The Five Ws Who What When Where Why

The Five W’s Who, What, When, Where, Why

The Five W’s What’s PR? § What the world knows about Mensa Ø Our reputation as an organization Ø Our reputation as individuals § The tasks Ø Generate, maintain a positive image Ø Generate membership inquiries Ø Provide contact information

The Five W’s Who in Mensa does PR § NO Staff Ø Director of Marketing and Communications 817. 607. 0060 x 5512 or communicationsdirector@americanmensa. org § Local Group Charles Brown Ø Ø Your PR person, if you have one Loc. Sec Gifted Youth Coordinator Testing Coordinator Ø Everyone

The Five W’s The LG PR Coordinator § Usually an appointive position § Job description Ø Develop a plan • • • Develop a list of media contact information Suss out who’d be interested in what Work with Editor, Ex. Comm to prepare the schedule of newsworthy events Ø Dig up non-scheduled but newsworthy material Ø Get the word out to the right people

The Five W’s What’s newsworthy?

The Five W’s What’s newsworthy? § When we impact the world Ø Ø Scholarships and Awards we present Special achievement by a Mensan Public service projects we execute What else? § When the world impacts us Ø Recognition by a government official Ø What else?

The Five W’s What about bad news? § Don’t lead the story Ø The media will find you soon enough § The Fine Art of Spin Doctoring Ø Get the facts first Ø Don’t puff or waffle Ø If you don’t know, say you’ll find out. And do that. Ø Distance the organization from the individual Ø Contact NO yourself ASAP Ø Refer all media to NO for comment

The Five W’s Working with the media § Define key points § Make a reporter’s job as easy as possible Ø Provide a written-down story of the event • And why it’d be important to readers Ø Include everyone’s names, correctly spelled • … if you have an OK (especially for YMs) § Understand lead times for each outlet § Make contact information available § Use communication tools correctly Ø Save “cold calls” for only the really important stuff

The Five W’s If the media attend an event § Remember that journalists are not your friends § Assign someone to stay with the journalist at all times § Respect the privacy of members, especially children § Have the reporter wear distinctive identification

The Five W’s Media at A Testing Session § Professionals (on-camera personalities, reporters, etc) can test for free § There’s a non-disclosure form to protect the test and other candidates § Respect the privacy of members, especially children

The Five W’s Who to contact § Print media – the industry has changed Ø Neighborhood freebies Ø “Alternative” weeklies § Radio – the industry has changed Ø Local talk radio, if you’ve got any Ø Local college FM station § TV – the industry has changed Ø Local TV news desk § Social Media – media FB pages

The Five W’s What to send out § § News releases Calendar items Pitch letters Email queries

The Five W’s If there’s to be an interview § § § § § Choose a good spokesperson Prepare what to say Practice answering questions Think before you speak Nothing is off the record It’s OK if you don’t know the answer A = Q+1 Have press kits available Make it easy for the reporter to find you Plan ahead for photographs

The Five W’s Further resources § Available on AML Request Officer Materials page Ø Internal Publicity Guide Ø External Press Kit § NO can generate a Media List for you § PR Coordinators Community on Mensa Connect § www. youtube. com/watch? v=6 Ip-UGM 1 Kvg