How to Turn Your News Releases into News Stories

Media and presentation skills coach Edward Segal contributed today's post. He has placed stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, and is author of Profit by Publicity.

The news release is one of the most important and effective ways to tell the media and the world about you or your organization, what you are doing, why you are doing it, when you are doing it, and how you are doing it. These one- to two-page documents should:

• Answer the all-important question of “who cares and why?” 

• Include the who, what, when, where, why and how of your story (whether it’s an announcement about the hiring of new employees, the opening of a new office, or an important award or recognition your company has received).

The best news releases are self-fulfilling prophecies: the more they are written as real news stories and sent to reporters who will be interested in them, the more likely it is that they will become news stories. 

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all, fill-in-the-blanks news release. Rather, you should think of your news release as a custom-made dress or suit that must be carefully tailored to tell your own story in the most effective and attention-getting way possible. Here are 11 steps for preparing your own tailor-made news release: 

1. Include your name, phone numbers and e-mail, social media and Web site information at the top of the first page. This will make it as easy as possible for reporters to contact you if have questions about the release or want to interview you.
 
2. If appropriate, place your announcement in the context of relevant trends or developments.
 
3. Organize the information as if it were a pyramid, with the most critical information at the top and the least important at the bottom.
 
4. Summarize the announcement with an attention-getting headline.

5. Write a succinct opening paragraph that summarizes your story or announcement.
 
6. Explain the impact your story or announcement will have on audiences of the news organizations that receive the release.
 
7. Insert a short quote (no more than 35-50 words) by from company official about the announcement. 

8. If appropriate, include a call for action.
 
9. Include relevant facts, figures and background information. 

10. If necessary, include a picture that illustrates the announcement, accompanied by a descriptive brief caption (also called a cut line).
 
11. To signify the end of the release, insert -30- or ### at the bottom on the last page of the release and center it on the page.
 
In addition to writing your releases as if they were newspaper stories, be sure to abide by the same rules for grammar and punctuation that reporters follow when they write their articles. Refer to the Associated Press Stylebook for guidance.

While it is certainly not standard practice, if the release is well-written and meets the criteria of a legitimate news story, sometimes a news organization will simply run the release, or use major excerpts from it, exactly as you gave it to them.

Lost in a Daydream

One hundred years ago this month, Einstein stood before the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin and read his paper describing the General Theory of Relativity, "the most beautiful theory in the history of science," according to biographer Walter Isaacson.

Isaacson wants to use the centennial to celebrate daydreaming, as he says in a recent op-ed in The New York Times.

Einstein concocted the theory not by recasting formulas, but by daydreaming about light beams and billiard balls.

Isaacson argues we should goad kids to accomplish more than memory-work. "We should stimulate their minds’ eyes as well."

"Everything of value in our world started at some point with an idle daydream," writes marketer Mark Schaefer in Born to Blog. "Dreaming helps us connect the dots. Dreaming is mandatory for seeing the world as it should be, rather than how it is."

Take a few minutes today, grab a coffee or chocolate bar, and celebrate Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

But, please, don't interrupt your daydream.

Moonstruck

Before the annual blizzard of baloney blinds you to Christmas' raison d'être, watch a wonderful spot from across the pond.

"Man on the Moon," from retailer John Lewis, cost at least £1 million, according to The Telegraph, and "though formulaic, has the hankie factor."

According to Rachel Swift, head of marketing for John Lewis, the commercial displays all the hallmarks of the company's 150-year old brand.

"The strategy behind our campaigns is always about thoughtful gifting.”

Photo courtesy of Ann Ramsey; shot November 1 in the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

Furnish Your Brain with Care

Research by neurologists reveals multitasking clobbers the short-term memories of people over 60.

For a 2010 study, four doctors at the University of California, San Francisco divided adult subjects into two groups.

The individuals in one group were asked to examine a nature scene and, after a 15-second pause, answer a series of questions about it. These subjects had no trouble with the task.

The individuals in the second group were asked to perform the same task, but were interrupted. While answering the questions about the nature scene, they were shown a human face, and asked to identify the person’s gender and age. The doctors then resumed asking their questions about the nature scene.

The subjects in the second group who were under 60 had no trouble answering all the doctors' questions. But the subjects over 60 struggled to answer the questions posed after the interruption.

During the experiment, MRI scans of the subjects' brains revealed big differences in the brains of younger and older people, after the interruption.

Among the younger people, the brain-areas engaged when processing the picture of the human face shown switched off immediately after that interruption. But, among the people over 60, those brain-areas remained engaged after the interruption. The over-60 brains brains couldn't instantly switch back to the original task.

Besides concluding that multitasking erases the short-term memories of people over 60, the doctors also believe multitasking impairs the formation of long-term memories, because, to take shape at all, long-term memories require short-term ones.

Interruptions are inevitable. So how can people over 60 stay sharp, minimizing "senior moments" and maximizing long-term memories?

My prescription: Furnish your brain with care.

Leaf through any lifestyle magazine and you'll find an article that insists a serene mind requires a clutter-free bedroom (or living room, sitting room, den or home office).

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thought a sharp mind did, too.

In A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes tells his sidekick Watson the brain is like a "little empty attic."

The wise worker furnishes the attic with care.

"A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things," Holmes says.

"Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

Unless you're Watson—IBM's, not Doyle's Watson—letting trivia clutter the attic diminishes your ability to focus.

Literary man Dr. Samuel Johnson believed something similar.

"The true art of memory is the art of attention," Johnson said, referring to our ability to retain what we read.

"No man will read with much advantage, who is not able, at pleasure, to evacuate his mind, or who brings not to his author an intellect defecated and pure, neither turbid with care, nor agitated by pleasure. If the repositories of thought are already full, what can they receive? If the mind is employed on the past or future, the book will be held before the eyes in vain."

Your Speech Insurance Policy

Media and presentation skills coach Edward Segal contributed today's post. Edward has helped hundreds of executives deliver memorable presentations. His advice is based on his experience as a journalist, public speaker, PR consultant, press secretary, and association CEO.

Opportunities to speak in public can be golden opportunities to discuss or demonstrate your expertise, accomplishments, activities or opinions. 

Here’s my checklist of items to keep in mind before you accept any speaking invitation, and suggestions on how to prepare for and get the most out of your presentation. 

Consider it, if you will, your speech insurance policy.

Invitations

• Don’t accept speaking invitations for which you are unqualified or unprepared (don’t let your ego get in the way).

• Ask the organization if there is anything special you should know about the audience or the group (forewarned is forearmed).

• Know the basics of the speaking situation (format, length, time, location, etc.). 

Appearance

• Dress appropriately (usually one level above the audience). 

• Remove any distracting jewelry, name tags or badges before you start (it’s all about you). 

• Stand out from your backdrop (dress in contrasting colors so you don’t disappear).

• Check yourself in a mirror before you go on (lipstick, food in teeth, straighten tie, check zippers and buttons, etc.). 

Equipment

• Test out the mike beforehand to know how far to hold it from your mouth. 

• Adjust the mike so it does not hide your face.

• Do not assume that just because you may a have a loud voice people will be able to hear you without a mike. 

• Assume nothing will work the way it should and plan accordingly (Murphy’s Law). 

Content

• Prioritize and limit your messages (limit them to 3 or 4).

• Customize your presentation to meet the needs of the audience or organization. 

• Answer the two key questions every audience has for every speaker and topic: Who cares? and Why should I care? 

• Make sure they understand you (refrain from using jargon, buzzwords, and technical terms and phrases your audience may not understand).

Rehearse

• Practice your presentation, but not to the point where it sounds memorized.

Don’t Talk to Strangers

• Greet people as they arrive (this will guarantee that you will not be speaking to strangers, but to people you’ve just met). 

Waiting to Go on

• Take one last bathroom break (better safe than sorry).

• While waiting to be introduced or, if on a panel, do not look bored or distracted while others are speaking (pay attention!). 

Delivery

• Know your stuff (your material, arguments, facts and figures).

• Know what you will say to open and conclude your remarks, and eliminate any unnecessary information in between. 

• Be sure to thank them for inviting you. 

• Tell them why you are there (don’t assume they know).

• Show your story, don’t just tell it (find and use charts, slides, props, etc.).

• Keep the audience awake (don’t bore them).

• Don’t get rattled if you forget some of your points; the audience will not know what you forgot to say. 

• Arrange for someone to give you a two-minute warning (don’t speak longer than scheduled). 

• Do not thank them for listening (it’s demeaning to you and to them).

• Give the audience the gift of time (end early).