maximPress trips remain enormously popular for the media and are a great way to win client coverage. However, plenty of things can go wrong. Itineraries should be conducive to coverage, but an overly packed schedule that herds journalists won’t allow them the needed time to write. Ironing out details and managing client and journalist expectations before the trip begins is paramount, and establishing protocols for journalists, as well as an orientation upon arrival, is key for success.

Press trips are a great way to give journalists an immersive experience, secure compelling coverage, and strengthen relationships with your media contacts. They can also be an absolute blast and a PR home run, generating hundreds of millions of impressions for your client.

They can also be a logistical nightmare, and a bad experience can leave everyone frustrated and disappointed. But there’s no reason your press trip shouldn’t be a smashing success, as long as you plan ahead and follow some simple guidelines.

Recently, I handled PR for the Gumball 3000, a 3,000 mile motor rally that spans across multiple countries and continents in just 10 days. Our client was sponsoring the event with two 1969 z/28 Camaros, and we invited over 20 journalists to cover the event.

Our goals were clear: get written and visual coverage of the event including our client’s name, messaging, and branding as much as possible. What we didn’t anticipate was how absolutely chaotic the rally would actually be, although considering that it consisted of over 240 people in total, I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised. However, thanks to months of careful planning beforehand, a lot of hands-on attention throughout, and thorough follow-up afterwards, we ended the event with a very satisfied client, engaged journalists and unforgettable memories.

So what are the basic rules for a great press trip?

* Manage expectations prior to the trip

This applies to both your client and the journalists. Make sure you fully understand the client’s main objective before you even begin pitching media. You need to articulate this objective to the media from the moment you invite them on the trip. Don’t be afraid to have a “wish list” of asks for the journalist; you need to be clear about the direction, content and type of coverage you are looking for from the start.

On the same token, it’s important to understand what each journalist is hoping to get out of the trip, as it will likely vary from person to person.

Carrie Borzillo, a writer for Men’s Health and other publications, stresses, “Talk to the writers in advance of the event to find out their specific needs for coverage, interviews, and photos. [Figure out who you] need to coordinate with to make those needs happen — such as other publicists for the event and the individual celebrity publicists.”

Gumball was full of celebrities, from Deadmau5 to Tommy Lee to Dolph Lundgren. It wasn’t always easy to set up interviews with some of the more private celebrities, but it was important that we coordinated with the event PR team and celebrities to the best of our ability before the event, so that our media contacts could get access to the people they needed for their story.

* Carefully plan the itinerary

As Jeffrey Gomez, Editor-in-Chief of The Snob magazine explains, “An itinerary is always first priority for me. I want to know who, what, when, where and how before I leave my house. The details matter.”

* Don’t plan every second

Journalists I’ve spoken to have echoed one sentiment across the board: make sure to give the journalists some free time on the trip to decompress, relax and, most importantly, write! After all, no matter how much fun they are having with the activities planned, at the end of the day they are there to get content and coverage. If you are herding them around from place to place all day and night, then you’re not giving them time to actually write and share content, which is the reason that you invited them on the trip.

Group dinners are good for team bonding, but mandatory meals together every single day can make journalists feel trapped. On this note, as Borzillo reminded me, “The journalists’ agenda is more important than the organizers’ [agenda]. If you have to skip a dinner to take a writer to an interview opportunity, do it.” Yes, the itinerary is there for a reason, and although you wouldn’t want a journalist to completely disregard the itinerary for the entire trip, you need to give them the tools and time to get the story they need.

*Two words: free Wi-Fi

Another thing that is absolutely critical for journalists is internet access in the hotels each night. Nicolas Stecher, an editor for publications including AskMen and Nylon told me, “I don’t think it’s professional to have journalists pay for internet at their hotels. The web is obviously critical for us to get our assignments done. [Paying for internet at every hotel] can get expensive when you’re freelance and on your own dime.”

It may seem like a no-brainer, but be sure to touch base with your client and each hotel beforehand to make sure that internet expenses are covered for the journalists’ rooms.

* Communication is key

When you’re coordinating a large group of journalists in a foreign country (or unfamiliar city), it’s imperative to have an efficient system of communication established between the journalists, the PR team, and the client.

Let’s take Gumball 3000 as an example. Coordinating a team of more than 40 people, driving hundreds of miles each day and arriving in a new country every night, all on unfamiliar roads with signs in unfamiliar languages, could potentially be a recipe for disaster. We were lucky enough to be working with a fantastic event team who gave every member of our group a smart phone installed with a group chat app and a customized app with maps and an updated itinerary each day. We also set up a buddy system, so that everyone was accountable for at least one other person. No one got left behind, and everyone was aware of the schedule from day to day, which drastically minimized the stress for everyone involved.

* Don’t forget to have fun

Press trips should be fun, engaging, and natural. If they feel too staged, the journalists will pick up on it and it will be reflected in their final articles. Have fun with the press trip and the media will, too.

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Elizabeth Maxim is senior account executive at Marketing Maven.