•Introducing a new product

•Revealing a new scientific breakthrough

•Unveiling a new advertising campaign

•Announcing a charity event with a featured celebrity

•Acquiring a new player on a sports team

•Releasing company financial statements

•Timing -- It's happening right now

•Significance -- It's affecting a lot of people, especially the target audience

•Proximity -- It's happening locally or to people with whom the audience relates

•Prominence -- It's happening to a famous person or organization

•Human Interest -- It's emotional, such as homeless pets or children living with cancer.

Mock Press Conference

Mark Webber

Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts

Laredo, Texas

Title: Mock Press Conference

Generative Topics
•How does a reporter, faced with limited time, prepare a useable set of questions that includes research
into the topic?

•How can a reporter use a press release to prepare for a press conference?

•How can reporters get their questions answered during a press conference?

•How can a reporter write, edit and revise copy, and submit same, when working under time
constraints?

Generative Objectives

•Students create a set of questions to be used for a mock press conference, including research into the
topic.

•Students strive to get their questions asked or answered during a press conference.

•Students compile useable notes in order to write a rough draft.

•Students edit and revise copy, and submit a near- or publishable story under time constraints.

Understanding Goals

•Students should conduct research and prepare questions for a mock press conference in a limited
period of time.

•Students should take sufficient notes during the mock press conference to be able to write a story,
including quotes, that accurately reflects what has taken place.

•Students should edit, revise and produce a near- or publishable work under time constraints.

Performance of Understanding, Rationale and Timeline

This exercise is useful for assessment purposes, is excellent as an exam in itself, or as one component of
a semester or final exam. Students, who assume the role of competitors, are given a teacher-written
press release on a mock company or organization which is purposely incomplete. Students then prepare
a set of questions to ask at a mock press conference. Question preparation can include doing research
into the topic and then writing questions. The teacher assumes a persona for the press release and
either sets a time limit for questioning or allows questioning to run its course. Students/competitors
then independently write, edit and revise work, with the goal of turning in a near- or publishable work,
depending on their skill levels. Depending on skill levels and desire outcomes, students can be allowed
one-to-three days to complete this assignment.
Examples of topics used:

First person to scale Mt. Everest alone.

Leader of a scientific expedition which found a new species of tree.

President of a company which makes sleighs for Santa Claus.

A university scientist who has created a special grape which will be used to make juice for babies.

President of an online store which sells traditional foods for a holiday (customized for local customs).

Activities

•Activity 1

Students and instructor discuss expectations of exercise. Instructor distributes mock press release.

•Activity 2

Students research topics and create questions under a time constraint.

•Activity 3

Students in the guise of competing reporters question the subject, the teacher who is also assuming a
fictional role.

•Activity 4

Students take enough notes during a mock press conference to accurately write about the event,
including the use of quotes.

•Activity 5
Students should revise, edit and produce a near- or publishable story under time constraints.

•Activity 6 (optional)

Students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their final drafts in small or large
groups.

•Activity 7 (optional)

Students can assess papers written by students in other classes, or each other’s work.

Assessment

One or more ways to assess students’ work:

•The instructor can use a rubric to grade stories.

•The instructor can audio- or videotape the press conference and play back to allow for discussion and
student self-assessment.

•Students can compare their notes and stories with tape and each other.

•Students can assess papers written by students in other classes, or each other’s work.