Should you invite a politician or celebrity to speak at your event?

U. S. Senator Richard Durbin interviewed by Chicago media after his speech to the Midwest Podiatry Conference on March 12, 2010This picture illustrates what happens when politicians or celebrities speak at your event. It's great that the media comes out to cover them, but sometimes, the speakers divert attention from your group or event because of controversy. In this example, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin gave a nice speech about health care reform and podiatry but he was asked after the speech about the donations he received from alleged check kiters who were arrested that morning.

Unfortunately, we can never predict what news will break during the day of an event so when we invite high profile speakers to our events, we have to accept some risk that they will attract media seeking comments on breaking or controversial news that day. In this case, Sen. Durbin was asked about his reaction to news that his campaign had accepted donations from a Chicago restaurant owner who was arrested that day for passing bad checks. To his credit, Durbin answered the question in a straightforward manner and was not evasive, ensuring that at least from his perspective, the story would not drag on for days.

Question for PR pros: how can we better ensure that media will still use our stories even when juicier news is more available at our events?