Note:

Thank you for your interest in this event. Registration for this webinar is now closed. For questions or to learn about future opportunities please contact Roy Cevallos at (360) 816-1446 or roy@nwppa.org.

Who Should Attend:

Utility communicators who want to improve their public relations writing skills.

Related Event(s):

The Secrets of Effective Writing Series, May 20-June 24, 2021

Crafting Compelling News Releases, May 27, 2021

Effective Feature Writing Techniques, June 3, 2021

Crafting Key Messages That Resonate, June 17, 2021

Writing Persuasively and Convincingly, June 24, 2021

Webinar Overview:

The steep decline of newspapers and other traditional forms of media has made it much more difficult to get positive (or even neutral) media coverage of your utility. Gone are the days when the public relations professional could send out a news release and wait for the calls from journalists to start rolling in. Today, savvy communicators must work harder and innovate to convince reporters to bite on a story.

Pitching story ideas to individual journalists via email is now the dominant form of media engagement. But it is a crowded field. Journalists get dozens of emails a day pitching various story ideas. That’s why your email pitches must grab a journalist’s immediate attention. If poorly written, your email pitch goes into the electronic trash bin.

In this one-hour webinar, longtime journalist, public relations professional, and university instructor Lance Robertson will dive into how to craft email pitches that will get the results you want. Specifically, participants will learn:

• When it is appropriate to pitch a story – and when it’s not.
• Why a story pitch without any news value is doomed to fail.
• How to personalize pitches for specific journalists.
• A simple, four-step process for writing email pitches in two different formats.
• Why it is important to convey the broader context, or significance, of your idea in a pitch.
• How to humanize a story pitch to generate more interest from journalists.

Webinar Recordings:

Webinar recordings can be made available to registrants who are unable to attend live.

Webinar Instructor:

Lance Robertson, Instructor, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon; and Owner, LF Robertson Communications LLC

Webinar Schedule:

The webinar will be held on May 20 from 2-3 p.m. PST. Attendees will be admitted 15 minutes before the webinar begins.

How to Participate:

Instructions will be emailed to attendees within 12 hours of the webinar and we recommend that you test the link to the meeting as soon as you get the instructions. The webinar is best viewed using Chrome as your browser. We recommend that you use a landline for both your phone and your internet connections.

This registration is for one person to attend. We manage our webinars on an honor-system basis; if more than one person from a utility wishes to attend, each is to register separately.

Webinar Fees:

Utility Member Rate: $90
Associate Member Rate: $135
Non-Member Rate: $270

Note: Organizations that register a group of employees will receive every fifth registration for free. For example, if you register five employees, you only pay for four; register 10 employees, you only pay for eight; and so on. There is nothing additional you need to do to receive this discount.

Cancellation Policy:

Cancellations are accepted with a full refund as follows:

For webinars and virtual classes, if the request is made at least five days prior to the course, then 100% of the registration fee will be refunded.

For in-person events, the following fee structure applies: cancellation at least 30 days prior to the event, full refund; within 15-29 days, $100 fee; and within 1-14 days or no show, 100% of the registration fee. When possible, please send a substitute instead of canceling because NWPPA does not charge a fee for substitutions.

Continuing Hours:

This course qualifies for one continuing hour. Certificates are issued upon full completion of the course.