Communication Opportunities Described
Posted by Heidi Stambuck on 8/16/2010
Communication OpportunitiesThere are several ways that I can help you publicize an event in advance, get media coverage of an event, your research, other projects and accomplishments or pitch a story idea to the media. Keep in mind, however, that the media can choose what stories they want to cover and will never promise or guarantee coverage of something.
This may be more information than you want in some cases and not enough in others. Please do not hesitate to call or e-mail me or drop by my office with questions.
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
302 Graduate Education Building
479-575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu
Basic guidelines:
- Consider me your go-between for the office of University Relations. As a partner in their office, I have a working relationship with them and can help the publicity process run smoothly.
- We will have a much better chance of getting media attention if your item is of interest to the general public and not overly technical. If you need to publicize something that targets a particular segment of the population, the most effective way is usually by going through professional organizations or e-mail list-serves. I can still help with the writing when you use these other methods.
- Give me as much advance notice as possible. This helps me balance coverage among all our departments and also allows University Relations to schedule our news release when it will not be crowded out by others from around campus. There is an editing and posting process required by University Relations that will add 2-3 days to the preparation process.
- Be prepared to respond to media inquiries as soon as possible. Most times when a newspaper or television reporter calls, they are on deadline and need information that day. We can schedule releases for the most convenient time for you to respond.
- Think about visuals to illustrate your story. Virtually all media outlets will want images to accompany coverage.
- I write using a set of style guidelines developed by University Relations that is available on their Web site at http://styleguides.uark.edu/15200.php. These guidelines include the writing style rules published by The Associated Press as well as other guidelines specific to the University of Arkansas. The university has guidelines for use of logos, as well, and that information can also be found on the University Relations Web site at http://logo.uark.edu/.
- Jargon specific to any discipline should be avoided because it will discourage someone not familiar with it from reading further. Acronyms also should be avoided unless they are ones everyone would know such as FBI or CIA.
- Depending on the nature of your item, it may be appropriate to use several of the vehicles below to publicize it.
News releases
The office of University Relations distributes news releases by posting links on the UA home page under the Arkansas Newswire header and e-mailing the releases to media outlets. Links to the releases appear in the Arkansas Newswire daily e-mail that goes to everyone on campus. University Relations can send releases to local, state, regional and national media as requested. Certain criteria must be met to merit a news release. Basically, the topic must be something of interest to the general public. Releases are generally 1-3 pages long in Microsoft Word and include quotes from sources. Links to releases generally appear on the university’s home page for 1-3 days. I frequently follow up news releases by submitting shorter items to newspapers’ local, business and education sections where briefs appear.
University Relations also has science and research writers who cover the university. Barbara Jaquish has our college and Fulbright as her beat.
Arkansas Newswire
This is the header that appears over news releases on the university’s home page, and it is also a daily e-mail sent with links to those news releases and other items that people have submitted. Anyone in the university community can submit an item to Arkansas Newswire with information about awards, applications, events and instructions for various procedures. Arkansas Newswire items that are not also news releases do not appear on the university’s home page, but they can be accessed from the Arkansas Newswire page. You can submit items yourself to Arkansas Newswire if you wish. Having me submit something for you doesn’t mean that it will appear on the university home page.
Media pitches
Sometimes, simply contacting a reporter and offering a story idea with some background and contact information is more effective than writing a formal news release. With assistance from University Relations, I can make pitches to regional and national media outlets or specialized publications that you may identify. If you are scheduled to be interviewed, I can sit down with you and ask questions you’re likely to be asked in order to help you feel more comfortable. Keep in mind reporters do not allow a source to preview an article before publication except in rare cases as when explaining something very technical such as brain surgery.
Media advisories
We often follow up a news release about an event with a media advisory that lists the who, what, where, when and why in a bulleted list format. These can also be sent in place of a news release.
Radio and TV
University Relations has a person on staff who assists with broadcast media. He can pitch ideas and people for news broadcasts and it may also be possible to get a station to run a public service announcement. KUAF will usually air PSAs for free.
Colleague
This is an annual magazine about the college distributed on campus and mailed to state legislators, other government officials, leaders in the education and health fields, other educators such as state superintendents, peer institutions, benefactors and selected alumni. Space is limited but I welcome suggestions for story ideas. I also welcome your additions of names to the magazine’s mailing list.
Online Colleague
This is the companion Web site for the magazine. It is updated every two months with a half-dozen new stories plus news releases and Newswire submissions from the previous two months. We send an e-mail newsletter with links to the new stories after each update. The newsletter is e-mailed to about 10,000 people including alumni for whom the Arkansas Alumni Association has e-mail addresses, university personnel at our peer institutions, school superintendents, legislators, donors, health-care leaders and other stakeholders.
Digital message boards
The college has these boards in the Graduate Education Building, Ozark Hall and HPER. There are plans to put boards in Peabody Hall and the new nursing and communication disorders facilities when those construction projects are finished. The boards are used to publicize information, honors and events about faculty, staff and students. Submit information to me at least one week in advance of when you would like it to appear on the boards. I can also send slides that may be of interest campus-wide to RIBTV.
Compass Points
This is an internal e-mail sent several times a month to faculty and staff members. It has links to media reports about the college and its people, news releases and articles posted on the college Web site. It also contains some links to announcements and media coverage that affect the entire campus.
College Web site
I oversee the content of the college's Web site with invaluable assistance from staff in each department. Dylan Hurd, director of Web-based services, oversees the technical aspects of the Web and helps me with all of our electronic communications. Please let me, Dylan or your department head know if you run across information that you think is incorrect or outdated anywhere on the site.
Each department has a departmental news and events page that links to the Colleague with feature stories, announcements and other information. (Education reform’s news page is handled by that department). Submissions and story ideas are welcome. News releases are posted down the center of the college’s home page at http://coehp.uark.edu/index.php as well as on the Colleague site. There is also a section along the right side of the main home page for Announcements & Reminders you may submit to me.
University and college calendar of events
You may submit items to the university calendar at the following link.
Choose Submit Events in the upper right corner and a screen for you to submit your information will come up. In the box marked event categorization, if you choose College of Education and Health Professions, your event will automatically be displayed on the college’s home page along the right side under Calendar of Events. Items submitted here will automatically appear in the Arkansas Newswire e-mail.
Brochures and other promotional items
It is possible that I can help with the creation of these, although the bulk of the responsibility may be on you. In some cases, design services are available free of charge from University Relations, and their personnel can also help with the printing process, including seeking bids if necessary. Photography services are available at a charge from University Relations, and I can also help you hire a free-lance photographer. My help usually takes the form of writing text, editing and proofing on one-time projects. You will need to take care of writing, design and production of regular items such as newsletters.
Hometown news releases
There are also times that we ask students and participants of college activities to fill out hometown news releases. I compile the information and submit it to University Relations to be sent to the newspaper specified by the students. Again, we can’t guarantee to the students that the newspapers will publish the information but many do, especially the smaller papers.
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
302 Graduate Education Building
479-575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu
08/10
We want to hear from you. Please e-mail comments and feedback to Heidi Stambuck at stambuck@uark.edu.