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Women Involved Getting the Most Out of the Media By Carol Helfenstein First of all, who is the media? Answer: radio. TV. community papers. daily pa- pers and specialty papers (Le, term and women's magazines, shoppers. etc.) Can you contact them all',7 No, not one person, it all takes too long! But try to cultivate one or two. or even three, and do a good job ol knowing what they want. howto present It and their deadlines. Here are a few hints. Radio: From my experience radio is ready to accept short snippets of information, either given directly to them or over the phone. Find out their 1-800 number and ask the receptionist tor the News Room, Explain who you are and give your name clearly. Or send a concise news release to them by fax or email. They are going to give you about 30 seconds of time on air, so practice reading your news item aloud. And read quickly; 30 seconds at time goes by in wt Remember. they want news. not dull lacts. Their audience is interested in learning some- thing new that might affect their lives. TV: Again. get at 1-800 number it long distance and ask the receptionist lor the News Room. Tell them briefly why you want to send them a news item and what it is. Ask lorfax numbers and email addresses. Keep these tor reference. Send them information about upcoming events in a concise lormat well ahead of the event. They often want a two to three week notice. Will they send a camera crew to an event? Probably not. but work on building a relationship with your local TV station through that initial phone call by being lriendly and showing how enthusiastic you are and how your news will be of interest to their readership. If you have given them plenty ol lead time, they will cover events that are colourful. controversial and newsworthy. Community Papers: Add colour and lacts to your submissions and skip the repetitive stult. Readers skip over itl Sell yoursell with every column. Invite guests to your meetings and include contact names with every Column. Tell readers what will be coming up next month. and the month after. Sell! Sell! Sell. yourself and your Branch, Districtand Area. It is tree advertising space and unless it is excit- ing. the publisher will cut it. Write a letter to the 6 Home 8. Country, Fall 2000 editor every year thanking the paper tor their support of WI. Bring them a box of cookies Itthey do print a great picture. Trust me. all publishers have a sweet tooth, and it makes their day. Dally Papers: These are much harder to break into. And unless we have something really news- worthy. we should save daily papers for the Ontario wide news. Speclalty Papers: This is where you can make great strides if you are willing to work. it you like to write. tell them you will write an interest column about women and their goals to make a differ- ence in their community. Ask to include a logo and photo every month. This is not a big chore if you like to write. And I think there are a lot of good. colourful writers in our midst. Give the publisher an outline of what you would like to do and send sample copies. It Is tough to keep to a schedule. But if you are game. there is a readership and there is a specialty paper that will give the WI space. Call it something exciting. challenging, funny - Walk in Our Shoes, Up and Running. WI Not. The Bolder Generation. WI â€" Hooked on Community. Advertising: Media also includes advertising. And there is no way we, as responsible Wl members, should attemptto use ourlocal papers and radio stations lor our news and then never putadollarinto advertising. Many ofour children, our members and our lriends depend on our newspapers. TV and radio for jobs. 50. a word of advicel Plan for an advertising budget each year. Be prepared to spend $2001 $300 and then have a bake sale to coverthe cos. Tell people why you are having that bake sale or raffle. Then. when they see your quarter page ad in the local paper. they will know they have been a pan of that great ad. This summer I organized a raffle and the sale at munchie food at our local theatre and paid for an advertising campaign in excess of $2000. Our papers loved us because we paid our bills on time, and in return they were much more recep- tive to coming out to cover us and give us space for press releases. If you get nothing else out of this column. please consider this. As WI we must pay our way and look prolessional. Advertising is good. Ad- vertising is not what people skip over. It is the news of business and community. When written in a clear and concise form it reflects your pro- lessionat approach to making a difference in your community. One or two simple bake sales and you have the same powerto be as professional as the next organization. Good Iuckl The media are a great group of people. Getting to know them is worth the smile. Carol Helfensteiri is the Public Relations Coordinator for the Federated Women 's Institutes of Ontario, 5 can be reached at NR T, Kincardine ON N22 2X Phone: 519-395-0559, Fax: 579395-0499, Email: cally@hurontel.on.ca Workshops 2000 â€" "A learning Experience” Trent Valley Area Women 's institute hosted a successful two-day series of workshops called "A Learning Experience. " Approximately 200 people registered for the workshops. The 903’ of these Workshops was to educate members about and instill the confidence needed to hold executive positions. In addition, the workshops helped to make the WI visible and promote a positive image. Carol Hellenstein (standing in photo), FWIO Public Relations Coordinator, presented the Public Relations Officer Workshop to interested participams along with Joyce Brown, Public Relations Officer for Trent Valley Area. Submitted by Joyce Brown. FRO. Trent Valley Area.