Biography
Aaron Lakoff is a communications worker, DJ and community organizer from Montreal. His work combines a passion for popular education, social justice, and artistic expression. Aaron began his career in community radio, serving as the news coordinator at CKUT Radio, freelancing as a journalist for Free Speech Radio News, and producing several radio shows and podcasts, including The Rebel Beat, Changing On The Fly and Roots Rock Rebel. More recently, Aaron worked as the Communications and Media Lead for Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), and is now serving as a Communications Officer for the Agriculture Union. He has organized press conferences for IJV, Solidarity Across Borders, Montreal Antifasciste, and has covered many over the years as a reporter. He enjoys talking about working-class histories, anti-fascism, parenting, hockey, bagels, and all things Montreal. He believes that one day our side will win.
Workshop Details
Press Conference Organizing – A Toolkit
A press conference can be an efficient tool to mobilize the media and get your message out to the masses. Organized well, it can get you wall-to-wall coverage, energize your membership, and get tons of people to turn out for an event. Organized poorly, and you’re sitting in an empty room with no one to talk to. Don’t let that happen to you! In this workshop, we’ll walk you through a checklist of some key considerations for organizing a successful, creative and inspiring press conference. We’ll go over ideas for speakers, locations, props in the lead up, and then how to manage the event on the big day. Aaron will present examples from press conferences that were flops, some that were big hits, and some in between, drawing lessons from each.