If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ve probably heard us talk about how to communicate with reporters and some of the different tools you can use to do so. But what if you don’t know which reporters you should be talking to? How can you find out?

The first step is to become conscious of your local news desk. If you were to read your local newspaper or watch your local evening news every day and kept an eye open for stories on civil engineering-related issues, you would probably start to see the same reporters’ names pop up over and over again. If those are the reporters regularly covering issues related to or impacting civil engineering, they should certainly be on your media list. These reporters may cover beats such as engineering, transportation, environment, and building and construction.

Another reporter to keep in mind is your local metro section writer. While the metro reporter may not be the person who regularly covers transportation or environment issues, that reporter will probably talk about those issues when they are a particularly “hot topic” that affects the entire area - for example, when there is a major water main break.

However, in your hunt for key reporters, don’t forget some of the not-so-obvious ones. These reporters might cover issues such as education, public policy, business, science and real estate. For example, your local education reporter probably covers math and science education issues. Those issues certainly affect civil engineering education and thus, the future of the profession.

Keep track of the reporters writing about these various issues - both the obvious and the not so obvious. When it comes time to figure out which reporters might be interested in hearing about a Section/Branch program or event, you’ll know who’s already talking about the issues.

What kind of reporters have you worked with before? Were you surprised by the wide array of reporters that cover civil engineering issues?

Karen Albers
Manager, State Public Relations

In working with ASCE Sections and Branches on their PR programs, one of the most frequently asked questions I receive is about how to “get the word out.” You may have spent weeks, months or even years organizing an event and now it’s finally time to spread the word about it. But how should you go about doing so?

There are a variety of tools you can use, but one of the first things you should consider is your audience. Are you promoting an event to primarily local ASCE members? Publish a blurb on your Web site, in your newsletter and in other publications you use to communicate with your members. Keep in mind that blurbs on a Web site or in a newsletter should be kept short and to the point – a length of 75 to 100 words is usually best.

If you want to communicate with people outside your Section or Branch, there are a variety of ways to do so. Many media outlets, including newspapers and TV stations, have event calendars on their Web sites. Visit the outlet’s Web site to see if they have a calendar listing feature and look for the appropriate contact to have your event added. Keep your eyes open for additional opportunities to promote your event, such as on a community bulletin board at your local library, community center, university and other locations, including coffee shops and bookstores.

If you want to invite media to your event, you’ll want to distribute a media advisory. Advisories are normally sent to media about a week to 10 days prior to an event and include important event information, including who, what, when and where, with minimal details about how and why in the body of the advisory.

If you have any questions or would like assistance promoting one of your Section or Branch’s events, email me and I’ll be happy to help!

Have you promoted a Section or Branch event in the past and discovered other useful tips for getting the word out? Or did you have something not work out as planned? Share your experiences in the comments!

Karen Albers
Manager, State Public Relations

If you write or maintain a blog with a set posting schedule, you’ve probably hit a wall at times in trying to come up with a good topic. That’s where I found myself as I approached this entry. Fortunately for this blog, I can make the lack of a topic a topic itself, but since that won’t work for you, here are a few suggestions for developing topics:

1. Know your subject. Draw on the expertise you already have, or work to become a knowledgeable authority in the blog’s general area. In the world of civil engineering and ASCE, this can be the skills and experience you have in your specialty, and/or in the Section or Institute you’re active in. Blog topics spun from your knowledge and experience don’t have to be grand or expansive, they could be about minutiae so long as they’re something your audience can relate to. A special benefit of knowing your subject well is that it will come across readily in your blog, giving you credibility and integrity with your audience.

2. Stay up on current issues and trends in your subject. If this is related to your everyday job, then you’re already a step ahead - it just becomes a matter of realizing what can be worthy of a blog topic. If you’re not as familiar with the subject, become a regular reader of trade publications and journals in that area, plus daily newspapers (many available online). Developing a routine around checking reliable sources in the subject will pay off in generating ideas.

3. “That would be good for the blog!” Not to suggest that you breathe, eat and sleep with thoughts of your blog, but if you can look around your world with the blog in the back of your mind, sights and events will jump out and suggest themselves as blog entries. For instance, if the blog is focused on transportation engineering, events on a highway drive could spawn topic ideas.

4. Tap your own reactions and opinions. If the blog represents an individual, either yourself or someone you manage it for, the blog can (indeed, it probably should) reflect the voice and views of that person. This means that well-informed opinions are not only welcome, they give the blog a personality reflecting the person, and help foster reader comments and conversation. Blogs representing groups likely should not offer opinions unless they reflect a consensus or decisions already arrived at by that group.

Got any other tips for idea-generating techniques that have worked for you? Share them in the comments below. We’ll highlight a few suggested techniques in an update to this entry.

John Marston
Web Content Editor