Within ASCE, if colleagues don’t know me for anything else, they know I send out an all-staff e-mail every two weeks that’s an appeal for content for the ASCE E-Newsletter. By “appeal,” I mean beg, but nicely. If you produce an e-newsletter and wonder constantly how you’re going to fill your next edition, you understand.

The “Call for Articles” e-mail offers a set of guidelines on not only how to submit an item, but what would help make that content more interesting and appealing to read. It’s also a look into the approach of editing the e-newsletter. Ours aims to be lively and engages our readers, with a variety of items — “newsy,” useful, promotional and fun when possible — that reflect the variety of ASCE’s activities. That hardly makes ours unique; indeed they would seem to be requirements of most decent e-newsletters. Thus, what follows are suggestions that could help improve your e-newsletter. Please share your reactions and feedback in the comments area below.

Submission guidelines:
- Approximately 120 words in length, plus a link to a related ASCE or other Web page.
- Those items that are largely a call to action are stronger when written in a lively, inviting, conversational second-person (”you”) style, highlighting the benefits to the member right from the start.
- Ensure that all links are accurate and for live, completed pages. Links must go directly to the page of the feature or item being promoted and should be the dominant item on that page or easily spotted. We don’t want to send readers to a page with a payoff they wouldn’t expect, including bad experiences such as requiring additional click-through, awkward navigation or the like.
- To keep the e-newsletter’s content fresh and ensure variety, the same item will not run in two consecutive issues. If there’s a real need to repeat an item (usually a call for conference registrations), please the content and use a fresh angle each time.

Submission tips:
- New and current content, late-breaking news and special events happening in the near future are strongly encouraged and will get better play. Calls for event registration should be at least three weeks ahead of the date(s) to allow adequate time for members to respond and prepare.
- Help your item stand out with a thumbnail-sized graphic. Icons, logos and images of about 110 pixels wide, in .bmp or .jpg format, work well. Use images if appropriate, readable in that size and if space allows.
- Usually there are plenty of items on upcoming conferences and seminars, but almost never are there follow-ups from those events outside of the books of accepted papers. Think of your event as one with media interest, worthy of coverage. What would you tell a reporter were the important and/or interesting decisions reached? Were there any other unusual debates, happenings, or outcomes, especially those that might be of interest to your membership?

John Marston
Web Content Editor

One of the most reliable public relations tools is the photograph. More than any other medium, a great photograph can crystalize an idea or evoke powerful emotions in fractions of a second.

At ASCE we find ourselves in a constant search for great photographs. This is especially true of the ASCE Pre-College Outreach program. As we look for ways to excite young people about the role of engineering in the world and about the exciting things engineers do, we have learned that pictures of engineers at work, loving what they do, are uniquely compelling to kids. Often, it is a picture that sparks their questions: What do engineers do? How do I become an engineer?

Engineering firms and professional groups take pictures all the time. You’ve seen them: the projects, the people, the awards. We use pictures in newsletters to announce events and awards, or our companies use them in marketing campaigns designed to promote a company’s public relations, or community relations image. There are literally thousands of photos taken every week! Somewhere among all of these pictures are the treasures we seek – the spontaneous photo that depicts an engineer doing something unique and engaged in a way that demonstrates his or her focus and passion for the job being done. 

ASCE’s Pre-College Outreach program needs your photos! We need photos of structural, geotechnical, water resource, coastal, environmental, site planning, transportation, architectural, and construction engineers at work! If you don’t have them already, get out and take them! Follow these tips for taking great photos of people at work:

• Have fun! – Don’t work your subject to hard, let them get comfortable.
• Get close – Emphasize what’s important.
• Take candid photos – Ignore the impulse to pose your subject.
• Use natural light – Overcast days produce better light than sunny, bright days.
• Avoid shadows.
• Have all your subjects sign a photo release!

Send your high resolution photos (300 dpi or better) to outreach@asce.org. Be sure to include a photo release form (request a copy for your Section or Branch from ASCE’s Communications department if you don’t have one) and a caption naming the person/people in the photograph. Include their contact information and a brief description about what the subject(s) is(are) doing. Photographs of individuals work best. Kids seem to respond best to younger engineers, but always to anyone doing things that they think are “cool.”

Once you’re in the habit of taking photos that excite and invite, keep taking them. Use them in your local PR efforts. (Remember, always have a photo release form signed.) After all, it may be your picture that sparks the idea in a young child’s mind – Hey, I think I want to be an engineer!

Leslie Payne
Manager, Pre-College Outreach

ASCE has made it possible for you to engage kids in the world of civil engineering ONLINE! What better way to grab kids’ attention than a cool Web site where they can watch a whole city transform before their eyes from the ground up, starting with colorful sketchings of an urban city to the construction of a skyscraper. With just one click, visitors can enter ASCEville, the place where civil engineering happens!
 
If you’ve been looking for the perfect resource to wow kids and impress their teachers and parents, ASCEville is the perfect site for members wanting to get involved with pre-college outreach. It can be used to promote the excitement, creativity and rewards of civil engineering as an exciting career possibility. Its interactive activities and compelling stories of inspiring young engineers are sure to leave kids with a clear understanding and thirst for civil engineering!

ASCEville opens up the world of engineering in much the same way people encounter civil engineering in real life—by exploring the urban landscape. Parents, educators and engineers can also get in on the action by way of the “Resources” page, where they’ll find a host of information on academic and career guidance, outreach and much more.

So what are you waiting for? Your outreach opportunity is here with ASCEville. Have you already discovered ASCEville? How have you used the site? What did the kids think? Leave your experiences in the comment section below.

If you need help getting started, email us at outreach@asce.org. We’d love to hear from you!

Lisa J. Jennings
Senior Manager, Diversity and Pre-College Outreach

Civil engineers are passionate about what they do, and their relevance was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when infrastructure became one of the main focuses of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

When ASCE released its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure on January 28, we received media inquiries from all over requesting interviews with civil engineers.

Gathering talking points and recruiting spokespeople required an immense amount of planning and coordinating – not just for the ASCE Communications staff, but also for the engineers who made themselves available to answer reporters’ questions. These local spokespeople had to not only be well-versed on the national talking points, but also on local infrastructure issues and their local report cards.

As of midday January 29, it’s estimated that coverage reached nearly 15 million broadcast viewers alone. So a big thanks to all of you who not only served as, but took the time to prepare to be, a local spokesperson.

Now that we’ve made it through the initial release of the Report Card, it’s time to turn out attention to the March 25 release of the full, comprehensive report. In addition to the category fact sheets, we will be releasing fact sheets with state-specific information. (You’ll be able to find all this information posted on the Report Card Web site the day of the release.)

Because we’re releasing local information, we’re anticipating a higher number of local inquiries. This state information is of particular interest to local reporters because they care about what their readers care about – what’s going on in their own backyard.

One way to begin preparing for these inquiries is to review your local report card (if you have one) and pay attention to local infrastructure issues in the news. And since you’ll be keeping your eyes open for infrastructure in the news already, it’s also a great time to consider writing a letter to the editor or op-ed for your local paper. (ASCE’s Communications department has a template op-ed that you can customize to send to your local paper and we’re always here to help and answer any questions you may have.)

If you don’t have the time to write a letter to the editor or op-ed, you can also go online to your news outlet’s Web site. Many of these Web sites now have a feature where you can leave a comment to a story online.

Have you read any news articles about the Report Card and infrastructure lately? What did you think of them?

Anthony Reed
Manager, External Relations