TEST: The Media Relations Pitch Clinic

How to tell your story in the age of fractured media and distracted audiences

Aug. 21: New York City

AGENDA PRESENTERS WHO ATTENDS Location REGISTER NOW

AGENDA

9-10:15 a.m.

The new media landscape

What's changed? Anyone still out there? In this session we'll discuss the shifting media world and how reporters and media relations pros are adjusting to the new normal. Your mission: Adjust, adapt and develop a new media relations strategy.

In this session, we'll discuss how to:

  • Assess the state of your best media sources
  • Become a go-to source for reporters, assignment editors, bloggers and others
  • Shift your organization's message—it's not about you, it's about news
  • Focus on the six best pitching categories
10:15-10:30 a.m.

Break

10:30 a.m.-noon

Pitching stories in the new media age

How do you get your stories told in a fractured media landscape? How do you compete for attention with 68,000 YouTube videos uploaded every second? In this session, we'll discuss how to elevate your media relations game, from reviving the tired old press release to using video and social media to craft creative pitches.

You'll learn how to:

  • Write a more effective press release
  • Craft a bull's-eye pitch letter that will get noticed—and covered
  • Realign your media relations approach by thinking and writing like a journalist
  • Use your social media channels to draw a crowd
  • Turn your e-newsletter into a pitch machine
  • Use our 10 tips for effective media pitching
Noon-1 p.m.

Lunch

1-2:30 p.m.

What's your pitch?

Count on it: If your organization does something truly great (cure cancer, invent the next big thing), or something incredibly dumb (fraud, bad behavior), the news media will be all over it. But what about everything in between? You've got great stories to tell, but how do you get them noticed? It's all in the pitch.

In this session, we'll cover how to:

  • Craft a pitch that will bring the news media to your door
  • Focus on why anyone should care, particularly the reporters you're pitching
  • Write a headline and teaser that will make reporters pause long enough to consider your pitch
  • Make every word count—less is more
  • Remove corporate blather and jargon
  • Turn self-serving content into something reporters can use
  • Sell the benefits of doing the story—what's in it for the reporters?
  • Develop your pitch in different formats

Exercise: It's time to craft your best pitch. The reporters are coming and you might find yourself in the PR Pitch Tank.

2:45-3 p.m.

Break

3-4:30 p.m.

PR Pitch Tank

You're ready to pitch your best story, but you've got only a few minutes to get a reporter's attention. We've asked local journalists to join us for our version of Shark Tank. They'll hear your pitches, pick them apart and hand out prizes for the best of the bunch. You never know: In previous PR Pitch Tanks, some reporters wound up covering the stories they were pitched here.

Get ready to:

  • Pitch your story to reporters in a minute or less
  • Answer reporters' hard-hitting questions
  • Sell the benefits of why they should cover your story
  • Follow up if any of the reporters bite