State
of TWNA
Glossary Update
GATS Events
Press Event Clearinghouse
Election Time
From The Chairperson
E-Mail Tip
2006 Communication Awards
State Of The Organization
The current member count for TWNA is 154. The IRS responded
to our non-profit registration and a further response is expected
in about three months.
Glossary Project Update
The TWNA glossary should be completed in about a month. We are
looking for someone to cover the cost of printing. We are hoping
that both the Directory and the Glossary are shipped prior to
GATS. If you have not updated your Directory listing please
contact Tom Kelley ASAP.
GATS Events
TWNA will have a meeting at the Great American Truck Show on
Thursday, August 24 at 5:30 PM. There will also be seminars
on what makes a good press event and digital photography at
3:30 PM. Both events will take place in the press conference
room adjacent to the press center. We will also have literature
to distribute in the press room and exhibitor lounge. As soon
as the full press schedule becomes available, we'll send it
along in a separate mailing.
Press Event Clearinghouse
Tom Gelinas has agreed to continue to coordinate the TWNA Press
Event Clearinghouse, thanks Tom. We will be determining the
best way to get information on the Clearinghouse to members
and suppliers. A special mailing on the importance of checking
with Tom Gelinas before scheduling events will be sent to suppliers.
Election Time
Several TWNA director positions will be for election this fall.
Those include:
Midwest
Press Director currently held by Denise Rondini, Kona Communications;
Northeast Press Director currently held by Bette Garber, Highway
Images;
Southeast Press Director currently held by Avery Vise, Randall-Reilly
Publishing;
West Press Director currently held by Tom Berg, Newport Communications;
Agency PR Director currently held by Roxane Rose, Roxane,
Inc.
If you are interested
in running for one of these positions please send a brief bio
and a “campaign statement” to Tom Kelley.
From The Chairperson
TWNA elections are right around the corner and I want to encourage
each of you to consider running for one of the vacant positions.
TWNA needs the support and input of its members to continue
to be vital.
Having served as
the board chairperson for the last three years, I can assure
you that it has been a rewarding experience. Being on the TWNA
board does not require a huge time commitment. The board “meets”
once a month via a conference call, there is some committee
work that board members are expected to participate in as well
as regular contact with your constituents.
So give it some thought
and contact Tom Kelley with your bio so he can get your name
on the TWNA ballot.
PR People: Get Creative In The "Subject"
Field
By Eric Berard
E-mail is a tremendous invention and a great tool to work with.
In fact, most of us just can't imagine how we did with only
the fax in the old days. (Ok, Ok, I am old enough to remember
working at a paper without even a fax machine!)
This being said, e-mail also has the faults inherent to its
qualities: it is so fast and so convenient that it can be real
easy to get flooded with information, trying to sort out what
is newsworthy and what is less.
This is an area where our PR friends could help us a great deal.
I guess a number of editors do as I do when we receive press
releases in the e-mail. Of course we cannot process all of them
as they arrive. So we store them in a folder for later evaluation.
The problem is that some of the releases sent by e-mail by a
company all have the same title in the "Subject" field.
For instance, every time company XYZ will send a release, it
will be accompanied by the mention "XYZ News" in the
Subject field. The problem is we probably have on the hard drive
two, three or more other releases from the same company that
are all entitled "XYZ news"...
There is a possibility of deleting an older (but relevant) release
from XYZ because the machine will see two files named exactly
the same. Of course, you can open the file, see what it's about,
and then rename it by subject. For example "XYZ new software".
After that, it is much simpler to see at a glance what companies
have something to say and what is the topic of what they have
to say.
Our PR friends could help us a great deal by giving each release
sent by e-mail a title in the Subject field that states, first,
the name of the company, then the object of the release.
Done like that, editors only need to save it in a folder and
all releases appear in alphabetical order of company name and
can see in a second what news is in store, without working up
a sweat, just because a PR person has taken a minute to be more
creative than "XYZ News" and put down "XYZ new
software".
TWNA PR members, prevent your news from being deleted or forgotten
by accident!
Can You Submit Entries For The TWNA Communication
Awards?
Over the next
few months, the entry process for the 2006 TWNA Communication
Awards will begin, so now is the time to start thinking about
which examples of your work you plan to submit. This will be
the fourth year for the award program, yet still many of our
members have not taken the initiative to submit their work for
review and recognition. In 2005, we saw a dramatic increase
in the total number of entries, but the number of entrants had
not significantly increased compared to prior years.
Some of our members
may believe that the award program is limited to editorial submissions.
In fact, just about any form of communications work is eligible,
with the exception of advertising. Entries can be in the form
of writing, graphics, design, web, broadcast, as well as combinations
of those formats. Everything from articles, websites, radio
programs, videos, marketing brochures, catalogs, books, calendars,
photos, cover designs, complete issues, press kits, and many
other types of material can be submitted.
Even those who haven’t
yet joined TWNA are eligible to submit entries. While the publisher/employer
is encouraged to submit entries on behalf of the author/artist/designer,
the individual creator of the work can submit the entry directly
if not submitted by the employer. Obviously, freelancers can
submit their own work directly.
So now that you know
you can submit entries, the question becomes why should you
submit entries? Stay tuned for next month’s Dispatch when
we’ll publish a “Late Show” inspired list of
the top ten reasons to submit entries for the 2006 TWNA Communication
Awards.
