One of the most common topics of conversation on the askCHARITY Messageboard is celebrity management- how to find celebrity contact details, how to get and keep celebrity support...and so on.

As last month's CharityComms seminar was packed full of advice about celebrity management - I thought I'd share some of the speakers' top tips with blog readers.

1. Choose your celebrity carefully
Niall Cowley, Managing Director of Bright Young Things, explained: "Don't believe that anyone will do, just because they're famous. Find out who your beneficiaries relate to and make sure they have media currency...A good way to do this is to use the Red Pages." It's also much more meaningful to find a celebrity who identifies with your cause and has a real interest in what you're doing.

2. Ask your contacts for their celebrity contacts
Simon Carter, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at The Scout Association, said: "Ask all of your contacts, including your board and CEO, for their celebrity contacts...you'll be surprised how many turn up." Once The Scout Association got the support of celebrity Peter Duncan, they asked him for his celebrity contacts and also to help them "charm the big hitters."

3. Read celebrity biographies
The Scout Association was lucky to find a fantastic quote about the Scouts in Billy Connolly's biography. "We had had no luck with Billy's agent and then we found the quote and we were then able to use it," Carter said. Even if you aren't lucky enough to find a direct quote about your organisation you can still use celebrity biographies to find out what particular causes they identify with.

4. Think about your 'ask' and try to find ways of making it easy for celebrities to work with you
In some cases you might just want to ask for a signed autograph or quote, other times you may need more. The key to success is having a clear idea of what it is you want them to do and what they will achieve for you. Beatbullying wanted to get footage of a wide variety of celebrities, but rather than hire a video crew they gave celebrities their own video recorders to capture footage. They also accepted footage from celebs recorded on their mobile phones - this was convenient for them and also added to the genuine feel of the clips.

5. Be realistic about what you expect from your celebrity
"Peter Duncan has a life away from The Scout Association" Carter explained. "Don't ask for too much and try to find activities which your celebrity will find interesting."

6. The story must be able to stand alone without the celebrity
Cowley explained: "Celebrities amplify your story...they help you to make a bigger noise... but they alone do not make a story."

7. Spend time briefing your celebrity and give them real experiences which they can talk about to the media
Spending time briefing your celebrity and involving them in your projects allows them to be both prepared and able to talk about genuine experiences to the media.

To view presentations from the 30th July CharityComms seminar click here
Emma Wickenden, CharityComms Coordinator