Communicating Your Conference

Sonny Barber, IEEE Corporate CommunicationsMolly McCluskey, IEEE Conference Business Services

POCO – Prague – July 2009

Communicating Your Conference: Telling Your Story

Why

How

WhereCommunicating In A CrisisOther Help For You

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Why Tell Your Story

Increase –Attendance–Number of papers–Advertisers, exhibits

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How To Tell Your Story

News release

Web siteSocial Media–Facebook, MySpace–Blogs–Twitter

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What Do Reporters Want?

Newsworthy: of interest to your audience

Timely: technology or applications being reported in the news and/or tech journals

Problem solving: How can the technology create a better world

Understand Today’s Media

Journalists today

Work on short deadlines

Are short staffed and stretched thin

Do not have the resources to cover the stories they used to cover

Compete with social networks, blogs

Appreciate relationship-building

How To Tell Your Story

News release– Keep it short– Use lists rather than narrative– Tell facts, not hyperbole

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Public Relations & Media Relations

PRBuilds relationships with “publics”Informs, educates, persuades to action

MR (A Subset of PR)Communicating through a journalist’s report or story provides credibility and exposure

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Use your Web site to Attract Members and the Media

Are you using your website to your advantage? Or is it a missed opportunity? Is it up to date? useful? Is it interesting? Make it welcomingKeep it simple Tell who IEEE is and who you are

How to Get Journalists to Your Event

Follow up with media to check interest event– Ask:

news release, materials reviewed?

Interest in the story?

– Coordinate an interview via phone with spokesperson or offer interviews at conference with noteworthy presenters

– Offer free conference attendance

Your PR ToolkitLanguage that can be used in a variety of ways:– Mission statement– Summary blurb– Key messages/talking points– Elevator pitch– Press Release– IEEE Boilerplate

Photographs from last year’s conferenceA spokesperson on standby

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Mission Statement

Many conferences do this as part of their planning process.Keep it concise; why this conference? What purpose does it serve? What are you hoping to accomplish?

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Summary Blurb

This is often a full paragraph (or two) that provides more details of your conference. It includes:– What it is– Key speakers– Sponsors– Web site– Any “special” characteristics

Provides statements which can be excerpted into other communications tools Apr 10, 202313

Summary Blurb: Example The International Test Conference (ITC), the cornerstone of TestWeek™ events, is the world's premier conference dedicated to the electronic test of devices, boards and systems-covering the complete cycle from design verification, test, diagnosis, failure analysis and back to process and design improvement. At ITC, test and design professionals can confront the challenges the industry faces, and learn how these challenges are being addressed by the combined efforts of academia, design tool and equipment suppliers, designers, and test engineers. TestWeek will take place 1-6 November 2009, which will include ITC on 3-5 November 2009 in Austin, Texas. The conference will focus on the following: Adaptive Test, Built-In Self-Test, Low-Cost ATE, RF Test, Test Data Analysis, and many more topics. This year's General Chair is Prof. Gordon Roberts, McGill University http://www.itctestweek.org/cfpo2009.pdf ITC is cosponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Philadelphia Section.

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News Brief

IEEE Fellow Saifur Rahman to Speak at Energy Camp Conference 18 May

11 May – Saifur Rahman, IEEE Fellow and vice presidentfor new initiatives and outreach, IEEE Power and EnergySociety, will be a featured speaker at Energy Camp 2009,a conference that will address the reduction of IT-relatedcarbon footprints. Rahman will participate on the "PublicResources: What Are Various Consortia and GovernmentOrganizations Up To?” on 18 May.  He will be joined byAndrew Fanara, ENERGY STAR product specificationsdevelopment group, United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency, and Jeff Omelchuck, executive director,EPEAT and Green Electronics Council.

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Key Messages

The International Test Conference is:– the cornerstone of TestWeek™ events – the world's premier conference

dedicated to the electronic test of devices, boards and systems

– covers the complete cycle from design verification, test, diagnosis, failure analysis and back to process and design improvement.

 

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Elevator Pitch:

ITC is the premiere conference dedicated to the electronic test of devices, boards and systems. It’s celebrating its 40th Anniversary November 3-5 in Austin TX as part of Test Week™.

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Press ReleaseElements of a press release:•Attention catching title, expanded subtitle•Summary sentence or two (can be pulled from key messages.•Quote from high-ranking volunteer/sponsor/organizer about the importance of event•Boilerplate•Contact information

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Boilerplate

About IEEEIEEE is the world's largest technical professional association, with more than 375,000 members in 160 countries, and a leading authority on technology-related matters ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, has developed nearly 900 active industry standards and annually sponsors more than 850 conferences worldwide. Learn how the IEEE fosters technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity at http://www.ieee.org.

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Social Media

Set up a Facebook page– For annual conferences– Build attendee base year over year

Set up Twitter account– Develop following

Social Media - Twitter

Communications: Partof Conference Planning

Create communications plan in early stages of conference planning– Designate PR contact,

spokespersons– Media to contact with calendar– Key messages (important points

about the conference)

Where To Tell Your Story

IEEE journals/magazinesOther professional society pubsCommercial technical publicationsNews Wires– Distributes to many pubs

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Where To Tell Your Story

Technology News WiresComputerworld | IDG.net | InternetNews.com | Reuters | TechWeb News | URLwire | Venturewire | Wired News | ZDNet

Science News Wires BioMedNet | Environment News Service | AP (Newsday) | Reuters | Space.com

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Communicating In A Crisis

Crisis: Situation which may harm the reputation of IEEEImmediate Crisis Situations– Death of attendee/other, natural

disaster

Lesser crisis or issue with potential negative impact– Financial improprieties revealed,

plagiarism, inappropriate behaviorApr 10, 202325

Communicating In A Crisis

First: ADDRESS THE CRISIS– Next: Communicate situation to

IEEEWhat to communicate

– What, Where, When– Injuries, business losses, etc.– What steps taken to respond to crisis– Media inquiries, authorities involved

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Communicating In A Crisis

Only designated, approved spokespersons may speak on behalf of IEEE The IEEE Crisis and Issues Communications Team (CICT)– Clearinghouse for communications– Comprised of IEEE Corporate staff

members

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Communicating In A Crisis

When confronted by media– Refer to Corp. Communications– 01 732 465 5865– 01 732 562 6823– Or send us an email

– cscomm@ieee.orgWeb site for Contact Informationhttp://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/

news/resources/index.htmlApr 10, 202328

OTHER HELP

IEEE Visual Identity

• Using IEEE brand consistently builds instant recognition over time

• should be prominent in all communications• Horizontal format is approved use

• With 125th anniversary tagline for 2009 • Always use letters I-E-E-E in communications.• Use the full name on legal documents only.

Where Can You Find the Most Up-to-date IEEE Information?

About IEEEwww.ieee.org/about– Quick Facts: Year end

data; some midyear updates

– Annual Statistics, annual report, others

Volunteer Resources www.ieee.org/organizations/vols