Submissions/How good communication can help you talk to reporters, rule the world, and do other cool stuff: An introductory guide to public relations/notes

From Wikimania

SESSION OVERVIEW

Title
   How good communication can help you talk to reporters, rule the world, and do other cool stuff: An introductory guide to public relations
Day & time
   Aug 11, 11.00 - 12.00
Session link
Speaker
Notetakers

SESSION SUMMARY

People respond well to stories. What kind of story do you wanna tell? Who is the audience?

Keep in mind time constraints: use social media for events with short preparation, events organized ahead of time can exploit different media channels.

How to know if the topic is interesting for the press without selling something that is not authentic.

Checking what is the preferred channel used by the journalist (e-mail, etc)

Use the medium that makes the most sense

Personalize the story, who is the person at the center of it? Who is going to be helped?

Communication resource center has templates for planning press releases ahead of time. This also helps identifying the kind of product you have to create (text, pictures etc)

Things need to be explained in a very simple way. Reddit "explain like I'm a 5 years old"

Activity: elevator pitch about "how Wikipedia works"

Nobody used the word "wiki" or "editor", words often used in our conversations but not easy understandable by someone not familiar with the jargon, or giving a different meaning to the word (e.g. editors in the publishing industry). Nobody used encyclopedia, which is a concept not everybody knows.

Use concepts that are familiar to everybody and based on common experiences across different cultures and context (e.g. blanket to explain global warming)

Have many people with different backgrounds check the content. Communications team can be reached in different ways (e-mail, IRC, ...)

Comm team helps in spreading information. They also have connections with news outlets all around the world.

Questions:

Q: How to deal with journalists looking for "catchy" news, how to stay true?
A: know how they work, choose those who work well. Contact them in advance and try to be included in what they are planning to write.
Q: Many wikimedians work in an informal context. When you don't have a staff for that, how a single wikimedian can approach a journalist?
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