How to Interact with the Media

‘Public relations’ is the term used to describe the communication between an organization and the public that fosters a favorable view of the organization. Having a good relationship with the media ensures that your group will have an enhanced reputation within industry and a positive opinion within the public sector. This is not a new initiative. In 2007, then IEEE-USA President John Meredith stated “Engineers have a responsibility to communicate with the public, and one of the best ways is through the media”.

The goal of having good public relations is to provide access to information and spokespeople within an organization. From a leadership standpoint the benefit of having good relations is that you are able to more effectively communicate your positions to influencing policymakers as well as increase public support for engineering projects and proposed legislation. Yesterday evening Utah’s Channel 13 ran the clip from Gov. Huntsman addressing our membership so this was a win-win for IEEE-USA because it gave us free publicity and the state of Utah because we have given their state free publicity. There are also rumors circulating that Governor Huntsman may be a 2012 nominee for president so this was a way of getting his name out in the open.

Getting publicity for an event sounds complicated but, in actuality, it’s as easy as calling local media outlets to find a main contact person and then communicating with them directly. Voice contact or personal contact is best but it’s important to note that most reporters prefer email and that’s where having a descriptive subject line becomes crucial. Will it capture their attention? Ideally it should capture the essence of the presentation and provide a smooth transition to the rest of the article. Keep in mind that reporters likely receive hundreds of emails a day so making yours stand out is worth the time and effort. Don’t have high expectations that your event will make the front page however! Many of the major newspaper outlets are unfortunately cutting their technology sections so most engineering news is placed in the business section.

Another way of getting coverage is to send out a media advisory or to put together a press kit (collection of materials about your company or client) that can be given to the various media bureaus. Being proactive and letting the media know that you are a resource with knowledge of technology and are willing to assist them ensures that you will get their attention when you need them. Before doing this you need to make it clear that you represent a section or a specific company (not IEEE or IEEE-USA) or are speaking as a private engineer. Being a media resource also means that you can help reporters explain complex technology principles in basic terms for more effective communication to the public plus. From a career standpoint it’s not out of the realm of possibility that being known as a good communicator can help boost your career.

Social Media outlets such as Facebook and MySpace as well as web technology such as blogs, Wikis, RSS, and Digg are proven ways to relay important information to large amounts of people, especially those under 30, at one time. Multimedia Applications such as Youtube, Flikr, Photobucket, etc. are also being utilized more and more for important events such as technical conferences and even presidential campaigns. Experts concede that the web played a large role in President Barack Obama being elected into office.

In final Chris gave recommendations to all the sectional leaders present:

1. Start a public relations committee
2. Brainstorm on ways to get publicity
3. Appoint a Section PR director
4. Incorporate media relations into section activities
5. Use Chris McManes as a resource

For more info please contact Chris McManes, 202-530-8356