So you and your Extension planning committee have met many, many times to go over the logistics of your upcoming event.
You know who will staff the event, what time you need to be there and have even figured out what kind of potato chips you’re going to serve.
And then, the week before, you call the Office of Communications and Marketing to ask if we can put out a news release about the event. Sadly, that is too late.
In order for our office to do the best job we can to promote your event, we need to be brought into the conversation long before said potato chips are planned.
Our office is working on about 200 different jobs at any given time, so we need to plan ahead in order to accommodate so many different tasks.
Another reason for this is once we submit a story to VT News, it can take a week or longer to get it out to in the Daily Email (which is sent to the local media outlets).
This is the best process go through to ensure we can help you publicize your event:
- Specialist or agent drafts a news release describing the event, its target audience, and its logistical information such as time, location, registration details, etc.
- Draft release should be submitted via the online project request system at least six to eight weeks prior to registration deadline.
- Communications and Marketing will review and edit the release and return to faculty member for final approval.
- After final approval, Communications and Marketing will forward the release to the VT News Bureau for distribution and publication on the Web.
If another state agency is the lead agency for an event, we will defer to that agency to do the release.
For other guidelines on having a release written on awards, new programs, or research papers, visit our news and publicity guidelines page.
We look forward to telling the world about your good news!
