GW Associates Public Media

A speaking tour, whether it is one city or nationwide is an excellent vehicle to affect public opinion. Media coverage can make the difference between having a few hundred people hear the message of your speaker and hundreds of thousands hearing the message of your speaker by reading about it in your local paper or hearing their message on radio or TV. It also does not have to be an either or proposition. You can do both.

Before the first call is made to schedule a speaking tour make a decision whether you want news coverage on the speaker. Discuss the pros and cons of getting the speaker's message before the entire community versus having only the people who will attend their presentation hear their message.

If you have a choice of cities, some will afford more chances for national media coverage than others. If media coverage is a priority you might want to focus on a few cities that have syndicated news outlets in that city.

If you decide arranging news coverage is a priority you will need to draft a good bio on the the speaker and a sample press release that each city can localize. A bio is more than a resume. A good bio contains personal information on the speaker that relates to their topic.

When you determine the cities the speaking tour will visit and identify the local contact people emphasize that arranging press coverage is part of their responsibilities. This should be made clear on the first phone call. Put your expectations in writing regarding press coverage and send to the organizer in each city.

Emphasize that in addition to news coverage of the speaker's event(s) they should consider local radio and TV talk venues, arrange an editorial board meeting or inquire about accepting an op-ed piece from the speaker.

Since you are often working with volunteers, it is unrealistic to expect that they know how to work with the media. Make sure you have some good basic media training material available to send them. The GW web site has numerous suggestions on how to improve your success in working with the media.

Send the bio and sample press release to the contact person no later than four weeks prior to the event. This will give them time to send out the release and make follow up phone calls.

Make sure you have a media report back form for each contact person to fill out after the event and send back to your office. E-mail is a great vehicle to accomplish this task.

Tabulate the results and send a report back to the contact people so they can see how other cities did with their press work. Include samples of articles that were published.

Thank them for their hard work.

For more information contact GW Associates, Peter Wirth at pwirth@accucom.net.

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