Category: communication

Notes from the National Association of Science Writers conference

If you missed the National Association of Science Writers‘ conference in Baltimore last weekend, you can read about many of the sessions on a conference blog of sorts. Lots of well written posts there. (Personal favorite: Adventures in Alternative Science Communication, which described a session on why talking about science need not be stodgy.) But what else should we expect from a writers conference?

You can also read the views of UMR staffer Lance Feyh, who posted about killer wasps, zombie cockroaches and other things he learned about at the conference on our science blog, Visions.

Three forces changing the face of PR — and an action plan for dealing with the changes

A new white paper from Cymphony — called The Changing Face of PR (PDF; free, but registration required) — describes three forces affecting the public relations business:

  1. Increasing overlap in marketing and public relations. PR is expected to do more product focused activities. Advertising embraces publicity-generating “buzz marketing” tactics to reach influencers. The growth of “social media” such as blogs gives PR more direct contact with the end users of their companies’ products.
  2. Improved measurement. The C-suite demands more rigorous performance and efficiency measurement from all functions. PR departments are under greater pressure to shift from measuring “outputs” like clip counts to “outcomes” like revenue and brand equity growth.
  3. Increasing importance of social media. The rapid proliferation of blogs and social media sites has created a new class of media influencers and new tools to deliver a company’s message to the market.

The white paper also offers a four-step action plan. No spoilers here, though. Download the document and read for yourself. It’s worth the time it takes to register.

Hat tip to EducationPR for the link.