make the listener/viewer understand the story. If you have the media confused you will be ignored. Avoid the use of computer, modem or telecommunications jargon. Jargon that is used should be explained in simple terms. For instance: "GIFs are pictures that can be viewed on a computer screen." That may be oversimplified, but it works. One page is usually sufficient for a News Release. Two pages are acceptable, but more than that is pushing the patience of the person you sent it to. However, if you have material to support your News Release, such as a graph or a table, include that also. If they want more information they will call you. Even if your News Release does not become recycling fodder, it may not be used immediately. It may be put into a file for future use. The file PR-SAMP.TXT includes sample news releases along with explanations of how and why they were written. Public Service Announcements Radio and TV stations devote some programming time to Public Service Announcements, or P.S.A.s. Newspapers may not call them that, but they run them as well. These are a bit trickier to write than a News Release mainly because there are fairly strict rules concerning what is or is not a PSA. The litmus tests for a PSA are: 1. Is the group mentioned a profit organization? 2. Is the topic of the PSA controversial? 3. Is the group mentioned controversial? 4. Will the reader/listener/viewer feel they are hearing an ad as opposed to a PSA? If the answer to any of those is "yes" that doesn't necessarily mean it is not a PSA. Chances are, though, it won't qualify. PSAs have much in common with News Releases in that they will include Who, What, When, and Where, but might not have a Why. If there is a cost involved, that needs to be included BBS-PR pg 12 as well. PSAs will normally be sent to the PSA Director at Radio and TV stations. PSAs sent to Newspapers can usually be sent to the Editor, who will know which department to send it to. Many PSAs can be sent on a postcard. The file PR- SAMP.TXT has a sample PSA. News Conferences My first thought on holding a News Conference is not to hold one. Unless you have something of extreme importance or of a compelling nature, a News Conference probably won't be necessary. There are only two reasons I can think of for a BBS to hold a News Conference. One is when a BBS is launched, but even that is of marginal news value. The other is Crisis Management. Whichever the case may be, you need to be fully prepared. Have copies of your statement and support materials available to distribute to members of the media that attend. If I am hesitant to recommend a News Conference, I am adamantly against a Sysop holding a question and answer session only. If you have a News Conference, you had better have something specific to say or you are going to alienate those attending. Although it is acceptable to read directly from your printed statement during your News Conference, you need to practice it several times beforehand so you are completely familiar with it. You might even want to practice the entire News Conference. This can be accomplished by having some friends or business associates listen to your statement and grill you afterword. Chances are many of the same questions a reporter will ask will be asked by this "practice group." Why do you need to answer questions following your statement? There may be something in your statement that was unclear, or maybe needed to be expanded. Sometimes you might even be asked to repeat certain sections. But when things appear to be slowing down, don't be afraid to call an end to the News Conference. Make yourself available for individual interviews following the News Conference. TV or radio stations might want a more intimate sounding discussion of BBS-PR pg 13 what the News Conference was about instead of the formal statement. A reporter might have a question he/she didn't want to ask in a group setting. Your News Conference will be competing with all the other news events going on throughout the day. Don't waste time and don't expect everyone invited to attend. I've found early afternoon or mid morning to be the best times to hold News Conferences. News Conferences can be a very productive method of getting your message across. But they are also quite misused. Hold a News Conference only if you feel the need is absolutely imperative. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 쿓andling the Media� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Timeliness is a very important factor when sending material to the media. Most News Releases that are not dated can be mailed at any time. If they are going to be for release on a specific date, they should be mailed one to two weeks before the date. Public Service Announcements and Event Schedules should be sent two to four weeks before the event. This gives the media plenty of time to schedule reporters and other resources. I do not recommend calling an Editor or reporter asking when your News Release or PSA will be published or aired. They might consider this badgering. However, you might call and ask if they received it and had any questions. That doesn't guarantee that it will be used, but it might increase its chances, and you might even find out when it would be used. The Media is not the enemy. When you are talking with a reporter or a group of reporters there is no need to be nervous. Be friendly but professional. Treat them as you would your co-workers. Generally, be calm but assertive. You have the information they want. Because computer communications is still a burgeoning field, reporters may ask what you think BBS-PR pg 14 are dumb or inconsequential questions. Just answer them patiently. Offer information you think is pertinent to the issue. The more facts they have the more accurate the story will be. If you read, see or hear a news story that you feel was unfair in its coverage of the BBS Community, don't be afraid to call or write the Editor or News Director and complain about it. Don't be angry, but point out what you feel was unfair. The worst thing you can do is get into an argument with a member of the media. Any headway you've made previously can be destroyed. You are more likely to be listened to by being candid but keeping your head on your shoulders. They might make a retraction to the offending story or offer you the opportunity to set the record straight. If nothing else, you got it off your chest. Video cameras are so ubiquitous these days that you shouldn't give them a second thought. You should be aware of their presence though. A dark sport jacket with a light colored shirt works best on camera. Flashy or very colorful clothes can be very distracting. The viewer might pay more attention to what you are wearing than what you are saying. Never, ever, at any time knowingly tell a falsehood. You'll be caught and you'll be hung out to dry. If you say something that later turns out to be incorrect, then you can honestly admit your mistake. In addition, if there is something you don't know, admit that also. It's always better to admit a lack of knowledge than it is to dance around a question with a pseudo-answer. You can always look up the correct answer and call the reporter later. Drawing on that same theme, if you have gotten into a situation in which you feel you have gotten in over your head, defer the issue to someone you feel comfortable has the proper skills and knowledge. In most cases, a reporter will accept your suggested replacement. The only time it might not work is when the reporter is asking about something that directly impacts you or your BBS. This may seem obvious, but you should return calls promptly. Reporters are always under some sort of deadline pressure. The sooner you can return their calls, the more they will appreciate you. BBS-PR pg 15 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿘arket Research� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Who needs to do Market Research? You do. The days of opening up a BBS with a few file areas and some message bases are numbered. Successful BBSs will be those that plan carefully with an eye toward what users really want-- not the desires of the noisy few. While online questionnaires are quite useful, they often don't go far enough or have a large enough base for you to make long term decisions. The biggest problems are low response rates and questions that answer themselves. Very few online surveys that I've seen provide enough qualitative information for anything other than short term planning. If you are planning on pulling in some new message bases, but want to know which ones will actually be read by users, then online questionnaires are quite sufficient for the job. But if you plan on opening a new BBS, a major change in image or thrust, or becoming a larger player in the BBS community you probably need to do more than question your active users. But there are still times in which you must simply go with your visceral instincts. If you have just done the most extensive survey in the history of the industry, you may just have to do what your gut tells you to do, even if it is in total disagreement with what the research says you should do. The easiest, least expensive, and probably the most effective research for BBSs to do is call-out research. Pick up the phone and start dialing. But you must have a method. Creating a Survey Depending on what you want to find out, you'll want to angle your research in different directions. A person setting up a new BBS is going to need information different from that an established Sysop would need to consider whether to expand or add services. For our purposes, let's assume you want to do some basic research on the group of people that use modems. To make things as easy as possible, we'll assume you will be conducting 100 surveys. This does NOT include people who hang up on you or you terminate because they do not fit the demographic profile you are looking for. BBS-PR pg 16 The first thing you'll need to determine is the demographic breakdown in your community as a whole. What is the percentage of men and women and their age groups? This information can easily be found at your local library. Use the most recent census data available. Take those percentages in each age/sex demo and conduct the same number of surveys (23% women aged 25 to 32 in your community, then 23 surveys with women in that age group). The first thing you need in the survey is a set of Terminal questions. These questions help you determine the age and sex groups you need, whether they own computers, whether they own modems and how often they use modems. If they don't answer any of the questions in the appropriate manner, you break off the interview. These people are NOT included as part of your 100 completed surveys. If you want an overview of the BBS community compared to the community as a whole, you will need to keep track of the people that are terminated. Since we are developing a profile on the modem using public in your community, we need a set of questions to determine how often they use them and in what manner. We then need some questions to find out what services they use, what activities they participate in, and what they might see as any shortcomings. Finally, some questions on their hardware and software. All these numbers can be inserted into a spreadsheet program. From there you can make pie charts or bar graphs to represent just about anything and help you make planning decisions. There is a sample survey in the BBS-SAMP.TXT file. Here are some terms that are in the sample survey that you might want to know: PROMPT-- Ask about listed items. Subject may offer one or more. QUERY-- Ask for more, do NOT specify. Ask "Anything else?" and write down responses (see XX)-- Depending on response to a question, then go to the question with that number (eg: see 5B) SPECIFY-- Subject may offer an answer. If not, ask. TERMINATE-- Bring to an end. BBS-PR pg 17 Making the Call You don't need to buy a list in order to make call out research. All it takes is a phone book or city directory. City directories are helpful in that they will have phone numbers and addresses that may not be in the phone book. City directories are also expensive, especially when compared to that phone book you received when you ordered a phone line. Starting with the first residential listing, keep dialing down the column until you are able to get a completed survey. Skip the rest of that column, next column and start at the top of the following. For example, if you have a three column phone book (most are), you get a completed survey on the tenth call in the second column. Skip the remainder of the second column, skip the third column, and then start again at the top of the first column on the second page. This will give you a fairly random sample. Also make sure you do not purposely call business numbers. Businesses get irritated when people make unsolicited calls. Many individuals do as well. Expect a lot of people to hang up on you. ALWAYS thank the person at the end of the interview, even if you terminate them after the first question. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿎risis Management� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� The first thing to remember about Crisis Management is to avoid creating one. That isn't always possible. In that case, the second thing to remember is "Don't Panic." You simply don't have time. Always keep your head. It's quite unlikely BBSs will be responsible for volcanic eruptions or toxic waste dumps. Most crisis a BBS would be involved in are legal in nature. If that's the case, you'll need to contact your attorney at once. In fact, you might even want to consider keeping one on retainer or having a pre-paid legal plan. Your attorney should be familiar with communications law and First Amendment Issues. Your local Bar Association should be able BBS-PR pg 18 to help you find one. The media has easier access to prosecutors than to defendants. That is why in most criminal cases it appears a suspect has already been convicted and hauled off even though the case has not yet been brought to trial. The good news is that more defense attorneys are becoming media savvy and are willing to make statements to reporters. Most of the time, the best thing to do is to let your attorney do your talking for you. Among other things, that's what you are paying him for. He will know what can and cannot be said in public and is in a better position to deal with legal intricacies that may come up. For now, the online community tends to rally around BBS operators who have been accused of improprieties. Unless your counselor objects, you can begin drumming up support from within the industry. Among other things, you can make legal documents available in computer readable form. Contact industry magazines such as BOARDWATCH, BBS CALLERS DIGEST and CONNECT and let them know what is happening. But you should always advise or consult your attorney before doing any of this. Friendly Faces I've made this point before and I'll make it again. Reporters assigned to cover a story involving BBSs or other online services may not fully understand the industry. Some of them may even be technophobes. With that in mind, there is another position you can work yourself into. That is the position of the Local Expert. For sake of example, another Sysop has run into trouble with the law. You could make yourself available to help explain what some of those complicated technological terms are all about, making sure you stay clear of the legal issues involved. You may not get your face on TV or your name printed in the paper, but you will be providing a valuable service to your local media. The First Amendment at Risk The online community is under attack. There are many in government who apparently believe First Amendment freedoms should not be extended to BBSs and other online services, BBS-PR pg 19 even if they don't explicitly state this. The Clipper chip is just one example. The battle lines are being drawn in the courts and in the mainstream media. Solid wins in the justice system will help ensure a place for the First Amendment in the future. Diligent and deft manipulation of the media will help ensure public support for the online community. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴커 쿚ut of the Box� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Many Sysops set up a BBS in a cloistered room, hunch over a brightly lit screen late at night tweaking here and tweaking there. "Heh!" they think, "this new door game will bring me a few more callers!" Wrong. You can be assured that new game is A) already on another BBS in town, B) the potential new callers won't know for sometime that you have it or C) potential new callers won't care that you have it. The game can wait 'til tomorrow. Do something that is more likely to bring in potential callers to your BBS in particular and into the BBS community generally. Get out of the house. Chances are your BBS or the local BBS or Sysops' Association sponsors a picnic or some such at least once a year. Although this is a good idea, it usually is a gathering a modem users. You need to become more involved with the community as a whole. There are many, many opportunities to create a good public relations image within the community. Even though the mainstream media should be a part of your public relations efforts, you do not have to rely on them to tell your message. Your local Chamber of Commerce probably has some sort of monthly or annual list of events going on in the community. There should be several that you can attend or co-sponsor on behalf of the BBS. You can also make yourself available to talk to Service Clubs and Youth Groups. BBS-PR pg 20 Have you thought of conducting a seminar? Let's face it, BBSs are not among the easiest computer applications to use. You could teach users and potential users about telecommunications and BBSing. With more and more BBSs connecting to the Internet, a seminar on how to use the Internet could be quite valuable. As an aside, you might even be able to bring in a few bucks by conducting seminars. Schools are another place to make your mark. Donate your time to teach a class or be a guest in a class. You might even consider donating your old equipment to an elementary school when you upgrade to newer equipment. That might even bring you some good press coverage. If you have a laptop or an older computer you wouldn't mind toting around, take it with you with a scaled down version of your BBS to show people what it looks like. Very few things work better than a good visual aid. If you produce a newsletter for your BBS that is mailed to users on a regular basis, add the local media outlets to your mailing list. Just as with News Releases, most newsletters will be thrown out. But sometimes someone will grab an idea from one and produce a story from it. By golly, you'll probably be the first person they call. Everyday thousands of cars go past yours or you pass them. Bumper stickers are moving billboards. Make them available anytime you are out meeting the public. Because you must make a quick impression, just have the name of your BBS and the data phone number printed on them. Coffee mugs and t-shirts are good promotional items that can also bring in some money. Sale items such as those are really best for larger commercial systems, though. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴커 쿑inal Comments� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 I am quite conscience of the fact that I did not discuss paid advertising in this manual. Among the reasons: 1. This was intended to be only a brief discussion of Public Relations. 2. Paid advertising can be quite expensive, and most BBS do not have the money to do it. If there is demand for information about advertising for BBSs, it will be included in future editions. BBS-PR pg 21 Thanks to Fred Ayers of Paradox of Arkansas BBS, Steve Prado of Jackalope Junction BBS, and Mary McGuire of KMAG-KWHN Radio, all of Fort Smith, AR. Their comments, suggestions and complaints are greatly appreciated. The current edition of BBS-PR (BBS-PRxx.ZIP) will always be available on Jackalope Junction, (Sysop, Steve Prado). I will answer E-Mail, snail mail and even discuss some problems on the phone. I am also available for private consultation. See the file PR-RATES.TXT to see what services are available and at what cost. Even though News Analysis is one service available, I encourage you to send copies of News Releases, newspaper articles, and audio and video (vhs) tapes of broadcast stories with no obligation to engage my services as a consultant. About the Author Robert Parson is a Broadcast Journalist with over 15 years experience to his credit. He is a former Contributing Editor for "International Online Magazine," a magazine door available from Arkansas River Valley BBS, Russellville, AR (501 968 1931). Robert is an active participant in his local BBS Community. This Guide is dedicated to the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech is our single most important Constitutional Guarantee. Robert Parson 2501 Phoenix Fort Smith, AR 72901 501 646 9332 (voice) Jackalope Junction BBS 501 785 5381 (Steve Prado, Sysop) R.Parson (GEnie) R.Parson@genie.geis.com (Internet) Fido 1:3822/1 or 1:3822/8 BBS-PR pg 22