Valley PR Blog

Got a pitch? Gotta go to this!

By Charlotte Shaff on July 13th, 2009 In Best Practices, Pitching, Uncategorized

One of the most beneficial PR events I have participated in since I got into this profession has been the  PRSA-SPJ Publicity Summits. This year the event will take place on Saturday, August 8th. Mark your calendars and RSVP for the early bird pricing. The local SPJ and PRSA chapters gather together and PR/Communication pros are able to get valuable information and tips about pitching and media needs.

Some of the more seasoned PR pros have told me they don’t need to go because they already know the basics of pitching, but I have learned something new every year and love the face-to-face interactions. I bet we will hear a lot of fresh info next month, as media outlets are dealing with smaller staff and implementing the web and social media more. There is bound to be lots of up-to-the-minute information to be shared. I have found that the face-to-face speed pitching and opportunitites to ask questions to a panel of journalists has been incredibly valuable. Where else can you get access to a few dozen journalists and make yourself known? I asked a few journalists why they think the summit is a good experience for all…this is what they said:

Ilana Lowery of The Phoenix Business Journal:

“I definitely think those who have attended the Summit, pitch much better stories to the Business Journal, and they had a much better understanding of what we are looking for, so overall, their subsequent pitches to me and to our reporters has improved. I think what has helped the most, though, has been developing relationships with people you meet at the Summit. It’s much easier to pick up the phone and call about a story if there is some sort of face-to-face connection first. Technology is a wonderful thing, but there’s still that human aspect to what we do.”

Teri Carnecelli, Editor, North Central News & Tempe Town News and President, Valley of the Sun Pro Chapter, SPJ:

“As a community newspaper editor, at least 50 percent of my content each month is submitted, and a good portion of that comes from press releases. So you can imagine my frustration when they are missing vital information such as (believe it or not) dates, addresses, contact phone numbers—you name it! The latest problem has been press releases in the new Microsoft Office version of Word, which has a .docx extension. Those of us working in older versions of Word can’t open these documents. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I send out each week requesting the attachments be re-sent in an older version of Word! It wastes a lot of my time.

For me, I get the chance to inform PR people the best way to submit news to me or any other media outlet, which does make my job easier. Plus, I’ve typically walked away with 2 to 3 story leads from the speed pitching session. For the PR attendees, they get very useful, real-world information and a chance to meet face-to-face with some media decision makers, in terms of content.”

Melody Birkett, News Director of 550 KFYI:

“It was great to meet many of the PR professionals I typically talk to over the phone. During the break-out sessions, I was asked a lot of good questions and given some good story pitches. For newcomers to the profession, there’s a lot of invaluable information.”

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