Dear Public Relations Colleague:

Thank you for participating in the upcoming INTERNET TELEPHONY CONFERENCE & EXPO 2000. This year’s event will be the largest 100% pure communications solutions business trade show. Based on location and interest, we expect the excitement surrounding the show to attract hundreds of working media.

This guide contains many important details about public relations activities at the show. To help you better target those journalists who will pre-register for the show, we have asked them to specify areas of interest and their affiliations’ URLs. We hope this information will be useful.

Your public relations team is always ready to help you in making this show a very successful event.

Call us any time. Have a great show!

(Clicking on the diamond goes to the specific topic or returns here)

Designing Your PR Campaign for the show

Establish Your Trade Show Publicity Objectives

First and foremost, establish your campaign objectives. This show will be the leading forum for publicizing new products and services, meeting with members of the media to discuss your company's position, promoting new alliances and announcing company restructuring. Determine your objectives and develop a plan to reach them.

Develop A Targeted Press List

After setting your objectives, decide which media you should target. Review computer, trade and business publications to learn who covers your company's beat. You may want to purchase an editorial directory or editorial contact management software to develop a comprehensive list of reporters.

Your list of reporters should be continually updated. Establish a good working relationship with them, and ensure they receive your press releases, are familiar with your organization's top management, and promptly honor their requests for more information or interviews. Find out how each reporter prefers to be contacted (phone, fax, e-mail or postal mail).

As we post the show's pre-registered press lists to you, determine the press you should target. Many reporters will register on site, so we will not have these names prior to the show. It is usually inappropriate to send your news to the entire press list.

Most reporters have specific beats. Please be sure to research the reporters and publications on the list we send you. We have included the media's URLs to make it easier for you to find out information, and have asked journalists to include their specific beats, which should help you target them more effectively.

We recommend you inform other reporters on your targeted media list about the show and invite them to attend.

Remember, the working press is competitive. Journalists compete internally for space in their publications, on the wire and for airtime and, now, for Web space. You have to earn the journalist’s interest and support for your efforts. Journalists have to become your advocates with their editors and employers. You cannot influence all of them, not even all of them at one show. So select a list of journalists that you can enlist to become your advocates and get to know them.

Increase Your Visibility Using Key Communications Tools

Press Releases — If you will have a significant news announcement or are demonstrating a new product, inform the media about it with a press release before the show. (Let us know so we can help publicize it as well). This allows reporters to plan on attending your press conference or product demonstration, and they may even cover your news in show previews.

Media Advisory — A brief, one-page "who, what, where, when, and why" about your show activities, is an effective last-minute reminder to the press.

Press Conferences - See below for detailed information.

Follow-up Press Release — After you've announced your key product, service or industry news, we encourage you to send out a press release during the show. Representatives of Business Wire will be on site to assist with wire service distribution.

Press Interviews or One-on-Ones — To meet with specific members of the press for informal one-on-one meetings, you can use the speaker/press room.

After the Show — Follow-up with the media you met by sending requested information or a simple thank you. Also, send information to the media whom you did not meet.

IMPORTANT: Contact the Media before the Show

To ensure that reporters are aware of your show activities, contact them before the event. Reaching reporters before the show increases your exposure, and makes it easier for the reporter to learn about your product, review your idea, and schedule an on-site meeting.

The Press Kit

A typical press kit contains press releases, a company profile, executive bios, product photos, a business card, and even a diskette. Often, the typical press kit contains too much information.

With 100+ exhibitors at the show, a journalist would have to hire a caddie to cart around the entire contents of every press kit. Reporters need to find the "hard" news quickly and easily. It is imperative your press kits be concise and include the most important information on top.

The foundation of a press kit is a well-written press release, which should include the following:

Show Graphics and Dateline

Press releases should be datelined with the show name.

These logos include images with the words "See Us at (show name)" that you can display on your Web site, along with banners that can be used in your press kits or other printed material.

Tips From Journalists

Every publicist’s main objective is to help journalists cover and write about the products of your client/company. The goal is to convince journalists to be your advocate with their organization. Only they can fight their boss for air, space and ink. This comes with long-term relationships and real "news."

Press Releases

Too many press releases are pure advertising. Stick to the basics, remembering the purpose of the press release is to present "news," not to advertise. Journalists are not going to believe that your product is "going to revolutionize the field."

Keep press releases to no more than one page in length. Journalists are always pressed for time. You must get their attention quickly, or risk not getting any at all. They want facts, not a short story. E-mail releases are a growing trend, keep them short. Keep your press releases in a simple format, don’t send them as attachments (what you can read on your machine will be computer code on someone else’s, especially when they are on deadline).

Do not send large GIF files that will take forever to download. (Always be aware of the size of the file you send. Some systems won't accept it, some won't accept more than one attached file at a time. You can ask me what it felt like to shut down the email system of Mecklermedia by sending out the press list for Fall Internet World '97. The CIO at the time wanted to strangle me, fortunately senior management thought it was funny).

When you are announcing a new product for the first time, include a white paper detailing the product. This serves as a reference guide so journalists can understand how it works.

Always provide a name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on all your press materials. This will make it easier for journalists to get in contact with you.

Include a bulleted fact sheet, especially, if you are announcing the release of a new product:

Press Kits

Send press kits to those reporters and freelance writers who request them. It can become very expensive for you to send press kits to every journalist on your list! A press release can be compared to an "appetizer," while the press kits are the "entree." Journalists may not be ready for the main course in the beginning — they need to warm up to it.

Correspondence

Never call journalists to ask if they received your press release. Remember that they receive dozens and one press release can be hard to distinguish from another. You might send an e-mail reminder, but be ready to be tagged for "spamming." Call only if there are errors in your press releases. So far many reporters regard e-mails as friendly, phone calls as intrusive and faxes as acts of war.

Press Conferences

The worst situation is a press conference without any press. Even if you've called, faxed and e-mailed all pertinent information to your targeted media, there is so much to see at the show that journalists will not have the time to attend each and every conference.

Remember the following in deciding whether or not to hold a press conference:

Areas will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. We cannot guarantee exclusivity. Press conferences will be scheduled in overlapping times. Two companies who want to hold press conferences first on Wednesday morning may be scheduled "against" each other.

Time slots are 45 minutes in length.

No conferences will be scheduled during the keynote addresses Wednesday (5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.) and Thursday (6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.).

We provide a schedule and overview of press conferences to the media, so when reserving the room, please include a brief description as to the nature of the announcement.

Press conferences should be used to break news.

Please note: There are a limited number of press conference areas available on a first-come, first-served basis. We cannot guarantee area availability for the time and date you request, and we reserve the right to change your press conference area (if that happens, and it might, we will make sure the word gets out about the shift).

Although we make every effort to inform journalists about your press conference, it is your responsibility to ensure attendance.

The deadline for reserving press conference rooms for inclusion in the tip sheet is Monday, September 18th. The tip sheet is sent to all pre-registered press.

To reserve a press conference room, please contact:

Tips for a Successful Press Conference

Press Conference Facilities

We provide press conference areas free of charge to exhibitors.

Designated areas are available for press conferences during the entirety of the show. (Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.) Press conferences will not be scheduled during keynote sessions. Rehearsal time is also available, call for scheduling.

Banners and Signage

All areas are decorated with show banners, including show logo on the podium. These cannot be removed. Individual corporate signage is welcome. The signs must be set up immediately before and taken down immediately after your press conference. Freeman Decorating can make signs for your press conference. Orders should be placed before the show (see Freeman contact information below.)

Area/Room Set-Up

Each press conference area will be set with the front half of the room school room style, and rear half in theater style (capacity varies with each room from 40 to 125 seats). Along the rear walls will be tables for press kit distribution and catering. We will also provide a table immediately outside the room for press registration.

Additional tables are available (i.e., for demonstrations) on request. For assistance in room set-up and specific furniture requests, contact Freeman Decorating in advance of the show. Order forms are in the Exhibitor Service Manual.

GES Decorating can accommodate most requests on site (but they need more than 10 minutes before a press conference starts). Be aware you are taking a chance not only on timing, but also on supply. Much of Freeman's furniture and equipment is brought in from outside warehouses and takes a business day to arrive at the show.

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Telephones, Fax Machines, Copier.

Workstations with word-processing.

Dedicated T1 Internet access, and phone lines for dial-up access from laptops.

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The list will be posted as a tab-delimited text file for you to download www.pacificdialogue.com/itexpo2000_plist.htm. This text file can then be imported into the database or word processing program of your choice. There will be no hard copy of this list available. (I have said that I would not fax one to my mother if she was exhibiting, and as an alumna of ATT she took offense to the suggestion that I would waste paper sending a fax).

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Business Wire and Virtual Press Office are the official international media relations wire services for the show. All news, photos, video, audio and spreadsheets issued via Business Wire will be posted to the news site, available inside the Press Center and on the World Wide Web, at www.tradeshownews.com. Show headlines will also be issued to registered show journalists. (Business Wire's Trade Show and Conference News Site now has its own URL, www.tradeshownews.com).

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