted on February 24, 2012 22:03
I AM a fan of your blog.This is a cool adn nice read. The blog is written in such a way that it is so easy to read and understand.
Posted by whole house fm tansmitter | November 24, 2011 7:42 PM
Posted on November 24, 2011 19:42
Rather than surrender control of your event, and allow your participants to be maligned, why not call a "short break" for a return in five min? That shows you are in control, there is no conflict, people will get up and move around, the mics can be shut off, and perhaps her rants will be drowned out by the movement and rush to the restrooms. She can then be handled by the host facility, not in your forum.
Conversely, have you seen the Meg Whitman heckler video?
Posted by Dan Coberly | September 24, 2010 12:29 PM
Posted on September 24, 2010 12:29
Interesting, thanks for the tips. Good job on your part.
Posted by alison | September 16, 2010 7:46 AM
Posted on September 16, 2010 07:46
Thanks for sharing. Your content is consistently helpful.
My first thought is to change the "official" hashtag, but the protesters would figure it out & hijack that one too.
Upon further thought, I'd say that there's little you can or should do. Conference participants will continue to use the hashtags to find other participants and useful comments. They'll likely tune out all hashtag comments that are not useful for them.
Posted by Keith Gallant | September 16, 2010 7:40 AM
Posted on September 16, 2010 07:40
Mark,
Nice handling of this. Nothing kills buzz like boring speeches. To those of us in crisis communications, the best crises are that never make the news (or YouTube).
Posted by Anonymous | September 16, 2010 7:27 AM
Posted on September 16, 2010 07:27