September Edition

Planning Events - From the desk of Sabrina Carrozza

Like with most any activity you could possibly embark on, having certain personal, natural qualities definitely gives you an edge – think Michael Jordan. Although event-planning is a far cry from the natural talent involved in being an NBA superstar, there are a few personal attributes that come in handy when undertaking such a task.

As it seems, people who are extremely organized (anal-retentive) and detail-oriented (obsessive-compulsive) tend to excel at event-planning as there are endless activities that need to be executed in a timely manner.

However, putting those inherent tendencies aside, anyone planning an event might benefit from following these simple guidelines:

  • Create a timeline of activities that need to be completed. It is best to create this document as soon as possible to increase the likelihood of adding "cushions" to the schedule to account for delays.
  • Always keep a running list of to-do's within reach. It's important to add new ideas or tasks to that list within minutes of receiving them. There are endless details that need your attention so you can not trust to remember everything, particularly the finer details. Also, the list should be updated nightly to ensure you're accomplishing your goals and to prepare for the next day.
  • The most important thing to remember when planning an event is to actually enjoy your accomplishment. You will likely recognize areas of improvement, which you should make a mental note of for next time, but when it's finally Showtime don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

Thoughts from the Broadcast Guy - Chris Hamilton

What Do Reporters Like Even More Than Being On TV?

Having a story fall right in their lap. Remember, reporters are busy. Deadlines are tight. Time is short. And PR jargon is the last thing they want to read or hear. PR can make a reporters job flow more easily and they don't' want to do your job for you.

Whenever I received a pitch and press release the first thing I did was read the headline. Then I would skim one or two sentences. If I didn't see anything, and usually I didn't- I threw it in the wastebasket. My mind was usually on a thousand things, and definitely not on how I can make your pitch work for my program.

So what made a pitch stand out to me? Two things almost always turned into a segment or package. Something crazy, wacky or zany- something like that will be covered almost every time. And the other is tying it to current news or events would usually secure a spot.

Persistence vs. Annoyance

It always pays to be persistent. But many times persistence becomes annoyance. So here's the thing. You're pitching something, you haven't heard back, you call the reporter and they don't call you back.

Find out when your contact comes into work. That way rather than calling them three times before they even get to work, you call them once. The first time you call their station, paper, or publication and find out when they get in or leave. The second you call them. More persistence, less annoyance.

Sometimes, organizations or PR people would even come to the event while I was covering a story, and personally hand me a press release and pitch me in person. Crazy right? Well Sometimes it worked.

But In broadcast, always remember the assignment desk, and the producers are just as important if not more important than the reporter. While broadcasters are out covering stories, or anchoring, their producers and desk are on the phone setting stories up. So make sure you pitch all three, the reporter, their assignment desk, and their producer. If you can't get to one, maybe you can reach out to the other two.

"Pitch a Picture, Not a product".

You call it Pitching. I call it why a reporter is interested.

Call it what you will. For broadcast, everything is visual. Do you know what gets the most coverage on TV, drives ratings, and gets continuing coverage every time? I bet you don't.

The weather. More stations lead with weather around the country than anything else. Why? Because it's visual. Everyone cares about it and the pictures sell it.

So what does this have to do with pitching our clients? If you're pitch can't make a broadcast journalist visualize his or her story in the first sentence or two you are wasting their time. Loose the technical jargon. Dumb it down, make it newsy. Broadcast journalists write their scripts for someone with a high school reading level or below, believe it or not. So if you send something out that is overly technical you might as well be speaking a foreign language.

When I sent out my first pitch for VivoMetrics a couple of weeks ago, what do you think Adam Balkin from NY1 immediately wanted to know?

Are there any LifeShirts in NYC to show for a demonstration? And anyone here to talk about them on camera? And he said that we can maybe do something Monday if the answers to those questions is "yes".

He immediately wanted to know about the visuals.

"Make the reporter's life easy, and you greatly increase your chances of coverage"

(News Package): If you want to increase your chances of broadcast coverage and quality coverage always try to have at least two people available to talk about your product. It will allow the reporter to pick the best sound bites for the story. Also if you can, help put your clients in the right place. If there is someone who has used the product (Example: a company, a school, an organization) and it's been a success-help to set up the story at that exact location. That way the journalist can see the product in use, get great visuals (B-Roll), talk to company officials, and the people who have used it all in one shot. One-stop shopping and a great story to boot.

(Studio Coverage): If you want to get studio coverage, position someone from your company as an expert. Make them readily available. If they come on once and talk about a trend, a new technology, etc. and they do a good job, it's highly likely they'll be asked to come back again. Every time they're on TV, they can get their company and products message out there.

Remember most broadcast journalists and reporters don't want to cover products - they want to cover stories. However if you can: convince them your product is the story or that your product adds something to their story, all the while making it easy for them - then you're in.

Trust Me on This - Ben Hawken

There's working hard, working smart and then there's working fantastic

There's a lot of work to be done at a tech PR powerhouse and, thankfully, nearly everyone one of us is brilliant, diligent, tenacious, remarkably attractive and the envy of our peers.

The Connors brand of hard work is driven by keen intellect, boundless creativity and unsurpassed professionalism. Our office is filthy rich with these highly valued, indispensable, intangible assets.

Our efficiency is due in part to the fact that Timebase does not have a billing activity such as "chillin'" or "white board artwork" (a shortcoming that I blame on the SEO department) but, the vast majority of our excellence is derived from our ever-expanding corporate tool kit.

In an effort to sustain the level of performance that has become the norm here in the mighty Spinning Wheel building, I offer these helpful tips that will make every fleeting moment at your cubicle, every subtle keystroke and every e-mail you send even more effective than usual.

First off, the wonderful world of hot keys!

You probably already know that ctrl+C will copy any highlighted text, ctrl+X will cut said text and ctrl+V will paste it somewhere else. Of course, there's always ctrl+A if you want to highlight the entire document.

The hotkey magic doesn't stop there however. Need to put that AP style dateline in bold font? Ctrl+B. Traveled back in time to eighth grade and need to put an underline beneath the title of a book? Ctrl+U. Returned in your Delorean to modern times and only need to italicize it? Ctrl+I.

Do you need to adjust the font, character spacing or superscript on a section of text? Ctrl+D. Looking for a way to locate or replace a word buried deep within a document? Ctrl+F. Are you gullible? Press ctrl+Q to find out.

Oh snap! Did you just ctrl+A+delete that freshly drafted press release? Simply press ctrl+Z to undo your last action. Did you decide that it was better to start that release fresh? Use ctrl+Y to undo the undo.

(Please note: Legally speaking, anyone caught engaged in "undoing their undo" is subject to arrest, a $7,300 fine and up to 21 months in jail in Texas, Oklahoma and the outlying districts of western Arkansas.)

My personal favorite is the hotkey that allows you to add hyperlinks to any selected text: ctrl+K.

With this simple command you can add links to clients' Web site in press releases, embed your favorite new Web site into friendly e-mails, or share fun pictures of your weekend with coworkers and loved ones.

Tip number two: Instead of using the supply room to stock your home office with workplace essentials, try using some of these helpful items at your own desk.

Inboxes aren't just for Outlook—a handy tray holding your most pressing documents can be a great way to keep abreast of jobs that need doing and tasks that can't be forgot.

The mobile file cabinets we keep under our desk are more than just a handsome green or orange addition to the subtle gray panels in your cubicle; they are also perfectly sized to accommodate hanging files. Has a document lived out its life in your non-Outlook inbox? Has it served too nobly to be relegated to the trash? Due something truly obsequious and move it to the convalescent home of all good documents by assigning it a place of dignity amongst your color-coded hanging files (also located in the supply room).

Finally, there's the wonderful world of PDFs.

Can you remember back to third grade when the day came to turn in your exhaustive three paragraph report on elephant seals? Think back to what you did to endow your report with enough "wow" power to distract your teacher from such erudite scientific analysis as "most elephant seals are mean and fat."

Now you remember—you put your report in a sleek, stylish report binder with the clear front page and awkward metal tongs that had to be carefully folded over to secure your report into place.

Now that we are adults, and our interest in elephant seals has waned, there are new ways to really impress a client, press contact or fellow employee: Turn your dingy, old Word documents into fresh new PDFs—for free!

Navigate your way to this helpful site, follow the simple instructions and, before you've had time to finish off the last of the Raisenettes, your swanky new PDF will be done.

With these helpful tools now at your disposal the only thing capable of sapping your otherwise bulletproof concentration is my continued rampage in the Connors Fantasy Football League.

But this is the only thing capable of raining on our efficiency parade. Except this. Or maybe this. And probably this too.

But that's it.