I’m excited to present at Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase! WIll you be there? Let me know so we can meet up!!
Speaking to associations is a great way to get out in front of new audiences. Most associations have a communications person who will publicize your appearance to their members and maybe the media. You can help them promote their event – along with your appearance – by sending out an additional news release of your own. Here’s my most recent speaker press release about my upcoming speaking engagement at Association Forum Holiday Showcase. You can also see it on PR.com.
How-tos are in blue italics. Let’s start with media. To get the most attention, include images and a video, if you have one. Here, you’ll see the Holiday Showcase logo with a caption.
Association Forum Holiday Showcase Presents PR Speaker Barbara Rozgonyi
How to: write a headline – make it short and lead with keywords. Because people, and search engines, read headlines first make the most of 60 characters.
On December 16, 2014, Association Forum will present an educational conference for association meeting planners and event marketers called Holiday Showcase, the Midwest’s number one meeting for meetings, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, Illinois. Barbara Rozgonyi, principal of CoryWest Media, founder of Social Media Club Chicago, and publisher of wiredPRworks.com will present a session on PR for association marketing professionals at 8:30am. For more information about Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase and to register to attend the conference, visit http://HolidayShowcase.org. To follow the conference online, follow @AssocForum and #HSC2014 on twitter.
How to: write a first paragraph – include who, what, when, where, why and how. A call to action, with a link, is key.
With more than 1,200 qualified buyers in attendance, Holiday Showcase is widely considered to be the industry’s best and most highly attended one-day exhibition for Chicago’s multi-billion dollar association market. Holiday Showcase attracts association professionals across all areas of association management – from meeting planning to marketing to membership. Likewise, the trade show floor consists of a variety of both hospitality and business service suppliers.
How to: prove credibility – include numbers and an event description, which you can find on the site.
Barbara says, “Associations connect professions, people and causes. It’s an honor to be selected as a speaker. I’m looking forward to speaking and sharing knowledge at my first Holiday Showcase event.”
How to: add quotes – ideally, you want a quote from the association in addition to your own.
In her session, Barbara will cover how to transform outdated, traditional news releases into modern, vibrant and social releases that command attention. Attendees will learn techniques for repurposing publicity as a marketing tool across direct, digital and dynamic channels to make the most of PR efforts as they explore the ins and outs of reaching traditional and new media in unexpected places to recruit more members, power up campaigns, fuel membership and promote events in 2015 and beyond.
How to: talk about your session – revise the description to fit into one paragraph.
The Association Forum of Chicagoland is the “association of associations” in Chicago. Founded in 1916, the Association Forum has 3,800-plus members who represent more than 47,000 association professionals from nearly 1,600 Chicago organizations. These organizations serve 27 million individual members, have 9 million donors and generate $10.3 billion annually in economic impact.
How to: feature the event in an “about section.” Here, I edited information from the site. Association Forum’s reach is really impressive, isn’t it?
Barbara Rozgonyi Association Speaker
How to: include your information. For better readability and SEO, I added a header that’s not in the original release. Do you think this selection is too long?
Barbara Rozgonyi leads CoryWest Media, a strategic marketing consultancy that attracts attention, builds brands, and connects communities in three dimensions: digitally, directly and dynamically via the WIRED PR works system.
An MPI Chicago member since April 2013, Barbara serves on the MarComm committee and was nominated for the chapter’s 2013-14 “Tomorrow’s Leader Award.” In June, MPI-CAC recognized Barbara as the chapter’s most engaged member of the month.
A recognized social media industry thought leader, Barbara founded Social Media Club Chicago, a leading global chapter, in October 2008. In 2013, Nokia selected Barbara as one of two U.S. reporters to capture Social Media Week Berlin via images and stories.
Barbara is a frequent keynote speaker, an accomplished corporate trainer, and an experienced educator who develops marketing and communications programs for events, colleges, associations, corporations and online communities. In 2013, Barbara created her first online course for college students called “Get Linked Into College Success and Beyond.”
She’s been honored to speak at conferences hosted by leading industry groups and associations including the Federal Reserve, MPI Chicago, Association Forum, and IMEX where she was asked to be the conference’s marketing and communications expert.
Barbara’s media mentions include Crain’s Chicago Business, Inc.com, American Express OpenForum, BusinessAdvisor.com, HuffingtonPost, WDCB, WIND, NFIB.com, LowesForPros.com,? BOB.tv, LawMarketing.com, Mashable, Germanys FAZ, Chicago Tribune, MPI-CAC, Plan Your Meetings, ?and NBC5.
As publisher of WiredPRWorks,com, launched in June 2006, Barbara’s work is often a catalyst for innovative and creative marketers and is mentioned in several noteworthy books.
An author, Barbara contributed the LinkedIn chapter to the best-seller, “Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars.” In 2015, Barbara will be featured as the PR expert in a new book written by the world’s leading online marketing superstars. To tap into WIRED PR marketing ideas and resources, visit Barbara’s top 50 marketing and PR blog, http://wiredPRworks.com.
Speaker PR Results
The goal here is announce the presentation and to spread the word about the conference. When searching Association Forum Holiday Showcase in Google News, the press release shows up as the number one result. In a web search, the release is on page two. The rankings will change over time.
What do YOU say?
How do you use press releases to promote your speaking engagements?
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