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● Introduction & Index ● What is PR ● Job Expectations ● Types of Media ● Building Relationships ● Media, Hams & FCC Rules ● The Basic News Release ● Interviews and Live ● Making your own show ● Easy P.R. ● Public Service Events ● Piggy-back to Events ● Pictures NOW! ● P.R. Research Aids ● Making Friends ● ARES® PIO ● Final Exam Information Next Page

As you can see, the typical community amateur radio club can easily have 8-10 events per year. The public won’t know about these events unless the PIO alerts media in advance. (See the next two sections - #11 and #12 - on how best to organize local events and piggy back on national events). The direct benefit in notifying the media in advance of an event is that one or more outlets might send a reporter to cover the event. However, even if a reporter ultimately doesn’t come to the event, there are numerous secondary benefits in listing an event about to happen: · - local media are aware there is an amateur radio presence in the community · - listing of the event in advance could draw out inactive Hams or Hams new to the area · - People who aren’t licensed but are curious about amateur radio might appear at the event to learn more. So the first step in building an impactful proactive PR campaign is to discuss with other amateur radio leaders what events should be publicized in advance. Many PIOs release listing information about all their events, but craft special media releases with invitations to come visit for a handful of events. The granddaddy of all Ham Radio events is Field Day. Let’s use Field Day as an example on how to structure a proactive PR strategy. First, take a calendar with the standard “month-at-a-glance” layout and make a photocopy. This will be your template on what actions you need to take. You may want to assign colors to different tasks, such as “red” for sending releases or “green” for email reminders. Next, work backwards from the first day of Field Day to arrive at the time points where you will need to take action. For example, many electronic community bulletin boards ask that event information be posted on their websites three weeks in advance. Many of these websites won’t actually post an event until an editor reviews the content of the event, and okays the event for posting. That might easily take 2-3 days. Here’s a sample calendar for a typical proactive Field Day campaign. Let’s assume Field Day (FD) will be Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28: Wednesday, June 3 - begin to post FD on community bulletin board websites Wednesday, June 10 - distribute release to area weekly newspapers about FD. Consider profiling an active club member who’s been doing FD a long time.