Any way, seeing that story and then thinking about that made me laugh a good bit so if you can remember any old crazy public relations disasters put them in the comment section so we can all have a good laugh, and maybe try to learn from them.

The most important thing to me to keep on hand is my phone, without my phone I feel helpless. In addition to not being able to check the time whenever you want my phone is how I connect to people. I honestly do not know how sports public relations could have been done before the cell phone was invented.

Currently I do not have one of the fancy phones with the internet ability to I must keep my laptop on me at all times. I can not physically carry it with me wherever I go but I certainly do try, if it can not come with me then it is in the room next to me, my car,  hotel I may be staying in, or wherever I can stash it.

My third item would have to be my Nalgene water bottle, in addition to being something to make me comfortable its simply a nice gesture to offer people water. Like Brian said, “it’s a little thing that can help build/strengthen a relationship when you hand over a bottle without even being asked.”

The larger your media contact list and the more time you spend with them results in the more positive publicity. If they like writing about you they will find positive stories to publish. The better you get to know them the easier it is to pitch stories to them. Being their friend will put you up higher on the e-mail trail.

The editors/producers control the ultimate decision what the stories do or do not get published. Despite their knowledge and experience and abilites the editor will rarely write the story. The Reporters and Columnists write the actual stories. Reporters find stories and report them; Columnists give their opinions on stories, events, and people. They are both passionate about what they write and their opinions are respected, or at least talked about by the general public. While they do not make the ultimate decision like the editor/producer you should remember that one day they may just be the editor/producer. It would be wise to friend them earlier rather then later,  and do not burn any bridges.

The SID is not only involved in public relations, publicity/promotions, publications/news media but they also have to do statistic compilations, event management, sales and marketing. In addition to all those responsibilities needing to be done the SID is involved with those because when something unfavorable happens in a sports organization, it is the job of the sports information director to control rumors and get out accurate information in a timely manner.

The job is a lot of work and a lot of responsibility. It is only for certain dedicated, enthusiastic, passionate people. However those who are that get to work with a large variety of people and teams, you get to do lots of traveling with them and attend many popular athletic events.

The first of the three most important things that are needed is an understanding of sports, you can have some good knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience in public relations, but without knowledge of sports it will be difficult to work with us, there is no time to train and teach you the fundamentals of sports.

Knowing sports and public relations is also not enough, like most any job you need a strong work ethic. In sports public relations you are working more then just 9-5 you are on call at any time and have to respond to issues in a timely fashion, you can not put things off, old news is irrelevant news.

Finally I would want to get the feeling you are positive, upbeat person. These are the people who create great ideas that add value to the company; they see the positive in all ideas and try completing the idea. When I see these people I may see someone who is similar to me and will be optimistic they will be as equally dedicated to their work.

A press release draws attention; it provides publicity for your organization or client. If you do provide positive information to the media or news outlets then the only publicity you may receive is negative. A press release will be short and to the point, there should be little to no fluff making the information very useable and credible.

The 2 most important things to include in your press release is a catchy title that’s brings the reader in and of course the information needs to be newsworthy. The average sports reader does not need grocery store tabloid stories of someone getting grey hair, or where they took their vacation in the offseason, leave those stories for the tabloids. People want facts about their sport/teams/players; they want to know who is playing or what the significance of the game/event/decision.

For more in-depth information or questions on Press releases leave me a comment and I will answer you there or make my next entry about it.